ZenNMotion

I haven't yet had time to build it up, but this will be my new ride this season (the bicycle, the moto is just a fantasy). I was looking around the web, and stumbled across Joe Wells/Tsunami bikes in Phoenix who built this cross beauty for a very attractive price, my wait time was 2 months. (Hint.. so there's still time to catch part of THIS cross season on a new custom bike) He can do any design you want, but I took his basic geometry dimensions and requested some tweaks for fit and handling preferences- this should be a very sweet racer- I swear I heard it growl a little bit when I opened the box. His paint job is beautiful, I sent him a photo of a motorcycle I found on flickr, and said I liked the color, and the result was like whoa! Check the match yourself! I'll post a build and ride follow up later. But if you're looking for a new frame, go check out Joe's work- custom work for a similar or lesser price of most name brand aluminum factory clone bikes. https://www.tsunamibikes.com/. Looks like he added my frame to his front page. I wasn't originally thinking about custom aluminum as all my other bikes are steel or Ti, but I realized that for the rough and tumble of cross racing, I wanted a no-nonsense lightweight stiff workhorse for racing at a price that an overworked underpaid dude facing the New Economy can afford, so aluminum it is. So it was either an imported factory model, or a Joe Wells custom, and I got exactly what I want in return for a short wait.

OnTheRivet

Very nice, what tubeset did he use? Weight?

ZenNMotion

7005 Easton tubes, didn't ask specifics, just let him make those decisions, not scandium, but I asked for durable for cross. I don't know the exact weight, but I'd guess around 1350-1400g as his 56cm road frames come in at around 1250g, and he put some more beef into it, it's pretty light.

availpunk9

If you don't mind, how much did that run you?

ZenNMotion

Tsunami is a small family business working in a tough economy, and while known (mostly in SoCal where they used to be before the move to AZ) they're still under the radar as far as builders go, and I suspect the prices partly reflect that. I think it's only fair to allow them to quote their own prices and adjust as they need to, a basic starting price is quoted on their website, mine is not much more than that given a few extras I asked for such as painting my carbon fork to match the frame. Joe Wells was very quick to respond to my questions, very laid back and friendly, no hard sell- send him an Email with your questions. It's very tough to make framebuilding a profitable activity, especially at Tsunami's pricepoint- you get a one-off, fully custom build for around what you'd expect to pay for a mass produced aluminum frame. There's lots of very nice imported aluminum cross frames to choose from these days. But if you're willing to wait a little, why not get exactly what you want, especially if the price is comparable?

seat_boy

Any updates on this frame now that you've had it a while? I'm starting to get the urge for a made in the USA frame...