Sent a deposit on a custom Ti frame today!

[NHAero]

Ha, Nick, I was thinking that very thought on my ride today! I just made a ferry reservation for D2R2, and thinking the Monday after D2R2. Will one rest day be enough in between?

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

This is excellent.

good timing now that covid travel restrictions are easing.

let's nail that cross VT ride in August eh??

[NHAero]

Received an email from Carl, the frame is on its way back to him from Ollie Cleveland at Dark Matter. Getting closer!

These gents hold their cards close to their chests, I have no pix of the finished frame.

It's going to be a surprise (I hope not too big of a surprise, since I furnished the design Can't wait to see the results of these two craftsmen.

[soulspinner]

[QUOTE=NHAero;2937672]Received an email from Carl, the frame is on its way back to him from Ollie Cleveland at Dark Matter. Getting closer!

These gents hold their cards close to their chests, I have no pix of the finished frame.

It's going to be a surprise (I hope not too big of a surprise, since I furnished the design Can't wait to see the results of these two craftsmen.[

pic us up.........

[makoti]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Received an email from Carl, the frame is on its way back to him from Ollie Cleveland at Dark Matter. Getting closer!

He recently etched my stainless steel Hollands frame for me. Did excellent work. I'll be interested in pictures!

[572cv]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Received an email from Carl, the frame is on its way back to him from Ollie Cleveland at Dark Matter. Getting closer!

These gents hold their cards close to their chests, I have no pix of the finished frame.

It's going to be a surprise (I hope not too big of a surprise, since I furnished the design Can't wait to see the results of these two craftsmen.

Good news! Awaiting a bike is one of the few ways the passage of time gets longer.... esp. for 'mature' cyclists
My new one seems to be running parallel to yours. It is in the paint stand as I write. It too will be a surprise, although the concept has been discussed carefully. We'll both be posting some interesting pictures, I guess.

[NHAero]

With luck, we may be able to view them in person before too long! Hoping to come north before too long and find some hills and dirt roads.

Originally Posted by 572cv

Good news! Awaiting a bike is one of the few ways the passage of time gets longer.... esp. for 'mature' cyclists
My new one seems to be running parallel to yours. It is in the paint stand as I write. It too will be a surprise, although the concept has been discussed carefully. We'll both be posting some interesting pictures, I guess.

[Pricci09]

Congrats on the new frame.

[NHAero]

I have a Fedex tracking number and it's in Fargo ND this morning. Hope it doesn't get too close to any woodchippers!

No pix from the craftsmen, they obviously want their work to speak for itself

[Bob Ross]

I'm amazed that Carl's queue blossomed from 6 months to 18 months just since the beginning of this year! Good for him!

[NHAero]

He told me 5 months at the beginning of January, so it's going to be 5-1/2 months including going out to Dark Matter Finishing. Ollie did tell me that if it was paint it would have been a significantly longer turn-around time, but having the design be composed of different Ti finishes would take a couple of weeks, and he had a couple of other frames to do similar work on that he'd do in a block of work.

I see that Carl now has the photo build log up on his site, but no finished pix post-DMF.

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

I'm amazed that Carl's queue blossomed from 6 months to 18 months just since the beginning of this year! Good for him!

[robt57]

Did you already say in thread what space for what tires you had Carl build for?

[NHAero]

The design is around 650bx38 tires and I have TL GK slicks mounted on the BTLOS wheelset sitting here. I asked for space for 650bx42 with fenders, or 48 without. The chainstays are set at 425mm, and the axle centerline to the inside face of the bridges is set at 365mm, which gives clearance for 20mm space between the 650bx42 tire (roughly, 337mm radius) and fender, and a few mm for the washers to mount the fender. He crimped the inside of the stays but not the chainring side of the DS stay (as far as I can tell ) - no yokes were broken in the building of this frame!

The 650b choice for me is around better toe clearance while maintaining the shortish reach I need, it's not about stuffing the max tire in there. I have the Litespeed MTB dropbar conversion running 26x2.2 tires if I need a lot of rubber. New England dirt roads aren't as chunky as what I see in folks' pix of the west terrain, and I rode 700x37 slicks on D2R2 in 2019 and only in a couple of spots wanted some more rubber.

Originally Posted by robt57

Did you already say in thread what space for what tires you had Carl build for?

[robt57]

non paved 37mm sweet spot for me @ 200 lb. IIRC you are of skinny ilk/sort.

So no road 28-30x700 aspirations at all?

[NHAero]

Dunno about 700c wheels. I have the Firefly with 700cx25 for a pure road bike. I don't have a use case here on MV for fatter tires than that for pavement because the pavement is very good here.

Going across the Sound to America, where the pavement is worse and there are good loops with dirt roads is the reason it's designed around the 650bx38 or 42.

Originally Posted by robt57

non paved 37mm sweet spot for me @ 200 lb. IIRC you are of skinny ilk/sort.

So no road 28-30x700 aspirations at all?

[NHAero]

Fedex delivered it to my neighbors house. Required a signature, of course, and no one was home there, but fortunately AMANAGER signed for it But they didn't crush it so I should be grateful.

Now to start to build it up!