Saturday, January 29, 2022

Big tire steel CX or as I like to call it "Drop bar MTB"

This one will squeeze 29x2.1 tires but will most likely spend most of it's life with 700x45 knobbies or 700x38 slicks. This one is going to British Columbia where it is generally pretty wet so it will fit fenders.
The frame is set up for a 31.6 dropper post so it will get some rough riding in. The tubing is Columbus Zona with a Velospec high strength down tube. 

 

Steel single speed CX frame

This one will no doubt see mud. This frame has Paragon sliding dropouts which will not only enable it to be run single speed- the setup can be used for internal geared hubs as well. The extra zip tie guides are for derailleur gears as well. Not much that you can't do with this kind of frame. The dropouts might be about a $ 200 extra but it is like having several frames in one. 


 

WCCX going to Indiana

This 7005 team issue WCCX frame is set up for mechanical shifiting but is adaptable for Di II with a couple of holes that can be added later. This frame is right about 3 lb. 8 oz. light but solid enough for rough competing on any type of track. 
I have started a pretty large batch of aluminum frames that will take me through most of next month. 
In a twist of fate, a frame just like this one will be raced tomorrow at the CX worlds in the junior men's race by none other than Voler/Easton/HRS/Rock Lobster presented by Kochlacs wood rider Dan English. Dan had a great season and qualified for the team as a result of some great results in 2021. I'm looking forward to watching the livestream tomorrow morning and hope to catch a glimpse of Dan racing by on his team color WCCX that I built for him. 
 

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Steel road frame built for direct mount caliper brakes

This is a first for me. I hope they line up properly- they should as I used the fork as a template for my fixture. This is made out of really light Columbus Spirit tubes with a True Temper S-3 pear shaped top tube- yes, I still have a few of these but if you are over 140 lbs. I doubt one will wind up in your frame. This frame was the right size for the S-3 tube and the whole mess weighs well under 4 lbs. 
The color is much richer than how it appears in the photos- I would have liked to photograph it on a nice sunny day outside but we didn't really have the right conditions today.
Just so you all know- you folks who check out this blog.....I have built about 6 frames so far this month and it looks like I'll build about 70 more this year. The list currently has 73 frames on it so that means for the first time ever I have a year fully booked up in January. If you were looking to get a frame the wait could wind up as long as 14 months. Hope that you can be patient if you want one- there's no way for me to speed up at 66 years old and even if I could, I would not want to risk degrading the standard at which I build these frames....if anything I want to keep improving at this craft - there's still time !