Steel gravel frame for bay area junior rider

This color is called "Blue Morpho" and it is wild- changes color depending on how the light hits it. 

Some times its blue, some times copper, some times burgundy. It really has all that and more and does not look garish or distasteful. I am sure this will not be the only frame this color coming out of my shop this year.

 

Re-condition on a road frame set

This one came in with a good sized dent in the chain stay and some rusted cable guides. It is about 15 years old so it was ready for new paint as well. The color is a wild sparkle black and not seeing it in the direct sun is missing out on a really amazing look.

This was originally the whole package- steel frame fork and stem. It got stolen a few years ago but by some sort of a miracle it was recovered and back with the original owner.

 

Fillet brazed ride anywhere 650 frame and fork going to Kansas

This long time customer has moved to a part of the state where long gravel roads abound.

After riding these roads as his daily commute he came up with this formula for a bike that would not only suit the riding , it would fulfill some aesthetic wishes - # 1, fillet brazing. # 2, level top tube. # 3, crowned raked fork with capacity of at least a 2" tire. #4, NOS bits such as the dropouts , skinny tubes and seatstay caps. 

 I had fun building it -I hope he has fun riding it.

New model ? Road racing frame in 7005 with dropped seat stays

The guy who I share my shop with- the one who owns all these nice slabs of locally salvaged wood- requested dropped seat stays. This style is current on a lot of pro-tour bikes. 

Since none of my bikes are in the pro-tour , I'll call this one a 'Bro-tour' team issue replica.......who knows...maybe I'll have to build more of them. Structurally, I'm not 100% confident in the area of the seat tube / seat stay junction holding up as well as a normal design but this customer was willing to roll the dice and be a test pilot. I guess time will tell if it is going to last as long as the more conventional frame design. Fortunately, the aluminum seat tube is pretty stout. I don't think I would do this design in steel as the wall thickness on a steel seat tube is barely .6 mm....... not much there to take the stress.

 It does have a fairly modern sporty look, though....

Rocker single speed/geared steel MTB frame

This one is going to Bismarck, N.D.  ....way up north. The customer asked for no wishbone so that's why it has s-bend seat stays- this is actually a bit lighter than the wishbone.

The customer also asked for the rocker dropouts for the ability to run single speed-this is a nice way to have a bike that does two duties.

And of course, a Jen Green copper headbadge adorns the front of the head tube- always a nice option.
 

WCCX single speed

This is the final frame in the first aluminum batch of the year.This one will have an EBB bout could also do geared with a wireless setup.

I really got in a groove with this batch and tried a different setting n my welder-I like it. Not a big change, just a slightly different heat range that makes the welds just a bit more flowed out. I like the look, even if it does not have any structural advantage.

If you don't see your frame in this batch, don't worry- another batch will be coming up after I spend April catching up on the steel list.
 

7005 road frame for Junior team member

While we don't have a road team, we do have a CX team with a number of talented juniors. The rider of this frame is a real talent , riding elite level races at 14 years old.

This 3 lb.3 oz. road frame will hopefully be a great training tool for him. Some of the tubes are pear shaped NOS Easton Elite. I still have a small stash of these that I use every once in awhile. 

 

7005 WCCX frame going to an east coast team member

 

This isn't just any old team member- this rider is current women's 35-39 national CX champion Clementine Nixon.

She will now have two matching bikes with which to defend her title. This one is early identical to her original except that it has a slightly lighter top tube and a tad larger diameter down tube- this is because these tubes were not what I could get to build her first frame soif she likes # 1, she should really like # 2.

This frame weighs 3 lb. 3 oz.

The legend continues- 7005 WCCX Team frame

This one is going to a rider who is starting his tenth season with the team. He has been on the podium at nearly every nationals he has raced in and has finished on the lead lap in a world cup in Europe.

It has been a great association with this rider over all these years and it continues in this year of 2024.

This frame is the distillation of years of building frames for racers like the one who will be astride this one.Team riders have given me good feedback and have probably  done more to shape my frames than I have......riding at the level they do , they encounter things that at my slower speed I will never have to deal with and hearing about how my bikes handle in these situations is vital to the evolution of my CX bikes.

Each one of this rider's frames have been named. This is the name of the latest one......long story based in eastern European mythology with a taste of my warped sense of humor.
 

You don't see one of these every day.......or ever !

This is a fully rigid all steel tig SL MTB frame for and stem. What really sets it apart is the group of components that the customer had collected for it over the years.

While the hubs and BB are current issue Phil Wood and the headset is a fairly normal King , the drive train and brake parts are anything but normal- this is all Campagnolo. Some of the parts are late '80's Euclid, some are '90's Centaur and there might be a Record OR piece here and there. I really don't know these parts well enough to be definitive on which is which but one thing for sure , they are all Campagnolo.

These parts have never been very popuar so they are super rare. In order to make the whole thing shift properly the mechanic ( Ryan Bontrager ) at the Spokesman cycles had to literally manufacture spacers for the 8 speed cassette. 

Yes, much went into the assembly but it all works and this is a rolling bike unlike any that has come out of my shop. The NOS Mavic rims with the CD finish were the best of their era . Once the toe clips and straps are on, this one will be complete.

 

7005 WCCX frame going to Brooklyn

This one is unique in that it was made around the Enve Adventure fork which has a slightly different spec than the usual G-series fork that I associate with this frame.

Also, the chain stays are 435 mm instead of 430 so that a larger tire can be fitted. 

Another non-stock feature is a third set of bottle mounts under the down tube. This really is a custom build for someone who won't be racing CX.........but they could if they got the bug.
 

Really huge 7005 gravel frame for N.C.

They don't come much bigger than this frame built for a 6'9" rider. I used some of my stash of NOS USA made Easto Elite tubes. In spite of the size of the frame in is just 5 lbs. A steel frame in this size would be closer to 9 lbs.

The frame is set up for a 1X drive train and should be able to take pretty large tires as the chain stays are 45 CM long. A bike of this size needs the length in the stays to keep the front end down.

 

7005 CX frame for a local

I have built two other frames for this customer over the last 30+ years but this is the first gravel frame for him.

After a couple of falls on his road bike he decided that a longer frame with larger tires and disc brakes might be safer. A friend of his offered up most of the parts for the build so he pulled the trigger on this build last year and I am finally building it.

The rider is 6'5" so this is a really tall one. Not too heavy , even at this size-I went with a 44 mm down tube to keep the frame from feeling too twisty. 
 

WCCX frame going to Washington , DC.

I'm starting the first batch of aluminum frames of this year. This one will be pretty big, at least 12 frames.

Most of the frames are CX racing frames, just like this one.The one in the photo weighs 3 lb. 6 oz. When I first started building this model it was not that popular. That has changed and now this WCCX frame represents about 70 % of what I build in aluminum. I'm glad it has finally caught on because it is a frame that came about after building for racers competing at the top level of the sport. Getting input from these riders has elevated my bikes in a big way. With every new season new talent comes into the team and more feedback from those new riders.