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#76
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Now that's a Strong business plan for customer satisfaction...laying it out:
https://www.facebook.com/strongframe...type=3&theater William |
#77
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Pursuit
Carl has continued his evolution and growth as a builder and is turning out carbon frames again under the "Pursuit" label. Strong Frames has not gone anywhere.
https://pursuitcycles.com/who-we-are/ Sweet looking "Made in USA" bikes. |
#78
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Under The Big Sky
Just added a new video about Strong in the Video Link page...
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=115890 W. |
#79
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Pursuit cycles
This arrived in my mailbox today. Great looking bike for sale if you scroll down.
https://mailchi.mp/90e097557b2c/grav...e?e=468edf663d Gravel Road Gravel-Grinder, All-Road, etc. We all know these country-road style bikes are the rage. Fortunately, Carl and Erik have been making Strong Frames and Alliance Bicycles gravel bikes for decades, so it's nothing new to us. We have thousands of them under our belt and have experimented with just about every variation you can imagine. The balance between road and off-road use can vary radically from one manufacturer or model to another. Some fit MTB tires while others opt to stick more to the road end of the continuum. As tire clearance gets larger, the length of the frame must increase. As the frame gets longer it handles more like an MTB. We are opting towards the road end of the spectrum. Our current prototype takes up to 40mm tires, will have fender mounts and can run double chainrings. We want this to be a road bike that you can use for gravel, dirt, trails, etc. without compromising performance when you are on the road. Testing is underway and we're getting close. If you think you might be interested, you can join our special gravel bike update list by emailing info@pursuitcycles.com with the word "Gravel" in the subject line. We will be sending information and updates to this list that our main list won't get, as well as offering first chance to order from our limited initial run. ............ |
#80
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End of an era for stell frames
https://mailchi.mp/b9cdf17e5947/end-of-an-era?e=[UNIQID]
End of an Era I recently finished what I expect will be the last steel frame I will make. I built it for a friend, Bill Cochran. It is fitting that he got the last one. I’ve built a half dozen frames for Bill in titanium, carbon, and steel. Bill loves steel - probably more than anyone. I’m glad I got to make my last steel frame for him. When I started building frames I adopted TIG welded steel as my core offering. At the time it was the state-of-the-art material for performance bike frames. I liked TIG because it gave me the flexibility to work without the limitations of lugs and I could use thinner tubes than I’d want to fillet braze. Over the years I became known for super high-performance steel frames. I built with only the best tubes; Columbus Genius, Nemo, Life, Spirit, HSS, True Temper OX Platinum, and exotics like Aermet and stainless. I’d guess that in the last 27 years I’ve built nearly 4000 thin-wall, TIG-welded steel frames. As time went on, aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber replaced steel in both the World Tour and the marketplace. I continued to offer steel to those that wanted it, but more and more, people’s preference turned to titanium and carbon fiber. My builds slowly shifted from steel with a few titanium, to titanium with a few steel. While all this was happening, steel tubes were becoming more expensive and harder to find. One of my preferred suppliers (True Temper) quit making tubes altogether. As demand for steel dwindled, I found myself building about 1 steel frame for every 10 titanium. That made it hard to stay in practice building with steel. The process is similar, almost the same, but there are differences, and building only a handful of steel frames a year made it more challenging than it would be if I did it more regularly. The final nail in the coffin for me was the pricing. The price of tubes continues to increase. The price of paint has gone up three-fold since the heyday of steel, and the wait for paint increased as well. In order to continue building steel frames profitably, I had to raise the prices. Once the price of a steel frame was the same as a titanium frame, most people opted for titanium, further reducing demand for steel. It’s sad to stop working with a material that has meant so much to me over the years. But I have a business to run and I have to keep the lights on and the house payment made. Sometimes that requires making hard choices. In this case, the best choice for me is to limit my offerings to titanium. |
#81
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Quote:
Note: no rotors fitted, I did not actually roll these. But it is currently sitting with Teravail Cannonball 47x650b on 28mm wide rims with lots of breathing room. |
#82
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As it sits currently with 47*650b on 28mm wide rims. And dirty as it should be.
I do plenty of single track with it, not too technical. But with 40x700 WTB Nano to get the BB up more than the 650b allow for. Last edited by robt57; 03-14-2020 at 04:05 PM. |
#83
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Wow, Early pic, stole the cranks off my Steel Stumpjumper temporary like to roll the La Grenouille as I refer to it as.
Anyway, just realized I am zombie thread posting. In my defense I did not bump it to the top. ;O Apologies... Last edited by robt57; 03-14-2020 at 04:13 PM. |
#84
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I rock the same pedals on my road bike. We BOTH must be weird...
__________________
http://hubbardpark.blogspot.com/ |
#85
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Quote:
![]() Last edited by robt57; 03-14-2020 at 05:22 PM. |
#86
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No worries, I'm always happy to help spread the gospel of Carl's excellent work, and to see/hear about others who are similarly thrilled with their Strong experiences. |
#87
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Love that Green strong!! That is OG - want!!
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#88
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I actually considered last year ordering another frame from Carl to get under the steel price raising deadline. But the one he made me in 2000 is still in 9/10 condition with it's last decal polishing revamp. I'd probably go Ti if/when I do another Strong anyway.
I did go steel fork on it after 15 years of a few carbon forks. I also did a JB weld 3.5mm built out in the rear drop outs to lower the axle and put 35mm tires and BR650 long reach brakes... ![]() The Kona fork already was a 385 axle to crown VS orig forks being 365 IIRC. That frame was #1 for 13 years and has approx 50k on it. It would have more but I lost 3 years of decent riding to a ski accident recovery... And was riding other bikes a lot slower mixed in. This pic has 23mm tubeless on my old CX wheels for this particular shot. But it sits with 35mm Panaracer Pasellas currently. They are 32-3 at most, don't think the rear would fit a real 35. ![]() Last edited by robt57; 03-18-2020 at 12:58 PM. |
#89
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Quote:
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#90
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Took delivery 12/26/2000 if memory serves. Left NJ 8/2002
Glad your memory is still intact for sure. ![]() |
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