Monday, April 6, 2026

Semi-in-route steel gravel frame

Yes- semi in-route means that the brake line goes into the frame through the down tube and BB and out a port in the chain stay. The brake lines do not go inside the head tube though. This is a much simpler way to set up the brakes than the full in-route system. I think more people might be wanting to go this way. The BB is a T-47 ....yes, I had refused to offer these for years but the requests got too numerous to ignore. I also found a tap set at a decent price so tooling up for T-47 did not cost as much as I thought it would . This frame has what might be my very last Paragon tapered head tube. The T-47 BB shell is also Paragon but I think I still have one or two in stock. 
 


Another steel gravel frame for Switzerland


 This one is much like the previous one except that it is much larger. No fork with this one- customer must already have one I guess. 


Gravel frame in steel for Switzerland.

This shop has been a steady customer for almost a decade. I appreciate that they source frames from me when there are so many other builders out there. This one is steel and it has a painted to match Enve G-series fork. They like their gravel bikes long and slack-I'm sure that the geometry is a product of the local riding  conditions.
 


7005 gravel frame for a local

This bay area rider has a road frame from me and now he has a gravel frame as well. This one is mated to an Enve G-series fork . The 7005 aluminum is light yet really stiff - good for sudden efforts and maintaining control on rough surfaces. The cookies are not part of the deal, though.....those are coming home .
 


Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Boost 29er in steel

This one came out really nice but it's bittersweet this time- some of the items on this frame were made by Paragon Machine works and they are ceasing operations. It is likely that the head tube ,dropouts and BB shell will be extinct, at least until a new company decides to take on the task of making these parts. I have plans to source things like der. hangers from a local machine shop if nobody decides to purchase Paragon's drawings and programs. I'll definitely be keeping everyone in the loop about this development. In the mean time I have bought a ton of der. hangers so I'm good for awhile and will be able to service bikes I have made. 
 


Monday, March 30, 2026

7005 road frame going to Brooklyn


 This one is married to an Enve fork that has been painted to match. It also has a Jen Green sterling silver headbadge- unusual for an aluminum frame. I hope that UPS treats this one gently- had a couple of boxes sent to the midwest that got a real beating- must not be a happy crew of drivers out there. Hope that they are able to find inner peace........never had problems with the local drivers or really any of them for years. Last real damage I experienced on a frame was in 1993 !


Saturday, March 28, 2026

Drop-bar MTB bike fully built.


 Yes, this is not a gravel bike- it has a dropper post and a short travel Fox fork and it can take 2.1" tires so I call it a drop-bar mountain bike. In 1986 there were a bunch of us in Santa Cruz riding 26" MTB's with drop bars. The fad did not last long but I guess people didn't forget about it. When wheels and brakes got better there was a way to build an updated improved version of what we were riding 40 years ago. Here's the latest example. The other components of note are the Chris King 50th anniversary gold headset and the Praxis Doon crankset. These cranks are the lightest I have ever seen and they are still strong enough for a bike like this. I bought a pair for the Bro-Tour Plus bike in the earlier post. I thin that these and the Easton EC-90 cranks are leading the carbon charge in the crankset sweepstakes. The wheels were built by me in the shop with DT-350 hubs and Light Bicycle rims. This is a real price-point wheelset for a custom build. There's a 180 mm rotor up front and a 160 in the rear- good to have the stopping power for the larger tires.