Steel gravel frame for Idaho

This is a powdercoat fade- only the second one from this painter and the first three color one at that. A little touch up needed to be done to the dark blue in the back but I think it came out really well for a process that does not lend itself to doing fades. I guess if you are an experienced powdercoat shop ,it is doable. 
 

The frame is paired to a Whiskey # 9 CX fork , the same one I have on one of my race bikes. It has a bit less rake than the Enve and works well with steeper head angles like what is normal on a larger frame such as this one. This bike with be set up with Shimano Di II.

All road in steel with Enve AR fork for Palo Alto, Calif.

 This one is a bit different than my usual. A few months back I got some wishbone seatstays that I had designed from the Merry Sales company who import Tange tubing. These are the official Rock Lobster seat stays and that's how they are sold- my first tube design.....better late than never ! This stout steel frame will take 700x38 tires and should be nice for all the roads that no doubt will be sporting new chuckholes from the winter storms that have finally hit the bay area. The other feature is the UDH. Not sure if this rider will be using the newer SRAM but I guess just in case, might as well have it. The front of the frame is capped off with a King NTS taper headset. 

WCCX frame for Atlanta , Ga.

 This will be the first 'In-Route" WCCX frame for me. There's large holes in the head tube and BB shell to accommodate the rear brake line. I probably should have included a detail photo of how the brake line exits the chain stay- maybe next time. I had to use a PF-30 BB shell to have enough room for the brake line but it should help make the bike easier to set up. I have a feeling I'll be building more of these soon- seems like it is what people want and it does have a very clean look. 

A re-worked oldie comes back to the shop.

This frame was built around 2003. The owner got it off of Craigslist a few years ago and finally got it all restored and back together. Not sure where the original fork went but it rides fine with a Surly replacement fork. As you can see, the new owner didn't skimp on the parts- King hubs, White Ind. cranks, Phil BB-its all the good stuff. He has a Simworks stem on the 1" steerer fork and some really interesting tires. The Flite saddle is a nice nod to the time period when this frame was built. 
 

Ultimundo frame set for San Fransisco

 This one is just waiting for the Chris King anniversary gold headset and seatpost clamp- been waiting a few weeks actually but I hear the parts are coming soon. This one looks amazing in the sun with all sorts of gold flek and tones that shift depending on the light. It really is a color I have not seen on one of my frames until now. I hope that the owner gets it soon and that it gets some real miles. It has been hanging on a hook too long !

Steel all-road frame returns to shop for a tuning

 Yes- I had to use my Park Tool brake boss facer and some elbow grease to get a rear disc brake caliper not to rub - took a bit of time but it's good to go now. I like to show full builds when I can as so few of them are done at the shop- the bulk of them are done by the customers or by shops . 

New model- "Bro-Tour Plus"

Yes- here's a new model that might be filling the gap between road and gravel. I have built many in steel which I call B.T.R.B , or "Big tire road bike" . Most of the original versions had long reach caliper brakes-I had one with S&S couplers that I used for everything from touring to CX racing as a spare pit bike. This aluminum version will not be used for either of those situations . The idea is to have a real road bike that will take up to 7000x38 tires for the generally crappy pavement conditions that we have here in Santa Cruz county.  There's a lot of nice longer climbs that I like to ride here but the downhills for the most part are pothole-filled minefields of jarring misery on 700x28 road tires, even at 70 PSI. Won't it be nice to have bigger tires , disc brakes and lower tire pressure for a change ?  I would say so. This one is for me, the first new road frame I have built for myself in nearly a decade. I'm building it up with all the spare stuff left on the shelves from 2025 and before. I could not do the full in-route system with this style of head tube but that's fine with me- I don't like complicated bike builds and this one is in my comfort zone.
 

Yes, the dropped seat stays are a nod to most of the current pro-tour road frames- is there some advantage to the design ? Hey, if it makes people look, it does not have to have better wind-tunnel numbers.....it's the sizzle, not the steak in this case. Frame weighs in at 3 lb. 1 oz. 

Single speed 29er for Utah

 I'm one seatpost clamp away from being able to send this frame out. It is built for the father of a world class MTB racer -who told me to make the frame stout as his father rides his bikes hard. I think this one should hold up. The rear dropouts are Paragon rockers- right now my preferred type for steel single speed MTB frames. The King headset is in the Navy color- I think that this color has been discontinued so getting one for this frame was fortunate-I give a shout out to Dave and Guy at Chris King precision for the great and thoughtful service they give to small builders such as myself.

Gravel adventure frame and fork for a local

This one has not been picked up yet so after prepping it I snapped a couple of quick photos. This one has in effect five bottle mounts and front and rear rack mounts along with room in the main triangle for frame bags. This should make it a good rig for long expeditions in the wilderness. The schoolbus yellow is one of my favorite all time colors.

 

Fully built all-road bike

The customer for this frame and fork rode by the shop with the completed full bike a couple of weeks ago so I shot some photos. This is one of the first UDH frames I have built that is actually on the road. This dropout is only available on steel frames- as of now, there's no version in aluminum and it does not look like there will be any time soon so for you UDH fans, steel is it. 

This build really shows how a bike like this can be set up to be a daily rider in nearly any conditions. 

 

7005 road frame for Albany, N.Y.

Im well into the winter aluminum batch- this frame being # 3 out of a probable 10 total. I'll be on aluminum for most of February. and back to steel in March. This frame will have Sram E-tap and be mated to an Enve road fork. 
 

Steel Ultimundo road frame for bay area rider

 This one weighs in at 3 lb. 13 oz , pretty light for steel. It has the UDH dropout set from Paragon and is all Columbus Life tubing. This one will be mated to an Enve disc road fork with 50 mm of rake. 

Land Shark painted signature fillet all-road frame for pacific northwest

 Well, that was an adventure. Clear the cache, all hands on deck. Lucky for me, one of my shop mates works on a computer every day and he was able to do what I could not to fix the blog. How long will it stay fixed ? Maybe until the next Apple update......so on we go again .

This frame took a lot of elbow grease but I think the end result is good. The owner sent the frame to John Slawta of Landshark in Medford,  Oregon- he is known for paint work lust like this. I'm just about to install the King headset and BB and box it up. The customer also got a Whiskey 1-1/8" carbon disc fork that will be painted to match the frame. The top lug on the seat tube is one of Ritchey design that I got from the Ed Litton shop sale- I have lots of these so if any of you fellow builders are looking for one, get in touch. I have lots of other frame building stuff that I have gotten from other builders who have folded up shop or have passed on- I must be the last stop for all this unused steel. It's crazy how much stuff that is decades old is still sitting in boxes in shops , not just my shop. I doubt that it will all be used but I'm doing my part to try to either turn the stuff into bikes or move it along to other builders. My shop liquidation- whenever that happens- should be one hell of a mess.