Titan

The time has come to build a really nice bike, and i'd like to document it here. Obviously the reasonable choice is a custom frame from china. The idea is to build a bike that is reasonably fast on road, has big clearances, good mounts, good standards, and geometry that suits me.

Currently I ride a Cube which semi ticks some of these boxes, but this is an attempt to perfect it. It's also an attempt to make a really cool bike.

"Is that a full set of Wit Slingers bags made by @Tijmen ?" you may ask. Yes it is. He also basically designed the entire new frame. Can you believe this guy?

Almost all parts of the Cube will transfer to the new bike. Since the Cube fits me reasonably well, a lot of the geo of the new frame is based on this, but with more stack and less reach and some other tweaks. Also it's titanium

The frame was ordered at Titan cycles a couple of months back. Pending the results, i've been very happy with them. Extremely responsive and quick, and they obviously have a lot of experience. They turned out the drawings very quickly and accurately and were really pleasant about revisions.

The frame has since been finished and shipped, it's currently awaiting customs in Belgium, which means it will arrive in some random amount of time. Titan cycles were kind enough to send some photos to tide me over. I must say i'm pretty stoked.

Various bits and bobs to finish the frame have been ordered. I'm going to attempt to do it all myself, we'll see how that goes. Steps are roughly the following

1. Receive frame
   
2. Check straightness, facing, tolerances, attach seatpost to clamp on.
   
3. Stare lovingly at frame not knowing the perils ahead
   
4. Press headset cups using 3d printed press
   
5. Disassemble rear brake and derailleurs from the Cube
   
6. Install fork, stem, bars on the new bike
   
7. Cable routing, going to try the shop-vac approach
   
8. Assemble derailleurs and brakes
   
9. Bleed rear brake
   
10. Take rest of the Groupset and wheels from the Cube
    
11. Change out the rotors and assemble rest of the bike (bartape and
    such)
    
12. Ride biek
    
13. Get a new framebag
    

Welcome to the forum. Might I recommend that you take no bike advice whatsoever from user @amey :-)

Might as well just put him on ignore right now

@Tijmen will concur

Thanks for the warning, it's early to pick sides now. But I will proceed with caution.

Nice. Been chatting to Tijmen about this frame for a few weeks. Good to see it now and looking forward to seeing it built

Looks great. Those seatstays are lush

Except for the Gilles Berthoud bar-end mirror which is very bikepacking.

Looks great!

Thanks everyone!

Bike-discount beating out Belgian customs nicely with the bits and bobs

Featuring these beautiful Campagnolo rotors

Sorry if I missed it, but did Tijmen deal with Titan initially, or did he hand the drawings over for you to contact them?

Might keep them in mind for a future project

Tijmen and I had been discussing the geo and features extensively for ages because that's wat friends do. I approached Titan with the ideas and dealt further with them. Tijmen made CAD drawings to make sure all measurements were correct and it all looked good. After a few revisions, Titan made the final technical drawings you see above.

It was a true marvel of German-Dutch-Chinese cooperation of a magnitude we rarely see in our lifetimes.

Subbed! The world needs more wishbone bikes and friends like Tijmen

Also made some renders and a 3d print because i'm a giant nerd like that. And to check clearances maybe?

3 Attachments

Awesome

Frame has arrived! Surprisingly quickly! Really proper job by Titan, couldn't be happier about it. It's all straight, it's all clean, and it just looks beautiful.

Couldn't resist working on the bike for a pretty long time yesterday, which means it's close to rideable

Pressing the headsest was one of the scarier things i've done in my lifetime, but besides taking very long, it went off relatively smoothly. The shop vac approach to route the cables worked like a dream, very much recommended.

The one thing that didn't work out is the rear brake. I want it to be flat mount to be future proof, but use my current post mount calliper with an adapter. Because it's on the chainstay, it won't clear the seatstay by just a couple of millimeters. Filing down the calliper feet could work, but I'd like to keep this relatively proper. This means finding a flat mount calliper that works with my RS685 shifter, of which there are a couple of options, none of which seem are in stock anywhere. So i'll have to sort that out.

Beauty shots pending completion of the bike, messy workshop shots for now.

1. Receive frame
   
2. Check straightness, facing, tolerances, attach seatpost to clamp on.
   
3. Stare lovingly at frame not knowing the perils ahead
   
4. Press headset cups using 3d printed press
   
5. Disassemble rear brake and derailleurs from the Cube
   
6. Install fork, stem, bars on the new bike
   
7. Cable routing, going to try the shop-vac approach
   
8. Assemble derailleurs and brakes
   
9. Get flatmount caliper, possibly new hose
   
10. Bleed rear brake
    
11. Take rest of the Groupset and wheels from the Cube
    
12. Change out the rotors and assemble rest of the bike (bartape and
    such)
    
13. Ride biek
    
14. Beauty shots
    
15. Get a new framebag
    

Nice.

Great job. That looks stunning!

Last brake in Europe acquired

Spent another night tinkering. Most exciting task was bleeding the brake, which went surprisingly well. Also redid the cable routing so cables are less likely to tap each other. Various other bits were installed, pretty much finishing the bike off! It felt great in the first testride, can't wait to take it on a proper ride!

Very badly lit late night shot to mark the occasion, good photos due soon!

1. Receive frame
   
2. Check straightness, facing, tolerances, attach seatpost to clamp on.
   
3. Stare lovingly at frame not knowing the perils ahead
   
4. Press headset cups using 3d printed press
   
5. Disassemble rear brake and derailleurs from the Cube
   
6. Install fork, stem, bars on the new bike
   
7. Cable routing, going to try the shop-vac approach
   
8. Assemble derailleurs and brakes
   
9. Get flatmount caliper, possibly new hose
   
10. Bleed rear brake
    
11. Take rest of the Groupset and wheels from the Cube
    
12. Change out the rotors and assemble rest of the bike (bartape and
    such)
    
13. Ride biek
    
14. Beauty shots
    
15. Get a new framebag
    

I love it when a plan comes together.

The progress of this thread stresses me. Everyone knows that pt.14 shouldn't happen at least after 3 months, and that's with an OEM-frame where there is no internal routing shenanigans.
So tl;dr what does this say about me and how slowly my projects evolve....and great job Barry!

Please be assured that every single step of this thread involved many hours, days and weeks of worrying and researching. But I must say I can't complain about how it came together.

If you ask nicely, maybe Tijmen can make you wait months for the new framebag?

Excellent idea, that would pad out this thread until at least the third page. @Tijmen please respond.

(Please don't actually do this to me)

Well there's the funky zipper we're waiting for so it'll be a good month at least.

🥲