A Bike for the Kirkland Hills

Anyone who rides around Kirkland knows the terrain: short, sharp climbs that come at you in quick succession, fast descents through neighborhoods, and the kind of rolling tempo where a bike that's quick matters more than a bike that's aero. Market, Juanita, Norway, Winery, Rose Hill — if you've ridden the 7 Hills loop, you know what we mean. This is climbing country dressed up as a city ride.

This Cima is the bike we built for that. Ours. The one we'd been quietly speccing in our heads for two years, finally on the workbench. Evolve Cima in the Adrift artist colorway, SRAM Red XPLR E1, under the UCI weight limit with pedals and Garmin mount included.

It's also the build that convinced us Provara should be a thing. Every part on this bike was a small homework problem — which obscure direct-buy brand is actually reputable, which Hope caliper finish color-matches the magenta type, will a Magene crank carry SRAM's flat-top chain, what BCD fits both — and after solving them a dozen times for ourselves, it felt obvious other riders would rather hand that work off than do it.

A deep cobalt frame with magenta type, a purple anodized chain, and tonal detail that catches the light differently every time you look at it. The kind of bike that makes other riders stop us at the coffee shop after the ride.

A few choices on this bike that took the most thinking:

The build

What we'd change next time

• We'd run QianKun's newer 45mm wheelset next time — same handling on Norway Hill descents, slightly lighter on the climbs, quieter in the crosswinds along Juanita Drive.
• We'd go one width narrower on the bar (38 → 36 cm). Our fit has drifted that way since the build; the bar in the photo is a stem-swap away rather than a clean fit.