After completing this batch of four 7005 frames I now have a clean sheet, at least as far as non-steel orders go. I still have a pretty good amount of steel bikes on the list but it is a little strange not to have the usual 50/50 mix on order. This batch contains two 29ers, a 'cross single speed and the frame pictured above-it is modern materials with a traditional look. I had a request for a level top-tube road racing frame out of Easton Ultralite and this is the result.
Most of the tubing is NOS U.S. made Easton 7005 , probably the most durable aluminum tubeset I can build with. There is a finite supply of this great tubing that was originally designed by Chuck Texiera who still works at Easton-Bell . These tubes are butted and tapered in such a way that they really have an improved ride and durability over the aluminum tubing that was used in most bikes back in the late '80's and early '90's. Some of the boxes I have of this tubing are labled 1997......hard to imagine that a material such as this would have to wait nearly 14 years to be used !
Here's the side view, clearly shoing that this is not a crit frame but a road racer designed to give comfort for hours of hard riding and long, hilly races.
Here's the batch right before I put the frames in boxes and shipped them to the heat treater. This represents about 7-8 work days.
1 comment:
Yay Chuck! ...what doesn't that guy do?
And another nice job of building from you sir! Keep up the good work.
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