Bike Hugger 

Pressfit BB30 welded to Feathertec tubing

In a jig at Davidson Handbuilt Bicycles is our latest project bike. Davidson’s frame shop is just north of Pike Place Market; that place where they throw fish and buskers play street music. The bike is called the D-Plus because of all the +1s the build has. We’ll get into the plusses later, after the Seattle Bike Expo, the first rides, and into the 12 Cross season.

Is that a gigantic head tube or is this bike just happy to see you?

For now, the most interesting details include

• Press-fit Ti BB30 – available for about a year, this is the first Davidson built with BB30
• FeatherTec tubing – custom profiles, OS tubes
• Headtube for King Inset 7 – 44M for tapered steerers
• Paragon SS dropouts with a derailed hanger – swappable from SS, fixed, to geared.

A bong-sized BB, massive John Holmes head tube, and over-sized, thin-walled Ti tubing means a bike so stiff, it’s gonna hurt. Also with the ride qualities expected from Ti and carbon weights too.

The bike is tacked together now and next week, Max Kullaway will weld it. His welds are the best I’ve ever seen.

An evolution of the Modal concept to Cross

Seattle’s best welder

The story of a Bike

We’re sharing the build on G+ with feature follow-ups here by Mark V, who developed and designed the concept with Bill D, a master builder.

As it was told to me by Nick Burlow

I’ve been bugging Shawn Small of Ruckus Components about setting up my ‘cross bike with custom eyelets on the WCS carbon fork, as well as some of their custom carbon fiber fenders. We finally got together and as I am not to picky, I gave them complete artistic freedom on the paint / design work.

Graham Adams, painter for Ruckus Components, used an old hot rodders’ trick by using lace and create a unique pattern.

Being made from carbon, the fenders are not only light, they are also very stiff. This allows the use of a single strut (hand bent on each install by Shawn). I love the clean look of this set up. The custom eyelets on the fork are done so well they look stock.

May take a cyclist that’s had a progression of rain bikes with fenders to fully appreciate this set up. They’re like Honjos, in carbon, with enough fender clearance for a ham-fisted UCI official to get his fat fingers in there measuring your tires. This setup includes Ruckus molding eyelets onto your existing fork.

See more photos from Ruckus Components on Flickr and learn more about this project on their site.

Packed up and sent back to Parlee

Bikes come and go at Hugga HQ – in for review, or special projects, and very few of them get my attention like the Parlee. I was attached. Mostly because I’d raced a Cross season with it, suffering in the Elite categories. I left my fitness somewhere on a plane in 2011 and just when I starting going good, finishing on the lead lap, I got sick. Then pulled the plug on racing to regroup over the holidays.

The Parlee never let me down in those races or in the snow. I pushed the bike to the limits when I could for a few hurtful moments at a time. While my legs didn’t show up until the season was nearly over, the heart, soul, and effort were there. So was the Parlee.

I have another Cross bike this next Season, a few months from now in the late Summer and Fall. Maybe it’ll perform as well as the Parlee CX-H did.

In the studio at Parlee

Hope so.

File treads for the first race of 2012 – the Tufos are glued onto a set of ENVE 25s with DT Swiss hubs. Light, fast wheels, with tires for various terrain conditions. The Andy Salmon Kermesse next month features 2 miles of pavement and 2 miles of road near Mt. Rainer. Last season, I raced a previous incarnation of this Kermesse

After 2 to 4 laps on rolling pavement, you hit the rocky, compact dirt and into a climb with enough rise to burn; especially after ten times.

Last time I saw so many flats, a desert hillbilly threw tacks out on a race course in the Horse Heaven Hills. The promoter Prudog will tell you to just run 25s or 28s and you can do that sure, then you’ll flat like everyone else will. File treads are highly recommended.

Lonely as it is hard

Kermesse is Flemish for a type of bike race that occurs on a circuit, usually around a farmhouse, church, or center of a small town. A Kermesse usually takes place during a related festival. The Feb Kermesses are to promote the Ohop Valley and town of Eatonville, where they ride bikes too.

Walked down these steps, mounted, and into the park

Rode the same route today in Schmitz Park, along Alki Beach, and around West Seattle. There was more slush and snow today. The Challenge Limus continue to work well and I tool more photos with the Cipher gloves on. Mark’s setup is not working well.

Natural barrier

Did dab a few times to get around stalled cars and rode the Parlee like a velocipede on a descent, unclipped, and on the top tube for stability. Also met these two workers out getting the job done. Cause the show must go on, in shorts.

Shorts rule

For a few moments thought, “discs would be nice in this situation”

Rode the Parlee CX-H in the snow and tried Biologic’s new Cypher Gloves to take the photos and video. The Hevic wheels with Limus tires worked well on the low packed snow and slush, but those aren’t for the deep stuff or ice.

Cyphers worked well touching the iPhone screen, not for very cold conditions though

Just around the corner from Hugga HQ is a nature preserve

Video

Check the video.

Mark V built up a set of Hevics (Mavic hubs and Hed rims) with Challenge Limus for the 11 Cross season, but I didn’t ride them much until now, in the snow.

Fast, smooth, and grippy.

It was also muddy and they handled the goo superbly as well. They’re not my favs, like the FMBs, but got the job done on our Lesser Seattle Cross workout loop from Schmitz to Lincoln Park. The Hevics with Limus were on the Parlee CX-H, a bike I hadn’t ridden in a month. Down a short hill and into a field of fresh snow, I was reminded of how hot that bike is, like an High School sweetheart I never got over.

Meanwhile, Mark rode downhill on a sledding hill until he got it right without crashing.

Chris Mahan will handprint shirts for our Holiday Party attendees next week with this new Suffer Faces artwork.

Handprinted at our Holiday Party and the cost is $15.00. This tee is a one-time, exclusive run. Click through for the full size.

Get Your Suffer Faces Tee

Show up at our party, throw your cash down, and Mahan will use his t-making machine to make you a shirt.

Last year it was for the Love of Bikes tee, and this time Suffer Faces

While admiring yourself in a warm, freshly-printed shirt, drink some free beer, eat apps, and check the Biologic gear we’re bringing in for the trunk sale.

Party Details

• 3rd Annual Holiday Party
• Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30pm, until the keg is dry and the food gone.
• Elliott Bay Bicycles

RSVP on Facebook.

The most interesting man alive? We’d vote for he who races a tall cross bike, while women blow horns for him

No need to shoulder that thing

and grandmas keep watch.

Remount by stepping into the frame

From an old Panasonic bike ad that predicted the future

Cyber Monday sounds like the day when Skynet becomes self-aware, when the Sarah Connors of the world get real nervous, or robots commute to work on bikes with their babelicious coworkers. But it’s another retail holiday and we’ve got a retail business to run too – you’ll never find us at the mall. So here are some Cyber Monday deals for cyclists, including our own Kickstand that sold very well over the weekend.

an iPhone holder on sale for $3.00