7005 CX/Gravel frame

 This one could be raced but it is not a CX race bike . It has three bottle mounts and room for slightly bigger tires. The Enve G-series fork was painted to match and the whole thing really has the look of a team bike. The owner's son actually does race on the team and was the one who put the deposit down on this frame - nice gesture !

WCCX frame going to junior team member

This was a rare non-batch build for one of our juniors who just won the junior national road title for the 15-16 year old age group. This puts him on the radar for all sorts of recruiting by major road teams but most of them do not have CX programs. With this being the case, we are throwing our support behind his 2025 UCI and CX nationals schedule. With luck, maybe he will get a decent start grid spot for the nationals and not have to pass 60 riders to get to the podium. He has a shot and this will be one of the frames he uses to give it a go.

 

Steel track frame and fork- really a Path Racer for Washington, DC.

 Track frame with brakes ? The British called this a 'Path racer' in the '50's and I call it that today. This one is really tall- the customer provided the Tange Ultimate and Columbus Max tubes for the build- an interesting blend that actually makes sense for durability, quality and stiffness- which is important in a large frame such as this. The Paragon machine works dropouts were also from the customer. I really hope that he likes what I built for him-I had fun building it.

Ultimundo disc steel frame

 Yes, now with flat mount disc brakes. I don't have an example of this on my website but I have made a few of them. This one is for a bay area local and it weighs in at 3 lb. 15 oz. - not bad for steel. There's some NOS True Temper S-3 and Platinum in the main triangle that I get recently - nice to have the good US stuff again. I only have about a dozen of these top tubes so when they are gone, that will probably be it. 

2025 Made show .......I'm not going.

 That's right- if you were under the impression that I was going to be there  I'm not surprised. The show website says that I will be in booth space # 324 ......but I will not. I did not register for the show and I did not pay for the space.... I guess that bit of information was not taken into consideration when the show management laid out the floor plan. The photo above is of my space from last year. Did I like the show ? Yeah, it was pretty good-I sold out of socks and made contact with two great shops from Japan- Circles and Blue Lug- both shops that I had read about and was very happy when they came by my booth and were introduced. 

So, am I done with bike shows forever ? Not really sure about that but this year no shows for me. I opted for vacations instead and I have had a couple and want to have a couple more before the end of the year. I also want to use the touring bike I built - for a show- and finally go on a bike tour before the tires rot off the rims from being stored so long. Yes- self neglect is a problem when you work for yourself and like your work. I'll miss seeing my friends at the show and will also miss spending time in Portland, a city I had serious thoughts about moving to a bit over 20 years ago. I really had a good time connecting with old friends and the pre-show ride around Portland with the visit to Chris King and Torch and File was the highlight for me. Sitting in a booth at a bike show is mostly a boring affair, at least for me-I had to bring some things from home like my bad music collection on cassettes and my guitar with which I can make my own bad live music. I did have bikes there but only got to ride once- that's the irony about bike shows-it's all about bikes but the riding part seems to be missing for the most part. I did do a lot of walking , though. 

So, if you do go to the show I hope that you enjoy it and that it is even better than last year. You are the reason the shows are worthwhile- there can be lots of cool bikes and talented builders there but if there's no people it's kind of pointless and depressing . Also, just in case you are wondering- I am not going out of business or retiring now- I'm just skipping the show........I think that after all these years and all the shows I am allowed to do that ........

Steel long reach caliper fork.

This one has an axle to crown length of 377 so it will work with a Shimano 650 long road caliper or something like it. I used to build lots of frames and forks with this spec before disc brakes took over. I still think that this style of bike is very useful and a great do-nearly-anything platform. I owned one for almost 20 years and rode everything from a five day bike tour to a couple of laps in a rainy cyclocross race. 
 

Travel gravel # 2 with fork

 This has a lot going on- S&S couplers, fork with triple mounts , rack mounts , fender fittings- it's a long list. The drive train will be GXX mechanical shift 2X  . I don't think a frame and fork like this is available as a stock item. I guess this is why someone would go custom rather than production. There's fit considerations for sure but all the little features add up.

Want to buy my other track bike?

 Bet you have not seen this one- or if you have, it was just as a post on Instagram. I built it for myself right after I sold my track bike. Do I need this one ? Not really, although I really like it. It has all of the NOS NJS bits off my shelf that I have been hoarding for a decade. Now it's not boxes of parts, it is a rideable steel track frame with some NOS True Temper S-3 , 

just like I used for the junior program I helped back about 20 years ago. There's a pair onf NOD Dura Ace large flange track hubs , a Sugino crank with a Tange sealed BB and some Tange aluminum sprint bars. I made the angles a little less upright so that it would behave in the street. The fork has been ridden but not much-it is the fabled Alpha-Q track fork, not something one sees very often. Interested ? are you 5'9'-5'10" it can be yours for $ 2,500. There's no pedals but it has been test ridden and it has a solid quality feel. There's also a new King headset as well - email me if you want more info. 

Travel Gravel for Westport, Ireland

If you take a close look at this one you will see a pair of S&S couplers as this is a travel frame.The person who ordered it is an old friend and he splits his time between Arizona and Ireland so flying is something he does with regularity. He finds that having the bike pack smaller is a big benefit for frequent travel, even if the airlines don't always charge for a full bike box. This one will be mated to an Enve adventure fork.

 

2025 team hats in stock !

 Yes- these are nice . they have an elastic band so if you are med. or lg. they will work. If you are XL they will probably be too tight. I have plenty- they are $ 20 plus shipping and tax. You can order them through my email as they are not on the webstore just yet. I hope to have them on there soon. My email of course is paul@rocklobstercycles.com and you can pay with PayPal or Venmo. 

Really tall CX/Gravel frame in steel for Germany

 Yes, this guy is really tall. I hope that he likes what I built for him. It has full fender braze ons and dropper post routing and is made for 2X gearing if he wants it. There's a lot going on with this frame but you wouldn't know it by looking at it-all  you can see is the hugeness of it !

CX bike built going to Portland, Or.

 One of the rare full builds I have done this year. The bike is set up with Shimano GRX 820 mechanical with 880 wheels. The bars are the new Shimano 'Discovery' gravel bend and should provide some long ride comfort. The tires are Gravel King 700x30 as this bike will be primarily used on the road in the near term. The fork is an Enve G-series painted to match and the stem and post will be Easton EA-70. The saddle and post on the bike are not part of the build and just there for the photo. I rode the bike and everything is working properly but I had a heck of a time with the front brake bleed. It seems fine now but it was a lot of work getting it there. I'll have to look at a few more videos to see some shotrtcuts to getting the job done in a more timely fashion - hard for an old guy to learn new tricks.

Aluminum track frame with steel fork going to Japan

 This one is going to the Blue Lug shop. The satin clear coat makes this one look like it was anodized rather than painted. The frame is very light but it should be really stiff and good for either the velodrome or urban fixed gear riding. The steel fork will accept a brake and it has NOS track ends out of my dwindling collection. The frame is capped off with a Jen Green headbadge.

SSCX in steel goint to Iowa

 There's a new set of Paragon sliding dropouts that are a first for me.  They were a bit more labor intensive than the ones I usually use and they are a bit lighter. Time will tell how they hod up to the rigors of racing as that's what this frame will do. I hope that the owner really likes the ride and fit. The dropouts were a request from this customer and I would not have known they exist without him requesting them . Another unique thing is the custom head tube decal supplied by the customer himself -an actual water-slide decal. I had the painter apply it as it has been decades since I have installed a decal like that. The image is that of a grim-reaper-lobster....sort of. Very original and I didn't really catch onto it until I had seen it a few times.