Ron - done

29 with clearance for 27.5+ seems to be all the rage these days. Fun way to have 2 bikes in one (though IMO the 27.5x3, 29x2, 26x4 bike is the way to go if you really want the Swiss army knife effect!)

This one is an all-arounder with Rohloff capabilities as well as the usual stealth dropper, loads of tire clearance, etc.

Still all fluxy

I can't resist putting curved bridges on these bikes with big tire clearance...

Random photos for Ron

29/27.5+ with Rohloff/SS/geared capabilities, fun times.

Cleaned up and vented for DT welding-in

Fluxy

Like a boss

Front end

Toptube oxide rainbows

29+ and full suspension - BRAAP

Yes, correct saddle height. I'm a freak.

A few days ago I posted a quick picture of the bike I'm calling "BRAAP". I'll let you decide if that's an acronym, and if so, what it stands for (Big Rowdy Alces Alces Proletarian?) But I can say that taken as a whole, it stands for super, super fun. And yes, full custom full suspension frames are now officially available (priced the same as the Ventana/WW configuration for now at $2500 w/shock), drop me a line for details.

First, the basics. Here's the bike:

BRAAP!

The executive summary here: modern XC geometry, 100mm travel, lots of standover, pretty darn short stays, pretty darn low BB. Designed to just *barely* allow the use of a Thomson dropper post with the saddle clamped at full ~28 degree downward tilt.

I wanted a long-day go-anywhere bike that would be fun for exploring rough/undeveloped trails, as well as snappy and responsive enough to be fun on a lunch ride. It's built super beefy (all Supertherm all the time!) because 1) I wanted to be able to loan it out to buddies/customers without worrying about how big they were, and 2) I crash. Sometimes hard. There's also the fact that honestly, being a weight weenie about a 3" tire bike when you're approaching 40 and have 2 small kids is ridiculous. If I wanted to be faster I'd drink less beer and ride more. The complete bike weighs about 28 pounds with fairly nice but not crazy parts.

And, I'll be blunt: I got what I was going for. And then some (with some inevitable tradeoffs, of course). This is my favorite full suspension bike ever, and I must have owned 30 or so by now.

Loads of Chupacabra clearance

I'll do another post next week for those folks who are interested about the nitty-gritty of the swingarm and seatstays. Suffice to say for now that they're a mixture of straight-gauge 4130 and 304 stainless (for bearing fittings) along with a LOT of probably unnecessary work to attach everything to the dropouts (I'll use rockers next time and for customer bikes - much simpler/lighter/cleaner).

So, how does it ride?

In a word, it's like having a short-travel DH bike on the downhill, and a really capable (albeit not all that light) XC bike on the climbs. It has insane gobs of traction in even the worst off camber gravel type situations. It wheelies and manuals and pops around really nicely (though not as nicely as Stupidmobile, since that bike has a wheelbase that's almost 3" shorter!) It's extremely capable on steep terrain going up or down - no wander on slow techy climbs, tons of confidence on steep roll-ins and rough fast descents.

There are tradeoffs, of course:
-3" tires are pretty slow going uphill unless the terrain is really rough. You won't be getting any Strava PRs on your local dirt road climb on this bike.
-I wanted a very low bb, because I love how low bb bikes ride. In technical stuff when pedaling, pedal strikes can be pretty frequent (and potentially dangerous if you're going fast!)
-They are intact so far, but the bike demands to be ridden really fast on rough gnar, and I'm guessing I'll eventually shred my probably too-light Chupacabra tires.
-Chupacabras (and 100mm travel) aren't great for going off big drops or hitting big jumps at the bike park. To be fair, though, this bike was never intended to be a full-on DH sled and doesn't have the travel or geometry to be ridden that way.

Curved bridge next time!

Some people will also find the combination of larger tires and suspension to be just too much damping out of trail feedback - the ride can feel "numb" on smoother sections of trail and while you might be going really fast - in some cases it actually doesn't feel very fun because the bike is doing so much of the work. That's a line that everyone has to find for themselves, though, and on the trails I tend to like best (rough XC) this bike is perfect.

I'm pretty excited about this bike, not just because it's a blast to ride, but also because I can now do really fun and weird stuff with full suspension bikes (FS fatbike? FS 29er with 400mm chainstays? Super low/high/long/short/fat/whatever? All doable) and let the geek flag fly. Not everyone is going to prefer 29+ (or even fit on it) but that's the nice thing here - I can do 27.5+, 26+, 24" fatbike, 20", mixed wheel sizes... anything.

I'm not about to stop riding Stupidmobile (currently set up as a rigid singlespeed with, natch, a Chupacabra on the front) since Park City has a metric ton of trails that are way too smooth for any form of suspension at all. But when I wander into the shop, this is the bike I usually grab.

Laramie Enduro!

Nice job, Andy and Mike! And thanks to Mike's wife, I'm guessing, for the pictures!

RAL 5015...

Happy Jack, I think.

GDR-ready

I don't know if Mark is actually doing the GDR, but this is the sort of bike I'd use if I was. 29+, Rohloff, rigid but with a lot of front end cush - not much to go wrong but about as much passive suspension and comfort as you can get.

Day in the woods?

2 weeks in the woods!

3" tires? 425mm chainstays?

There are some caveats, but man this thing is going to be fun when it's done! And no, that swingarm won't be attached to this frame. I just bolted it up to play around and give it a little night ride test.

2001 LX cranks are still awesome. Cable guides? Who needs cable guides?

I love my job...

Backyard dual slalom

Gal's FR 29er

Sorry, I meant "enduro"

MUNI!

Another ~400 or so reasons to come visit and build a frame...

Dream build 2015!

Feel free to criticize my choices in the comments!

2015 Dream Build
$5700 geared
$5100 singlespeed
$6700 full suspension

Frame	Waltworks Custom
Fork	Rockshox Pike
Headset	King
Stem	Thomson X4
Handlebar	Enve DH or XC
Shifters	XX1
Rear derailleur	XX1
Chain	XX1
Cassette	XX1
Crankset	XX1
Cables/housing	Included
Seatpost	Thomson Masterpiece or Easton EC90
Brakes	SRAM Guide RSC
Skewers	Inlcuded
Wheelset	DT 240 hubs/NOX rims, any axle configuration/size/rim or Notubes Valor
RimStrips	Included
Tires	Bontrager XR series Team issue
Grips/tape	WCS
Saddle	None

2015 Build Kits: Dirtbags rejoice!

Everything good enough to ride like you mean it, but nothing blingy. Monday: Dream Build!

2015 Dirtbag Build: No pedals, no saddle, shipping not included. If you already have some parts you want to use you're not obligated to buy the full kit, as always.

Geared: $2900
Singlespeed: $2700
Full squish: $3900

Frame	Waltworks Custom
Fork	X Fusion Slide or Velvet
Shock	None/hardtail
Headset	Cane Creek 40
Stem	Kalloy Ultralite
Handlebar	Truvativ aluminum flat
Brake levers	FR-5
Shifters	GX
Front derailleur	None
Rear derailleur	GX
Bottom Bracket	w/cranks
Chain	GX
Cassette	GX 10-42
Crankset	GX w/BB and 32t ring
Pedals	None
Cables/housing	Included
Seatpost	Kalloy
Brakes	Avid BB-7
Skewers	Included w/wheels
Wheelset	ZTR Crest/Arch/Flow
RimStrips	Included
Tubes	None
Tires	Maxxis Ignitor folding
Grips/tape	WCS
Saddle	None

What you've all been waiting for... 2015 build kits: Smart Money

Hey, 2015 is... more than half over. And I finally got around to doing a new set of build kits.

Here's this year's "Smart" money kit. Notes: no pedals or saddle, shipping not included. GX cranks may be unappealing to some, but you're better off spending that money elsewhere IMO. Front derailleurs are still dead.


Smart Money 2015:

$3600 geared

$3200 singlespeed

$4600 full squish

Replace that old-school rigid post with a Thomson dropper for an extra $200!

Frame	Waltworks Custom
Fork	Rockshox Reba
Headset	King
Stem	Thomson X4
Handlebar	Easton EC70
Shifters	X1 trigger
Front derailleur	None
Rear derailleur	X1
Bottom Bracket	w/cranks
Chain	X1
Cassette	X1 10-42
Crankset	SRAM GX w/32t ring and BB
Pedals	None
Cables/housing	Included w/shifter
Seatpost	Thomson Elite
Brakes	Shimano XT w/160mm rotors
Skewers	Included
Wheelset	ZTR Crest/Arch/Flow wheelset w/XD driver
RimStrips	Included
Tubes	None, tubeless!
Tires	Bontrager XR team series TLR (I like the XR2 for all-around fun)
Grips/tape	Ritchey WCS

Mess with Texas...

Or just pose your bike in front of some giant accordion type structure...

Thanks to Jon for the picture!  Geometry and geekout here.

Edit: Got a couple folks asking about the sweet Nox wheels. Yes, I sell them. Yes, you can get custom colored decals (costs a few extra bucks). Rims alone are $375 each in any model/size/width. Whole wheels obviously will vary tremendously, drop me a line if you need a price quote.

Monday photos from Felix

Speedplay lives!

Clean. A little _too_ clean.

Fattie on dirt? Why not!

A couple from Carey

Finally built up and dirty (a little dirty, anyway) after the epic powdercoat delays of the spring.

Geometry for the bored and/or nerdy here.

 

Just in case you forgot...

You (and I) are sissies, because we are not GDR people.

Well, maybe one person reading this is. :)

Happy friday, all. Go ride, even if it's only for 45 minutes at night after the kids fall asleep (my GDR is "Golly, Daytime Ride?!?" these days...)

Thanks to Jon for the photo. Bags by Alpine Luddites.

Pressfi-what?!?

Don't freak out, it's just so Mark can use the neat Niner EBB that fits the PF30 shell (we needed 83mm width, too, which made a normal EBB too much of a pain).

Sarah's new bike getting packed up in the background.

Rohloff, 29+/26x4, loads of mounts for everything imaginable... should be fun!

Loads of room.

WW vs AK

Alaska. I think the Kalashnikov would win if that was the AK I meant.

Thanks to Steven for the photos

Riser bar, upside down stem?

Oh, what the heck... one more

Sarah's (not my Sarah) new 29x4" bike. Featuring BB wrench counterweight and no shock bushings yet! It's friday...

No decals either? Walt's not even trying...

Pretty normal modern XC geometry, dropper post compatibility, and remote lockouts and adjustable travel out the wazoo. Sooner or later I gotta modernize my own stuff, my own FS bike looks pretty darn obsolete these days.

This thing would fit me pretty well if the seat tube and head tube were both 2" longer

And another one!

We squeezed Carey onto a 120mm travel 29er... not nearly the squeeze job that Sam's bike is, of course, but still a little work to make him fit.

And no, I didn't finish all these bikes within a few days of each other. They are all just ending up being done or shipped out around the same time because of the vagaries of powdercoating (especially now that the Powderworks of UT guys have, well, fired themselves).

Carey's is more on the XC/all around side (in both geometry/travel and components) than Gal's longer-travel, slacker version. But it's pretty capable of being whatever you want it to with the right fork.

Gal's Slack/Short/Long FS bike... done!

Well, it still needs cable guides. But mostly done.

Really squeezing to get everything to fit with those short stays!

DBinline is hot hot hot - 140mm travel here.

And, of course, the geometry (with magic invisible rear end). No sag shown here. Gal also has a fun 29+ hardtail I built for him a few years back.

Short rear end, slack, long travel... sound familiar? 

Walt finishes something!

It's been an epic week of tonsillectomy chaos (along with: teaching a framebuilding class, selling a house, possibly buying a house, our usual daycare shutting down...) I am finally back at the bench and finished up a couple of frames that have taken *way* too long.

I'll post up just one for now. John's short-stay 29er.

And of course, geometry info, now presented in a nice easy drawing instead of voluminous text. It's got some offset at the dropouts to allow a decent sized tire along with a 34t chainring running at 55mm chainline, and all the usual bells and whistles (but no front derailleur).