Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

The fuck is going on there

Love

Fair. :)

They are neat indeed. Where are they from?

New from Paragon

https://www.paragonmachineworks.com/frame-building-parts/adjustable-dropouts/sliding-dropouts.html

Should've guessed it would be PMW.

Which means they'll be on everything in 6 months.

no, the taiwanese copies would be, depends on what catalogue QBP is looking at for zero innovations brands like All City

Just paint a mouth on the headtube like one of those planes that have a shark face.

Build a frame with them and we'll find out.

Should've mounted it facing forward on the seatpost for crotch grab shifting lolz

taiwanese copies

Would like a source for those.

There's a real lack of choice for the hobbyist bike maker in terms of machined parts this side of the pond.
Not that you'd need anything other than PMW because they make everything you need and make it well but at £200, those are expensive when you're not getting paid £1,800 for the frame they're going on.

Oh you mean hobbyists, i don’t really care about them

Xoxo

I meant mass made confused artisan aesthetic like All city. Salsa, brother

You're not missing out.

That blue full-susser you posted earlier had very nice and simple dropouts. Probably not fair to compare but a lot of the adaptable or adjustable stuff from PMW is just very busy / distracting.

I suppose it's a tricky thing to get right, allowing for various brake and axle standards. Various manufacturers have had trouble with their adjustable dropouts sliding, and Kona and Soma both had issues with them causing frame failures, which I expect led to some revised versions becoming rather chunky looking

That blue full-susser

The one that Phil is building me, for apparently £1800

It'd be interesting (and unethical and probably illegal) to send a step from PMW's website to a couple of the Taiwanese prototyping workshops for some quotes.

Brilliant.

Interesting but a bit disappointing if you were to order some from Taiwan - sure the originals are expensive but when you factor in R&D time it's the only way they can make money, and ergo continue to come up with innovative products. I'm sure PMW were once hobbyists that decided to try and make it a viable occupation, instantly getting cheap knockoffs of whatever they develop is a great way to kill an independent company.

Not trying to have a personal dig at you (and you did acknowledge the ethical/ maybe illegal part), just feel like this year of all years, independent companies are going to need all the help they can get.

If you wanted 1,000 I'm sure you could get them cheaper elsewhere, although I suspect PMW would be happy to do a deal with that sort of volume. If you just wanted one, I doubt you'd get it cheaper. One offs are invariably expensive, even when done by dedicated prototyping workshops.

And as t.b. says, it would be deeply unethical.

The real answer is of course to buy a CNC Mill but I think the kitchen would start getting rather short on space and my girlfriend rather short on patience.

Anyone wanna share a workshop in SW London? (I won't be buying a CNC Mill for it)

I have no plans to do so, just musing. I mainly wonder where the tipping point would be, certainly lower than 1000 but probably higher than 10.

Agreed, the kitchen is not the proper location for a milling machine. That's why my milling machine is in the dining room. Not CNC though.

Yes, I'm not sure where the tipping point would be either, but I suspect it'd be more than even the most industrious frame-builder would use in a reasonable time frame. I like the design but it strikes me as being quite a niche product.