7005 Di II disc brake road frame

I'm onto my second aluminum batch of the spring and this is frame # 4 in the current crop. The frame is made for the roads of San Luis Obispo county in central California- a great place to ride a bike and not far from the area where the Eroica California takes place.

I'm building this and other road and gravel frames in this batch but will be doing a run of CX race frames in early July. If you ordered one earlier this year , your frame is likely to be in this batch. The new shop is turning out to be a big improvement for me and I'm much happier with the extra room and natural light. 

This might be the last year where I build upwards of 100 frames as I am nearing my 66th birthday but who knows- with the new shop and the surge of orders I might have to wait another year to slow down. 
 

650 steel gravel-adventure bike complete

While I may not be able to order many parts for builds, this lucky customer was able to score an entire build kit for this frame and fork I built . The only part I provided was the rear disc brake caliper adaptor for the 160 rotor.

The bike is mostly Sram but it does have cable actuated Shimano calipers. They are not the fancy ones but they set up easily and are very impressive for the price. The tires are 650x47 and with this bike there's room for more if you want it.

I really like the color combo the customer specified- a nice twist on the team color. 
 

Steel mass-start track frame for Indiana

Stiff oversize main tubes, fork blades for chain stays- this one is built in the style I have used since the late '90's when I built a bunch of frames for a local junior development team. Some of the frames I built got as far as the worlds and a couple of riders got National championships on a frame like this so on the velodrome steel still has validity.

The UCI used to have a maximum angle allowed for top tube slope- this bike is right about there. I'm not sure if the rules are the same but I like to keep the frame within the boundries that the UCI sets up, even if they are at times arbitrary and constantly in flux.

I had one pair of these seat stays I was saving for just such a frame. It is nice to take a bunch of tubes from different manufacturers and blend them into a harmonious set. This frame should be plenty stiff.

 

7005 adventure frame for So-Cal.

The color on this frame is meant to mimic the color I used for two frames that I made for the last NAHBS. The original color turned out to be a sample and is no longer available so this color is the closest I could get. It is indeed, very close.

The frame is paired with an Enve "Adventure" fork- this is Enve's newest fork and is meant to cater to the increasing number if bikepacking builds. As with the fork, the frame also has many fittings for racks and fenders.

The frame and fork will take flat mount disc brakes- where the customer is going to find them is anyone's guess at this time. My supplies have dried up weeks ago and it is common to find suppliers backordered into next year. Not since the '70's dock strikes has the bicycle business experienced parts shortages to this extent. No doubt that when things all get back to normal there will be a parts glut. The market is supposed to sort itself out but this is the bike business and wishing for that is pretty unrealistic. 
 

650 all-road frame for So-Cal.

This combination of a Columbus steel frame with an Enve all-road fork is becoming a popular option in my shop. This one has a silver Jen Green badge and also has rear rack mounts. There are also extra bottle mounts on the underside of the down tube. 

Eventually this frame will be fitted with a White Industries black headset. With all the suppliers being out of stock on parts I have had to broaden my search for gear and I feel fortunate that White is just up the road in Petaluma and has a shorter backorder list than other brands, at least for now. 

 

Really huge boost 29er frame in 7005

This frame does not look that big in the photo but trust me- it is gigantic. The rider is 6'10". The reason the frame does not look that big is that the tube diameters are also oversize, giving the illusion of a much smaller frame. The head tube is not that long because the shock fork is super long- a boost 29er fork with 150-160 mm travel. That said, I wish that I could have used a taller head tube . Hopefully with some riser bars this tall rider will find some comfort on this frame.

The down tube diameter is 50 mm. The top tube is 42 mm and the seat tube is 34.8 mm. I have not used this combo of tubes until now- the great majority of people would not need something this over built. 

The rear end features Dedacciai 'fat bike' chain stays to accommodate the 2.8" rear tire. The seat stays are NOS Easton USA rectangles mated to and Ahrens seat stay yoke. These are all pretty specialized materials that I only get to use a couple of times a year. It was a challenging build but I think it came out well.
 

7000/7005 track frame for San Diego

There's some rare tubes in this frame- the top and down tube are NOS Easton 7000 diamond-to-oval US made tubes. My guess is that they were made in the late '90's . The tubes have been in storage ever since. Now, more than 20 years later they are part of a mass-start track frame for one of out team riders.

I'll be doing the full build on this frame. I have a bunch of parts that have been on my shelves for a few years that would be perfect for this bike. The rider is someone who I have always thought would be well suited to riding on the velodrome so I do have a bit of a vested interest in this project.

I only had two sets of these rare tubes and I used the first set about 4-5 years ago. This is my last set and I doubt I'll ever see another set of these special tubes. I'm glad that they are going to a deserving rider.