[HAB]

My BTR Ranger is awesome, but my ideas on bike geometry have evolved a bit in the 5 years since I got it and I'm ready to try something new. Looking to crowd source some ideas for custom builders who'd be into building a pretty out there hardtail, geo wise. We're talking very long, very low, very slack.

BTR and WZRD are on my shortlist, but there are a bajillion custom builders out there and there's probably someone cool I've never heard of that'll pique my interest. Whatcha got?

Edit: high-end steel is probably my sweet spot, price wise. Willing to pay for nicer tubing and better ride quality than basic steel (e.g. Marino, who I think are awesome, just not exactly what I'm looking for) but unlikely to want to throw down for Ti.

 

[Westy]

No help with builders here but what numbers are you considering?

 

[englertracing]

 

[jonKranked]

Frank. The. Welder.

 

[HAB]

View attachment 180212

That has the long part down, but I'm not interested in a 60° STA or... -10(?) mm stem. And long travel forks on hardtails are dumb.

Edit: That has to be PVD, right?

 

[HAB]

No help with builders here but what numbers are you considering?

Haven't nailed down the exact details, but something like 440cs/495 reach/62 HTA/77 STA/660 stack/295mm BBH

 

[Gary]

As you have a BTR I guess UK builders may be of interest to you
I believe https://www.curtisbikes.co.uk/ are still producing custom frames.

weirldy BTR seem to now be based in Frome. Where Curtis began.

 

[HAB]

As you have a BTR I guess UK builders may be of interest to you
I believe https://www.curtisbikes.co.uk/ are still producing custom frames.

weirldy BTR seem to now be based in Frome. Where Curtis began.

Not too fussy about location. US based would probably save me a few bucks on shipping and maybe customs, but I'm sort of looking at this from the standpoint of getting something nice and handcrafted that tickles my fancy that I'll keep for a long time, so I'm willing to cast a wide net.

 

[buckoW]

My buddy who lets me use his tubing bender only does custom frames.
https://instagram.com/egerie_velo_moto?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
His name is Nico. To save on shipping you could pick up the frame on a euro riding trip? Nico lives close to Vinny T’s trails with incredible riding out of his doorstep.

 

[englertracing]

That has the long part down, but I'm not interested in a 60° STA or... -10(?) mm stem. And long travel forks on hardtails are dumb.

Edit: That has to be PVD, right?

Yes its pvd

 

[trib]

Waltworks is an interesting option

there’s also Waltly if you do feel the pill of titanium

 

[iRider]

Nicolai if you fancy aluminum and/or gearbox.

 

[boostindoubles]

My buddy went through this process recently with Wilde. He just built it up last week actually. Custom geo and colors.

Oscar welded it for Wilde. He dropped everyone but like 5 customers after his partnership collapsed. He is doing mostly ti these days. I can ask him if he is still doing any custom geo steel for anyone.

 

[trib]

My buddy went through this process recently with Wilde. He just built it up last week actually. Custom geo and colors.

View attachment 180228

Oscar welded it for Wilde. He dropped everyone but like 5 customers after his partnership collapsed. He is doing mostly ti these days. I can ask him if he is still doing any custom geo steel for anyone.

Love that there are hundreds of bikes out there all welded up by Oscar under different names. What's happened to the Simple bikes?

 

[HardtailHack]

I was talking to a dude riding a custom Walty yesterday, not something you see every day in Oz.
It was the polar opposite of what the OP wants, hahaha!

If the Hello Dave wasn't based around a long fork it would have possibly been a decent off the shelf option-

I dig your high stack and short fork requirement, I have a 150mm long HT with 62deg HA, a few AM hardtails have stupidly low stack height.

Tor is doing custom geo for my dually frame but I'd imagine international postage would make it a properly dear hardtail! I was looking at weird frames to post in the random new bike thread and I ended up ordering one, I'm still not exactly sure why.
This dude is on a Tor Abrade-

Stock geo is a bit shit in my opinion-

Tor Bikes – Steel bikes, handmade in Beechworth

torbikes.com.au

 

[boostindoubles]

Love that there are hundreds of bikes out there all welded up by Oscar under different names. What's happened to the Simple bikes?

Oscar took on a partner to grow his business. They built it up to where Odogg was doing 400 frames a year for 30 odd customers. It was mostly ti and their production was on point, streamlined, no excuses needed. Once the job got real - having to discuss material costs, lead time adjustments, and other stressful but necessary situations with customers the partner got cold feet. Oscar fired everyone and moved back into his home shop. He picked the handful of customers he wants to continue building for and is continuing on!

 

[vivisectxi]

was going to say an off the shelf chromag doctahawk is in the numbers ballpark, but that's based on using a silly big fork (180mm!). not a fan of the stapler dynamics either; aggressive geo with a stout 140mm would be the bees knees for me. interested to see what you come up with. wzrd does some neat work; love the chunky fillets & wishbone stays.

 

[HAB]

To save on shipping you could pick up the frame on a euro riding trip? Nico lives close to Vinny T’s trails with incredible riding out of his doorstep.

Now that's my kind of financial logic!

Thanks for the suggestions everybody, keep 'em coming.

 

[6thElement]

Don't Marino (sp?) make "cheap" custom geo bikes in case you want to try something before committing to a fancy builder?

 

[HAB]

Don't Marino (sp?) make "cheap" custom geo bikes in case you want to try something before committing to a fancy builder?

Yeah, but I've tried enough stuff to be pretty confident in what I'm doing. I'm inclined to just send it.

 

[trib]

I’ve always wanted a Tonicfab since they produced the Howie and Fall Guy back in the day. Their Barnstormer hard tail looks like super capable and you should be able to get them to push the geo to where you need it.

 

[dump]

This geo looks near what you’re looking for:

ARGON GEN • Nicolai Bicycles

en.nicolai-bicycles.com

 

[HAB]

This geo looks near what you’re looking for:

ARGON GEN • Nicolai Bicycles

en.nicolai-bicycles.com

A bunch of the numbers are close, but the BB is way too high, and the seat tube on the XL (which is the one with reach close-ish to what I want) is gigantic. Plus I'm really not interested in aluminum. Appreciate the thought though!

 

[HardtailHack]

Yeah, but I've tried enough stuff to be pretty confident in what I'm doing. I'm inclined to just send it.

The finish quality of mine is pretty shit but I expected that for the cost.
It's also now two tone from sitting in a shed with a windows, the paint is garbage and there were a couple of overspray colours on it.
My bike is always dirty so it doesn't matter but for a normal person that washes things it might be annoying.

 

[HAB]

The finish quality of mine is pretty shit but I expected that for the cost.
It's also now two tone from sitting in a shed with a windows, the paint is garbage and there were a couple of overspray colours on it.
My bike is always dirty so it doesn't matter but for a normal person that washes things it might be annoying.

I'd be shocked if they weren't a bit rough for the price. What they're doing is rad, just not what I'm after in this case.

 

[buckoW]

I’ve always wanted a Tonicfab since they produced the Howie and Fall Guy back in the day. Their Barnstormer hard tail looks like super capable and you should be able to get them to push the geo to where you need it.

I still want a Fall Guy but know I would never use it.

 

[HAB]

Tonicfab is a great call, I wanted a Fall Guy really bad back in the day. And they're semi-local.

 

[iRider]

.... but the BB is way too high, ...

You can go custom with them too. Or buy the 29er and put 650B wheels in or a 650B frame and put 26" wheels in. Easy, just ask this one RM member notorious for doing this.

 

[englertracing]

Does anyone know who built Peter's hardtail experiment?
clearly they wont put up a fight with your desired geometry.

 

[trib]

Does anyone know who built Peter's hardtail experiment?
clearly they wont put up a fight with your desired geometry.

he builds them himself, and the frame jigs... he may have some ideas that are a little out there, and he may be obnoxious in his self belief, but he's got fab and design skills

 

[SuspectDevice]

Nemesis Project, obviously

 

[sikocycles]

44 bikes
Retrotech
FTW

 

[HAB]

Nemesis Project, obviously

Thanks, Mickey.

 

[FlipSide]

I can't help with custom builders, sorry.

If you haven't already, check the Kona Honzo ESD. It probably has a geo quite close to what you're after. The Stack is a bit low and the tubeset is probably not as high-end as you'd like, but the frame absolutely rips and is super comfortable. I don't know how tall you are, but I must say the super short seat-tube allowing the use of a very long dropper post is a game changer for me. The only things I'd change are a higher stack height and a slightly lighter tubeset.

 

[vivisectxi]

honzo has super stubby cs (ie, like 1" shorter than what the OP is looking at).

 

[HAB]

honzo has super stubby cs (ie, like 1" shorter than what the OP is looking at).

Yup. The stated length is at the short end of the sliders, but they're still way shorter than what I want.

 

[FlipSide]

Oh! It seems I missed post #6, where the desired geo was listed. Sorry about that!

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

Big fan of Tonic Fabrications in Portland...Still have my 26" dirt jump bike I had them make for me in the mid 2000's, great build quality.

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

Tonicfab is a great call, I wanted a Fall Guy really bad back in the day. And they're semi-local.

I have the howie prototype #5 sitting on the rack waiting to be put back together...

 

[englertracing]

he builds them himself, and the frame jigs... he may have some ideas that are a little out there, and he may be obnoxious in his self belief, but he's got fab and design skills

I knew he did a lot of messing around but I didnt know he built those himself I thought he had those made.