Pachyderm Bikes

Snowkissed single track ❄️ and some build details from my MTB. ~1year in with this one and I’m starting to fully appreciate all the little component and geometry choices I’ve made to get here.

29” x 2.6” front 2.4” rear
headset, bb, and cranks
cog for a 28x18 ratio
brakes
& bars
push stem
210mm dropper
seaport collar might be the nicest bike component I’ve ever used
for the dropouts, skewers, seat post topper and braze ons
Bags by and .shell

Out chasing turkeys 🦃

Room in the elephant 🐘

Worst customer EVER! Jk jk 🤪 Jose changed his mind a few times, a sometimes didn’t have a strong opinion on the highly technical questions I was asking but that’s pretty par for the course when building a 1 of 1 custom bike.

We sweat the details in a collaborative process so we end up with a dream bike that performs at at a high level and looks the part ! From fit, geo, component spec, to all the aesthetic choices no stone goes unturned. Jose came by last night to give it a first look and test ride before it heads off to be powder coated; he was all smiles. Can’t wait to see to see he him ripping it around the track at Northbrook later this season!

#4130

Mini Velo Track // Zero Turn Fixie

In the raw

build 02 - frame

The frame went together pretty quickly but not without its challenges. The top top tube was swaged to fit onto the seattube. The Columbus Max chainstays were too tall for the Stay Slayer pods, so I welded the ends together and ran them through the mill that way, it worked surprisingly well with no chatter. To bring the wishbone seatstays together i repurposed a rack jig to hold all the tubes together on the back of the frame. Everything just fits and there is clearance where it’s needed.

-build 01 - fork

The fork might be the most important component in the whole bike assembly, so we start there.

I love using lugged fork crowns and this 6* offset, road spaced crown was perfect for this straight blade, low rack, mini velo track fork.
I paired this with the longest steerer tube I could find. Rounding out the mix are some no-frills front dropouts, brazed into the ends of the blades with bronze. The rest of the fork is silver brazed together.
The last step is the most nerve racking of the whole framebuild, cutting the crown race on the lathe😬

-design
Minivelo Track Bike.
If you know you know he likes his bikes of a peculiar predisposition. So in the middle of March, when he asked if we could make a track bike built around 20” wheels, I knew we were in for something fun and said yes! This was the fastest and most collaborative build to date.

We started with his existing track bike fit/and position and drew a new frame to support this above some freshly laced, 120spaced 451iso hoops. The geo and frame is tuned for the local velodrome and to fit with standard track components. I’m sparing your eyes from all the numbers here but I got them if you want them nerds 🤓 is such a powerful tool for designing bikes, it’s so affordable and I’m glad I’ve spent over a decade getting to use to refine my work. The last slide shows a frame that didn’t make the cut; same geo, different frame structures

Frame parts that had been purchased many moons ago and sat in the bin waiting to be used saw the light of day on this one, namely a wishbone seatstay casting and some modular dropouts. Tubing is a mix of NOS OX platinum, Tange Prestige, and Columbus Zona and Max.

Double top tube for much strength and extra cool😎.

Tune in tomorrow for the Build post.

I’ll be showing off a new bike this weekend and I thought I’d share the story of the design, build, and show process over a a series of posts leading up to Sunday. If your in the area come on out and see some bikes and pick up some cool bags/caps/parts/swags

Fresh rubber got this 8 year old bike feeling brand new. 700 x 55 aka 29” 2.25” rolls so good need to find some single track. Thank god for sliding dropouts and this spork for making the clearance Clarence.

We had big plans, hit the trails, get real tired, sleep under the stars; but instead we listened to the rain, counted our blessings and warmed our hearts. 💕

Back from powder 💥 knocked it out of the park, this goes so hard ⚡️ thanks Owen ! ready for some single track, who’s in ?