Demon Frameworks

jonnyboy666

thought you guys may be interested in this, i'm usually a poster over on Retrobike but i recently had a new frame built, well, i actually haven't picked it up yet but i have some pics, it's probably easier to just link to retrobike so i'll do that.

it's a hardtail, designed for 100mm fork, will be built with royce/hope/xtr/thomson etc, should be pretty nice when done.

this thread has the story of my choices for the build and how i came to choose Tom to build it but the pictures are from page 6 onwards although there are some examples of his work earlier on in the thread

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=

benpinnick

Do you own a morgan car by any chance?

jonnyboy666

nope! just a few too many bikes and a van, and a motorbike and more bikes :oops:

70\ʹspenguin

Lug-tastic!

That is beautiful frame-workmanship. Those drop outs are insane!

Jomox

70\'sPenguin wrote:

Lug-tastic!

That is beautiful frame-workmanship. Those drop outs are insane!

+1 Love it.

allthegearnoidea

That is purely Stunning! but really, you cant leave a bike like that on a thread like this without Many Many pictures!!!!

cat_with_no_tail

That is a particularly spectacular looking frame. Sorry if I missed it in your other thread, but do you have a spec list in mind for it, or is that still top secret?

jonnyboy666

thanks for the positive comments guys

currently the bike is almost built, i've hit a small snag with threading the braided hose through the frame as it fitted before the copper plating but doesn't now, i think it's just a build up of copper inside the guide tube as the the copper plating is done by dipping the frame so it's gets inside aswel. should be sorted though soon.

spec is, current xtr gearset, silver thomson post/stem/seatclamp, easton bar, hope b/b and brakes and qr's, rockshox reba fork, royce racing gold hubs, mavic 217 sunset rims, wtb saddle, uberbike grips, maxxis high roller xc tyres. think that's it! oh and i got some really cool bolts from ebay, titanium but anodized like a rainbow! they match the sunset rims really well.

i can't post pics here currently, mainly because i'm new to the forum and haven't sussed it yet but also because i haven't got the pics hosted anywhere but i can add them easily on Retrobike which is where i post most anyway, the latest pic on there is the bike as a rolling chassis.

i'm so pleased with it, the pics don't do the detail justice at all. a friend who is a photographer is gonna take some professional pics after the NEC show while it still looks mint so i have to hold off riding it! how frustrating is that??!!

70\ʹspenguin

It seems a shame to put modern components onto it. Personally id go with Magura forks as their crowns are a little more ornate and have that lugged look.

jonnyboy666

i know what you mean, i really wish modern xtr looked like m900, mainly the rear mech as i think the m900 xtr rear mech is the nicest that shimano have ever done.

regards forks i am a rock shox fan, for so many reasons, not that the magura isn't good but just not for me.

initially i was gonna do the whole brit build as much as possible, middleburn etc, but in the end i decided xtr as a gearset was a better look than different manufacturers and finishes.

one thing i would dearly love is that Cliff at Royce would do a headset, i'd lose the King for Royce designed and made headset in a flash. i did ask him when i picked up the hubs and got the answer "yes we should really do a headset" so there is hope!

leaflite

Looks great, but I think its a shame that there arent matching silver lugs around the bb and ST/TT/SS junction that I can see in the pictures.
Apart from that, it looks like its going to be a great build

jonnyboy666

Tom can do more lug work in those areas but it all comes down to costs really, the time taken to make those lugs in stainless costs a fortune. quite often he will make or modify lugs on his track and road frames but the reason the b/b is not lugged here is because the chainstay yoke is fully cnc machined behind it, also the seat stay assembly could have been lugged but it wouldn't have been right for the square seatstays.

Tom has a great imagination, occasionally i'd get a phone call asking questions, would i mind if he did this, could i check what he's doing etc, he wanted to make sure i liked the frame. the only guidance i gave him initially was the geometry because i knew exactly what i wanted there, then there were some practical things like cable routing and b/b and headset sizes, it turned out we agreed on those things anyway, after that i told him the style of riding it was gonna be used for, so the design and look was totally left to him.

at on point i got a phone call saying i really need your input on something, so i went over expecting something worrying and he showed me the first part of the chainstay, he said "feel inside there", inside the chainstay tube (before brazing to the frame) he said "it's too rough, i don't like it", could he use a different tube? i thought to myself what is he worried about it's on the inside of the frame! but he wouldn't use it, it wasn't perfect enough, and that's in a place where no one will ever see it, feel it or even know it's there, attention to detail like no one i have ever met before.

allthegearnoidea

WOW! Now That's attention to detail!
Such an awesome frame,

Images wise, if you use something like photobucket, upload pictures, copy image link [IMG]and paste in the reply here and Bingo! :-D ;-)[/img]

leaflite

jonnyboy666 wrote:

Tom can do more lug work in those areas but it all comes down to costs really, the time taken to make those lugs in stainless costs a fortune. quite often he will make or modify lugs on his track and road frames but the reason the b/b is not lugged here is because the chainstay yoke is fully cnc machined behind it, also the seat stay assembly could have been lugged but it wouldn't have been right for the square seatstays.

Tom has a great imagination, occasionally i'd get a phone call asking questions, would i mind if he did this, could i check what he's doing etc, he wanted to make sure i liked the frame. the only guidance i gave him initially was the geometry because i knew exactly what i wanted there, then there were some practical things like cable routing and b/b and headset sizes, it turned out we agreed on those things anyway, after that i told him the style of riding it was gonna be used for, so the design and look was totally left to him.

at on point i got a phone call saying i really need your input on something, so i went over expecting something worrying and he showed me the first part of the chainstay, he said "feel inside there", inside the chainstay tube (before brazing to the frame) he said "it's too rough, i don't like it", could he use a different tube? i thought to myself what is he worried about it's on the inside of the frame! but he wouldn't use it, it wasn't perfect enough, and that's in a place where no one will ever see it, feel it or even know it's there, attention to detail like no one i have ever met before.

Ah, ok

It definately is a frame of the highest quality. I want

jonnyboy666

a little update, the bike had it's photoshoot yesterday, i hope this image code link works, i have never used them before!

jonnyboy666

ooh it worked, aren't i a genius?!! seriously i suck with technology!!

cat_with_no_tail

Good lordy, that is a very classy looking bike there.

Someone's bent your seatpost though, I'd send that back

DodgeT

Wow, that is nice. Don't scratch it !

allthegearnoidea

That's Stunning!
Love the way the Bike has a photoshoot! Hehe!
Cracking pictures, such a lovely bike!

mrmonkfinger

That's really rather nice.

emseens

that frame looks awesome
but, modern xtr and that fork doesn't look right, need to find some old xtr and old sid

emseens

I have a bit of rethink, you can put modern parts as well, but with a retro feel, like sram xx drive train, middleburn or thune cranks

The Rookie

That is simply stunning to look at, not sure I'd want to RIDE it after looking at it!

jairaj

very very nice looking frame but I'd be scared to ride it in case I got the slightest blemish on it.

leaflite

Looks great!

I think that you need to find some less modern looking cranks though. Old XTR, middleburn, tune or possibly rotor would be perfect.

jonnyboy666

hmm, i have posted about this build on a couple of different forums, mostly the comments are "stunning" etc, (thanks by the way!) other comments have been mainly about the spec choices i have made and people not agreeing with them, and that's fine, i couldn't possibly keep everyone on the internet happy that said i spent a long time deciding on the spec

reasons for my choices,

fork, i much prefer rockshox, mainly because i feel they last so much longer than others and i like the adjustments and the handlebar lock out

gears, xtr or xx? sorry to some but i am an xtr guy! i know this is a long winded argument that always gets done to death but it's defo xtr for me!! regarding the chainset, i originally thought about having alot of british parts on the bike (middleburn etc) but i decided a matching gearset would look better than several different brands and therefore several different finishes. also i wanted 10 speed compatibility with no issues so using older parts i felt was a no no (but if current xtr looked like m900 xtr i'd be a lot happier!)

wheels, i am retro at heart but appreciate modern bikes for their versatility, i had the mavic 217 sunset rims, they were waiting for a special project, i decided to use them because i thought the finish was cool and i don't actually like disc rims, the rim braking surface will never be used and as such will always look new, it's like a rim strip decal on a motorbike to me. i have several other disc equipped bikes and i run them like this although they have black 517 rims. hub wise it was gonna be Royce purely as i change from Hope, but then i did a load of overtime and went for the super bling hubs! i stuck to double butted silver spokes, because black is boring, and standard nipples because i didn't want to muck about with alloy nipples and the hassle of them down the line!

finishing kit, thomson stuff is bombproof, have always liked it, never had silver before, wish they did a bar themselves that matched the silver stem but i like easton bars so that worked out anyway.

the brakes are Hope mini mono from acouple of years ago that i got done fully silver from hope (except the bore caps) they were from my previous bike and i love them! brakes are another love hate thing at the mo, but as with my other choices you'll notice i choose stuff for long term reasons and i can get every part for these i will ever need for a long time to come which is not the case with alot of brakes these days, and they have plenty of power in them for xc riding which is what the bike is gonna be for.

hope that answers some questions for you guys, the thought process for all of this was in my original thread on retrobike which is in the original post, if you're thinking of any custom bike it's worth a read as people helped with some really good links to stuff as well as good advice.

allthegearnoidea

Fella, no need to justify Why you put those parts on your bike, Crickey, its your bike to do with how you want!
If we all had to conform to the expetcations of others we'd all ride specialized bikes with maxxiss tyres ;-) individuality is what makes bikes, your is simply a Stunning piece of bicycle art and a beautiful bike!
Top drawe stuff and for that and Your choices, I salute you! With the uppermost enviousness! ;-) :-D

jonnyboy666

cheers for that,

wasn't so much a justification thing though, since i have been posting on forums, a couple of years now, i have found that people don't always understand the "why", it's easy to do it in person as conversations are so quick by comparison with forum posting as well as people not always getting the "tone" of a conversation, so i figured it is easier to explain the choices up front rather than try and defend my choices

but obviously this bike cost me alot of overtime and i am going to spec it to suit me, my trails, my tastes and my riding style and for me it does that spot on

stubs

Sweet I bet the bill was a bit special as well though. Would love to do a frame building course and build my own custom frame.

stayhigh65

looks real nice, very classy and like the details where the tubes meet.

Out of curiousity where did you get the blue rotor bolts from?

hopper1

Lovin' that frame, and the detail, like the bosses under the down tube (Crud Guard?).
Are the Ti bolts form China, via ebay?
Where did you get the anodised cable outer ferrules from?