When I told my wife I was going to build her a new bike, I knew it would be a challenge. In fact, I was looking forward to creating something that would stretch me to the limits of my (very limited) ability. Little did I know, when drawing up the plans for this curvy-tubed, 650b townie, that it would be a four month long lesson in technique, problem solving, and most of all, patience. It’s almost done, and there are certainly some mistakes: my fillets are pitted and sloppy, none of my fender braze-ons are on center, and the drive side marathon stay is one giant stress riser. Still, I’m super happy with how it turned out, and yes, I’m very proud of it. As I approach it’s first (and hopefully only) test build, I’m hoping that all of the time, trouble, high blood pressure, and hair loss will pay off. Keep your fingers crossed!

It took me over an hour to fabricate and install this tiny bridge/cable router.

Only after installing the curved mixte tubes did i realize that chain clearance was an issue on the driveside stay. This was an incredibly nerve wracking solution.

What happens when you buy a 1 1/8 inch fork crown and a 1 inch steerer? Sleeve it with a chunk of a Surly fork and mill the seat down on the lathe (Thanks Cam!).