I had a good idea of what geometry I wanted, I'd been through the complications of 29er head angles, fork offsets and trail but really did want an expert framebuilder to check my thinking and have an input.
I'd had a good look around, direct to manufacturers in various countries as well as framebuilders in the US and Canada, but I felt that even from my initial emails with Justin he knew what he was doing and would actually help me...
That instinct proved to be right, we had a few iterations of the frame design, allowing for specific 29er fork crown clearance and chainstay issues, and the frame was designed around the On One carbon superlight fork, with the assumption that suspension fork geometry will catch up next year and I can fit suss forks if I need to. At the moment many suspension forks are just longer 26" forks, which compromise the handling of a 29er, ie they are not designed from scratch with 29er geometry.
The same assumption was applied to rim choice, those are tubeless rims but you can't get tubeless 29er tyres over here yet. I'm running the Stan's system.
I also had concerns about Ti tube selection, over-spec and it will ride like an anvil, under-spec and it will be noodly. Again Justin's experience and suggested tube diameters reassured me.
Result: exactly what I wanted; compliant, a lovely ride, but still firm. Huge ovalised down tube, nearly as wide as the BB shell takes care of non flex down there.
Finish, welds, quality... can't be faulted. As can't delivery and the whole customer experience with Justin.
I think one mate - an occasional cycling journo - summed it up perfectly: 'it just looks right'.
The only problem's been the bike's so sexy I can't face getting it muddy! OK, maybe next weekend then.....
Al
