Strong Frames Custom Bicycles

share

share-email.png

Owner's Gallery: Curtis H

Carl and Lorretta: I’m finally getting around to sending you some pictures of the finished bike I built up from the frame Carl built for me and delivered in November, 2009. I’ve put around 2,800 miles on the bike since it was built, which isn’t too bad since I only ride it on weekends and it is in a rotation with two other bikes, my two Fondriests on which we patterned the geometry for this frame.
What can I say about a bike that is so much fun to ride other than it is everything I had hoped a custom steel frame would be and then some? It has become one of my favorite bikes to ride whether on the Saturday Morning Hammerfest or on the several big group rides that I do every year. The bike went together effortlessly with everything fitting perfectly to the frame. This bike is the easiest one I have in which to mount a rear wheel as the dropouts are so well aligned. Carl’s drawings and setup dimensions were also spot on, the only change I made in setup was to use a single 5mm spacer under the stem instead of the 10mm in the specs. Otherwise, I just followed his measurements and the fit was perfect. The only change I’ve made since the original build was to put a bar with a shallower drop on it.
The work Carl did building the headtube for the CK Inset headset is flawless, no one can believe it when I tell them he took 5 pieces of tubing to build it and I can see why Carl isn’t to quick to want to do these on a regular basis. The welds are flawless and many of my riding friends didn’t even realize it was a TIG welded frame until I told them.
The finish work done by Spectrum was everything I wanted. Really like they way they interpreted my request for putting “hammerman” on the TT.
Working with both of you during the planning and building of my frame was such a pleasurable experience I hope we get to do it again someday. Maybe Ti next time.
I’m attaching some pictures of the bike I took just after it was built. They aren’t nearly as nice as those by Loretta posted on your site. It still looks perfect.
Looking forward to meeting you both at the NAHBS show in Austin in about two weeks. Hope you will have a very successful show.

?>