Demon Frameworks 953 fast touring bike

Funnily enough my friend has recently bought an Enigma Etape with Ultegra Di2 and he loves it. He admits its not quite as "pretty" as my Demon but as a tool to do the job he's absolutely over the moon with it. Without the racks/guards its as fast (if not faster) than any of the carbon race bikes he's previously owned (I put this down to the fact that it was custom built and he has of proportions so the Etape fits him better). His other bikes are redundant since he got it. I thought he was mental going for Di2 on a "touring bike" but it seems he can't be too wrong in the head if there's someone else with the same set up :-)

I am a bit envious that you've got to the stage where you're not precious about giving the Enigma a hard time. I've got to get over that yet with the Demon. It's a bloody touring bike with guards on so its going to take a few knocks along the way. I think once the first tour is out the way then I'll be less precious about it and may even be prepared to take it out on wet roads :-)

We're setting sail on the Wednesday after BH Monday returning on the Saturday so a relatively short trip but I'm massively looking forward to it. I'll keep an eye out for you!

I would go Di2 on a touring bicycle! although a different kind of tour.

Have to agree with all the others, its even better looking with fenders. Magnificent bike you got there!

I am a bit envious that you've got to the stage where you're not precious about giving the Enigma a hard time. I've got to get over that yet with the Demon. It's a bloody touring bike with guards on so its going to take a few knocks along the way.

You'll relaxed once the paint have been chipped.

Have to agree with all the others, its even better looking with fenders. Magnificent bike you got there!

Thanks. It's come together pretty well, huh? It's amazing to see the vision you have in your head come to life. I had a long time to think about it, and I'm glad I stuck with my original plan. Worth the wait.

You'll relaxed once the paint have been chipped.

I'm sure once I've wiped the tears from my eyes, I'll actually be a happier and more relaxed bunny once it has a couple of war wounds.

You'll relaxed once the paint have been chipped.

The LFGSS version of 'chicks dig scars'

You're the OG of that, even man-hating lesbian fall over backward for you.

You're the OG of that, even man-hating lesbian fall over backward for you.

What does that even mean?

This is bloody lovely, although that front mudguard isn't uniform in how it wraps around the tyre. Would need some more tweaking/denting to get it right like the below image

A lots of tweaking, swearing, blood sacrificed to the God Ganesha, and then succumbed to Gråtrunking in the corner just to get that line almost right.

So fecking true, my front one isn't bang on either, didn't have teh skillz to do it perfectly

I made the mistake of adjusting the line on mine, cue 2 hours of constant readjusting and bolt tightening to stop it from rubbing (have very little clearance).

Good thing about those mudguard is that when you set it, they stay put.

Yeah I don't have as much clearance as I'd ideally like, but it's pretty good.

The only problem is that when going slowly, or over gravelly roads, you hear little pebbles get taken up up and rattle off the inside of the guards as it goes round.

Excellent coverage though, and don't weigh as much as you'd think being alu!

I loved that, I managed to shoot a poor audaxer in front of me due to the pebble getting caught by the mudflap and shot out from the front end of the mudguard into the audaxer's leg.

"Rumbling.... clangkdadkhojkngokndgkogokngtoko... ping!"

"OW!"

"Sorry!"

Haha. Yep the guards were fitted in a rush. Will give them another tweak when I have time and I've spare blood I can afford to spill.

Gråtrunking in the corner just to get that line almost right.

Actually lol'd.

Well, did the 4 day tour last weekend. Horrendous rain and headwind for the first day in France, but it didn't spoil the whole experience. The bike was excellent. The guards were noisy at times and needed a little fettling, but overall 370+ miles in 4 days fully loaded and it was comfortable, stable and enjoyable to ride. A couple of brushes the toe/foot overlap on the occasional low speed tight turn, but it didn't live up to it's name and throw me over the bars! For 99.99999% of the ride i.e. the rest of it, the geo worked perfectly for me (and my odd t-rex proportions) and overall I'm over the moon with the bike as exactly what I wanted for the brief I gave Tom.

I like this pic of my breakfast on the last day with the bike leaning against the window outside:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfizz/8939687662/in/set-72157633909442376/lightbox/

A few pics of it on route:

And with friends:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfizz/8939190911/in/set-72157633909442376/lightbox/

^
The looker of the group!!

I would be interested to hear how you found the build quality of the frame, the joints in particular? I have heard of integrity problems on a similar (953) bike.

The frameset is fantastically well made. It's lugged construction so no reason to assume that the frame would be any better or worse than any other frame constructed by the same method. However Tom's attention to detail is beyond anything I've seen with my own eyes. I've heard 953 (or stainless from any tube manufacturer) can be harder to work with than non stainless tubes, so it will depend on the builder's talent but my experience of my bike is that I've no doubt that Tom's work is top class and I've no reason to doubt its integrity.

Wow, stunning bike!

Greeeeen magic!

Fuck you sewin, I got excited seeing this topic got updated, only for you to said green fucking magic.

It was strange really, when I did put a little more of an effort in, it didn't feel like I was getting the usual sensation of speed in feedback, yet a glance of the Garmin and it was ticking along nicely, so perhaps the smoothness somehow mutes the sense of any given speed?

I now fully understood exactly what you're talking about in regard of the acceleration feedback.

I've recently build up a winter fixed bike because fixed wheel is still my first love, the geometry is base on the Genesis Equlibrium but with a slightly higher BB.

The fixed bike gave me a lots of feedback from the stiff 520 frame, high pressure 25mm tyres and compact geometry with a bigger saddle to bar drop.

I can feel everything, from the effort of accelerating to feeling each piece of gravel individually, it gave me the sense of speed and power, but I took a lots of beating, also was a bit sketchy during a windy day, and constantly have to make minor adjustment while cornering.

I swing back onto the custom Oaks, and suddenly it feel very smooth and seamless, but my acceleration, average speed etc. match the fixed wheel bike, the only difference is that I did not take a beating.

My theory is that we're lead to believed that the road buzz = fast while in reality it's couldn't be any further from the truth.

I guess it depends on what cues your brain prioritises to "feel" like it's travelling fast.

For me the feeling of speed is very visual- for example there is a section toward the end of ROTFL where the lanes are very narrow, but the hedges quite low.

This means you can straight line the corners as you can see what is coming, and effectively you can see the sides of the road alternately coming toward you and then rushing away again, if that makes sense?

Watch some footage of the Isle of Mann TT, or a twisty race circuit- you'll see that the car/bike stays in the middle of the frame as the side of the road goes in and out.