Stribe hardtail – a prototype

So last winter when I had decided to get rid of my AWOL I'd been sketching on new bikes for a while. I was considering some gravel/cross thing, but soon enough went in the direction of a modern hardtail capable of 650+ and 29". I wanted to be able to do the proper trails I couldn't with my AWOL and Crux and at the same time use it for bikepacking. At that time there wasn't many options OTP, and I was mocking up geos in BikeCAD.

On a work trip to China I stopped by Colossi since it was in the neighbouring city of our hotel. The factory looked nice and the plan was to create the first frame with them. I'm not going to go into that story, but I think it's no secret that the Kole's moved back to Holland, and at the end of the day no frame was made, I lost last year and had to find another manufacturer.

During all this I also went ahead making a brand. The idea is that it should be somewhat of a playground to make fun stuff, and in time maybe also sell a few frames to friends and see what happens. With me I have a couple of friends: Joachim who is here on LFGSS and famous for his amazing Conlago re-spray and Anki. Our brand is named after a weird cat we once took care of during a holiday in Denmark, and we worked with an amazing illustrator to get the cat symbol in place.

A bit text-heavy this first post, but I had to get the thread going after being called out in the AWOL-thread :) But I can say the the frame now exists. More details, pictures and the works in the next posts.

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Cool project, subbed

So, is this a finished bike or still just a project?

Just got the frame last week.

I guess I'd better sub this.

So the frame will hopefully take up to 650b 3.0 and 29" 2.3. 68,5 degree head angle and 74 seat angle. I wanted to keep the chainstays as short as possible without bending the seat tube because... I don't like bent seat tubes. So they ended up at being 433mm. A nice and short 44mm headtube and room for a rowdy 120mm Pike fork. I went for a T47 BB so I can try to route the dropper cable through it and exit at the top of the down tube. On the non-drive side the rear derailleur and brake cable will enter at the top of the DT, exit before the BB and back in the chainstays. Should look quite neat and clean. Extra bottle mounts under the down tube.

Oh, and it's titanium.

We're still figuring out the logotype, but I'm pretty much set for a color split, leaving the rear raw brushed Ti.

Here's a couple of sketches.

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Nice, who's fabricating it?

The prototype is made by Waltly.

damn, you've made something close to my ideal bike. big up!

Have you seen FYXO's custom ti Curve? Looks similar to what you're planning

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Looks great. Shares a lot of similarities with my Jamis Dragonslayer. 27.5 Plus, 120mm travel, short chainstays, bottle cage bosses under the down tube. Geo seems similar too.

Granted mine ( which is the older version of the above) is not titanium and is rather lacking in integrated cabling. It is a beast for bike packing though so you're onto a sure fire winner there.

@spotter Yea, seen that. They make some cool bikes.

@platypus Cheers! This should be fun.

@Scrabble Good to hear you're enjoying it! It's a kind of bike that makes a whole lot of sense.

So it was pretty exciting when this dropped into the office last week.

Sorry about the tease, I actually need to take some good photos. But the finish is looking very, very good.

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Subscribing

Sikkk

Subadub-ubbed

Frame looking really tidy!

Have thought about Waltly for a frame myself, but had doubts about internal cabling being too technical for them. Can't wait for some detailled shots.

Nice branding too!

Subscribed. Looking forward to seeing this.

Not the good photos I promised, but here it is.

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Looks sick!

1 vote for navy front half with the yellow decals!

I do love that colour combo, but I will use it on my CAAD, so going to do something else for this. I've wanted to do a bike in this Defender colour for a long time. The mockup only to represent the colour – not the split.

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Mmmm, I do like the colour of those defenders! is there a way of getting it to be more opaque over the titanium?

Will look good with the gumwalls either way!

I guess it's possible, but you would need some sort of transparent etching primer first. I think I'll chose a safer route to make sure there will be enough of a contrast. Could do satin or even matte finish on the paint if I decide to do masked out logos.

I decided on DT wheels by the way. Their XM 1501 in 30mm internal width. Came in at 1700gr, which is pretty decent. They do however have way too much graphics for my taste, and it is not possible to peel it of. I'm thinking of either to rattle-can them black or have the painter do them in the same go as the frame. Then I'd have to go black or charcoal. Would be cool to match the frame to the rims, but I was really set on having a colour on this bike. I don't like adding weight to the wheels, but I think it's better than those graphics.

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They do look better with tires, though.

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