All road frame in steel

 This frame is made in a similar style to my "ultimundo" road frame but with room for 700x38 tires.

So, this is not a gravel frame but really a big tire road frame made for the Enve "All-road" fork.

I think there's a place for bikes like this as people are wanting a bike that is a bit more nimble and street oriented than the typical gravel frame. 

Steel gravel frame for NY state

This steel frame is all Columbus Zona and it will be set up with Sram-hence the UDH. So far I have only built four frames with this new dropout standard but there seems to be momentum gathering for its use. 
 

Hard to say if the older style dropouts will die out but I sure hope not- there's lots of people using other parts who won't necessarily get on the Sram train. I thought that the UDH was just an MTB feature but this shop asked for it on a gravel rig so here it is in all its glory. I hope that the customer likes it.

WCCX frame for a returning team member

 It's going to be the reunion season with all the former team members coming back. This rider has had much success at CX but concentrated on gravel for the last few years. Now she is coming back to CX and will test herself against the country's best.

WCCX frame going to returning team mate

This rider spent his teens on the team and then went on to bigger things , including the worlds. His team has released him just for this CX season so he asked if it was OK to ride for his old team (us) until the first of 2025. They said OK so we have him back and here's the newest frame for him to tackle the US CX season.

 

WCCX frame going to Colorado

This one will be raced in a number of UCI weekends in the US and will be taken to Europe for the latter part of the season. This rider has big plans so it will be nice to follow his travels.

 

Surf City next weekend

It's that time again. I know it is tempting to sit and enjoy a beverage of your choice at your own home and avoid the grand parade that is the Crest Ranch Surf City annual cyclocross Halloween weekend.....but seriously, are you going to miss that ? Think of the regret-think of all the fun your friends will be having that you will miss. It is true, CX is not as popular as it was a decade ago but you have the power to change that statistic. Do it- you will not regret the experience. 

October 26th and 27th- Crest Ranch -Empire Grade.....way up the road where the air is crisp and clean. 

 

Full build- steel road frame with GRX/Ultegra

 Yes- every once in awhile I build a full bike and this one is for a son of a customer who had bought a frame from me in the late '80's. The son is in his early '30's so I guess that gives you an idea how long I have been at this craft.

The build:  The drive train is Shimano GRX-810 as the customer wanted mechanical shifting and 11 speeds on the cassette. Since it is a road bike the crankset had to be Ultegra to get road-size chainrings. The wheels are also GRX, a medium depth carbon rim.. The bars are Enve aero with internal cabling but not internal in the stem or the frame-this made sense with the mechanical drive train. It is still a very clean look. 

Steel gravel frame for So-Cal

This customer asked for smaller tube diameters and a level top tube. He was very specific on all the numbers and gave me a drawing That I followed to the mm. The frame may be a bit of a throwback on those features but it will be set up with wireless shifting, a carbon fork and disc brakes so it does depart from the rim brake frames I have built for hi in the past. I'm really happy to be building another one for him.

 

Steel CX frame with some 853

Yes, this one has a top and down tube of Reynolds 853. Not sure why but people seem to really be able to notice a subtle ride difference with the 853. I can't say what it is but enough people have told me about it. 

 

Steel 29er for a local

This one has boost spacing and a UDH dropout. I think that most of the future MTB frames I build will have the UDH. I still am not sure what the benefit is but people want it. I guess if you are running SRAM it is a must. 

 

Steel gravel frame for a local

This is the 20th one of these that I have built this year so I think by the end of 2024 I will have built 25 % of all the frames I put out over the whole year in this form.

this one has rack mounts and I tried to rotate the rider position forward so that he does not have to sit so upright.

 

Steel gravel frame for Phoenix with panel paint

The photos do not do this one justice-it really is striking to see in person. The rootbeer metallic spakle just lights up in the sun. I have to say, this is one of the top-3 paint schemes of the year for me-the customer came up with the formula and I wish that I had this one on my website. 

 

Goodbye, Dave.

 This is very hard for me to accept, let alone write- one of our former team riders has passed away suddenly. David Wyandt was a star long before he was on the team , being a very talented junior MTB racer and a top US CX racer and road as well. Dave had experience racing at the highest level but quit when he started a family. 

I saw dave around 2007 watching a race at Aptos high school and asked him if he would consider joining the team as I had seen evidence in race results that he was riding again . Dave humorously wrote in the results that his team was the "John Basedow spin clinic " -which of course didn't exist. Dave put in a few years of great racing on the team before he retired again to raise his family. 

Dave was universally liked and was a natural leader, although he never appeared to actually be leading-people just followed his path and trusted his wisdom. Dave was an original thinker who left school early to pursue racing. In spite of his limited education, Dave was a store of knowledge on many subjects and would always surprise people with his insights. He didn't talk that much but one could tell that whenever he did talk it would have thought and depth behind the words. 

One thing Dave did talk about was '80's pop music, a subject he was well versed in. I remember at a team party an animated discussion about one song in particular-"Baker street" by Gerry Rafferty. Dave seemed to hold this particular song up as one of his favorites. Whenever you hear "Baker street" come on in a super market , elevator or anywhere, think of Dave- He would probably like that . 

Oct. 6th Surf City CX at UCSC

Yes, after decades of waiting it is finally here. Come to the UCSC campus this Sunday to check out something that has not happened since the '90's- a cyclocross race on the rough ground where many early races had taken place. This is the latest edition and it will be a very challenging track with some features not seen in most CX race courses. That said, everyone will have to race on the same course so it is an even field, albeit an uneven surface to say the least. Get ready for hardpack and gopher holes. Races start at 9:00 AM this Sunday , October 6th.