Custom titanium roadie!

Binaural

Eats Squid
So, the story of this bike begins at the beginning of November last year - while riding home from work I got hit by a 4WD who didn't bother to check that the roundabout was clear before gunning it through. I was pretty messed up with a grade 4 separated shoulder (all ligaments broken and shoulder socket displaced) and other damage. I had to have surgery 6 days after the original accident to reconnect everything with plates, and another surgery a couple months later to remove it again.

At any rate, my long-serving commuter roadie was also messed up fairly badly, with a cracked frame and so forth. So I took the opportunity of a 3-month layoff and some insurance money to amass parts and plan for the day I could get back on the bike again. You can see the results below..

Overview 2.jpg

Frame: Titanium frame (Rivet, but stealth mode at my request) with custom geometry (I am 6'5" with a 7'1 wingspan, so it's long and low compared to a standard frame)
Forks: 3T
Bars: 46 inch Easton EA70s
Headset: Chris King
Stem: 3T
Seatpost: 3T Doric (full carbon)
Saddle: SDG circuit with Ti rails
Cranks: SRAM Red
Pedals: SPDs (M540)
Chain: Dura-ace
Cluster: Ultegra
Derailleurs: Ultegra in Glossy Grey
Wheels: Easton EA90
Continental GP4000
Skewers: Pinhead security skewers, cut to length
Cables and outer - Goodridge
Computer: Cateye Strada wireless (smallest I've seen)
Cygolite Hotshot (2W!) rear light
Exposure Diablo (900 lumens)

Overall weight: 7.9kg

The bike is set up as a super-commuter - it does about 150-200km a week getting me to work and uni, so I’ve been careful to not tooooo light on certain aspects of the build, especially the wheels. I do worry that it's a bit nice to leave locked up but what’s life without a bit of risk?

Special thanks to Anthony at Velofix (Rozelle) for spending the time to get the sizing and geometry perfect. His designs are great and the execution is literally flawless - I've spent hours picking over the frame and can't find a single weld that is anything other than perfectly executed.
 
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Binaural

Eats Squid
Some other pics.

The welds are really great - smooth and perfectly beaded. This frame has a sandblasted finish - polished Ti frames look great, but titanium is prone to showing oily finger marks because there's no anodizing or paint. The surface does tend to show up oily road spatter a bit more than a carbon or steel frame might, but I'm not too precious about such things.

Nice welds.jpg

Another angle:
Another view 2.jpg

It's probably sacrilege to run MTB clipless pedals on a bike like this, but if I'm going to get an understanding audience anywhere it will be on Rotorburn.

Drivetrain.jpg
 

No Skid Marks

Blue Mountain Bikes Brooklyn/Lahar/Kowa/PO1NT Raci
Nice. Easy to find if it gets stolen, as it'll sit in smack converters for years before a matching giant with an eye for quality finds it and buys it.
 

mjb123

Likes Bikes
frame price?

if you don't mind me asking, how much was the frame?

I have been looking at frames out of the US, but if I can get something for a similar price made in Aus then that would be my preference.

Thanks
 

Binaural

Eats Squid
if you don't mind me asking, how much was the frame?

I have been looking at frames out of the US, but if I can get something for a similar price made in Aus then that would be my preference.

Thanks
List price for a frame with standard geometry is $1800, custom geometry is $2000. Not many people need the latter, but if you do then it's invaluable. Certainly I feel that I got excellent value for that money - the fitting process is very detailed, and the geometry of the built bike suits me perfectly. As to quality, drop by and check out the other frames in the shop, the detailing and welding is uniformly lovely.

They will do custom touches too on request - I was going to order my frame without bottle mounts, for example, and this was no problem, and if you wanted you could probably get a custom serial number to make it easier to track through Cash Converters ;). Likewise horizontal dropouts, bottom bracket diameters, head tube diameters, frame finishes etc. Because the guy that designs the frames is the guy who measures you up, there is a lot of scope for adjustment to individual taste.
 

Pete J

loves his dog
"I do worry that it's a bit nice to leave locked up but what’s life without a bit of risk?"

Hahaa, this part made me laugh!
That sure is one beautiful bike you have there. I'm happy for you for getting something so good out of a shitty situation.
How are you feeling after the operations? Any lingering issues?
 

Binaural

Eats Squid
"I do worry that it's a bit nice to leave locked up but what’s life without a bit of risk?"

Hahaa, this part made me laugh!
That sure is one beautiful bike you have there. I'm happy for you for getting something so good out of a shitty situation.
How are you feeling after the operations? Any lingering issues?
Not too many issues actually - I've gotten pretty lucky. The shoulder looked pretty gruesome after I got hit, but the surgery seems to have put things mostly in the right place (although I can't feel anything on the top of the shoulder and the collarbone is a bit high).

How's life in the cold white north?
 

Pete J

loves his dog
Not too many issues actually - I've gotten pretty lucky. The shoulder looked pretty gruesome after I got hit, but the surgery seems to have put things mostly in the right place (although I can't feel anything on the top of the shoulder and the collarbone is a bit high).
How's life in the cold white north?
Sweet, luckily for you your body is taking care of business.
That numbness sure is a bugger though, my foot is still partly numb after breaking my ankle almost 2 years ago.
Life up here is good, it's been a mostly mild winter but we still ended up with sh!tloads of snow.
Spring is here and the white stuff is melting away, so soon life can begin again. Yay!
I rode my bike to work pretty much every day except for a few weeks at the start of March, i just kinda lost motivation.
Dealing with snow and ice all of the time wears you down, as does getting up at 4am!!
How does it feel to be back in Oz? Do you miss the European weather?
 

Binaural

Eats Squid
Sweet, luckily for you your body is taking care of business.
That numbness sure is a bugger though, my foot is still partly numb after breaking my ankle almost 2 years ago.
Life up here is good, it's been a mostly mild winter but we still ended up with sh!tloads of snow.
Spring is here and the white stuff is melting away, so soon life can begin again. Yay!
I rode my bike to work pretty much every day except for a few weeks at the start of March, i just kinda lost motivation.
Dealing with snow and ice all of the time wears you down, as does getting up at 4am!!
How does it feel to be back in Oz? Do you miss the European weather?
How'd you break the ankle? It's been great being back in Australia. After some 3 years in Europe I guess I just felt ready to come back, and fortunately for me the lass (who's now mrs lass) wanted to as well. No guarantees we'll never live in Germany in the future, but we're buying a house here and settling down a bit. Are you still working loading airplanes? I recall you had some really cool pictures up here a while ago with the weird and wonderful planes.

Being able to ride year-round without taking extreme measures to avoid frostbite is great! I do miss going mountain biking in the snow, you can really slalom it if it isn't too deep.
 

Pete J

loves his dog
I broke it after falling backwards during a failed wheelie attempt late one night.
My foot hit the ground late and at a funny angle, the fibula (lowest part) broke straight away and my foot went out and upwards. It was pointing outwards at a god awful angle when i looked at it. Then i grabbed it and straightened it (for some reason only shock can induce).
They put a plate and 7 screws in at the Hospital afterwards. Late last year the hardware was take out and things were looking pretty good until recently.
I'm not sure what the hell is going on now but the bone seems to be growing outwards and it is starting to hurt again.
Gotta go to the doctor next week.
Yeah, am still at the airport, Helsinki-Vantaa to be precise. If anyone is passing through, let me know cos it's always nice to hear some Strine!
My Finnish is still not good enough to get me more respectable work anywhere else. However, my pay is well above the average Finn's anyway.
Plus i have good benefits and my employer loves me, so it would be hard to find a better situation.
As for the cold, i have found that i am able to deal with it better each year, it's something your body gets used to i guess.
Which doesn't mean that i like it though... Cold = PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Riding in snow really develops your riding skills though, it has to be the most challenging thing i have ever ridden on/through.
You can't fight it as it will just swallow all of your energy extremely quickly. I find that the 'sit and spin' technique works the best.
I gotta say though that the bike paths are so much more fun now to ride without any snow on them! The feeling of speed is incredible!!
 
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