Steel gravel frame going to NY state.

 This one has the Sram UDH and is made for wireless shifting. Definitely a bike of the tech era.

What has been happening in the shop the last few days ?

 I'm not in the business of making replicas of old classic Italian bicycle frames but I made an exception last week to produce one. All of the materials were new old stock and just about everything was free. 

I have never owned a Masi Gran Criterium and it is likely that I never will......but I'll have this one that is my best effort at re-creating the frame I could never afford. There's a few things that are not perfect aesthetically on it but the construction method and materials along with the geometry are pretty damn close to the real deal. I'll have it painted the classic Masi red and II have nearly all the old Campagnolo '70's Nuovo Record parts to put on it. While I really don't need another old bike to ride , this one kind of checks off a few boxes for me as a frame builder. I need to do a project like this once a year to remind myself of how much work a frame like this -however simple looking -can be.

I did not tally the hours I spent on this-I know that I could spend a lot more if I really felt it would make it a better frame. I'll stop now as I am fairly satisfied with it and of course, I have to go back to building other people's frames.

A re-issue of my roots

Back in 1978 I started out as a hobby frame builder, mostly out of wanting to know what went into a bicycle frame- kind of the last frontier for a bike mechanic. The first 6-7 frames were named after the street I lived on - Routier. The next frames were given a different name as I was no longer living on Routier st. I gave these frames my last name - Sadoff. There were probably less than 20 of these frames made. The frames were all road frames of lugged construction as that was all I knew how to build.
 

About a year and a half ago I got the idea to re-issue this brand and style of frame. One of my old customers had a frame on order and allowed the old name to be put on his frame-I even had decals made as painting the logo on by hand was too variable and I was way out of practice. Before I made that customer's frame I built this one- the prototype , so to speak. Funny to call it that as the materials and construction are in the style of over 40 years ago. Well, here's the result of my labors-it is a Columbus SL frame with Henry James cast lugs and Shimano dropouts. I had built this frame about a year ago but only finished assembling the bike yesterday. I used whatever old parts I had up in the loft that would work well and be somewhat modern without being the latest. The build is Campagnolo 10 speed for the most part but there's other stuff on there that is pretty random. The bike rides nicely-hoping that I can take it on a real ride later today.  These frames may not be on the website but I will build one for anyone who orders one.

I don't have any pricing yet but I'm sure I could come up with a quote. This one is my size but I might not keep it as I have way too many bikes-and some of them are 40 year old versions of what you see here.

The shop may be closed......

But that does not mean that I am not there. My goal by Jan. 1st is to finish lingering repairs and assemble two bikes. Here's the first-a Carlton International that I bought on Ebay as a frame and fork when I was recovering from my broken leg last year. It took me awhile to get to building it but here it finally is. The build is not really dead-on period-correct and purists might take me to task. I say this: If not for me this would have never been a rideable bike again as the previous owner never got around to building it and I'll bet the owner before that had robbed it of all its parts. 
 

I really had to get resourceful to make this bike roll. The BB is a Phil Wood with 26 TPI rings so that I didn't have to use the old BB that was made for cottered cranks. While cottered cranks might be proper for this bike , they are in most cases terrible. It is rare to get a set that don't loosen up with hard riding. I think that the frame does not really deserve some of the finer parts on it but I used what I had and I also wanted it not to be a heavy ungainly ride. It moves along pretty well. 

So why a Carlton ? When I was 13 my very first road bike was a Carlton Super Course. It was not that great but it was my first real bike so I had a bit of nostalgic jonesing when I saw this one for sale. I made a low offer on it and it was accepted. What will I do with it ? Not really sure but if I am to sell it, I'll be sure and take it on a long ride before I do. I put a lot of work into it and it would be a shame not to experience the ride of a bike very similar to the first bike that gave me the freedom to really escape my home and find the limits of my endurance. 

Shop will be closed until Jan. 1st.

Yes, the shop may be closed but that does not mean that I won't be there. I have some repairs and odd projects that have been laying dormant through much of the last 4-6 months. I will use this time to complete these and other things in the shop that have been overlooked, such as removing a bit of clutter and getting things in a better state of order. That said, this has been the second busiest year of my career and I'll use that as an excuse to justify how some things in the shop might have gotten a little more disorderly in the year of 2024. What will 2025 bring ? So far it is looking to be much the same as this year but my plans are to take a bit more time to do things extra-curricular. In 2024 I built 94 frames , or at least that's the count as of Dec. 24th- it is likely to go up by one or two before the end of the year. I think in 2025 a goal of maybe 75-80 frames is more sensible , given that I will be turning 70 in September. There's only so much one can push oneself at my age. 

Happy holidays everyone and thanks for all of you taking time to see what's up in the shop all these years.
 

Steel frame and fork

 Not totally sure what to call this one except that it should handle a lot of different conditions. It really is kind of a big-tire road frame and fork. The frame and fork are built pretty light as this one will not be carrying a lot of weight. The setup will take 700x45 tires and will be set up with a 2X mechanical group with flat mount disc brakes.

Tig SL 29er frame

I like the lines of the rear stays and bridges. The curves really flowed on this one. I still have yet to build the tapered steel fork for it but I wanted to put this one on the blog as it is likely the last customer frame of 2024. I have built 94 frames this year so far-I think that is enough !