Yutao’s stainless road disc

Shiny! This custom road frame is built from a mixture of Reynolds, Columbus and KVA stainless steel tubing, all polished to a high shine. There is clearance for 32mm tires, thru axle dropouts, flat mount bosses and internal routing for the rear brake hose and Di2 wires.

The Enve road disc fork in front matches the tire clearance, and is mated to the frame with a custom headset that negates the need for an oversize headtube.

Stainless can be a tricky material when it comes to threads, with it’s tendency to gall under tension. A previous stainless stem I built was difficult to tighten securely with a stainless bolt in the stainless threads. That was resolved by using a steel bolt. But it is nicer to use stainless fasteners. So for this one I machined my own stainless binders that have a steel thread brazed in. A single 6mm bolt at the steerer as in my usual style, but for this stem, two 6mm bolts (instead of 5mm) at the bar clamp, which not only secure the bar but also allow attachment of a small custom rack – also built in stainless tubing to match.

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