That Strong feeling .............

Toomanybikes

My new bike frame arrived by Fedex yesterday, direct from Bozeman, Montana.

Once again Carl Strong and his team hit the ball out of the park. Clear out of the park.

To be clear, I could be described as a “Strong junkie”, this bike is my 4th from the Wizard of Bozeman.

I guess if I have bought 4 bikes from the same builder it says one of two things:

I lack imagination, or
The man builds an amazing bike.

I tend to sway toward #2 as being the reason. The first bike Carl ever built for me was - instantly - RIGHT. I knew the minute I turned the pedals. My view is that when I have found someone who knows my likes and dis-likes; nails my fit and turns out a product I like, I am quite happy to go back to the same well.

On top of it Carl and Loretta are just a pleasure to deal with.

I ran into a bit of a time jam with this one as regards delivery but Loretta just quite calmly seems to be able to command the earth to stop turning while she resolves the issue, and she did.

Tremendous thanks to the whole Strong Frames team; especially to Carl and Loretta.

A steel frame, the custom blend, with Nivachrome steel fork. We discussed this point and I was simply not too thrilled with the idea of a carbon fork being packed in an S&S case. Besides, I’m a pretty traditional sort of fellow and just was happier with the idea of a steel fork. So Carl built me a steel fork.

The bike has a chain hanger, pump peg, rear rack mount points and fender eyelets both front and back.

As pictured the bike has tubular 25’s on it and a 28 will probably fit though I can’t see using them. Certainly I can fit a fender with the 25’s though I would probably have to split it for the front.

Everything on my wish list is here, everything. And if it rides half as well as any of the other Strong bikes I have then it will be a flat out winner and leave me with a big smile on my face.

The first “event” this bike is scheduled for is the Gran Fondo Moab on May 1, so if you are there, and you see the bike - say hi to the fat kid on the nice bike.


Build:
NItto seat post
VO stem
Nitto Noodle bars
VO bottle cages
Brooks Swift saddle and Brooks tape
Mavic SSC brakeset
Record compact square taper crank
Chorus Front and Rear Derailleurs
Wipperman chain
Record 10 Speed shifters
American Classic 11-23 cassette
the wheels are Mavic GL330 rims laced to Dura Ace hubs - 32, 3 cross front and back with Wheelsmith double butted spokes
Schwalbe Stelvo tubulars















Now to put lots of miles on it.

Thanks to everyone at Team Strong.

flanners1

Cor yummy, now that is sweet! Well done!

What was the damage to the wallet?

Anonymous

Very nice indeed.

(Would look really mint if it had veloflex tyres with natural sidewall though...)

Stevie2wheels

Absolutely stunning! Best bike I've seen in a while.

flanners1

Just had a lookie at their website

http://www.strongframes.com/frames_&_pricing/road/

Now they are absolutely beautiful bikes! I am lusting............

carl_p

Magnificent. Loving that stem.

EX DH

love those bottle cages! sleek and simple.

Toomanybikes

Thanks all,

Wallet - all in frame/fork/couplers/paint/ etc. in or around $2800.

I've been gathering the parts for a while and scored some very good prices - not sure what I've got in there - the rims - NOS - GL330's - never glued. Found them in a thrift ( second hand) store for $40.

The stem and cages are both from a place called Velo Orange. Velo-Orange.com

Specialize in all sorts of things that a lot of us would love to be able to still get - but the mainline suppliers just won't.

Got the Nitto seatpost and handlebars at Velo Orange as well.

Check it out - neat shop.

And yes, Veloflexes would be nice but the bike is being ridden right now in the Arizona desert - thorns and fine sharp rock chips. When I get it home to BC it will be getting ridden on all sorts of roads just recovering from winter. My experience with veloflexes is although they have a wonderful ride, they don't last long on some of the roads I ride.

Really happy with this bike.

Thanks.

Evil Laugh

Awesome, picked up a nos Columbus nemo frame yesterday with a straight fork. Now I can picture exactly what it's gonna look like built up. Wasn't sure about it but it's gonna look sweet.

Gonna have to get me one of those stems.

Cool bike!

ynyswen24

sweet baby jeezus, it's even got a cup of coffee on the downtube...

ratsbeyfus

The bike looks great - thanks for posting up the pics.

I'm probably being a bit thick, but what are the shiny 'cuffs' on the top and down tubes?

ynyswen24

they're known as S&S Couplings, they mean you can split the bike in half and stick it in a suitcase to transport it.
They can be fitted from new or can, sometimes at least be fitted to existing frames (I think St John Street Cycles in the West Country can do this).

ratsbeyfus

^ Cheers for the info... and wow! What will they think of next? :shock:

Toomanybikes

ratsbeyfus wrote:

^ Cheers for the info... and wow! What will they think of next? :shock:

http://www.sandsmachine.com/

The whole bike fits in an airline legal suitcase - doesn't qualify as oversize or overweight.

The case is 26 " x 26" x 10"

They can go on Steel, Ti, Al or CF frames.


They can be retro-fit on steel and Ti.

CF and Al they need to be part of the initial build.

Toomanybikes

Well,

I'm not normally one who cares much about weight of my bikes but we got a new scale here at home and I was playing around with it this morning.

This bike, with one water bottle ( full) , pedals, frame pump and tool roll - 19.4 pounds.

And don't forget - that "boat anchor" leather Brooks saddle.

Not bad for a steel bike with travel couplers.

calvjones

Lovely ride.