Long Live Aluminum Frames..................!

[54ny77]

aluminum is the other white meat.

carpe that's cool story! i remember your frames and crit racing video adventures.

i still have two tsunami's left. no plans on selling anytime soon, esp. since they're pretty much worthless if trying to sell. clunky looking, or ugly is another word for 'em. one is the most confidence-inspiring bike i own, i can corner faster and descend with complete confidence and stability better than anything i own, which is pretty funny considering that stable includes an s-works tarmac, a parlee z5 and an ottrott. that bike geo was modeled off of my former parlee z4, with a couple of slight tweaks.

no idea what happened to joe, i lost touch with him years ago. hope he's doing well. if i recall, in between years of when one of my frames was getting done (or perhaps just after one was completed) he was undergoing something a bit serious. that was a decade or so ago though.

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

I'm a huge alum fan. My two current frames (interchangeably primary bikes) are custom Tsunamis. They're set up the same, one using round/oval tubing, the other an aero tube set. I tell people that my aero frame is cutting edge 1998 because it looks like Festina's TT bike frame from that year. I had them built in 2010 (round/oval - now red) and 2011 (aero - black).

They're very short (modeled after a size S TCR - 40 cm seat tube, or 44 cm for the aero tube bike for bottle clearance), very long (75.5 STA and 56.5 cm effective TT), with a very normal front end (modeled after my SystemSix whose handling I absolutely loved, so 73 deg with 43mm rake, and as laterally stiff a fork as I can find). I've settled on 3T forks for now. If I could get them in an even stiffer front end I would - for my head tube length I figure a 1.5" head tube wouldn't hurt much, and then I could use a Slice fork.

They're great for any ride I'd do. Although I haven't ridden long in a few years, I've done multiple 100+ mile rides on both those frames. I've also raced them right up until March of pandemic. The black bike picture is from one of those March 2020 races.

*edit I forgot to add... when I had the red frame built it was originally orange. And it had the same 40.5cm stays as the SystemSix. But due to the length of the bike and my forward position, the rear wheel was too far out. It would skitter around corners, even if I was just coasting. My first ever race bike had ridiculously short stays (39cm?) so I thought that might be the answer. So when I had the black bike built I asked for the stays to be "as short as possible". He made them 39cm. It was fantastic, cornered like it was on rails. So I asked him to build another round/oval frame with shorter stays. He offered instead to redo the orange frame, but at that point he couldn't paint it. So I had him shorten the stays "as much as possible". Due to the seat tube he felt 39.3 cm was about it. I had the frame painted by a guy I know who was painting his car - I asked him to paint my frame whatever color he was painting his car (ended up red, to my slight disappointment - I was hoping for some wacky one off color). When I finally rode the bike it was much better - I could corner normally again. But, and this sounds weird, it's not quite the same as the black bike. The black bike is like accelerating a unicycle, you can lift the front wheel on powerful downstrokes. The red bike... that doesn't happen. There's got to be some other difference but nothing obvious shows up when I measure the bikes. Anyway, that's why the red bike has no Tsunami decals. /edit

Round/oval red (it now as an ISM saddle and a 3T fork):


Aero black (I need to take a real picture of it). It now has the orig ISM saddle on it, like the red bike. It has the 3T fork which I prefer:

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by chow834

Super cool bikes! Recall coming across Tsunami when doing some research on custom aluminum frames, however I can no longer find their website. Do you have a link? Are they still building frames?

And also, how does one shorten chainstays? Assume it wouldn't have been easy as you would have to somehow make sure the seatstays meet the dropouts at the new position.

The builder is in Phoenix now. I'm not sure if he's building bikes anymore. He has no website, and he seems to be flying under the radar right now. He had some health issues (the "c" word), recovered, but I don't know how he's doing now. I messaged him a while ago but got no response. I spoke with him last in 2016.

Shortening stays - he cut the rear triangle off and welded a new one on. He charged me way too little to do it. He re-heat treated after.

Before (note gap between rear tire and seat tube):


During paint:


After (a more recent picture). I have white tape on but it's otherwise like that right now:

[carpediemracing]

I tried to take a better picture of the black bike the other day. Ended up throwing out my back, I discovered the front derailleur mounting ear broke, and my SRM memory was full as I discovered after getting a sprint KOM outdoors and presumably did a high power sprint.

"Good picture" for me implies taking a picture from basically across a 2 lane street, with a zoom lens. It evens out the bars (so the two drops are parallel to one another), it gets rid of the sloping distortion (so saddle level is real, not artificially pointed down), and it generally leaves the background out of focus.

I was shaking due to my back being bad. I have to retake these pictures.

With my go-to race wheels:


With the clinchers, as I rode that day:

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by primov8

Last month, I built up my new N+1, a State Bicycle Co. 7005 Undefeated. Of all the bikes I've had, this has been the biggest surprise. This was an intentional budget build; Centaur 11 and a Calima wheelset but it definitely doesn't ride like one. It rides lighter than what it actually weights, amazing handling and just a very smooth ride overall. I would've never expected this from an aluminum frame. I've been so impressed with this SBC build that I ordered their 6061 Black Label all-road frameset as my first all-road/gravel build.

Review by James Huang: https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/stat...uminum-basics/.

[R3awak3n]

Alum is best! My lobster will be with me for a long long time, until/if I find a nicer ridding alum frame

[rccardr]

That Lobster is lovely

[GParkes]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

Alum is best! My lobster will be with me for a long long time, until/if I find a nicer ridding alum frame

Where was the pic taken???

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

Alum is best! My lobster will be with me for a long long time, until/if I find a nicer ridding alum frame

Thank you!

Originally Posted by GParkes

Where was the pic taken???

Saugerties, NY reservoir

[T-Crush]

I'm an aluminum fan, and this is one of my favorites. I've done a century on it with no problem other than a frame pump won't fit neatly in the rear triangle...

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Lugged steel rules the roost, but my CAAD9 has weathered me almost losing my house. When I'm served as worm food, it will still be here.

[hoj]

I love this thread. Great stuff. Here are a couple shots of my CAAD10 in the brushed aluminum finish (my personal favorite). No intention of ever selling this one

[bil]

I have been avoiding alu bikes for a few years now.
Have been enjoying steel and titanium mostly. However... I just built up a brand new Cinelli Experience frameset and took and for a ride. I am so surprised!
Very very nice ride, great on the road, solid, stable and smooth. Took it to the area with a poor pavement to see how it feels and again, I genuinely enjoyed this bike. I didn't expect it.

[darkmother]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

my lobster in the infamous team green

There is a bike that means business! Really nice road bike.

[flying]

Originally Posted by hoj

I love this thread. Great stuff. Here are a couple shots of my CAAD10 in the brushed aluminum finish (my personal favorite). No intention of ever selling this one

Man that is nice As are many in this thread

Originally Posted by bil

I have been avoiding alu bikes for a few years now.
Have been enjoying steel and titanium mostly. However... I just built up a brand new Cinelli Experience frameset and took and for a ride. I am so surprised!
Very very nice ride, great on the road, solid, stable and smooth. Took it to the area with a poor pavement to see how it feels and again, I genuinely enjoyed this bike. I didn't expect it.

I think a lot of folks have an old outdated imagination of what an aluminum frame rides like. They have only heard or experience the old giant tubes rigid bikes
But as you & many other have found out Aluminum frames & tube shapes have come a very long way

[JedB]

Nice bike, and even better photography.
Well done on both counts!

Originally Posted by hoj

I love this thread. Great stuff. Here are a couple shots of my CAAD10 in the brushed aluminum finish (my personal favorite). No intention of ever selling this one