SamIAm
03-17-2010, 07:36 AM
My Ellis
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2513/dsc0562tc.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/dsc0562tc.jpg/)
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1714/dsc0649.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/i/dsc0649.jpg/)
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/747/dsc0650.jpg (http://img267.imageshack.us/i/dsc0650.jpg/)
Procurement:
My wife and I attended NAHBS 2009 last February. I didn’t go with the intent to buy anything, but I will say that I was extremely impressed with Dave Wages’ work. I must have gone by his booth 10 times, minimum. Dave ended up winning best lugged frame that year. My wife took note and shortly after the show put a frame on order to be delivered in time for my Christmas present.
I must say she did a fine job keeping it a secret. She worked all the details out with the help of Curt Goodrich, who graciously assisted with sizing information. Between the three of them they nailed it. A classic lugged racer, with stainless stays (drive side polished), chromed fork with a flat fork crown, Ellis team paint scheme.
My wife, who is a stickler for communication, claims that Dave could not have been easier to work with, always returning calls and e-mails promptly. She said it was a very positive experience.
And, contrary to most of my own experience with regard to custom frame delivery, it arrived as scheduled in time for Christmas.
Fit and finish:
In a word, flawless on both accounts. Dave started with the Goodrich numbers, but he didn’t stop there. He tweaked the geometry, while maintaining the fit, to make it handle the way he felt a good race bike should based on his years of experience riding similar sized frames. His thought was that sometimes the FC just gets out there too far on larger frames if you just use the traditional 73 degree HTA and a 45 fork, so he went with a 73.5 HTA and a 40 fork.
As far as finish, it was impeccable. I went over it multiple times and was not able to find a single flaw, blemish or imperfection, not because I care about things like that, in fact I expect them, but there were none to be found. The paint was just right in the sense of being thick/wet enough, but not so as to detract at all from the perfectly filed lugs. The decals are painted on using stencils by Jason Sanchez (a very, very talented painter). This allows for complete customization of the decal colors. Even the head tube decal is painted on. The masking along the polished chain stay was surgical.
One touch that I really appreciate was the use of a 1 1/8” head tube. I am surprised more builders don’t use this as it puts the frame back in proportion when using the modern oversized top and down tube.
Build:
I just happened to have a Campy Super Record 11 build kit on hand. I had previously taken advantage of an opportunity to source these at $1500 per so I picked a few up.
I started building it up with this kit and just stopped after mounting the RD and crank. The black components just overwhelmed the understated colors on this bike. It needed some silver, but there is precious little silver to be found these days, so I used an older Campy Record 10 group, with an alloy crank. I took the decals off a silver Nitto stem. The wheels are silver DT rims with decals removed and silver campy record hubs fitted with the 25c Vittoria Corsa 320TPI’s. Bar tape is just basic black which matches the Brooks Saddle, but my goal is to get some HandleBra that matches the Ellis on the DT, burgundy maybe? Help me Ray!
Ride:
I now have about 600 miles on it and the ride is sublime, nimble, efficient and silky smooth. Sometimes I forget that I am pedaling. But I think “the ride” is best talked about in relation to my weaknesses as a bike rider. I am a decent climber and a poor descender.
On this bike, I am a pretty good climber and out of saddle efforts feel very snappy. I don’t have a good explanation as to why, but it’s there you can feel it.
My descending has improved substantially, I’m not good, but I can get there on this bike. I think slowing down the front end (more trail) really helped here. The bike tracks wonderfully and inspires the kind of confidence you need to just let it go, you can trust it because it has no bad habits, not an ounce of twitchiness in it.
The cornering took some getting used to as I have to lean it over a bit more than my other bikes, but once I made the adjustment, it feels very sure-footed.
I have often heard bikes described as disappearing under you and now I kind of get what that means and I like it.
I have many fine bikes and at this level, it’s mostly just shades of grey, but this one is bordering on black.
I tell my wife every time I ride the Ellis, I just can’t get over how good it is and how fine a wife I have for giving it to me.
Pictures to follow
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2513/dsc0562tc.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/dsc0562tc.jpg/)
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1714/dsc0649.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/i/dsc0649.jpg/)
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/747/dsc0650.jpg (http://img267.imageshack.us/i/dsc0650.jpg/)
Procurement:
My wife and I attended NAHBS 2009 last February. I didn’t go with the intent to buy anything, but I will say that I was extremely impressed with Dave Wages’ work. I must have gone by his booth 10 times, minimum. Dave ended up winning best lugged frame that year. My wife took note and shortly after the show put a frame on order to be delivered in time for my Christmas present.
I must say she did a fine job keeping it a secret. She worked all the details out with the help of Curt Goodrich, who graciously assisted with sizing information. Between the three of them they nailed it. A classic lugged racer, with stainless stays (drive side polished), chromed fork with a flat fork crown, Ellis team paint scheme.
My wife, who is a stickler for communication, claims that Dave could not have been easier to work with, always returning calls and e-mails promptly. She said it was a very positive experience.
And, contrary to most of my own experience with regard to custom frame delivery, it arrived as scheduled in time for Christmas.
Fit and finish:
In a word, flawless on both accounts. Dave started with the Goodrich numbers, but he didn’t stop there. He tweaked the geometry, while maintaining the fit, to make it handle the way he felt a good race bike should based on his years of experience riding similar sized frames. His thought was that sometimes the FC just gets out there too far on larger frames if you just use the traditional 73 degree HTA and a 45 fork, so he went with a 73.5 HTA and a 40 fork.
As far as finish, it was impeccable. I went over it multiple times and was not able to find a single flaw, blemish or imperfection, not because I care about things like that, in fact I expect them, but there were none to be found. The paint was just right in the sense of being thick/wet enough, but not so as to detract at all from the perfectly filed lugs. The decals are painted on using stencils by Jason Sanchez (a very, very talented painter). This allows for complete customization of the decal colors. Even the head tube decal is painted on. The masking along the polished chain stay was surgical.
One touch that I really appreciate was the use of a 1 1/8” head tube. I am surprised more builders don’t use this as it puts the frame back in proportion when using the modern oversized top and down tube.
Build:
I just happened to have a Campy Super Record 11 build kit on hand. I had previously taken advantage of an opportunity to source these at $1500 per so I picked a few up.
I started building it up with this kit and just stopped after mounting the RD and crank. The black components just overwhelmed the understated colors on this bike. It needed some silver, but there is precious little silver to be found these days, so I used an older Campy Record 10 group, with an alloy crank. I took the decals off a silver Nitto stem. The wheels are silver DT rims with decals removed and silver campy record hubs fitted with the 25c Vittoria Corsa 320TPI’s. Bar tape is just basic black which matches the Brooks Saddle, but my goal is to get some HandleBra that matches the Ellis on the DT, burgundy maybe? Help me Ray!
Ride:
I now have about 600 miles on it and the ride is sublime, nimble, efficient and silky smooth. Sometimes I forget that I am pedaling. But I think “the ride” is best talked about in relation to my weaknesses as a bike rider. I am a decent climber and a poor descender.
On this bike, I am a pretty good climber and out of saddle efforts feel very snappy. I don’t have a good explanation as to why, but it’s there you can feel it.
My descending has improved substantially, I’m not good, but I can get there on this bike. I think slowing down the front end (more trail) really helped here. The bike tracks wonderfully and inspires the kind of confidence you need to just let it go, you can trust it because it has no bad habits, not an ounce of twitchiness in it.
The cornering took some getting used to as I have to lean it over a bit more than my other bikes, but once I made the adjustment, it feels very sure-footed.
I have often heard bikes described as disappearing under you and now I kind of get what that means and I like it.
I have many fine bikes and at this level, it’s mostly just shades of grey, but this one is bordering on black.
I tell my wife every time I ride the Ellis, I just can’t get over how good it is and how fine a wife I have for giving it to me.
Pictures to follow