Jun 04, 2026
Bike Check; Braden and Sparky's Hase Gravit Dust.
Words: Braden Govoni Photographs: James Wainscott
River, river run dry
But I still find myself swimming upstream
Ghosts, ghosts in my headlights
But I still find myself driving down the street
-Universal Order of Armageddon: Benedict
Life is funny. I wasn’t expecting to get a dog last year. I once had a Jack Russel terrier named Buster. He was one of those dogs that leaves a mark on you that never fades. Buster and I went to a lot of places during our time together. And when he passed, he left a hole in me that never really went away
But life is often serendipitous, and in the fall I found myself driving back from Meherrin, Virginia, with another Jack Russel with me. One who looked a whole lot like Buster.
I was also faced with a dilemma. I had already decided that this little guy was going to come to work with me every day. I had no intention of increasing my frequency of driving to work, so I needed a solution.
And here it is. I had already built a new cargo bike and was still refining the setup, so pivoting a bit to outfit things to transport a dog wasn’t too difficult.
The outcome is what you see here.
The Hase Gravit Dust is a semi-compact front-load cargo bike. That basically means that it’s not quite as long out front as something designed to carry an extra-large load (or a few kids). Keeping things a little shorter means moving the weight up a bit and changing what can be carried and what can’t. Attaching a dog crate to transport a 20lb dog was easy. The gain is that the bike handles pretty much like a “regular” bike despite its strange appearance. Longer front-load bikes have their own unique handling characteristics, and moving between a bike in that vein and a more conventional bike requires some acclimation each time. Switching between this bike and my gravel bike on the same day is seamless. Something that was really important to me.
In true bike shop nerd fashion, I did go a bit overboard with outfitting the parts. As the frame was already purple, I really had no choice but to use as many purple anodized bits as I could to complete the look.
Since I commute year-round, you know I had to lace up a dynamo front hub to power a headlight. Matching tubeless rims in two different sizes can limit options a bit, but luckily for me, Velocity makes the Cliffhanger in 20 and 26”.
Hope brake calipers and TRP rotors combine forces to give a very positive braking experience when loaded and work perfectly with Sram AXS wireless shifters.
Last but certainly not least, a dropper seatpost was critical. Maybe you’ve heard me rant on the value of droppers on cargo bikes (or any urban bike for that matter), but being able to drop the saddle height at stops makes it much easier to wrangle whatever load you are carrying. I first figured this out almost 10 years ago, carrying my first kid on the back of a Surly cargo bike, and my position on the matter has only further galvanized.
Put a dropper on that cargo bike, you won’t regret it. Also, put a dynamo hub and light on whatever bike you ride year-round. You won’t regret that either.
Anyway, here it is, the bike that allows me to take Sparky to work (or just about anywhere else I can ride) in a way that we both enjoy. To quote the great Hurl Everstone: “Cars are coffins”.
Specs.
Frame: Hase Gravit Dust
Stem: FSA Afterburner
Bars: Whisky Spano
Seatpost: Sram Reverb AXS
Saddle: Fizik Alpaca
Shifters: Sram Apex AXS
Derailleur: Sram Apex AXS
Crankset: Sram XO Quarq arms, Rival spider, Wolf Tooth 40 tooth chainring
Cassette: Sram Rival XPLR 10-46
Chain: Sram Flattop
Brakes: Hope RX 4-piston, TRP rotors 180 front 160 rear
Wheels: Velocity Cliffhanger rims, Shutter Precision dynamo front hub, Hope Pro5 rear hub
Tires: Kenda Booster 20x2.4 front, 26x2.2 rear
Pedals: Deity Supervillan
Front bag: Swift Industries Sugarloaf
Headlight: Schmidt Edelux 2
