20 Feb 2011

There’s been a healthy discussion over at mtbr on the merits or otherwise of Stainless Steel as a frame material.  Aside from an exchange with a humorless self righteous capitalist, it’s been relatively constructive!

It’s really quite difficult to make value judgements when it comes to custom frames. A nice, rationalised, custom-made steel frame is the baseline from which everything else is measured, and taking away all the emotive aspects of buying a custom frame, it’s hard to argue the advantage of buying anything else.  Barring mishap, there’s every chance it will outlive you. Even including mishap, it’s usually not re-mortgaging-ly expensive to fix or replace either, and when it’s outlived it’s usefulness it returns to the Earth as Mother Nature intended.

In the same breath you can argue that Titanium makes little sense. It costs about double that of steel (yet doesn’t command double the price), and despite being one (if not the) most abundant mineral on earth, it’s need to be produced in an Oxygen-free environment makes it incredibly expensive to produce. It has great fatigue properties, but it’s no stronger than 4130, so it’s not technically ’super strong’ like people think it is.  So essentially, you’re paying a fairly large premium for what essentially boils down to weight reduction.

So, where does that leave Stainless Steel, and in particular, KVA Stainless?

I’ll leave the technical aspects of the KVA tubing to the spiel on their website, and only deal with the practical everyday benefits for the small custom bike company and it’s potential customers.

1) Raw Cost

One of they key benefits of a KVA tubed bike is that it’s not cost prohibitive like say a 953 or XCR frame is.  Whereas those tubes essentially cost the same as 3-2.5 Titanium, the KVA tubes are half the price but not half the value of those alternatives, so you lower costs with no downsides.

2) Marketable Advantage

Titanium since it was first introduced in recognisable numbers back in the 1980’s has been marketed as some sort of ‘Merlin-esque’ material (pun intended) with magical properties that made it so incredibly difficult to work with that you needed to be a magician or aerospace boffin to even look at the stuff. Of course this is complete rubbish, but it has meant that it’s now almost impossible to sell any other form of bicycle frame as being of equal - especially if it has the baggage of something “big and heavy” like steel. It’s a hard sell, which is why despite the fact that XCR and 953 are much more high-tech materials than 3-2.5 Ti, they haven’t overtaken the marketplace.

KVA on the otherhand is more marketable simply because it’s price point should be in between the high profile Stainless’ and Titanium.  In the eyes of the marketplace, this could pitch the material as being “A Supersteel, but not treading on the King’s toes”, of being “Aspirational, but not cocky”. I think this is an advantage.

3) Availablity

One of the real logistical pains-in-the-proverbial over the past 18 months is the availability of XCR and Titanium. If you order in quantity and in advance it’s not so much an issue, but if you order when you need to like I do, it can be difficult to source sometimes. At one stage, there was no 38mm downtubes in 3-2.5 to be had anywhere, and none of the usual suppliers knew when more was going to be available. The last thing I need is more anxiety, so the ready availability of KVA is a real bonus. It also means (touchwood) no increases to leadtimes so that piece-of-mind is good for everyone.

4) Refinishing

Like Titanium (and all stainless for that matter), there’s the advantage of not needing paint to protect the exterior.  Whilst I’m a huge fan of paint, offroad it really doesn’t take that long for paint to start looking very tired, and the last thing you want then you’re a hard charging Privateer is worrying about your paintjob. For some, obviously ‘patina’ is all part of the deal and that’s fine too, but there is something to be said for the way that a raw finish wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve and is all business.

The unseen benefit of course is the interior protection of the frame. Whereas ‘regular’ steel corrodes on the inside, stainless to varying degrees doesn’t. As I can see where this could be viewed as a ’solution looking for a problem’, I also don’t live in the tropics or by the ocean so I really can’t say I have a good overview of every possible climatic condition that a bike frame has experienced and what the failure rate is. Again, it’s another piece-of-mind issue - one less thing to worry about.

Attached to this is also the maintenance issue.  Like with the guys that race Thylacines on their Arete Ti’s, if you opt for a Scotchbrite finish, at the end of each season you can simply refinish the frame and have it looking good as new. Even if you get the standard Bead Blast finish, you can also have that redone too. As the whole idea behind getting a custom frame is that a custom frame is “not just for Christmas”, this seasonal rejuvenation is well aligned to what I think at least is (or should be) one of the tenants of the custom bike business.

5) Modernity

Although KVA has up until now focused on the retro road scene, their launch of the ø34.9 x .8/.5/.8 tube has signaled their off-road viability, and the launch of the Tephra XK. Joe has been very open to the input from the more modernist and more off-road leaning of us custom guys, and this means the future of more offroad-able tubes are essentially a certainty. This is something that has not happened with XCR, and development from Reynolds in this respect has been painfully slow with the close to 10 year old 953. In fact, tubing design has essentially stagnated from all the major players, with simple things like no out-of-the-box viable ø31.8 seat tube, and no triple butted tubes anywhere on the radar.

So that’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. I’m going to be working hard with KVA to promote the Tephra XK over the next little while, so hopefully we can get people as excited about it as we are. It definitely has a nice niche cut out for itself already, so don’t be too surprised if the material manages over the next 12 months to find it’s way from Cyclocross to many other styles of frames.

Posted by brett @ 9:29 am

12 Feb 2011

Once the welding is completed, it’s on to the brazing side of the equation, followed by the surface table for all the various checks and balances. Erik’s QC has done it’s thing and given the first Tephra XK the green light. From here it’s off to Spectrum to get a fine media blast and a decal etch.

At this stage probably the next pretty pictures everyone will get to see of this frame will be at NAHBS, so it’s gunna be a long few weeks. In the meantime I’ll be indulging in that other pastime us cycling aficionados like to indulge in - the Dream Parts Wishlist.

I think after 20 years of Shimano it might be time for Campy.

One other interesting thing, is that just as a bit of fun, I’ve refined my frame weight calculator so that when used with the tubing weight calculator, I should be able to get pretty close to the actual weight of finished frames. I say ‘fun’ because the last thing I want is to be held to ransom over what something should or shouldn’t weigh, but according to my calculations, this 62cm (equivalent) frame should weigh in the vicinity of 1623g. That’s not really earth shatteringly light in a global scheme of things, but when you consider that my daily road bike which has the same diameter tubing and is made from True Temper OX Platinum weighs just this side of 1900g, you can see how lots of little bits of steel certainly do add up. Almost by pure chance, the butts on the front triangle for this size frame are pretty much optimal, and when you combine that with the lightest steel dropouts on the planet and svelte Paragon braze-ons, that’s what you end up with.

We’re off and racing.

Posted by warwick @ 12:03 am

09 Feb 2011

Now that the main tubes are welded, it’s time for the fiddly welds. As this is pretty much a ‘pure’ Cross bike (I don’t actually know what that means) aside from Cantilever brake mounts, the only braze-ons are a single set of waterbottle mounts and a mount for the front derailleur pulley. I’m using the large flanged Bidon bosses from Paragon, so technically they might be able to be welded on too, but I think Erik will braze them on as it’s the tried and true method.

I’ve also finalised the base drawing as well as the AU and International costings for this new model, so if you’re interested, drop me an email. As standard, the Tephra XK will come in a fine media blast finish with an etched downtube ‘THYLACINE’ and your choice of either the traditional Pewter headbadge or the new Machine Plaque style badge. Due to the fact these sorts of frames get carried a fair bit, there is no top tube decal. Pricing pretty much sits right inbetween the Tephra SL and Tephra Ti (or XCR), so it’s a nice addition to the line-up.

Posted by warwick @ 4:53 am

08 Feb 2011

So as if by magic, work has begun on hopefully the first of many Tephra XK Cyclocross frames. The first cab off the rank, is - of course - for me. Mostly because I can, but also because clearly I’m the most Test Dummy-ish of everyone I know. If it all goes wrong you can thank me later.

The XK is named so because the ‘X’ stands for ‘Cross’, and the ‘K’ as in it’s made from KVA Stainless steel. As I envisage most of these frame will go out the door with a raw finish much like the Titanium ones, they will all be adorned by the finest dropouts and braze ons from Paragon Machine Works.

This particular frame has been somewhat commissioned by KVA themselves so you’ll be able to check it out at the NAHBS show at the end of the month. As mentioned earlier, due to the fact that NAHBS has an incredibly stupid rule where subcontractors can’t show their handiwork they do for other companies, this frame will be with our builder Erik Rolf of Alliance Bicycles albeit with KVA decals on it. Yes it’s confusing and moronic to the point of ridiculousness, but what can you do? I have a penchant for wanting to help out newcomers and smaller suppliers and I’m a believer in Stainless Steel, so I’d be betraying myself not to give it a red hot go - despite the fact that I’ll essentially be getting zero publicity from it (initially at least).

Okay, so on with the build. According to Eric the tubes were nice right out of the box but “No XCR”, which is absolutely fine by me considering that XCR is not only in limited supply, but also just under twice the price of KVA. Although a seamed tube, there was some evidence of the seam at the end of the tube but nowhere else. You can see from KVA’s own photos how homogeneous the tube becomes after their proprietary processing:

You can see from this next image of welding the front triangle, that Stainless steel requires Argon backpurging just like Titanium, which makes for a cleaner and better quality weld. For these frames of course we are also using a Stainless Steel welding rod, and all fixtures and fitting are silver brazed on. This goes somewhat to explain why Stainless Steel frames will never be as cheap as ‘regular’ Steel frames as the processes and attention to detail are in some ways closer to Titanium production than Steel. Plus you can’t cover any boo-boos with powdercoat!

As today was build day number one, there will be more updates to follow, so stay tuned.

Posted by warwick @ 7:26 am

05 Feb 2011

I don’t like Rapha. Aside from their ludicrous pricing, I find their co-opting with framebuilders a bit nauseating, as well as counter productive. I can see where some people would see collaborations as being a good thing because by aligning yourself with other high profile companies, you mutually reinforce your position in the eyes of consumers : 1+1=3, and all that. Making yourself seem bigger and more hipster than you really are, despite your 200 dollar capri pants.

An example of this ‘counter-productivity’ is the current round of Rapha’s co-opts, and the one that especially caught my eye is the badge engineering (or badgeneering as I prefer) of the Cinelli XCR Critereum racer. Behold.

If you can look past the downward sloping top tube ugliness, the way too short chainstays, too steep seattube, and the faux black painted seatstays so they look vagely carbon, there comes the issue of value and quality, as if the former weren’t enough. A frame and fork package for this XCR frame will set you back €3750, or wait for it - AUD5000. That’s 20% more expensive than us in local prices, and substantially more in terms of US prices.

Then there’s the apparent attention to detail.  Contrast and compare:

You won’t find any file marks on our dropouts - just lovingly hand Scotchbrited for years of low maintenance service.

Also to consider, is that your five grand doesn’t get you full custom fit and geometry. The ‘Made-to-measure’ doesn’t actually involve any real ‘measure’, although in their defense, the bike can be ordered in one centimeter increments, in classically horrific Italian geometry (no deviations!) -

So let’s see…..perusing the table to find my size….

I normally ride a frame with HTA 73º, STA 72 to 71.5º, top tube of 600-610ish, with 420mm chainstays and a 200-220mm head tube length, for reference.

You’ll notice that even someone who would order a frame with a 64cm(!) traditionally sized frame is lumped with a 585mm top tube - a bike where even I would have to run a 150mm stem and the worlds biggest layback seatpost to get even vaguely in the right position. Well, at least the head tubes are a decent length. This begs the question - if Columbus doesn’t make downtubes long enough for these frame, why even bother offering them, and also, if you’re the mighty Cinelli, and -

“In an adjacent factory, Columbus Steel is a close compatriot to Cinelli….For this collaboration, the seamless Columbus XCR stainless steel tube-sets are literally passing across the factory floor to Cinelli to make the Rapha Criterium Racer.”

Do you think they could ask Columbus to actually make the proper tubes?  This is a five grand frame remember, and it’s not even fully custom in the way us custom framebuilders define as custom. That’s a lot of cash for bad geometry, white paint and a Rapha sticker.

Normally I’m not the one to bag out on other bike companies - at least not in public anyway - but this sort of badgeneering anti-design I find really quite ‘displeasurable’. I think those with an open mind and the ability to rationalise and see past the fluff can and will (and probably don’t need my help), but sometimes I think when the emperor has no clothes, someone has to stand up and go “Dude, you’re frikken naked”.

Look out of the new Thylacine XCR with special Icebreaker edition geometry coming soon to a showroom near you.

Baa!

Posted by warwick @ 10:41 pm

02 Feb 2011

I originally wrote a long diatribe on why NAHBS is so crappy and has so many deep flaws in so many ways it’s not even funny, but then I realised that we’re going to have a frame at NAHBS so it’s well on it’s way to becoming something truly great. Yes, that was sarcasm - it will still be shit even if we were there.

Today I did a deal with KVA Stainless Steel where we get to have a play with one of their tubesets and turn it into a Cyclocross frame, and in return we promote it at NAHBS and then wherever else we feel is a venue/direction to promote it.

Of course if you have a look at the lovingly stupid NAHBS rules, you’ll notice that companies like Thylacine Cycles that use American framebuilders and sell hand made custom bicycle frames can’t actually exhibit at NAHBS, so it will be on one of our favourite contractors’ booths with a big shiny KVA sticker on it.

What a great ‘Where’s Wally’ opportunity for attendees!

I swear, sometimes I’m so punk rock, I wonder where all my Sailor Jerry tattoos have gone.

But it’s all okay because aside from abiding by the rules for once, I actually get to ride one of the first Tephra XK frames as my own personal steed.

Giddy-up.

Posted by thylacine @ 4:09 am

25 Jan 2011

http://bicycling.com/blogs/mbword/2011/01/19/handmade-mountain-bikes-gaining-popularity/

This is awesome news! Seriously though, every time I hear mention of the phrase ‘custom bicycle’, people seem to continually attempt to justify it’s existence in terms of quantifiable things, such as ‘fit’ or ‘choice’. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned reason of “Because I can”?

Rody Walter said :

“Riders who are more experienced are looking for a better ride or maybe a competitive edge, so hand-built bikes offer them the ability to select a certain tubing, a geometry to compliment style and the components they want.”

That’s all true of course, but for me the biggest driver for people wanting custom bikes is “I’m an individual, and bikes are this important to my life”.

Being that everything that I do seemingly is a reaction against what Industrial Design has become, and what mass production has become, custom bikes for me represent the ability to be yourself. In a world of homogeneity, custom bikes - at the core of it all - allow you to take your physiology, take your tastes, take your imprint on the everything you do with your bike, and make you own it. For a lot of people that’s scary, and I think that’s a reason why the reasons to buy a custom anything are sold in terms of the quantifiable, like the Western consumerist idea of ‘choice’ and ‘fit’. Oh, and ‘pretty colours’ (or in the current environment, ‘white’.)

From a Sociological POV, there’s also the idea of ‘belonging’. Although it’s a bit alien to me, If you surf the web you can see brand worship on sometimes the smallest and most ridiculous levels. From what I can see, this is most effective with large scale consumerism, but it’s also trickling down to custom bikes. Obviously there has to be a reason to buy a custom bike that isn’t based on the quantifiable, because we’re not robots. So, if we can engage with the ‘cult of personality’ or ‘image’ of Custom Bike Company A, why are we so afraid of that other reason to by a custom bike - ‘I’m an individual’?

I think that a large portion of the reason is because of this pack mentality, the desire to belong, but also the desire to not be seen as excessive or snobby. Spending as much on a bike as a car can seem a high price to pay for individuality. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly a more sustainable option than paying 10 grand for the same type of bike Cadel Evans used to ride in last years TdF just before he changed teams and you now look out-of-date and all your Banker mates are now laughing behind your back down at that cafe on Beach Road. Especially if you crash said bike in the first week of having it and it’s now 900g of carbon fiber landfill.

The bottom line of course, is that we could all do with less stuff, and the stuff we have should have all the good attributes of something meaningful and personal. Custom bicycles do all that, and transcend the infantile waste of consumerism with exactly that - something more meaningful and personal.

It’s great to have a bike that fits you well, it’s great to have ‘choice’, but at-the-end-of-the-day, it’s much better to have something that says ‘I’m an individual and I have something to say’. It’s time us proponents of custom bikes stopped shying away from that fact.

Posted by warwick @ 6:00 am

12 Jan 2011

I’m sick of the Boy Racer look 99% of all bike companies perpetuate. Time for some fun?

Posted by warwick @ 1:34 am

21 Dec 2010

So, failing the need for a rant, this is the last blog post for 2010!  I hope all my customers - past, present and future - all have a fantastic holiday season and that Santa brings you the Di2 you’ve always wanted. I’m pretty sure I’ll get absolutely nothing to do with cycling for Christmas due mostly to my terribly expensive tastes but I’m fine with that. I actually do need some new socks. As long as they’re wool and not black. Despite what Lance may try and espouse, black socks with shorts still scream “I’m a clueless and unfashionable white guy”.

So, what’s happening for 2011?

At the moment I haven’t put any new models up for 2011.  Originally there were plans to launch The Rift for 2011, but the contractor we were going to use to make them botched that project up so we were left with less than optimal conditions to make the launch.  So, The Rift will still be available in custom guise, but our plans to enter the dark world of albeit limited ‘production’ have been quashed.  It could’ve been worse - at least we’re not Giro and have 100,000 casual shoes we need to get rid of.  Live, learn, move on.

There are two new models that are currently in development that I will more than likely be introducing sometime in 2011. They’re progressed along enough that I guess theoretically I could release them now, but I’d like more time to make a few and refine the design and do some lightweight ‘prototyping’.

Tephra XS.

This frame is going to be very much a sprinters and clydesdale dream. Rendered in steel, it’s going to have massively oversized chainstays and downtube, and feature a few new design elements that I won’t go into at this stage. It will only be available in Ceraphim Ceramic coating and will have a very business-like industrial look, with no decals and only our new plaque-style headbadge. This will be a very unique frame for the road scene - not a bloated looking carbon aesthetic, but a quite tough, militaristic looking design we’re more used to seeing in the freeride/dirt-jumping world.

Tephra XK

This is going to be our first foray into the Cyclocross world. Being that this is custom, it will be able to be spec’d as a pure ‘Cross racer, or as a dirtroad speedster, lightweight tourer, or anything inbetween. Design-wise there’s nothing too out of the ordinary, except we’re going to be using the new Stainless Steel from KVA.

From the beginning I’ve always been yelling from the mountain tops that stainless should be for off-road use and that the current stainless obsession with the road scene - and especially the lug scene - is a bit misguided. Well KVA has enough of a tubing selection now as to at least make a Crosser viable, so that’s going to be the beginning of our stainless foray offroad. As an option, we might also be adding stainless steel chainstays to the Arete model next year, too.

So, that’s pretty much it for a 2011 preview. Being that I’m fickle and easily distracted, there could potentially be changes and deviations, but that’s the main game plan for next year. No changes to prices as I just modified then very recently, so failing the Aussie dollar falling into the toilet, they should stay the same for the foreseeable future.

Have fun!

Posted by warwick @ 7:32 am

06 Dec 2010

As I get more relaxed in my old age and let my morals and ethics slip in the name of massive profits, things are becoming more flexible in terms of how you can have your Thylacine look.  This has stemmed largely because my aesthetic has gone in divergent directions with a preference sometimes for the ‘traditional’ Thylacine look, the ‘Industrial’ practicality of Titanium and Ceramic coatings, and the poised and polished road frames.

Road.

Any currently queued road frames or orders placed from Dec 1st have the following finish options as no-cost options -

1. Wet paint, THYLACINE downtube decal, top tube panel decal
2. Wet paint, THYLACINE downtube painted graphic, no top tube panel
3. Pewter headbadge, or new ‘Machine Plaque’ badge.
4. Stainless steel seat and chainstays, extra fine media blasted finish, masked off paint. (Tephra SL only)

Off-Road.

Any currently queued mountain frames or orders placed from Dec 1st have the following finish options as no-cost options -

1. Powdercoat, THYLACINE downtube decal, top tube panel decal
2. Powdercoat, THYLACINE downtube painted graphic, no top tube panel
3. Pewter headbadge, or new ‘Machine Plaque’ badge.

There may be the option of stainless rear stays sometime in 2011, but it’s something I have to prototype to see if the stays can be bent nicely and whether they’re tough enough.

Aside from these options, naturally this is still the custom bike business, so whatever you can dream we can do (Providing of course it’s not ugly or silly).  I’m having a lot of fun with the road side at the moment as custom paint for the past few months has somehow become de rigeur, which is right up my alley.

Now I just have to hope that someone likes my 80’s inspired colour scheme enough to pony up the cool 1200 bucks to get it done….

Posted by warwick @ 9:11 pm

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