Mike’s 29er
Mike has been riding his 26″ wheeled full suspension bike for some time. But in contemplating a new build, he wanted to go with 29″ wheels and big tires on a hardtail. He sent me some photos of his current position; I then made some suggestions which he was able to experiment with using different stems, to make sure I would be designing to the correct fit.
Mike liked the lines of my twin-toptubed bike; I suggested we could achieve a similar look with an ovalised and curved toptube transitioning to curved, tapered seatstays. Having the seatstays flow into the toptube around the seattube not only stiffens and strengthens that area, but also allows for the derailleur cable and brake hose to have direct internal routing from front to back.
The wheels have custom painted Enve logos to match the orange anodised Industry 9 hubs, whilst the drivetrain is SRAM XX1 with Shimano XTR brakes. A Syntace Hi-Flex seatpost adds a little additional saddle comfort, along with the 2.4″ tires. The carbon cockpit is from Loaded Precision.
The finish is wet paint by Colorworks over a base powdercoat by Custom Powderworks. Photography thanks to Tina Buescher.
Additionally I was able to deliver this bike to Mike in person; our mutual friend Tim captured some nice photos of the hand-off. And even better I was able to join Mike for his first ride (he got it muddy!), which was great.
An absolute beauty! Been injured and off of the bike for too long; however, builds like this one motivate me to get back in shape…
One of the most beautiful lines on a bike I’ve seen. Love the curved top.
Rides like this keep my faith in mountain bikes alive!
I’m ordering one on Wednesday! Happy to wait until 2017 for creative engineering like that.