Low standover Carter 650 frame in steel

This is maybe the second 650 boost frame I have made with the reverse-curve top tube for more standover. This 5'4" rider has very short legs so I hope that he will feel comfortable and safe on this one. I have to thank fellow builder Steve Garro for the tube and for all the others I have used over the years on low-standover frames .

Another trick to get the frame low is to use an integrated head tube to reduce the stack. This head tube is from Paragon machine works.

The frame will take 650x2.6 " tires , the same that are on my own version of the bike and all the others I have made since I started with this model in 2019. I hope that the rider enjoys riding something a bit larger than his previous 26" wheels.
 

An old frame re-visits the shop

This one is # 34 , probably built in 1986. The tubing is most likely Columbus SLX and the lugs are Haden 'specialist'. I know this as they came with a nice frame decal stating the name. I really miss having a few sets of these lugs around- they were one of my favorite patters. The frame has some pretty odd cable routing, quite a story in itself but hey- it was a custom order after all.

I built this frame in the Trescony street garage before I had a business license. I was a hobby frame builder during the day and a musician at night-I worked a lot back then. The person who ordered this frame wound up getting several frames from me and was one of my earliest sponsored racers. He was a pioneer in single speed MTB racing and I built my first single speed for him in 1987.

Here's a detail of the head tube and below a shot of the seat lug and the diamond plate I made to braze the seat stays on in a fastback configuration. I did not trust just brazing the stays directly to the seat tube without some sort of lug-like re-enfrcement . Seems to have held up fine for the last 36+ years.

 

Steel 29er going to North Dakota

This one is fairly light as the rider is very light but it should be able to take a beating.

The rider opted for Paragon 'rocker' dropouts so that the bike can be run single speed as well as geared. 

The head tube is a Paragon integrated style and gives a sleek look to the front end. This year has had me busy building frames like this- many more than in the past 4-5 years. I guess the steel hard tail is making a comeback but with more modern geometry .
 

7005 rim brake CX WCCX style

This one is going to So-Cal. It is totally unique in that it has features of a WCCX frame but it is built for cantilever brakes and a straight steerer fork. I think this is the only one I have done like this so far.

It has a really nice two stage candy red powdercoat and should be good on the CX course or out on the fire roads of the San Gabriel mountains.

 

Steel rim brake frame and fork

I built this one for a bike industry person. He was very specific about the type of frame he wanted- not my usual build , that is unless you are talking about 15-20 years ago. This bike will take 700x40 tires and yes, those are down tube shifter bosses. 

There are fittings for full fenders and a rear rack. The frame is pretty tall but weighs only 4 lb. 8 oz. 

 

Small steel frame with carbon fork going to Japan

 

It was a real trick getting the standover on this frame but the integrated head tube really helped.

This is about the limit of how small of a frame I can build for 700c wheels and still have it ride well.