Steel all-road frame returns to shop for a tuning

 Yes- I had to use my Park Tool brake boss facer and some elbow grease to get a rear disc brake caliper not to rub - took a bit of time but it's good to go now. I like to show full builds when I can as so few of them are done at the shop- the bulk of them are done by the customers or by shops . 

New model- "Bro-Tour Plus"

Yes- here's a new model that might be filling the gap between road and gravel. I have built many in steel which I call B.T.R.B , or "Big tire road bike" . Most of the original versions had long reach caliper brakes-I had one with S&S couplers that I used for everything from touring to CX racing as a spare pit bike. This aluminum version will not be used for either of those situations . The idea is to have a real road bike that will take up to 7000x38 tires for the generally crappy pavement conditions that we have here in Santa Cruz county.  There's a lot of nice longer climbs that I like to ride here but the downhills for the most part are pothole-filled minefields of jarring misery on 700x28 road tires, even at 70 PSI. Won't it be nice to have bigger tires , disc brakes and lower tire pressure for a change ?  I would say so. This one is for me, the first new road frame I have built for myself in nearly a decade. I'm building it up with all the spare stuff left on the shelves from 2025 and before. I could not do the full in-route system with this style of head tube but that's fine with me- I don't like complicated bike builds and this one is in my comfort zone.
 

Yes, the dropped seat stays are a nod to most of the current pro-tour road frames- is there some advantage to the design ? Hey, if it makes people look, it does not have to have better wind-tunnel numbers.....it's the sizzle, not the steak in this case. Frame weighs in at 3 lb. 1 oz. 

Single speed 29er for Utah

 I'm one seatpost clamp away from being able to send this frame out. It is built for the father of a world class MTB racer -who told me to make the frame stout as his father rides his bikes hard. I think this one should hold up. The rear dropouts are Paragon rockers- right now my preferred type for steel single speed MTB frames. The King headset is in the Navy color- I think that this color has been discontinued so getting one for this frame was fortunate-I give a shout out to Dave and Guy at Chris King precision for the great and thoughtful service they give to small builders such as myself.

Gravel adventure frame and fork for a local

This one has not been picked up yet so after prepping it I snapped a couple of quick photos. This one has in effect five bottle mounts and front and rear rack mounts along with room in the main triangle for frame bags. This should make it a good rig for long expeditions in the wilderness. The schoolbus yellow is one of my favorite all time colors.

 

Fully built all-road bike

The customer for this frame and fork rode by the shop with the completed full bike a couple of weeks ago so I shot some photos. This is one of the first UDH frames I have built that is actually on the road. This dropout is only available on steel frames- as of now, there's no version in aluminum and it does not look like there will be any time soon so for you UDH fans, steel is it. 

This build really shows how a bike like this can be set up to be a daily rider in nearly any conditions. 

 

7005 road frame for Albany, N.Y.

Im well into the winter aluminum batch- this frame being # 3 out of a probable 10 total. I'll be on aluminum for most of February. and back to steel in March. This frame will have Sram E-tap and be mated to an Enve road fork. 
 

Steel Ultimundo road frame for bay area rider

 This one weighs in at 3 lb. 13 oz , pretty light for steel. It has the UDH dropout set from Paragon and is all Columbus Life tubing. This one will be mated to an Enve disc road fork with 50 mm of rake. 

Land Shark painted signature fillet all-road frame for pacific northwest

 Well, that was an adventure. Clear the cache, all hands on deck. Lucky for me, one of my shop mates works on a computer every day and he was able to do what I could not to fix the blog. How long will it stay fixed ? Maybe until the next Apple update......so on we go again .

This frame took a lot of elbow grease but I think the end result is good. The owner sent the frame to John Slawta of Landshark in Medford,  Oregon- he is known for paint work lust like this. I'm just about to install the King headset and BB and box it up. The customer also got a Whiskey 1-1/8" carbon disc fork that will be painted to match the frame. The top lug on the seat tube is one of Ritchey design that I got from the Ed Litton shop sale- I have lots of these so if any of you fellow builders are looking for one, get in touch. I have lots of other frame building stuff that I have gotten from other builders who have folded up shop or have passed on- I must be the last stop for all this unused steel. It's crazy how much stuff that is decades old is still sitting in boxes in shops , not just my shop. I doubt that it will all be used but I'm doing my part to try to either turn the stuff into bikes or move it along to other builders. My shop liquidation- whenever that happens- should be one hell of a mess. 

Alien invasion

Scientists are now confident that they have the tools to investigate extraterrestrial life. Heck, I could have told him that there are Aliens on the erath already- here's one in red. I made the front triangle- the rear section is real Nishiki Alien steel. It was an interesting project and now it is rolling for real.

 

Gravel frame in steel for Idaho

 This one has a 44 mm ID head tube beefy wide chain stays to fit 700x45 tires. The bike will be set up with GRX Di II from a couple of years ago so it has wired levers. This is the first tig frame of 2026 and I hope that the owner likes it. It will be paired with a Whiskey carbon fork.

First frame of 2026

 This one was supposed to be done before the first but lugged frames always have a habit of taking longer than one would think. This one also threw me curves-unexpected pitfalls which will be covered in depth in my Overopinionated frame builder blog. In spite of the problems the frame and fork are done and I'm happy with the way it all turned out. I used materials from three different departed builders as I have been the recipient of a lot of unused materials . Frame builders have a habit of hoarding lugs, tubes and other stuff and it is quite common that much of it does not get used up before the builder gets to the end of the line. I'm trying to not be that guy but after the last 4-5 years I have accumulated so much stuff I'm sure I'll be dead before it all gets used. I'll try to sell off or give away a bunch of it if I am sensing the end of my time in the world of bike building. As of January , 2026 I'm still at it full time. 

Ok- about the frame: Lugs came from Hugh Enochs

Tubing was originally in Bruce Gordon's shop and wound up in Ed Litton's shop. 

Brazing rod came from Hugh Enochs

Dropouts came from Ed Litton's shop. 

I designed the frame to be slack and long , kind of like a French bike from the 1950's .Not having a frame like that in the shop I guess I'm kind of making it up as I go but the geometry should be pretty different from the bikes I have except for maybe the Ivor Johnson track frame I have . I'll write up a story on it on the Cycles Heroic blog when I get the chance. 

First frame of 2026

 Every year end I take time between Christmas and new years to do a project or two. I'm a bit late starting this one for a couple reasons but hope to have it done tomorrow. It is raining here so if the project leaks into the weekend I'm ok with that. It will be kind of a copy of a French bike from the '50's , not that I know much about them but I do know a bit of the geometry. This one will be long and slack- not a bike for the fast group ride but it could be nice for exploring on less than optimal roads. It should be very smooth riding , or at least that is what I'm shooting for. I'll put up full photos when it is done. Tubing came from Bruce Gordon's shop through Ed Litton's shop and then to me. Lugs came from Hugh Enoch's shop. I guess I'm last man standing from the '70's Nor-Cal frame building generation so it's up to me to turn some of this stuff into frames while I'm still alive. I'm just building one or two of these a year to keep my toe in the traditional style of lug brazing. I don't want to do too much of it- it's a really long process.