A
Ant
Guest
I'm working on building a frame or two this spring, and while i do my hours with the TIG welded
brushing my skills up, ive been spending my freetime ogling paint colors and fantasizing about the
bike-to-be..
but what bike should i build? i keep hearing custom bike stories about how, fitted correctly, they
are the 'best thing that ever happened in my entire life, bar none' etc.
so how would i know what i want? i want this bike to be a cruising around town at low speeds and
enjoying myself bike. i plan to gear it low, fixed, and never really plan to do anything quickly.
right now, i have two bikes i ride regularly. one is a surly crosscheck which is a joy to ride. it
handles beautifully, trackstands with the greatest of ease, and doesnt do anything surprising. my
other bike, an ancient touring frame, is twitchy at low speeds, awful for trackstands, and just isnt
fun the way the surly
is. i also appreciate the high BB on the surly which makes it all but impossible with clipless and
165 cranks to hit a pedal. silly as it sounds, the ability to be stable in a trackstand is
important to me. what makes the two bikes so different? and waht should i take from this in how
i design the new frame?
in designing my frame, the first thought i had was to make a generic road frame. then i thought i
should just copy the surly, as i love it dearly. now im wondering if a track bike would have the
same things i love in the surly, but perhaps better for twitchy low speed handling, and playing?
any thoughts? as i have this opportunity to make myself a 'custom' bike, it seems like i should be
doing some sort of customization.. but my surly doesnt have a thing i dont like about it. the top
tube is the right length. i like how long my stem is. i like how it handles. i like the bb height. i
like the toe/wheel clearance. i like the trail. if i base a new frame on the surly, what shoudl i
think about modifying, if anything? how do custom builders decide how to make a bike, or is
everything proportional and the 'custom' only comes in in a finely incremented build proportional to
the rider's size?
thanks, anthony
brushing my skills up, ive been spending my freetime ogling paint colors and fantasizing about the
bike-to-be..
but what bike should i build? i keep hearing custom bike stories about how, fitted correctly, they
are the 'best thing that ever happened in my entire life, bar none' etc.
so how would i know what i want? i want this bike to be a cruising around town at low speeds and
enjoying myself bike. i plan to gear it low, fixed, and never really plan to do anything quickly.
right now, i have two bikes i ride regularly. one is a surly crosscheck which is a joy to ride. it
handles beautifully, trackstands with the greatest of ease, and doesnt do anything surprising. my
other bike, an ancient touring frame, is twitchy at low speeds, awful for trackstands, and just isnt
fun the way the surly
is. i also appreciate the high BB on the surly which makes it all but impossible with clipless and
165 cranks to hit a pedal. silly as it sounds, the ability to be stable in a trackstand is
important to me. what makes the two bikes so different? and waht should i take from this in how
i design the new frame?
in designing my frame, the first thought i had was to make a generic road frame. then i thought i
should just copy the surly, as i love it dearly. now im wondering if a track bike would have the
same things i love in the surly, but perhaps better for twitchy low speed handling, and playing?
any thoughts? as i have this opportunity to make myself a 'custom' bike, it seems like i should be
doing some sort of customization.. but my surly doesnt have a thing i dont like about it. the top
tube is the right length. i like how long my stem is. i like how it handles. i like the bb height. i
like the toe/wheel clearance. i like the trail. if i base a new frame on the surly, what shoudl i
think about modifying, if anything? how do custom builders decide how to make a bike, or is
everything proportional and the 'custom' only comes in in a finely incremented build proportional to
the rider's size?
thanks, anthony