Robin Mather

On the recommendation of a friend I took myself off to Roger at Mosquito for a fitting. It was a very interesting 2 hours during which Roger pretty well re-engineered my position on the bike while working out the optimal geometry.

By coincidence I was heading down to Bristol for a family gathering so I called Robin and arranged a meeting. He has seen Rogers work before and respects it but he did suggest some tweaks.

We had a fascinating chat and we eventually got down to the spec of my frame. Very exciting stuff, if you ask me. I am also down for a build in Spring so I'm hoping to take my place on the Etape Caledonia start-line aboard a Robin Mather bicycle!

He's been in touch!

Woo... in hopefully less than 6 months I should have another bike of my dreams (after the 3 I already have!).

Now I get to start dreaming again.

OK, So fabrication of the frame starts this week and continues next week.

I've changed loads, tweaks all over the place.

The rims are Edge Composites throughout. Brakes are Avid BB7 discs. Straight bars, not drops.

The seat stays have now had S-bends added to them, and the chain stays will have a very subtle curve.

The seat cluster will have the Panasonic style "invisible" seat binder with the stays going straight into them.

The rear triangle will gain an S&S mini-coupler for compatibility with belt-drive systems.

The crankset has moved to the Truvativ Noir cranks, for 10-speed chainring compatibility and belt drive compatibility.

Hubs will definitely be Chris King Singlespeed ISO Disc hubs.

And the colour is green, Pantone 577c.

sounds.....unique, but also very cool, waht the thinking behind the curved chainstays and seatstays?

whats the lead time on the frame, cant wait to see pics/in person!

sounds great, can't wait to see how it turns out.

What is the S&S mini-coupler lke? Mike (tramps) has been test riding a fixie inc belt drive bike and the mini-couple on that is great. It sit's completely flush with the seat stay so is nice and minimal.

Aesthetics. I want to reduce the bulk of the bike in the profile. The Bob Jackson I have with wrapover seat stays looks wide at the back as a result of both the wrapover and the straight stays.

With this one, I wanted an elegant rear. So I went for the invisible seat binder to give narrow shoulders to the seat stays, and S-bends to bring the stays closer together to reduce the visible width and size of the rear.

Kinda this:

But that's a bit industrial... more elegant than that.

The rear triangle will gain an S&S mini-coupler for compatibility with belt-drive systems.

Hubs will definitely be Chris King Singlespeed ISO Disc hubs.

Sounds fantastic!

What belt drive system you looking at?

I've a Gates Carbon Drive on the way (being shipped today grins), which I'm planning on running with Hope Pro II singlespeed hubs. I read a review on this drive system which I'm pretty sure was with CK hubs. Apparantly the engagement speed due to the hubs, and the unstretchable nature of the belt, was amazing.
(The Hopes have 48 engagements as opposed to the CKs 72, but should still feel pretty nice.)

With this one, I wanted an elegant rear. So I went for the invisible seat binder to give narrow shoulders to the seat stays, and S-bends to bring the stays closer together to reduce the visible width and size of the rear.

I would have thought you'd get a lot of vertical compliance as well.

Thats going to be a very special bike, I've just read back through the whole thread. I'm going to be getting a frame made in March that is very similar is some ways and quite different in others. I'm going for basically cross geometry but would also like to use it as a winter training bike with mudguards and maybe for light touring. Definately going for the S&S couplers too.

You have a very steap seat angle for your size, I've been recomended to have this as well but no stock bikes have it so thinking of a custom road bike aswell at the moment.

Can't wait to see the finished bike!

David,

what kind of bike is this going to be and what will it be used for? it sounds very exciting indeed.

just read the first page so don't worry! unless it's changed substantially that is.

The easiest way to describe it... it's a hybrid.

But it's really a fast singlespeed cyclocross bike that is endowed with transformer abilities to become an all-weather geared fast tourer.

The hardest thing has been the handlebars, brakes and levers... all of which influence each other. I wanted discs and rohloff, but these are nigh on impossible with drops. Yet nearly all of my riding is on the hoods of drops, or on the flats next to the stem... the latter helped me decide on a straight bar... but it's been far and away the hardest decision to make.

No problem having drops and mechanical disc brakes, I've got a set of midge bars with Tekro RL 520 brake levers wired to v-brakes (they workwith Mech discs too). I find they work well and offer a nice hand position.
The Rohloff is not so easy.
I've seen a guy use a Cinelli Spinaci to mount the rohloff twist shift, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them mounted on the ends of drops. Neither of which is an elegant enough solution for the bike your putting together (IMHO). The two piece drop bar solution could work better though.

[URL="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://harriscyclery.com/atlantis/atlantis640-01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff/rohloff-model.html&usg=__WJEffFTb3FtPUgn4KnNCyDB9z0Y=&h=640&w=480&sz=60&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=9-gU7rwORyoZIM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drohloff%2Btwist%2Bshifter%2Bon%2Bdrops%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1"][/URL]
two piece drop bar?
http://www.rohloff.de/no_cache/en/info/bikesearch/details/viewmode/alle__107/damdetails/rohloff_rennlenker_______3210/pointer/0/index.html

and there's always this...
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-Hubbub-Hubbub-Drop-Bar-Adaptor-Mount-for-Rohloff-Handlebar-Twistshifter-73-mm-11233.htm
But I have no idea how well it works/looks.

this is another option, although very ugly!

http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/02/22/custom-rohloff-downtube-shifter-mount/

I hope someone develops a nicer shifter for the rohloff soon, heard its very tricky but hopefully it will get done

All the drop bar rohloff shfter compos I've seen so far have been a bit grim looking TBH.

I know its almost a bit of a swearword in the bike world these days but it would far easier just to find a nice set of barends (ducks) to give the on-the-hoods position.

You can run one of these bar end shifters by J-tech (From On-One) with Alfine /Nexus 8 speed hubs and drop bars. This so should/might work with Rolhoff.

http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Alfine.html

There have been rumours flying around for a while now that some hydraulic compatible drop bar brake levers will be coming out, so you might be able to ditch the flats some time in the not to distant future.

Yeah, all of this stuff is in the works... but I'll shoot for an elegant compromise now.

It's similar to the belt drive thing... the Gates Carbon Drive looks like the solution. And it works with the CK hub and the 130mm BCD Truvativ cranks. Where it fails is the Rohloff hub. But I understand that Rohloff have that in the works too.

So my bike is being built with all of this in mind, but will start with straight bars and a 3/32 drivetrain.

I've also borne in mind fork compatibility, so a 1 1/8th steerer is going in. And I've gone for a pretty standard rake.

By sticking with industry standards on a custom bike I'm hoping to ensure the life of the bike and serviceability. Definitely a factor for anything that would be used for touring (hence mechanical disc brakes too).

It's similar to the belt drive thing... the Gates Carbon Drive looks like the solution. And it works with the CK hub and the 130mm BCD Truvativ cranks. Where it fails is the Rohloff hub. But I understand that Rohloff have that in the works too.

Yeah, cogs for 9 spline hubs and alfine/nexus 8-speed already available. Rohloff, Sram, NuVinci coming soon apparantly.
http://www.carbondrivesystems.com/forbikemakers.php?lang=us
Incidently my soon to arrive frame, has a 'keystone' joint at the drop-out to insert the belt.

You know you could always go and do the Dave Yates frame building course and make your own frame.
That's what I did and, as well as being great fun, it was an incredible insight into the amount of work required to build a frame.

Here are some of the first photos from the bike build.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buro9/sets/72157622036275732/

Completed to date:

• The rear triangle
  
• The forks
  
  

In progress:

• Stem
  
  

After that comes the main triangle and the S&S couplers for that.

nice

Some lovely work.

Shit the bed :O

ETA?

ETA = When it's done.

It's been so long, and the quality is so high... I'm happy to wait and let things come when they're ready. I've no idea on the time for the acquisition of all of the parts yet (something we're looking at) nor the queue for the paint job. So whenever.