Fiery

Some would perhaps bundle Taiwan in with China, but still...

My size 58 Cannondale Six13 Pro is an excellent bike, but after a couple of years on it I've come to the conclusion that it is not the best fit for me. Not talking about the contact points, mind you - I've been able to achieve a very good position on it with a sensible stem, few spacers, and a standard setback seatpost - but the handling just doesn't feel quite as it should. With some experimentation I've come to the conclusion that geometry is at least partially to blame: the combination of a long 60 cm front center with a short trail and my slim build not putting enough weight on the front wheel means the front feels a little insecure on descents and when cornering hard.

This is where the Bowman comes in. The brand story is that they are building frames with handling in mind first and foremost, but that might be a moot point (like there is a company that doesn't claim their bikes are built to handle well); it is the published geometry and a some of the design decisions in combination with the story that convinced me to pull the trigger on a Palace in size 56. Bowman is not really a new name any more, but there's still very little first-hand accounts to be found on the Internet, which is the main motivation behind this thread.

They had no framesets in stock when I ordered, so they had to have one shipped from the factory in Taiwan. From the day I placed the order, it took all of one week for it to arrive to Belgium from Taiwan via Great Britain. Other than the frame and fork, it includes the headset, seat collar, and an extra long bolt for the front brake. For the weight conscious, the frame weight, including the collar, cable guide and tension adjusters, and derailleur hanger, is some 1460g on my cheap luggage scales (take this with a +/- 50 g of salt). The fork is around 390 g uncut. Finally, this is what it looks like:









Edit: I've nothing against Chinese open-mould carbon frames.

dr_lha

The decals are cheesy as f***. I mean, spelling out 6069, really? However, it looks like a nice Alu frame. How much did it cost out of interest?

Keep us up to date on the build and how it rides.

rpenmanparker 

I love the decals. The whole thing looks great.

silversx80

I like it. The sky blue isn't to my taste, but it's a sharp looking frameset.

rpenmanparker 

I'm not sure what you mean by a cheap luggage scale, but if it is electronic (less than $10 delivered from China) it is much more accurate than +/- 50 g. More like +/- 2 g I would guess. My "fish" scale certainly is advertised to be.

Lazyass

That's pretty sweet.

PepeM

I've been drooling over that frameset for a few months now. On my shortlist for my next build, hopefully next summer. I'll be looking forward to your reports.

What components will you be using?

Fiery

I'll agree that there's cheese in the decals ("Ride with Spirit" x 3, web address on the chainstay, almost-but-not-quite Celeste colour...), but I've decided that I like them. The price is as listed on the website, £650 plus £15 for shipping.

rpenmanparker, I'm not confident that the scale I have is accurate, even if it is precise. It is also very sensitive to the angle at which the measured object hangs on the hook, so for something bulky like a bike frame it will show different values depending on how you hang it. Bottomline is, I don't really care enough to bother with reference weights or look for a suitable strap that will make sure the frame is hanging straight, so I give the buffer for peace of mind :-)

The groupset and wheels will be transferred from the Cannondale - a ten speed Force and Red mix with some Ultegra on top and Open Pro built on Ultegra 6700 hubs. Deda post, stem and handlebar.

noodle soup

Aluminum fork?

Looks nice. Is it navy blue or black?

PepeM

Carbon fork I'm pretty sure.

rpenmanparker 

Fair enough re: the scale.

rms13

That's a great looking frame. Can't wait to see results

Maelochs

Nice-looking frame. It looks like the down tube is a rounded rectangle? is the top tube flat-topped as well? Hard to tell from the pics.

By the way, PM me for my address and I will send you a check to cover shipping ... yes, I am such a nice guy I am volunteering to get rid of that nasty Cannondale frame for you for no charge.

shelbyfv

That's one of the best looking "new" frames I've seen in awhile. Love the colors and the graphics seem relatively tasteful compared to some of the more ubiquitous brands.

Fiery

Carbon fork, of course. I believe even the dropouts are carbon. The frame is anodized black.


The downtube starts heagonal at the bottom bracket and becomes oval by the time it reaches the head tube. The top tube is like a rounded upside-down triangle. You may notice that the sides go partway around the seat tube and transfer quite neatly into the chainstays. The seat tube is the only tube with no shaping whatsoever, yet the frame still has clean, straight lines - I like that a lot.

Thanks for the kind offer, but I'm afraid my conscience wouldn't let me sleep for all the suffering it might cause you if you rode it

Fiery

Build time. I took the frame to my favourite shop to have the BB pressed in, and did the rest myself. I planned to do a detailed pictorial of the complete build, but I got bored with interrupting the work to take photos. I did document the steerer cutting, which can be a daunting task for a home mechanic; the rest is straightforward and can be done with no specialized tools other than cable cutters, a selection of Allen keys, and a Phillips screwdriver.

Sorry for the picture quality, the light was not the best for closeup shots.


The tools I'm going to use are a hacksaw with a fine-toothed blade:




And a 28 mm pipe clamp for a cutting guide (the steerer tube is 1.123" or 28.6 mm, but since the clamp a two piece design with rubber bushings, it still matches well):




The first task is to measure the spot where I want to cut the steerer. To make this as precise as possible, I install the headset, set the spacers and stem and preload everything. I did not have enough spacers to cover the steerer extending above the stem, but I found a solution...




Tighten the stem, remove the stuff above it and mark the top edge with a sharpie:




I actually need to cut the steerer below this line in order to be able to preload the headset properly. I use electric tape to mark the exact spot to cut, and also to protect the carbon from splintering. The top piece is placed to just cover the marked line, and the bottom is a millimeter or so lower. I prefer to cut a bit long and leave enough room for a cleanup with a sanding block after cutting:




Guide in place. I'd cut off the lip of the rubber bushing on one side in order to have a metal edge as a guide:




After cutting and cleanup:




Perfect!

dr_lha

Nice.

Cutting the steerer tube has got to be the most nerve wracking part of building a bike. I'll admit that the first cut I did on mine wasn't any good, thankfully the issue was that I didn't cut enough off, and I had to go back and cut a bit more. I bought a steerer tube cutting tool of Nashbar for $15 that was perfect for the job, but your improvised one would work too. that said, I've used the Nashbar tool for several plumbing jobs around the house since, so it was far from wasted money!

noodle soup

I only asked because of the thread's title.

Lazyass

You don't really want to use a tube cutter on a carbon steerer because it can crush it. However, I have a little Kobalt one I bought at Lowes for about $10 when I was cutting alu steerers. When I cut my carbon tube, I used the cutter just to put a little groove in it to use as a guide for the hacksaw. I had the aluminum plug in it so I wasn't worried about crushing the tube with that little bit of pressure.

dr_lha

You'd really, really, have to crank down on it to do that. If my steerer tube were that delicate I'd be afraid to ride my bike in case my fork assploded.

The tube cutter I used looks like the one in this video:

Ask a Mechanic: Measuring and Cutting Steerer Tubes

as you can see, in this video the guy is using it for cutting a carbon steerer. I think you're being a little over-cautious, but whatever makes you feel safe.

noodle soup

Tube cutters are a no no for carbon steerer tubes, but he used a tube cutting guide.

Lazyass

Ah, we're talking about different things. Yours isn't a cutter, it's a guide.

dr_lha

Ah then my bad for using the wrong name for the tool.

rpenmanparker 

I use a Dremel tool with cutting wheel for cutting forks and seatposts. An old spacer or two on top of a stem clamped in place makes a good guide. The Dremel does a great job.

cydewaze

Yeah I like it all too.



You could ride it that way. Have a flat bar on top and a drop bar on the bottom, sort of like an old biplane!