It all began with an Instagram post: “why do I have to be Mr Pink?” Selling my road frame and fork, 74 head angle, 73 seat, 59cm effective top tube. Fits someone 6′ to 6’3″ or so. Frame is all True Temper S3 and has less than 3k miles on it. Paint has some flaws and cracking in it, nothing too bad. Frame clears a 27mm tire, fork a 25mm, could also substitute an Enve fork for better clearance for an upcharge. 1000$ with a King headset OBO, buyer pays shipping. Email me info@falconercycles.com with questions, no direct messages please.”

Sean Talkington from the Cub House facilitated this post, reaching out to Sean Curran, the new owner of this Falconer road bike. What lies beneath is a rolling narrative from Sean Curran about how this project came to be. This bike is around from the same time as Garrett’s Falconer we also featured. Coincidentally, this bike was first on the Radavist during our now-lost Falconer Shop Visit photo gallery…

Act I. Unnecessary Backstory
By the time we moved from Chicago to Maine I had fallen off on riding and my stable consisted of three bikes: 1. A townie Space Horse, 2. A Geekhouse road+/adventure touring 3. A carbon road bike that was way more bike than I needed for the riding I was doing in Chicago and had planned to do in Portland, Maine. So I decided to essentially box the carbon road bike and put it in storage to be dealt with later.

Act II. The “need”
As I settle into Portland I’m starting to do more road rides and the Geekhouse is awesome for touring, some rando stuff and s24s but the full build of the Geekhouse is overkill for most of my mid-week loops and some bigger road rides.

I’m not going to race, and the hills are fairly mild, so the carbon frame is overkill, yet a nice steel road bike would fit nicely as a go-fast alternative to the light tourer.

Plus, I have a full SRAM force 10s groupset and a wheelset sitting on a bike in Chicago. All I need to get a bike up and running is a frame, a new chain, some cabling, and wheels.

So I start looking for frames. All-City makes some good and easy bikes, but I have a hunch for the same price I could find something used and more interesting. Also, I have a history of breaking old frames so I wanted something newer but still steel and well built. So I start looking for some newer dream bikes on the internet. What’s on my radar are mostly Bay Area builders: Hunter, Inglis, Falconer, Frances, Rock Lobster. I’m hoping to find a deal.

Act III. The buy
Basically, after all this hunting, Cameron Falconer posted an old road frame he made for himself for sale. It fit the bill (builder, size, rim brakes, ok-ish clearance). I talked with Cam on fit and got some info from him.

The color is pink and the fork is a wound up, which is probably not the mix I would have chosen, but it was also 60% off buying it new. So… Also because it’s not brand new or custom for me, I don’t feel bad about putting my old parts on it.

I got it sent to the Cub House in San Marino and got it built up as it sits here in the photos.

Act IV. The usage
It’s not going to be my everything bike, but it is going to be a lot of fun for gap-hunting in Vermont and cruising to lighthouses on warm summer mornings. I will surely fly with it again for road riding trips.

Act V. The lessons
1. Road+ bikes are great and really can be someone’s only bike. But as someone who likes bikes, there’s still a place for a straight-up traditional road bike in my life. Not everything is aspirational gravel riding in Iceland. Sometimes you just want to blast around on a light and zippy performer. Road bikes Are still awesome on roads.

2. Attainable luxury. For +/- the same price as a new Mr Pink, or Ritchey Road Logic bike, I was able to get something MUSA. I’m likely not going to run into people who have a Falconer as well up here in Maine, which is rad for me. I also didn’t feel bad about throwing a used group on it. I already have a dream spec’d Geekhouse and I’m totally fine with that. I’m sure that this bike will evolve over the years and if I threw on etap+carbon wheels and a fork that can clear 28mm tires, all of a sudden have a top of the line bike on a platform that is worthy of such a build.

Quality never goes out of style.