A well made “keeper of the flame” framebuilder
 

I stopped by Bantam yesterday to share some random Asian snacks with my buddy Bob as he started to add components to this just completed beauty.

Stunning lugs for days.

since this is the slow season, he is making some standard sized frames to sell for a lil cheaper. You still get to pick the paint color.

Bob used to be head Framebuilder for Bilenky in Philly before moving to Portland.

If you are considering a custom or near custom frame, I’d consider Bantam.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b5057390c.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0e65b065c.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...51ed6e3cb.jpeg

Beautiful!

OMG ! ! ! He's clamped on the seat tube ! ! !

That definitely the beauteous mark ! Does he have special pricing for fixed income retirees ?

I agree. While I haven't squished a tube myself, I've seen many donated to the co-op for parts only.

I'm sure Bob know the strength of his tubes. Plus he subleases part of his space to Framebuilder's Supply who is the Columbus tube importer.

:thumb: :love:

Bob was on the short list when I built my Strawberry, if Andy would have not agreed to do it originally I might have been on a Bantam, or a TiCycle. :twitchy: ;)

Can't wait to see it all built up. That is purdeeeee! I had seen Bantam's stuff in the past somewhere and liked it but this is doing it for me big time.

Hotness.

Those dropouts are beautiful.

I just don't see the reason why you'd clamp the seat tube. I assume Bantam uses only one seat tube ID, so why not just toss in an old seat post?
You can't clamp the seat tube with much force, so the frame is gonna move in the clamp's jaws, marring the (soft fresh) paint. I hate it when bikes or frames move around too easily when I'm wrenching.
Plus, if you're taking pictures, you're only broadcasting poor technique for the world to see. At LEAST don't take pics with frames clamped!

That said, that is a thing of pure beauty! Not a fan of black, but wow, what art! Throw in some more interesting colors, and it's perfection!

Bob has been a frame builder, a bike mechanic and a bike shop owner for years.

It was gently placed in the clamp.

It now has a seat post in it.

Breathe people, breathe.

In and out.

Well, squishing the tube isn't the only risk. Unless the paint is very cured, the weave of the cloth rag can be imprinted into the paint, not to mention the million tiny scratches you get when the tube rotates in the clamp while working on it. That rag doesn't look too clean, so it might have grit in it. But even a clean rag can leave microscopic scratches that look like a slight haze in the sheen, maybe barely noticeable but I still wouldn't do that on a customer's frame.

About those pink shop rags: a shop I worked at used to buy bundles of them used (laundered) for cheap, but they can have metal chips still stuck in them from whatever machine shop had them before you, and that the laundering didn't remove. We learned to keep those well away from any nice paint job no matter how well-cured.

It is severely hard to deform the seat tube with a bike stand clamp, how people "accomplish this" is puzzling to me. I had a bent/wrecked De Rosa with Columbus SLX tubing and did some destructive testing of the seat tube with a bike stand and was unable to bend/dent the seat tube without laying the bike stand on the ground and kicking the clamp closed. I'm not a weakling either, 20 years of concrete work has left me stronger than the average bear... Will a rag mess up the paint? Yea, will the stand crush the tube? Only if you are doing it really really wrong, and you are extremely strong.

FWIW someone who I know (not me) crushed a Kona top tube in a Park stand. Many years ago I saw a Nishiki Pro seat tube crushed in a Park stand. That was a shop mechanic. He got to pay for the replacement. In both instances the bike was left clamped overnight.
It can happen.

That people want to debate this subject to the ends of the earth is hilarious. "Damn it, I'm gonna PROVE you can clamp a seat tube without doing any damage..." All while it's a well-documented and known way to mangle frames. Endless stories of the newb at the LBS crushing a frame tube. Or marring paint. Or mangling decals. (In fact, there was a recent post on this forum where the OP complained about "sloppy factory decal application," not realizing the bad decals he was seeing were the result of poor repair stand procedure.)

Just put in a cheap seat post and NEVER EVER WORRY about damaging a frame ever again. All these issues easily avoided with one simple and sensible step.

If there is enough post up I camp the post, and if there isn't I clamp the frame, if the seat is that low the seat post is also inside the frame where I clamp it, but I had a junk frame with thin walled tubing so I did some testing with my bike stand...

sigh.

Never mind

https://www.bantambicycles.com/pricing

lugged: $3550 Frame and fork, single color wet paint with contrasting sprayed on decals

I'm not advertising, just reporting the facts.

Rob, does Bob do steel forks or will get a carbon one?

Always feel a bit deflated when I see a carbon fork on a steel frame, but I realise it's de rigueur.

Beautiful frame though.

Bob will probably do what ever you want but this black one has a gorgeous matching fork as most he makes I think.

The $3550 may be for a custom frame

https://www.instagram.com/bantambicycles/

steel forks. I've never seen a carbon one in his shop.

Lots to love on that frame but I especially like the seat cluster. I used to do a similar seatstay top, partly mitered to the back of the lug like a "fastback", partly hanging out wider than the lug, I called it "half-fast"

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1aee63d3b2.jpg

One I did for a customer, probably ~1990, stays just a bit narrower than the Bantam:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d6acc4b5a0.jpg
It was offered as an option on custom frames, but most people asked for the more normal "leaf" shaped top-eye. Only made about a half-dozen this way.
The top-eye mounted to the side of the lug is definitely easier, so Bantam is not doing it the easy way here. He's following his muse where it leads him

My own road racer from '88 I think:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b8c257c082.jpg

I made my wife's that way too. I like all sorts of seatstay tops, but I guess I did favor the half-fast for a time.

If I were getting a custom built, this is what I would choose. Love fish lip treatments on the stays and fork blades.

I'm sorry. I truly should have known better. :(

Very pretty! I'll have to snap a photo of the lugs my brother used on the one and only frame he built many years ago for his frame building class.

People really need to cool it with freaking out when somebody clamps a frame. Seriously people, it's fine, for any frame material. If you're not a fool, the frame won't deform. The world will not stop turning. Nobody cares, find something else to comment on.

first time I have seen details of a Bantam frame, but...WOW!

Price seems very reasonable for a custom steel frame. Bigger names charge twice that (and more).