Frame #11, seen here about to emerge from the garage in which it was created. My first build, 6y ago now, was a fixie, and to be fair it was fine. I put enough miles on it to wear out two chains with no issues. But it had enough imperfections to bother me: the TT sloped down slightly because I hadn't accounted for lower stack; the dropouts had to be slightly filed to get the right alignment; and one of welds was a bit lumpy after I made a hole and had to fill it in.

So this is a rebuild with the same components, and basically the same geometry (after correcting the lower stack mistake). The TT is horizontal this time, the head angle quite slack at 72, because toe-overlap on a fixie is something you do want to avoid. The seat tube angle is 73, and chain-stay length a reasonable and moderate 415mm. BB drop is 70mm, and I never get any pedal strike (165mm cranks).

I have made a few forks since frame #1 but making the fork is not advisable on the first build. So this is a cromoly one from Brick Lane Bikes.

Tubing is Reynolds 631 in .8/.5/.8 for the main triangle (although the head-tube is Columbus Zona-- left over from the tubes for the first frame, since the HT they supplied was about 3 feet long!) and Reynolds 525 for the rear triangle. No bridge tubes or cable stops because this is a custom fixie and only needs a front brake. It's all TIG welded apart from some TIG brazing where the seat-stays are attached. The frame weighs 1.65kg. Alignment is absolutely bob-on and the dropouts have not been filed.

Paint is Montana Gold acrylic, Magenta and Shock Cream rattle cans, plus Spray Max 2K clear, and whatever flies decided to embalm themselves in it while it was drying. Colour scheme inspired by Henry Wildeberry's Colnago on his YouTube channel.

The car works too, and has also received some treatment from the TIG welder.