Knee deep in Max

Columbus Max. For me, it conjures up images of the nastiest, meanest, and toughest riders in the peleton from 20 years ago and the bikes they used duking it out on the bergs and cobbles of northern Europe during my second most favorite time of the year...the spring classics. These guys put down the power and corner really hard, and Columbus came up with a set of pipes that was unlike anything else at the time to maximize what the riders were laying down. The bikes weren't glamorous. They looked raw. They looked massive. They looked like the perfect tool for the job.

The tubeset came and went, but there's a group of riders who love these special bikes. It's about so much more than just how the frame rides, it's everything else associated with frame and the tubes. The history, the riders, the wins, the pain, the glory. It's just so unique.

Columbus listened to requests and has brought the tubes back as a catalog item. The lugs, however, are becoming increasingly rare. I built my first Max bike a couple of years ago and I documented the build on this thread on vsalon. It's still one of the most viewed threads on the forum, and that speaks to how many people are interested in these bikes.

I've been knee deep in building more of these bikes over the past couple of weeks and I've been having a ball. Here are some photos. Enjoy!