Flat-bar touring 29er........?

Want to go on that dirt tour but don't want to do it on a big heavy boost MTB ? Maybe the gravel bike doesn't take a big enough tire and has drop bars that you might not really need ? Well, here's the solution.

Pretty much a gravel bike tube set but with more tire room and 29er geometry. This should be nice and stable in the dirt loaded up. The frame will be paired with an Enve adventure fork and will have tires in the 43 mm - 2.1 " range. The frame is steel and weighs in at 4 lb. 2 oz. 

I have not built many of these yet but I think that this style of bike is becoming a 'thing' right now. Just how much of a 'thing' has not been established yet.....
 

First batch of CX frames for the season

 One batch of 14 frames down. They are nearly all the WCCX model with a couple of road bikes in there. I am back on steel for a few weeks but there's another batch coming up in July that will probably be as big. I found a local place to do heat treatment this time around and it is saving me a lot of work boxing and shipping. It's a good thing....

7005 CX frame going to the midwest

This one has a level top tube and will be fitted with a steel fork that I will build next week. The formula is kind of retro but the frame and fork will have flat mount disc brakes so it will have up to date stopping power. 

The frame weighs 3 lb. 10 oz. and has my old-style machined head tube that is relieved on the inside and outside. It is an additional step that I no longer have to do when I use the tapered integrated style head tubes so I got to re-live a machine operation I used to do on every frame up until about 5 years ago.

 This one is the last in a batch of 14 aluminum frames. Not many of them made it to the blog but later I'll put up a photo of all of them together before they get sent out for heat treatment. It's an impressive pile of frames.

Steel gravel frame for Ontario , Canada.

The owner of this frame is currently in Calif. but he's relocating to Canada later this summer. Where he will be living there will be endless miles of gravel roads so this is what he chose to bring north.

The frame is mated to a Whiskey # 9 carbon fork that has been painted to match the frame.

 

Steel all-road frame

This copper color has become popular in the last couple of years. It all started when I built two frames for the handbuilt bike show in Sacramento in 2018. The tandem and the MTB frame I built were in a very similar color that is no longer available. This copper is as close as it gets in powdercoat.

This frame is a bit different in that it has an integrated style head tube, very much the same as what I use on my aluminum frames but almost never on steel- but I am starting to use this head tube more often.

The Enve 500 rake G-series fork required a long wait, maybe 5-6 months but it did show up and I had it painted to match. Hopefully soon this frame will be on the road with the new owner next month.
 

7005 criterium frame

This one is a rare one for me- an actual criterium frame. Not meant to be supple and ridden all day, this one is stiff and steep and made for sprinting and hard cornering , the stuff in Nor-Cal racing that really punishes bikes and riders. 

Not a super light frame, this is all about speed and quick handling.

 

WCCX frame going to Del Mar, Calif.

With a painted to match Whiskey # 9 carbon fork, this one really has the look of a team frame.

The owner of this one is an avid racer as is his daughter, who also has one of these frames. 

When I went to the nationals in Illinois last December I was surprised not only to see them but to see the Daughter on the podium !