The master framebuilder gives his thoughts on the bikes that caught his eye.
A full-time framebuilder, Rob English is an occasional contributor at Escape Collective. You can read Rob’s previous works in his Whys of Bike Tech column.
Enve Composites, based in Ogden, Utah, a brand known for its carbon wheels and other components, recently threw open its doors for the sixth running of its open house/builder round-up/gravel event weekend.
This year, 24 custom builders were invited to build a bike for display using Enve components. I have sent a bike along for the show several times, and last year was able to attend in person – it was very interesting to visit Enve’s HQ and have a tour of their manufacturing facility. And the 92-mile (148 km) Grodeo gravel event was beautiful and challenging.
When I was invited this year, Enve told me they had some new time trial wheels in the works, and asked whether I’d be interested in building a bike to display those. I haven’t built a TT bike in quite a long while, so that sounded interesting. And when I spotted what looked like Enve aero extensions on the UAE Team Emirates bikes, I asked if those might be available too – which was a ‘yes’ but likely only just in time for the show.
Being my own worst customer at times, I designed something that was very difficult to build … but that is the nature of prototype bikes – to push myself as a fabricator and see what can be learnt. Things eventually came together, and I was able to arrive in Ogden with an almost complete bike – the wheels and extensions were there waiting for me, and with a few hiccups, the build was ready just in time.
The selection of bikes on show spanned the world from Colombia to France, with almost every commonly used material used, in various combinations. Although, this year titanium had the largest share – 10 bikes had frames made solely from titanium, six from steel, four from carbon, three combined metal and carbon, and one in aluminium to complete the set.
Not every builder was in attendance, and I didn’t manage to speak to everyone that was, but I tried to learn a little about each bike and the builders.
The carbon tubes are sourced from Australia, with the lugs printed by a vendor in Europe. From speaking to the various builders that are using printed parts it seems there is a lot of variability in the quality and tolerances, and finding a good vendor to work with is paramount. Pierre continues to reflect on his design and feels he is 85% along the journey of refining this use of mixed materials. He will be undergoing ISO testing and is also working on a titanium fork with a carbon steerer. Note that he also has his own 3D-printed titanium cranks.
Currently Chumba’s output is split about half steel, half titanium, but they are moving to more titanium, due to the ability to have greater control of the finish work (the anodizing is done in-house, rather than paint which is outsourced). The frame uses a printed yoke for tire/chainring clearance.
Chumba’s goal is to produce bikes that function really well over long distances, which is put to the test by their ultra race team of competitive bikepackers.
Different price points are offered depending on the tubeset, going from straight gauge, to butted titanium, to the Ti-carbon combination. There are lots of options including an integrated seatmast, internal or external routing, and clearance for road or gravel tires.
No.22 are doing a lot of work with 3D printing, with their own UDH-compatible dropouts, but also showed their skills with tube shaping at the chainstay which clears a 50 mm tire and a 44T chainring without needing a printed yoke. The frame offers a lot of flexibility with fender mounts, three bottle mounts, and bento bosses on the top tube. When fitted with their No.6 rigid carbon adventure fork, there is the option of full internal hose routing, plus provision for a dynamo and three pack bosses on the fork legs.
The T47 BB and all wear points are titanium, and the frame can be ordered for 1x/2x, electronic/mechanical, internal/external. The goal at Pursuit is to create a respectably light (900-1,000 g for the frame), great-riding bike that can be enjoyed for many years.
Josh Ogle helped with the design of the 3D-printed head tube, which was created by Ram 3D in New Zealand. Whilst their production carbon bikes are still the best-sellers for Ritte, they are doing more custom titanium since starting three years ago, anticipating they’ll produce about 70 this year, manufactured by a US-based partner. The printed head tube is lighter and stronger and makes for easier internal cable routing. The printed accuracy is such that only regular reaming and facing is required for the headset bearings, rather than more extensive machining.
This is the first Ritte with the brand’s new printed UDH dropout; all their bikes are moving that way.
All Sage frames are made in the US from titanium, and the Barlow uses 3D-printed parts at the UDH dropouts and yoke. Other machined parts – the bottom bracket and head tube – are from Paragon Machine Works. The show bike features a four-color Ceracote finish plus raw titanium. Everything is custom built to order, with current lead times at 8-12 weeks.
Matt likes to work with lugs when he has the opportunity, but with limited lug options for an 1-1/8” head tube, he used fillet brazing for the joints there. The frame features new Paragon dropouts that integrate a front-style flat mount for the disc caliper, and a bronze-cast headbadge.
This is a gravel racing bike, with an aggressive geometry, featuring a Classified two-speed hub to broaden the range of the 46T chainring and 11-40 cassette. Scarab has a team of 10 people, and aim to allow their customers to have a bike to match their personality. They feel that steel has the properties and flexibility of design to really allow this, through their process for geometry and tubing selection, which has been very refined over the years.
Stinner have updated their website to allow customers to experiment with paint schemes and colors – for example this bike has their ‘quad’ scheme, with the colors used chosen by the client. This helps speed up the ordering process. Currently the lead time is about eight weeks for a full custom build.
And finally, this year’s Grodeo ride was hot, rough, and loose! I brought a more gravelly gravel bike this year – larger tires and a bit more wheelbase, plus a dropper post – but would still have liked to have had a mountain bike for some sections! The beauty of being in the mountains remained though, as did the type-two fun of some of the endless climbs.
Last year this was the first event I had done that definitely isn’t a race, and once again I found it a revelation just to find a group to ride with, enjoy the terrain and scenery, and hang out at the rest stops. Very much recommended should you find yourself in Utah in June!
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