The Torch Song
Live music is better than recorded music. It’s a given. Having that connection, where you’re sharing the same space as the artist is a unique experience that can’t be replicated on a plastic disc. To receive the gift from the giver personally is a moment of intimacy not possible if it arrives in a package in the mail. To be able to garner instantaneous gratitude, be it by applause, cheers or a smile is the reward that the artist lives for, else they wouldn’t be there. Showing appreciation for the gift returns the favour in kind. The performance feeds the audience, and vice versa.
Vinyl records hold the same sort of appeal that steel bicycles do; both materials revolutionised their respective industries and held the mantle of the best, the only choice, for decades. Then both were usurped by smaller, lighter composite materials and while the convenience and perceived performance they offered took over on a wholesale scale, a handful of purists held on to their Electric Ladyland limited edition LPs along with their Colnago Masters and Merckx Leaders. Vinyl may have been suddenly deemed cumbersome, inconvenient to use and harder to source, but it still offered a timeless sound quality that just had something about it, something that CDs and MP3s would struggle to achieve.
Same with steel bikes. There’s an indisputable and indescribable feeling that comes in the first few pedal strokes on a steel bike, and like pulling out that dog-eared copy of Hunky Dory, you know exactly what you’ll be getting, and you’re gonna like it. Picking up a hand-built bike from the person who made it is like going down to the studio to grab a signed slab of wax that Nick Cave hands to you himself. Straight to you.
Where the vinyl record remains round, grooved and black, the steel bicycle’s tubes remain round, straight and flat. You can’t improve on what’s proven. What’s perfect. Only the touch of the hand of the artist can make each one unique, where things that are really just simple things (a record, a bicycle) can be themselves set apart by the signatures laid upon them by their creators, curating originality (Jagger, Jaegher). To say it’s pretty special to see your own bicycle being made, your name on the tubes as they come together to be joined forever by the heat of the torch and the deft touch of the electrode, would be a modest assessment. To finally ride it, might be impossible to describe.
The blue light of the torch
This is very exciting. That tig welding is beautiful and she should be a light comfortable ride too. That first ride near Lille will be a great one.
Back in the last century I paid $350 US (!) for a 60 cm lugged steel frame, and when I picked it up from the one man shop, my mind was blown. Rose quartz paint and meticulous decals, I had to just leave it on a table for a day, just to stare at it, before delivering it to the LBS for its campy build.
Those photos are of two bikes being fabricated, yours and a much smaller one.
Now that has to be a pretty cool way of telling us all “Hey my frame is in build” but sending us all insane with jealousy at the same time. Nice one.
Each one of those tubes is the extruded section of a Hendrix, Voodoo Chile 12inch… Can’t wait to meet that bike and it’s makers in person on the KT
About .01% of the cycling population legitimately benefits from the weight savings and stiffness carbon has to offer. Probably less than that, actually.
The rest of us benefit much more from the comfortable ride, the road-soaking properties, the longevity of steel, the handling of a perfect fit.
Carbon sucks for the mere mortal. It sucks for anyone but the superhuman, frankly.
Freds unite around your chosen master, the Asian lay-up mold machine.
“Straight to you”…love it. The frame looks awesome, broheim.
Brett, you refer to MX Leader and the Columbus MXL tubing sings and carves thru corners.
I don’t necessarily agree with David regarding carbon, but I will say that I cherish my handmade steel frame and its ride above all others in my stable. Even my lowly mass produced steel CX bike is preferable to my aluminum or carbon race bikes from a ride enjoyment standpoint. That said, there is a time and a place for all of them.
That is just pure awesome!
Steel is real. “Nuff said.
@Haldy
I’ve tried my hand at some TIG welding….. much damn respect to the man that can lay a bead on that!!!
@VeloSix
We are going one better than TIG welding here…Don will be filet brazing this frame! Going to have super silky smooth and sexy joints.
@Haldy
Mad skills, man. Mad fucking skills!!
Nice to see your frame in progress Brett. It’s the wait for completion the hardest part of a custom frame.
Found a way to test your frame’s strength, maybe on KT?
Try that on carbon! Pic found here
@brett Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Recently saw Sting and Paul Simon live, and to say the words of your article ring true is an understatement. Amazing wordsmiths who tell stories through their music and lyrics.
That frame will be a keeper (pardon the pun) which, if it could talk, will tell many tales.
Keep the photo’s coming, I live vicariously through those pictures.
@David
I love steel bikes but this is bullshit, and sounds borderline racist.
A good carbon bike is both lighter and more comfortable than a steel bike.
But a good steel bike is a beautiful thing, and it’s true that it is easier to get custom steel than custom carbon.
Wow awesome pictures! I’ve never seen a frame being made so that is very interesting. The fit on those tubes around the bottom bracket is very impressive
@Haldy
That is some seriously intense precision on the cuts. Holy bonkers. As soon as I can stop fucking around with the site, I’ll be meeting with Steve Hampsten on a similar subject.
Fuck yeah.
@Brett
I keep thinking this welder is you as I’m dicking around with the photo album layout for the DM Albums replacement.
On that note, when I built DM Albums, there was nothing else like it. Now, embedded photo album plugins are a dime a dozen and I have to say that for $19 and lifetime updates, I’m very happy to pass the responsibility of maintaining that tool on to someone else. (Its MetaSlider, FWIW). Works great, looks great.
@frank
I’ll be seeing Don in a week at NAHBS. Since I’ll be running his booth for him I can put in the word for you and he can make you a sweet frame. :-)
@frank
After all…Don’s team colors are orange and black…
I remember when I had my custom Indy Fab steel 29er deluxe made over a decade ago. Riding that bike was like wearing custom clothing, it literally fit like a glove. After 11 years and a cracked chainstay I retired it. It is not dead, just awaiting resurrection. I miss the ride of that bike, nothing compares to the ride of that frame, nothing. It was like a fine wine, it felt better the older it got, until I broke it. 11 years out of a steel mtb frame is all I gave to say about a custom steel, 11 years of abuse and kept giving
@Bruce Lee
Your name always reminds me of collecting Garbage Pail Kids in elementary school. Sorry in advance.
@Haldy
Oh boy.
Word.
@frank
Just sayin’….I mean..I’ll be in his workshop a week from tonight putting my bike together( and a couple of others) for the show…I can help him pick out the tubeset….
@The Grande Fondue
You’re not hearing me and/or listening to me.
you’re a prime example of the kind of Fred I’m talking about.
@frank
ABOUT FUCKIN TIME! Yee haw!
@David
No, he’s not agreeing with you… different thing.
Nor do I.
I’ve got custom steel and I’ve got high end carbon.
The steel feels and looks lovely and a custom fit is something everyone should do, but steel is also slower, softer and heavier. If you think that only matters to less than .01% of the cycling population then you must live in a very different world.
They’re different things and they each have their place. Denigrating one over the other suggests a lack of understanding.
@Haldy
Ok, I’ve probably missed this somewhere, but what is goin on there my friend?
@ChrisO
Steel, Mid Carbon (#9 Rig) and High End Carbon. Over a couple of years riding all around the same roads I reckon that High End Carbon is .8 to .1.2 kph faster than Mid Carbon and HEC is 1.5 to 2.4 kph faster than steel (some of this will be due to downtube shifters and 5 speed rear mech). This is over a lot of KM (many 1000s) mostly around 80 km rides and longer. The difference of HEC to Mid is most noticeable on climbs. It’s particularly noticeable riding with my normal buddy, on steel sometimes he will beat me (particularly if I don’t get the right gear with downtube shifters), on Mid I can get away but hard work, on HEC I can breeze away from him.
I’m certainly not a young, racing wippersnapper. Be interesting when I get Steel #2 up as that will have 11 Sp so looking forward to finding how that pans out in the scheme of things.
Guys, look at us…bickering…squabbling. We never used to be like this.
Who cares is it’s carbon or steel? It’s a bike, right? And what you like you like, so just go with your own judgement and don’t judge other people’s choices.
@ Brett – thanks for the photos from the operating theater!
Frame is obviously being built by a skilled artist and surgeon.
Your ability to find and remain within the V-Locus will be automatic.
Chapeau!
@ChrisO
This.
Anyone who claims that a carbon bike is uncomfortable “because carbon” hasn’t ridden something like a Cervelo R3 or a BMC SLR, let alone a “comfort-first” bike like the Domane or the Roubaix
It’s amusing that some think that the peak of material science is ovalized steel.
/Fred
Least anyone think I don’t like steel, I think this is the most wonderful TT bike ever.
I near ly fell off my chair fucken laughing, steel bikes are no slower than any other, its the rider that’s slower. maybe you need to visit rule V. LOL.
@The Grande Fondue
You can get a comfortable bike made out many materials, same as you can get an uncomfortable bike – it’s called geometry. The point about this article is about the beauty and wonder of a handmade to measure steel frame, it will probably be lovelier to ride than any off the peg chainstore carbon jobbie. When the possibility of having a handmade carbon-fibre frame is a possibility for us mere mortals, I fully expect similar articles, and we all all express our wonder at that.
@Oli
Hear Hear! Next thing someone will start the helmet debate again . . . Ride what you have. Don’t like it? Try something else.
@Oli
Right. I’m only concerned if it’s steel — really simple.
@wiscot
There was a helmet debate ?? Thought it was a glove debate ?? Toe covers ??
@unversio
You’re just a troublemaker you are. Stirring things up with your talk of toe covers and gloves! Next you’ll be advocating that in hot weather we cut the sleeves off our jerseys, roll up our shorts and wear those no-show socks!
How nice it is that we’ve all settled into the old groove so quickly . . .
People love what they’re familiar with. I started racing on Columbus SLX and had my greatest experiences on SLX. Now I search the world like Sauron trying to find the SLX frame of power.
@wiscot
Honestly I wear black arm covers whenever it is feasible — and 9cm black socks. Another pair that I own are 12cm.
What about a sock debate ?? Apologies to Jaegher…
@unversio
You are Bradley Wiggins, and I claim my free pair of Foster Grants.
@wiscot
Did anyone read where the Prophet endorsed Wiggo to do something at Roubaix this year ??
Beautiful build. Envy and lust do not adequately describe my feelings for your new steed. After a break from the site these are the gems I look forward to coming back to.
Thanks for sharing this with us Brett.
“Cancellara appears more motivated this season and his condition is better than in previous years but Wiggins is one of the riders who I believe can win Paris-Roubiax. The others will have to watch out for Wiggins because he’s a great rider and he used Qatar as preparation. He can’t be overlooked. I think he’s one of the top favourites for Roubaix.”
@markb
It’s called geometry and materials science. Oh, and tyres. But mostly, it’s called psychology.
If you pull the bikes apart, most custom-geometry bikes have a pretty standard geometry. Unless you’re building a truly unique thing (I think one of the Velominati has a disc-brake titanium “do-everything” cross/gravel/road bike?), standard road geometry is a pretty settled thing for the past 50 years.
We all ride frames with 72-73.5deg head angles, similar seat angles, with tubes of a size that’s covered by at least one, if not most, stock frame vendors. That extra money you pay for a custom frame usually buys you a slightly longer head-tube to make up for a spacer or two, but can you honestly tell the nuances?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’d love my own, custom, hand-made steel bike. Because it will be unique, a work of art, because I chose every detail and the colour will be just the way I want it – because of love. We don’t need to justify love with reasoning against empirical evidence.
P.S: Carbon, handmade custom? Can do! Check out Argonaut, Seven, Parlee, Appleman, Guru, etc. The prices are proportional to the difference between stock and custom steel.