This is the first bicycle I've built completely from scratch. I took UBI's brazed steel frame building class a couple of years back, and this is the final product of the process begun there. I wanted to build a bike for fully loaded touring, capable of some mild off road touring, such as dirt roads and towpaths. As a starting point I looked at the design of my 1986 Miyata 1000, a great tourer in its own right, and added a few tweaks. The most notable is the greater tire clearances...while my 1000 barely takes 37mm Paselas under SKS fenders, this bike easily allows for 42mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes under Velo Orange Zepellin fenders, with room to spare. I've set the bike up with mostly modern parts: Sugino XD crank, Shimano LX derailleurs, XT hubs, etc., but the brakes are old school XT cantilevers. Long story there, not worth going into. Saddle is a Brooks B.17 Champion Special, bars are Nitto Rando bars on a Technomic stem. Brake levers are Tektro, with Tektro "cross" levers as well. Shifters are Shimano 8 speed barcons. For carrying stuff, those are Tubus Cargo (r) and Tara (f) racks, along with a Nitto M12 bar bag support. I wish this didn't make a mix of silver and black, and I've thought of having the Tubus racks powdercoated to match the frame, but I'm just not sure it bothers me enough to spend the $$$ just now. Topping it all off is a set of bags from Velo Orange, which I think are just lovely and practical as well.

I'm very pleased with the bike and how it rides and looks. I've done a few short overnight tours and lots of commuting on it, and it's smooth and stable, yet still lively enough to be fun. Solid under a load as well. I really couldn't ask for more, especially from what is the first of what I hope to be many frames. If all goes well, I hope to one day build and sell under the name "Goshawk Cycles". Wish me luck!

tymncycle@gmail.com