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Our friends down in Fairfield, Australia at Bastion Cycles pulled together a real treat for us. This “Fall Forest” themed Crossroad frame has been hand-painted to resemble an autumn forest, filled with leaves, flashing colors across the carbon and titanium frame. Read on for all the details and photos below.
Photos by @saltlake_lian
At the UK handbuilt bicycle show in Bristol, this weekend Condor Cycles showed off their new, made in Italy Bivio Odyssey frameset. It is a collab with the Italian clothing brand, PEdALED.
Condor teamed up with PEdALED in 2017 and 2018 with their pro cycling team but at the 11th hour, just before the start of the 2018 Tour of Britain, their key sponsor JLT, gave Condor some bad news they wouldn’t be continuing as they had been taken over unexpectedly, leaving them with a bit of a void. Condor really enjoyed teaming up with PEdAL ED as they are a very relaxed and easy to work with brand, so they decided to make an aluminum frame inspired by the Silk Road Mountain Race they sponsor and newly-launched Odyssey clothing range.
As a throwback to the original Ultra 30 years ago, Ritchey has re-released this 120mm suspension hardtail, with a modern geometry, clearances for either a 27.5”x2.8” or 29”x2.4” tires, and a sleek Sierra grey color. Head to Ritchey for the full geometry specs and your local dealer to check one out.
Light. Stiff. Affordable. Pick all three with the Poggio PR1. See more information on these $2,000 frames at Poggio.
Photos and words by Tom Warmerdam
I saw a Rossin Olympic for the first time in 2016 and was instantly in love. This was a whole new bicycle shaped canvas to play with and I was eager to see what I could come up with. I’d already been exploring lines and slots on my other frames but this new canvas could take that to a whole new level.
I wanted my version to be visually brutal but elegant. So after designing many variations of the webbed plates I sat down and selected my favorite. Then it was time to start. I do all my own work, I don’t outsource anything. So I programmed my old CNC machine and made the plates first. Then the dropouts. I then made a frame to fit and put it all together. I didn’t like how the old Rossin was put together… lots of filler, that’s just not my style. So I brazed in the plates with silver to reduce the chance of heat distortion on the thin-walled tubes. This is a lot more work but also much more satisfying.
But then there was a long pause… partly because I had to focus on my customer’s frames but also because I wanted to use my own fork design based on Max ( I actually based it on Reynolds Speed Stream fork blades as they don’t change shape when you cut them to length) style aero blades. My friend Anna Schwinn had already helped me to translate my 2D drawings and sketches of a fork crown into a usable 3D model (I could not have done this part without her, she was awesome). Then it was a long wait for the molds and castings to be made. They arrived last month so it was time to finally finish it.
Check out more photos of this unique frame below and follow Demon Frameworks on Instagram!
Writing product description takes finesse, yet clearly, Matt from Crust Bikes really enjoyed writing about their newest frameset, the Lightning Bolt:
“The Lightning bolt is a dedicated low trail randonneur frame. Unlike the rest of our frames this one is designed with pavement in mind. Max tire clearance is 650b X 48c. Compatible with both 1X, 2X or even triple chainring set up. Main tubes are made from some pretty thin wall Renoylds 853, which I noticed a bunch of people wanted the Romanceur to be, so here it is. Will it plane I hear you ask? It flexes in such a harmonic resonance, you will think you are surfing Kelly slaters wave pool riding a Mick Mackie flex tail fish, doing the smoothest high lines this side of Derek Hynd at J.Bay, it just planes that good! What am I talking about I hear you ask? Contact Jan Heine to find out, be sure to mention Kelly Slaters wave pool, I mean come on people! How is no one else trying to make a bike ride like a surfboard on an artificial wave?”
See more at Crust Bikes!
These three frames were built by Dario Pegoretti and painted by the Stuttgart State Academy design students. If you see something you like, bid over at Mano Nella Mano. All proceeds will go to a children hospice in Germany.
If you’re looking for a new steel road frameset, check out the latest offering from Fat Chance. These True Temper Slim Chance frames come with a number of configuration options. You can choose a steel fork, or an ENVE, color-matched ENVE stem, and even a color-matched Silca frame pump. You can even select if you want a cabled road groupset or SRAM Red eTap. The pricing starts at $2395 for a frame, fork and King headset, allowing you to tack on options as needed. This pre-order is a limited edition offering, and will close out on November 15th with a end of January 2017 delivery.
There are so many options on the market now for dedicated bikepacking rigs, so I’m glad to see some still being made by smaller companies! Check out more at Tumbleweed Bicycle Co. Nice yoke, Anna!
Photo by Kyle Kelley
Since reviewing the Speedvagen OG1, I really wanted to own one, but as a frame. As of now, if you recall, the OG1 only comes as a complete. Yet after a few emails, I was able to finagle one out of the Vanilla Workshop and two weeks later, it arrived. Not sure if this will be something Vanilla offers in the future, yet their comment on Instagram leads me to believe it might be an option in 2017. Or you could holler at them and beg like I did.
The guys at Golden Saddle will be building this up in the next week, with SRAM Rival and some Chris King special bits…
VYNL made a splash with its made in the USA aluminum road bikes last year and now, they’re ready for dirt. These new CX frames are made by Frank the Welder from 7005 butted aluminum, feature a threaded BB, 135mm rear spacing, thru axles, 44mm head tube, and fit 40mm tires. You also have an option to include a ENVE Disc CX Fork, and can chose from six colors. For more information and to put down a deposit, head to VYNL. If you’re a local dealer, leave your information in the comments.
With the world of ‘cross bikes taken almost completely over by 44mm head tubes, oversized tubing and thru-axles, it’s nice seeing a 1 1/8″ steel fork, 135mm option out there, made from Columbus Zona. Factory Five’s new ‘cross frames are looking good and they only cost $525 USD for a frameset. They’ve got a few sizes in stock now, so head over to check them out.
Dutch artist, Piet Parra has teamed up with Sander and Jan from Colossi to paint a limited run of classic Columbus SL tubed road frames. These frames are available only as a custom geometry and are priced for a price of $1,365. Head over to Parra’s site for more photos and information.
You can never have too many options for a steel disc ‘cross frameset in my opinion, especially when they come in affordable completes like the new Brother Cycles Kepler. Head over to Brother Cycles for more information!
While Chris Chance and Fat City might be known best for their MTB, segmented forks and revolutionizing the tig-welding process for frame building, they also had a very successful road bike, dubbed the Slim Chance 2.0. Well, with the relaunch of the brand and its hardtail MTBs, Fat City has just announces their new Slim Chance frames… Check out these details and head over to Fat Chance to see more!
-Available as a frame, ENVE carbon fork and Chris King headset package for $2295.
-Segmented steel Yo Road Fork will be available as an option in the coming weeks.
-Painted stem upgrade options; Carbon (ENVE) for $355, Alloy for $250.
-Choice of mechanical or electronic shifting options at no extra charge.
-4 colors inspired some of our favorite Slim’s from the past; Blue, Pearl White, Pale Yellow and Red.
-Framesets ship in 4-6 weeks, complete bikes in 6-8 weeks.
This project came out great! Check out all the information in the video above, more details and photos below and ordering information at Affinity!
(models shown are pre-production prototypes from 2015 NAHBS – changes were made to production models)
Fat Chance has a few extra frames from the 2015 pre-order up for sale with large / xlarge sizing in the 29’r and medium in the 27.5. Unfortunately there are no rigid forks in stock, but all the colors are available for now. Price is $1,699 and frames will ship mid February once the Kickstarter and pre-order frames are shipped. Head to Fat Chance now to see the 29’r and 27.5 hardtails.
The FBM Sword track frame is back this year and ready for pre-order. Available in clear, trans red or raw, with sizing from 48cm – 58cm and now with integrated headset cups as a standard option. The Sword is made in the USA by the same guys who make FBM BMX frames, so it’ll take a thrashing. Head over to FBM now for more information.
