Paul’s Road Bike

Paul’s Road Bike, originally uploaded by bishopbikes.

I built up Paul’s road bike before we left on vacation. Paul sent me an email a few days ago:

“Chris- Just got back from my first real ride on my new bike (I went out on Friday and got caught in a deluge – the tires grip well…); and without trying to set a record, broke my best time by 2:30 minutes coming in at 43 minutes versus my previous record of 45:35 for a ten mile ride. The bike’s fantastic. A full 10 lbs lighter than my Falcon, rides as well if not better over bumpy terrain, very quick, very responsive yet more stable on the downhill runs. The bike certainly exceeded any expectations I might of had for a steel bike. You do great work! Thanks for your effort and your commitment to quality materials, beautiful form, and superb execution. Great work! -Paul.”

These are the best emails. More pics on flickr.

July 14, 2011 · Filed Under Finished Frames, Work in Progress

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Finished: White Lugged Track Frame, Part 1

Well, my personal frames are always R&D for Bishop bikes…

The last steel frame I rode as a courier was a Cinelli track frame made with Columbus Thron tubing. My current bike is a 90′s Cannondale track bike, which is super stiff aluminum of course. I like a very responsive bike while riding in dense rush-hour traffic. Agility Is one of your biggest assets on a bicycle–look left and you’re there.

So the goal was to make a steel bike that rivals the stiffness and responsiveness of my old, trusty aluminum classic but has all the benefits and beauty of steel.

Anyway, this frame is a real melting pot:

Paramount lugs (kinda fancy)
Dedacciai Zero downtube (31.7mm at head tube, 35mm at bottom bracket)–a modern update for stiffness
Columbus Life seat tube (light weight, double-butted)
Dedacciai Zero top tube
Zero chainstays (can tubes this thin be stiff? yes.)
Columbus fluted Gilco tube for the top of the wishbone seatstays
Columbus Life tubes for the two “legs” of the wishbone seatstays

I have always wanted one of the Colnago Masterlight track frames. Colnago had a 4 flute tube made for them and Columbus released 5 flute tube to the rest of the frame building world. Well, I tried sticking to the super light weight tubeset but I had to integrate one of these tubes in there (In the form of wishbone seatstay for stiffness in the rear triangle).

I really wanted the Gilco tube to stand out and wanted it to make complete contact with the seat lug, which is the strongest contact point. So integrating the seat post clamp was the most logical solution. Originally I planned on puting the seatpost clamp in the Gilco tube but I’m glad I didn’t –the integrated clamp I fabricated worked perfectly inside the seat lug!