De Salvo Steel Frame

good choice, Maven- desalvo does incredible work. as for the colors, well, I have no clear choice

 

Holy F!....Can I have that. I could ride her proud :bang:

That is like sooooo sweet :clap:

 

steel is sooooooo sexy... awesome rides guys. definitely post pics of the bike when it's built.

 

UPDATE After much waiting Mike is starting on my frame!!! We were almost there a few weeks ago but we just ran out of time to nail down the details before I went on vacation. We discussed all the remaining issues (mainly geometry) yesterday. Basically I left the geometry decision up to Mike. I figured who am I, he is the frame builder.

Mike is also building me a matching fork with mid fork eyelets for a Tubus Duo front rack. Other details include a 3rd water bottle mount under the down tube and eyelets for a rear rack as well. I skipped the idea of down tube shifter bosses and headtube mounted cable routing.

Frame should be done in about two weeks and off to paint. My hope is to have it by before August 1st but that is going to be tight.

Below is the geometry to be used.

 

sweet, can't wait to see it come together.... is it gonna be red?

 

Yeah, blood red. :bang:

 

Unicrown matching fork or lugged/segmented?

 

You know that is a good questions. Not sure. I guess it will be a surprise.

 

Mike's great to work with, and a great builder. His frame's fit perfectly, even though we've never actually met.

I miss the subtelty of my 26er, which is a really dark blue, with ivory knife-edge panels.


Spectrum did this over the top number for my 29er NAHBS bike this year, it isn't exactly subtle:


This bike is nearly impossible to photograph well, but Spectrum acid etched the logos and rose-stem graphics into the brushed ti. It's a trip in person, and a great riding bike:

 

that's a kick ass stable, beautiful

 

Yeah hell of a stable there!

 

w3rd. Can we get a complete photo of the roadie? Thanks!

 

Mike finished welding the frame and fork today!!!! The fork is lugged with curved blades. We discussed a few last minute items to make sure he had everything dialed in, 3rd bottle mounts, no pump peg, Shimano parts. He thinks he can get my cable guides mounted on the headtube like I wanted. He wasn't sure at first but looks like he can.

The frame and fork went off to paint today. They are going to powder coat blood red and bone white panels. I sent along a special font to use for the DeSalvo logo. It's a retro Frigidaire font. Pretty cool. On the driveside top tube will be RoadMaven and on the non-driveside will be Mike's signature. On the seat tube will be a Columbus logo. Mike is pretty jazzed about the design. He said it's a cool mix of modern and retro. It makes me happy that he likes the design we worked out.

As for parts I ordered a Cane Creek S3 headset, Thompson post and stem, Alligator iLink cables, all silver. And from VeloOrange I ordered sew up elk hide bar "tape" in honey and retro looking Salsa cages. I really wanted the Nitto cages but could spend $80 on two cages.

I'm getting really excited. It's going to be cool to be going from carbon everything to steel and leather everything. Hope to have the completed frame and fork August 1st. Mike is pulling out all the stops to meet that goal.

 

Drool...lugged forks is the isht. Thanks for the update!

 

those elk leather bar covers are gorgeous! they make brooks leather tape look like poo and they're half the price.

what color are you planning on using? the macchiato?

 

#3 with green!!! sickness

 

Yeah I went with the macchiato. Almost went with the espresso though.

They arrive yesterday and they are very interesting. Basically just strips of elk leather with some small holes along the edge, some thick thread, and needles. The covers are very old school and look like they are going to be a biatch to install. Assuming I don't crash they look like they will last a long time though and get a great look patina. One negative, they are pretty heavy for bar covers.

 

That's not so bad. I ran the Brooks leather tape for a few weeks before realizing it was horribly uncomfortable. It wraps too tight, making the bar feel like a #2 pencil. The stuff you're using looks like it will be very nice, good find! Excellent choice on the cages too, I'm really looking forward to seeing your bike.

While I love my ti DeSalvo, I really miss the old school look of a proper steel frame, I think I'll probably end up replacing my Schwinn Madison commuter with yet another steel DeSalvo before too long. Seeing yours develop has been fun.

 

DeSalvo Ti Singlespeed Article

Maybe you've seen this already. A short article in the current issue of Mountain Flyer about DeSalvo, "It pays to be Patient".
Really nice frames.

 

Can't wait to see pictures!