Jeff Bock Steel 26" drop bar tourer
Jeff Bock was a frame builder for Rivendell Bicycle Works (may still be one). He's got some old style building habits - such as gorgeous lug welds - that make for a real fine looking set of wheels.
I've taken this custom build bike on some great (and really tough) rides, including the Dempster, Dalton, Karakorum & Pamir Highways, and years of backroads riding here at home. It's a drop bar tourer (usually). Custom Robert Beckman racks. High end componentry - Chris King, XTR, Brooks, etc.
This pic from Georgia, one of the former republics of the old USSR that gained independence in 1991. I'd just crossed the remote mountain pass near Posof in NE Turkey. The main highways of Georgia are one of my candidates for the most frightening cycling in the world, the other being, perhaps, Java.
I eventually decided to get my Thorn (and limit my use of the Jeff Bock) for several reasons. First, I was ready to try a rohloff bike, and wanted S & S couplings as I'd had some challenges on smaller regional airlines internationally. Second, the Jeff Bock can only accommodate up to 1.75" wide tires. When I bought it I had thought there was no way I'd ever need anything wider, but as I kept rider rougher and rougher routes, at home and abroad ....
I still use the Jeff Bock for some rides, including a few years past on my Iran tour, where I expected to be mostly on fairly decent roads. Turned out to be a good decision. I think of it as a bike best used on touring rides mostly on paved roads, but able to handle real rough stretches as necessary. Given it's ridden the Karakorum, the Pamir Highway and the Dempster Highway, it's got some serious chops.
Closer to home. Riding one of the fantastic trestle bridges along the Cowichan Valley Trail. The Jeff Bock proved itself over many years on some real rough routes.
That's my chastened Jeff Bock lashed on to the front of the load atop this 'government supervised' bus heading from Tashkurgan in W China up & over Khunjerab Pass (high point of Karakorum Highway) to Sost in North Pakistan. The actual border is considered a sensitive area and people are not allowed to travel alone.