NAHBS Bike: McGovern Cycles Gold Country Carbon Cyclocross Bike

McGovern Cycles is fairly new to the bike building scene, but its founder, Chris McGovern, has been riding since 1978.

Starting as a BMX rider, McGovern raced road as a junior, eventually moving to the professional ranks with Zaxby’s, Jelly Belly, Health Net and Sierra Nevada. While McGovern no longer races professionally, he's still active in the Nevada City, California, cycling scene where he owns Real Wheels Bicycle Studio and Cycleution Coaching.

McGovern’s love of bikes led to him building his own bicycle and, like other builders out there, what started as a side project developed into a passion. McGovern has built bikes for himself since 2011, building with steel, titanium and carbon, as shown here on the carbon cross "Gold Country."

Each McGovern is a fully custom affair built for each individual rider. The carbon tubes are manufactured by Enve Composites to McGovern's specifications while the carbon dropouts with replaceable derailleur hanger are made in-house. With the Gold Country's integrated seatpost a topper is required, and for this bike a gold one from Woodman is used. The fork on the Gold Country is a WCS model from Ritchey. Current availability for aMcGovern frame is approximately four weeks.

2016 marks McGovern's first trip to NAHBS and the Gold Country carbon cross is his first show bike.

The Gold Country build kit is centered around Shimano's Ultegra 6800 drivetrain. The shifters, derailleurs, chain and cassette all come from the Japanese component maker. The double crankset with 46/36 rings is from Praxis. Stopping duties are handled by Paul Component Engineering's Mini Motos, in gold of course.

Ritchey also supplies the Gold Country's cockpit in the form of their WCS Monocurve integrated bar and stem while Chris King holds the frame and fork together with a gold Inset 1 headset. Other small touches include the WTB SL8 saddle and cork bar tape from Arundel.

The Gold Country rolls on Boyd 38 carbon rims with White Industries t11 hubs, in gold. The front wheel is 24 hole laced 2 cross, while the rear wheel is 28 hole laced 3 cross on the drive side, and 2 cross on the non-driveside. The Wheels are shod in Clement LAS tubulars. McGovern tells us that this frame will run up to 40c tires.

As shown, the Gold Country sells for $6,000.00 usd, while a frame is $3,600.00 usd. As pictured the Gold Country carbon cross weighs 17 pounds, with a frame weight of 980 grams.

The photos here were taken by McGovern's friend Jason Kolb.

Be sure to check out McGovern Cycles if you're at NAHBS and stay tuned for more NAHBS coverage.

Specifications