Custom built Titanium 29er

Some current projects on this forum appear to be over as quickly as they had begun. Others seem to crawl along at an agonizingly slow pace. I've decided to start one that may or may not ever happen. So those wanting to see a real bike any time soon should probably turn away now. Those of you that enjoy pulling apart other peoples ideas until they run off & cry in a corner ( ChainBreaker? ) please add your invaluable input.

Like many of you I've always fancied designing my own custom bike, especially as I'm above average height & few companies make off the peg frames for the larger folk among us.

I'll be using this bike as a base model on which to base the sizing & geometry. 24" Surly Ogre. It's so far the best fitting mtb that I've ever owned. I'd like to make something a bit nicer though.

go on

who?

i would love an eriksen

was out on my lynskey ridgeline today, its fucking lovely

who?

If it ever became a reality, then I'd like to go with Triton Bikes. I really like the 2nd frame that gabes had built up.

Then of course, they're the chosen builder of Smallfurry's famous fatbike. I've seen enough of their work over on mtbr now to be very impressed at what's available for the price. I just can't justify the cost of some of the more boutique brands, while at the same time not being interested in cheap Chitanium builds.

I've been playing around with BikeCAD this week & taking all sorts of measurements of various things. This is what I've come up with so far.

This is my current Surly set-up.

This is my current drawing for the custom ( version number 24 )

Main changes have been 2mm lower BB, 6mm shorter chainstays, 15mm longer ETT ( going to run a 80mm x 0% stem instead of the Ogre's 90mm x 10% ), 35mm longer HT ( in 49.6 ), + a 42mm lower TT to ST join, for extra standover & hopefully a lighter stiffer frame due to the smaller triangle.

The reason for the blue fork in my design drawing is that I have a nice new Singular Swift fork doing nothing. As it's meant to be a nice handling fork I can't see the harm in trying it out.

There are lot's of alternatives in both steel & carbon fibre, not to mention all the nice suspension forks on the market for 29ers now. The oversized HT should allow me more options .

Well thats my thread dead.......:(

Weird idea, and possibly heavier than its worth. But one thing I've sometimes considered was running a Hammersmidt 2 speed crankset. So I can have a mad spinny gear for off-roading, and a reasonable gear for riding to the trail, and down hills. Needs ISCG mounts.

I'm in a factory in Germany for a week. But I'll be back to spam with further weird ideas, and recycled internet wisdom.

I really like the idea behind a 2 speed crankset. Not so keen on adding the weight. So far I'm imagining singlespeed for all my local riding & a 5-6 speed chopped cassette running on a Hope Pro 2 trials hub, for if I ever go anywhere needing gears.

I'm happy to sacrifice the use of a front derailleur for the extra tyre clearance & shorter chainstays.

An example of a modern 5 speed.

The last two geared mtb's i've owned had 5 and 6 gears respectively....I never felt like i wanted more.
If you use bigger jumps between gears you can get pretty much a full range anyway and ride it more like a single speed...only changing gear when it's REALLY necessary.

^ Very much my way of thinking.

In a blatant steal from Smallfurry's build, I'd like to use these Paragon rocker dropouts.

With the rack n guard mounts? having my rack mounts brazed further up the stays.

5/6 speed sounds great. I'd like lightweight belt compatible 3 speed hub TBH. Road/off-road/beastclimb. The SA ones have the exact range. Thats a lot of weight for 3 gears though.

subscribed*
hope few-speed is the way to go imho.

With the rack n guard mounts? having my rack mounts brazed further up the stays.

This needs some thought. I'd want to be able to fit a rack. I'd have no intention of using panniers, as the heel bashing from having those shorts stays would be ridiculous. I'd like to have the option of fitting a lightweight rack though.

I'm not sure if I'd want post mount or IS mount for the disc brake either? I suppose post mount is the neater & lighter option? Damaged threads are probably the main worry that puts me off them.

I really like the ones that Turner uses, with the replaceable barrel inserts.

I've given multi speed hubs a lot of consideration in the past. Whilst derailleur systems are more vulnerable, I like the fact that if something breaks, you can see what it is & easily replace it. With adjustable dropouts, you'd simply remove the broken rear mech, shorten the chain & singlespeed your way back home.

The 5 speed trials hub would give me light(ish) weight. A choice of gear spread & the advantage of a non-dished wheel build.

I emailed Dmitry at Triton Bikes this morning. Within around 1 hour I'd received a helpful response. He was even good enough to check out this thread to see if my idea was feasible :-)

Curved seatstays are sadly looking unlikely now, although they were purely there for aesthetics reasons. The bent seattube sounds doable though. This is great news, as the short stays + decent tyre clearance depend on it somewhat.

Time for some design tweaking again.

Ok, new tweaks. I've straightened out the seatstays & attempted to alter the dropouts to look a bit more like the shape of the rockers.

The mid-mounted Rohloff looks like a really interesting idea, if I was doing this it'd be the primary option I'd be looking at, that or an Alfine Di2.

Hmmm? Have you seen any good examples ( photos ) of that Dammit?

Actually, I think if I ever got a Rohloff, I'd use it on the Ogre. Seeing as it's got dropouts designed to work with it already. More useful for helping to pull the Surly trailer*

*which I don't have either

mid stay mounts for the rack are what the lynskey ridgeline has - a really good idea as normal racks can be used rather than disc specific racks

given the strength of Ti, the threads for the brake mounts are unlikely to get destroyed up, the bolts used are more likely to get messed up

i have been happy with the slider dropouts on the lynskey, but would consider upgrading to the paragon kit it is more reliable at holding the sliders in place than lynskey's own one (which in fairness only came loose because i had not properly tightened it)

I particularly like the rockers as they place the brake calliper within the rear triangle. This in itself should allow plenty of rack options without interference. With sliders or rockers, the threads will be in the aluminium part of the dropout. Which is apparently fairly cheap to replace.

You have the Tubus Ti rack don't you James?

(which in fairness only came loose because i had not properly tightened it)

Lulz!

^^ is there any other rack?

is there any other material for building frames?

How has this thread not attracted the attention of Scoble?

Is it because I removed the extra spacers?

Get post mount. Remember the mount is not welded to the frame and can be ordered separately if you experience threading.

If you don't want panniers, look into the salsa minimalist rack, or a large sale bag that holds a 5 ltr stuff bag.