A custom titanium bike from Carl Strong of Strong
Frames in Bozeman, Montana. This is my second bike from
Carl and he does a fantastic job. If you're going to go custom,
this is the person to go to. Great workmanship, easy to deal
with, and super reliable (which can be a hard thing to find in the
custom world). This bike replaced a first-year Salsa Mukluk. There is absolutely no comparison between the two!
It's predominantly an XTR M9000 build but
notably has Onyx hubs which doesn't have a freehub but is uses a
sprag clutch and is absolutely silent. Rims are HED carbon rims
and the seat post is a throwback to the old days as is the
saddle.
Of note is the finish work all of which was
generated by yours truly. I provided the patterns to Ollie
Cleveland of Dark Matter Finishing. He is a good guy to work
with too and his workmanship is superb. The designs were all
generated by a program
that I've been working on for some years now
and created the patterns which were given to Ollie to put into
reality Ollie was able to use his skills and make the patterns
come out perfect. It really was amazing how well he made things
work, especially how the designs wrap around the tubes and rims.
The tubes on the frame were polished and the patterns
were used to create stencils which were applied to the frame.
The tubes were then garnet blasted to create the matte tone that
contrasts with the polished tone.
The top tube uses a
crystal growth program that created the needle-like patterns that
wrap around the tube seamlessly. The same design was applied to
the rims which also wrap around seamlessly. The front rim took
the pattern and it was skewed by 40 degrees and the rear rim has a
similar pattern that is distorted by gravitational fields. This
too wraps around but took a little extra work to wrap with the
gravity fields.
The seatstays have a crystal growth
pattern with a galaxy-like pattern while the fork, seat tube,
chainstays, stem, and bars have snowflake patterns. The
snowflakes start out regular at the bottom of the fork and as they go
higher, start to twist around. Finally, the "Team
Moosepoop" logo is done with a font that I designed and have
used for many years but what is new on this is the sine wave pattern
embedded into the letters.
The last six
pictures are from Carl’s shop. From bare tubes to completion. Of
note in these is the tubes that are attached to the bike in the frame
stand (which is a notable piece of equipment by itself). These fill
the tubes with argon. This is a gas that is inert and won’t
interact with the frame as it’s welded and cools. Argon is
flooding the outside of the weld and the argon from the hoses is
protecting the welds on the tube’s interior.
One thing I
remember about my first ride on this was was how silent it was.
No clicking from a freehub is something that is especially noticeable
in the snow. But what stuck out the most about the ride is how
unremarkable it was. The ride was so natural that I didn't even
notice the bike. After about five minutes, it was no longer my
new bike...it was just my bike. That's how good of a job Carl
Strong did.
Frame | Carl Strong Titanium |
Fork | Borealis Carbon 150mm Thru-Axle |
Stem | Thomson Elite 120mm |
Bar | Thomson Ti 640mm |
Grips | Custom Grab-On (yes, custom :-) |
Cranks | Raceface Next SL Carbon 175mm |
Rear Derailleur | Shimano XTR 9000 Shadow |
Front Derailleur | Shimano XTR 9000 Side Swing |
Cassette | Shimano M9000 11 speed |
Chain | Shimano XTR |
Bottom Bracket | Chris King |
Pedals | Shimano XTR Race |
Brakes | Shimano XTR M9020 |
Brake Levers | Shimano XTR M9000 |
Brake Rotors |
Shimano XTR RT99 |
Shifters | Shimano XTR M9000 2x11 |
Headset | Chris King Tapered |
Saddle | Selle Flite |
Seatpost | Nitto S65 27.2x460mm |
Hubs | Onyx 32H 150/177.5mm |
Rims | Hed Big Deal 26x85mm |
Tire | 45Nrth Dillingers Studded, 3.8" |
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