FiftyOne cycles--Ireland

[Tim Porter]

Over the last couple of years I've become friends with Aidan Duff, the owner and guiding spirit behind FiftyOne cycles. Aidan designs and builds custom carbon road and gravel bikes in Ireland. I've spent a couple weeks riding with Aidan in both Ireland and Corsica. He's a former pro--amazing rider and designer. "FiftyOne" is the iconic dossard number that has taken on some significance as the number that many Tour de France winners have worn over the years, hence: 51. After spending so much quality time with Aidan, riding and hanging out, how could I not order a bike? [No commercial interest whatsoever.]

Today I took delivery of my FiftyOne from Signature Cycles in Greenwich, CT. Aidan works with each custom buyer to reflect the aesthetic that the rider wants for his or her particular bike. Use the google machine to find 51's website and you can see some pretty out there paint jobs. I was torn between my two favorite all time bike colors, so I asked Aidan to combine the two. Both paint colors actually came from the configurator of Aston Martin, but they more closely reflect the colors of two Serottas I had over the years: wine red and dark metallic green. Note that all of the graphics on the frame, such as the FiftyOne logo on the downtube, are naked but clear coated carbon.

The attention to detail of a FiftyOne is pretty amazing. I'll lob in some more detailed pics as I get them. Here's the first:



First big rides over this weekend. Happy Memorial Day! Tim

[Bencolem]

Surprised that they’d color match the headset and spacers but not the seat post collar?

[happycampyer]

Holy chameleon fade, Batman! Another stunner!

[Tim Porter]

Originally Posted by Bencolem

Surprised that they’d color match the headset and spacers but not the seat post collar?

Hah, good eye, I suppose I could have insisted on that but it didn't occur to me!

[Tim Porter]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

Holy chameleon fade, Batman! Another stunner!

Hey Bill, we talked endlessly about how to make the two colors fade together but it would have created a third color that I did not want. So I came up with a hard line on the top tube with the clear coat carbon 51 logo separated by that line and I have a digital camo kind of thing on the downtube near the BB. I like the way it came out--hope you can see it in person soon. Hope all's well, Tim

[Coffee Rider]

Please post some more pictures.

[soupless]

Very classy. Elegant color choices and I gotta say, it's a restrained fade but I love it.

[madsciencenow]

Never heard of this brand but wow, what an intro! Looks real nice!! If I don't do this somebody else probably will so I'll ask, "how much does it weigh?"

[Tim Porter]

Originally Posted by madsciencenow

Never heard of this brand but wow, what an intro! Looks real nice!! If I don't do this somebody else probably will so I'll ask, "how much does it weigh?"

Will weigh it tonight; curious myself, though with my own personal avoirdupois it's fairly irrelevant!! Will be doing a hilly ride over in Bucks County, PA, today, so can't wait.

[ltwtsculler91]

Originally Posted by Tim Porter

Will weigh it tonight; curious myself, though with my own personal avoirdupois it's fairly irrelevant!! Will be doing a hilly ride over in Bucks County, PA, today, so can't wait.

Bike looks great, and I'm sure it will ride well! I'm interested in your take on it in comparison to your Hampsten as I've seen a lot of folks come out of Signature with these FiftyOne's lately.

Will have to keep an eye out for you around Greenwich and Westchester on it.

[AngryScientist]

Nice one Tim!

I've been following this company for a while now and it sure looks like they've been putting out some nice machines with lovely details and paint. Enjoy the ride, the upcoming weather stretch sure looks perfect around these parts!

[crownjewelwl]

do you get to hang with conor mcgregor now too?

i wish i weren't color blind so i could appreciate the color

looks like signature is alive and kicking (and outliving a certain spinoff)

[Tim Porter]

Super ride in Tinicum Township of Bucks County, PA, today. I'm sure some will recognize this covered bridge. I rode through it innumerable times when we had a house in the area. The new 51 rides with perfect balance in or out of the saddle, even climbing. I think that Aidan fiddled around a bit with somewhat longer chain stays and it makes the balance better than some of my other bikes when climbing (the front end does not move around as much as the Hampsten when you're on a steep pitch, for example). More on the ride characteristics with more miles.



Couple of detail shots:

[54ny77]

that right there is sharp!

[madsciencenow]

love those close ups of the naked carbon. you may have mentioned this before and I overlooked it but what's the spec on the bb (i.e. threaded or no)?