Self-Build: 21st Century RandoFixed

At this point I always like to do a quick sense check/mock up to ensure that I’m still excited about the project!!!

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Fork will be the limitation on tyre width but it’s supposed to be good for 32mm + guards

Is this your preferred saddle to bar drop for long distances? Looks quite aggressive.
Nice frame!

Thanks, the drop is about an inch more than my calcs so I’m going to have to get my ruler out! (Probably something dumb like saddle height)
I have quite long arms and torso so everything I ride is long and low

Looks great, how are you planning to build it up in terms of the modern/traditional thing?
Will you try and go for a kind of "classic" look or leave that for the frame and keep it simple with modern components?

Oh my oh my. This is an absolute weapon.
And I’ve been thinking (well, fantasising) about a very similar bike for myself.
Something slightly racier and with better braking than my brother.

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Thanks - I approached this from the same position.... My current long-haul fixed can only take 23mm tyres

Thanks,
I'm thinking that it'll all be modern kit, but with subtle retro vibes.
The wheels for example will hopefully have silver hubs and stainless spokes, with black, low profile rims and probably tanwall (tubeless) tyres.
I like the combination of black and clear anodising so I'll probably do that on the chainset too.

Get the frame, wheels, chainset and saddle right and it's 'job done' no?

Got the ruler out. 10mm of saddle height + 14mm headset stack and that’s the inch I was after.
Also planning to build a stem like the Mather up thread so that buys another 10mm so that’s looking a bit more ‘1000km friendly’

This photo also shows one of my fave features of the frame - the tapered Spirit TT which goes from 31.7 at the seat cluster to 35mm (iirc) at the headtube

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Close up of that brazed stem:

Awesome:)

Good thread very nice.

I love a tapered top tube.
Fucking brilliant work

Very cool

@Belagerent & @Dexter - Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along.

@PhilDAS me too and thanks, I take your approval (relatively) seriously!!

Looking very good. Nice photos of the frame details! Severely envious of the whole thing.

Looks amazing, love fillet brazed frames.

@russmeyer and @ghettro - thanks, I'm so happy with how it came out, given how long it's been since I last did any metal melting. The seat cluster and sliding dropouts ended up looking super-neat, largely thanks to the wisdom and expertise of my instructor! Can't wait to get some paint on it now....

I think I've settled on a paint colour. I wanted something light and not too lairy.
One of the mums at my kids nursery back in the early 00's had a Robin Mather 26" tourer in a satin Grey-Beige 'Desert Camo' and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever....
I don't want to go too military on this project, and I think RAL 7032 Pebble Grey is pretty banging retro colour. I've not really thought about graphics but I'll probably do a variation on my own JL headtube sticker and something on the downtube.....

Hah I thought the same! Not a man who has kids in his workshop. Great build and some lovely food for thought in your ideas

Work has been a bit manic this week so I’ve made no progress on frame or build since Tuesday.
While I was doing the brazing, Jon and I had the ongoing joke that I only need to design some logos and I can start taking orders, so I sat down in front of the telly last night with a scrap of paper & pencil and came up with something that evokes my favorite era of steel, 70’s TT bikes where the specification process was all about getting you going faster over a specific distance…. Such laser focus.
You can bet your life that Dave Russel, Pongo Braithwaite and Barry Chick never offered colour consultations…..
it was all about speed and build quality/precision and less about “we built this for Spencer who likes fast rides to cafes, for his riding style we chose stainless cos it costs way more and we agreed to paint it in the colour of his favourite Porsche”.

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we built this for Spencer who likes fast rides to cafes, for his riding style we chose stainless cos it costs way more and we agreed to paint it in the colour of his favourite Porsche

Brutal

I feel attacked

Apologies, absolutely not my intention.

Despite my apparent cynicism I’m still a believer.

Fairlight/Genesis etc show there’s mass demand for quality steel and I reckon that by keeping overheads down focussing on what adds value, a bespoke builder could easily compete in that space.

This would be a great thing for cycling, but the question is whether the bespoke builders of the future would want to be a fabricator rather than an artiste….

One of my brothers visited Emmenzeta and said each welder was banging out a frame a day (all super-skilled, hopefully reasonably paid welder/fabricators - no geniusses, no bulkshitters)
they’ll do you bespoke for way less than you’d pay for a condor

I'm kidding but I am guilty of writing some of those Porsche colour inspiration posts in the past but they're not my fault any more :)