Yeesh huh?! My sincerest apologies if you weren't sitting down for that shit. Everyone who's seen it thus far kinda has had the same super confused skid mark inducing look of amusement and shock. Which has been AWESOME to witness over and over again!
More snaps on
my Flickr page..
Specs:
Frame: Old low end 80's Brigestone and a gas pipe Peugeot
Fork: Extended IRO
Sram Apex 10 Speed Group
HED3 wheels with Gatorskin Tubulars
Thomson Seat post and Stem
Easton EA50 drops
Fizik Saddle and Wrap
Nitto Spare Tubular carrier
Aherne Whisky Flask holder (It's the winter after all)
My very favorite cage pedals from Nashbar xD
Wow I don't even really know where to start with discussing this build.. It really took a fuck load out of me to get it done, pretty much the whole summer. This is the first freak bike frame I've built where a large portion of it is brazed. Having never brazed before, it certainly was a challenge and HUGE learning experience. It's also the first frame I've really spent a whole shitload of time filing, cleaning and finishing up. That def took a really long fucking while. As you can see from the geo there's just about no standard angles going on with this frame. Every single tube was mitered and fit into place. As opposed to the standard freak bike mantra of using a piece of completed frame here and there. The only thing that I didn't modify was the bottom stay off the BB. So yeah, it was a fucking PITA to get everything lined up and angled as right as I could get it. Def had a hard time with the rear stays since my heat control is not quite up to par yet..
There most certainly are a bunch of mistakes here and there which you might pick up from some of the photos. Paint being the biggest. Fucking place I got the custom paint from told me the paint was a newer 'better' version since last time I was there. Which was BS since man, it was just THE WORST. I'm sure this had something to do with being used in a rattlecan instead of a sprayer. Man I really need to get one of those set-ups going one of these days. Powder coating too! Anyways, didn't help that the paint was glossy as well. I fucking HATE working with gloss! It just never turns out that good no matter how careful you are. Matte really is the way to go..
So yeah, I spent all this time cleaning and finishing the frame up all smooth and even only to have the paint come out like fucking crap. Making matters worse is that I had to add the front derailleur bridge to the frame AFTER I painted it. I was afraid I'd need to place it somewhere else but I wasn't sure til I had it built. I would've done a prebuild but once again I found myself out of time wanting to make it down to the Philly Bike Expo a couple months back. Fucking worst part is that the rattlecan ran empty and all I had was a little jar of extra paint the guy had mixed up. I shook my head in frustration, said FUCK IT and just brushed it on. So yeah, it looks like fucking garbage but whatever. I'm over it. I can always respray it if I want..
Having said all that BS, the thing is nothing short of a FUCKING BLAST to ride! Super fast, stiff and responsive. Totally gives a nice stable ride. At a hair over 28 lbs it could be lighter. Tho that's the pedals, acc and Sram Apex adding the extra grams. I could easily save like half a pound if I swapped out the rear cassette alone! Fucking thing is MASSIVE. I went with Apex because A) I really wanted to give Sram 10 a try and B) I dug the idea of having a lighter compact double group that has a triple range of gears, instead of an actual triple. So yeah, I'll gladly take versatility over weight savings. I really have to say tho, I'm fucken digging on it big time! I went for a nice 20 mile ride around my area, hit some killer hills and was able to climb everything no problem. Fucken stoked!
One of my favorite, and super fucking dorky, moments came when I was leaving
The Cosmic Wheel in Ridgefield Park NJ during a ride. I hopped on my valiant steed and made my way to the intersection. The light was about to change so I gunned it shifting as I went. I LOVE the sound of shifting hard on HED3s. It makes this loud hollow sounding DUNK, DUNK, DUNK sound. As this is all happening and I'm approaching/flying through the intersection, I notice this guy pull up in the opposite direction on what looked like a department store bought hybrid MTB thing. He stopped for the light and had this big grin on his face like he just bought it and was super stoked on his first ride. Then he hears my drive train shifting and looks up at me as I'm screaming by. The look on his face went from child like jubilance to utterly shattered in a heartbeat. It was kinda like watching those
reaction videos of people watching two girls, one cup- SO HILARIOUS! I kinda felt bad but I totally lulzed my ass off anyways, hehe..
All in all this was a MAJOR fucking learning experience. I made a lot of mistakes but what it comes down to is that for someone who has zero formal training with this sort of thing, it's def not a bad effort and I'm not going to let myself get down on it's various pitfalls. Especially considering the fact that, and I'm TOTALLY patting myself on the back about this, is that the design of this thing is really WAY the fuck out there! I mean, I've never seen anything remotely like it. Which is something I'm super, super fucking stoked on since it's what I'm most interested in exploring when it comes to frame building. I'm really looking forward to building more of these frames in the future. I already have the next one in mind! Hopefully one day someone out there will grow some balls and have me make them one, hehe- pussies!
Yet another HUGEMONGOUS THANKS TO
BENZ AGAINZ! More mini tall builds to come so WATCH THE FUCK OUT!!
