Zanconato kit will be here on June 14

For everyone who ordered jerseys, shorts, bibs, and/or t-shirts, I got word from my supplier that everything is being shipped to me on June 11 via 3-day air. I will be sorting and packing everything over the weekend and will be shipping it all out on June 18th. Thank you for your orders!

My vision...

Nearly 14 years ago to the day, I took delivery of a bike that simply blew me away in terms of its aesthetics. It was a Carrera Cassiopeia. Yellow pearl with red letters. The seat tube lug had ports in the back for fastback style seat stays and had the Carrera logo engraved on each side. The head tube lugs had short points and were minimalist. The lugs were not thinned; they had a crisp, defined edge. But they were not thick and chunky either. The BB shell had a cool, cast-in chainstay bridge. All of the lines were clean and just worked. Everything about it was functional. It was a race bike, meant to be pushed hard. It begged to be ridden in the rain, the snow, the grit of spring, everything. But it had a few subtle touches that showed class. It was by all accounts Italian, but a bit more subtle than its peers at the time. It was a finely crafted and presented tool.

I have been building framesets for 9 years now and that bike has been a benchmark of sorts for function and aesthetics in my bikes. My tastes are simple. I'm not a big fan of overly ornate lug shorelines. I don't really like the look of lugs that are thinned to the point where they nearly blend in with the tube. I like simple paint jobs; 3 colors are plenty and one of them should be an accent color at most. And the bike had better look "right". It's not just how the frameset looks, but how the overall bicycle looks when fit to the rider. The saddle should be clamped on the center of the rails. The stem should be the correct length and should not be angled up to the sky. There should not be a mile long stack of spacers under the stem. It should look like a racing bike.

I suppose the frame presented below has been 14 years in the making. These are the same Walter lugs that were used on the Carrera. I gave them some of the "Z" treatment. The is my vision of the perfect racing bicycle frame.

"What's the biggest bike you have ever built?"

This one....

Care to guess? One hint. It's a cross bike, so the head tube is a couple of cm shorter than it would be on a road bike of this size.

The thing I love about this lugset is it makes a lugged bike with a horizontal top tube a reality for larger, more powerful riders. It uses 1.25" top tube and seat tubes and a cool down tube that starts at 1.25" at the head tube and swells to 1.375" at the down tube. It is a nice long taper and very subtle. The seat tube lug is my favorite part. Just like on my engraved "Z" seat tube lug, this lug has fastback style seat stay ports. Very sleek and speedy looking. The larger diameter tubes give the frame more rigidity, especially noticable on bikes over 62 cm. Are you a big fella who wants a classic looking bike with a tubeset more appropriate to you and your style of riding? This may be your answer.

The best tip...EVER!

There are all kinds of different gratuities, but none are better than this...

Thank you for your business, Bill! It was a pleasure working with you.

One of my new decal options. Yellow with black outline. I love this blue. It is House of Kolor's So-Blue. The lighting in the pictures makes it look darker than it really is. And the pictures can not begin to show off the depth and luster.