Had the opportunity to see this today, complete with Mafac cantilevers. 650B goodness













Mike also showed me his latest brushed headbadges:



-Kurt

Beautiful!

Very nice.

Love the color scheme and plenty of braze ons.

Eyelets for fenders on the front fork as well?

Looks like it's worth a million and built for business. The placement of the braze-ons are really slick.

whats that one braze on the left seat stay for?

Indeed, eyelets on the front dropouts, and a fender bolt mounted under the crown.

If you mean the bolt mounted to the lower half of the stay, it is a taillight mount. There are two of them, one below the other, 90 degrees apart, for multiple mounting options depending on the light of your choice:



-Kurt

didn't notice the light mount. i meant this one:

A hoop to lock your saddle too


Some sort of IGH routing with the second set of cable guides on the top tube?

Spot on!

A tip of the hat to the builder, no doubt.

Is the frame built from True Temper or ?

Or a dyno... that would make more sense...

Clockwise from left:

Rack mounts
Rear brake cable housing stop
Wire guide for lighting
Pump peg (center)
Rear brake cable housing stop under downtube, paired with wire guide for lighting (three guides under the TT in total)

Pretty sure it is - that or Dedacciai.

-Kurt

That paint is so delicious. I want to eat your bike.
.

Thank you.

These should sell very well for him, as this has it all.

Have you had a chance to ride one with a loaded front bag ?

Hack.....

Fantastic frame, he does beautiful work! If I ever decide to splash out on a full custom frame, I'm going local.

Beautiful bike. Great options for whatever you want on it. I'm sure it's not something I'd have the money for, but I sure hope a lot of people do and he sells a lot of them. I'd be afraid to mess up that paint, though. It's almost Too good.

Nope - I've yet to ride any of his 650B frames; all of them have sold as frames before I could ever see one built up.

Most of them differ depending on the maximum tire size the frame was designed for though, so I dare say not all ride alike.

Says the man with the clapped-out Armstrong

-Kurt

Kurt,

Does Mike TF do his own paint and finish work? Simply stunning! The badges are collector items in their own right. How does he get around using the Olympic Rings? Or are they just different enough to pass the IOC's scrutiny?

I was wondering just why there were two brake cable brazeons, canits and a drum seemed odd. very beautiful bike. you guys have really broadend my view and apprecation of many different styles and kinds of bikes over the last few years. a few short years ago, I would have said "OH a touring bike nice" now I amd really begining to apprecaite the the details of fine handbuilt tourera dn randonneurer.

thanks for letting your knowledge and love of great old (and new) functional bikes sink in just a bit.

That's a fantastic frame, he is truly an artist. Thanks, I really like my Armstrong.

I see that he used the new Nitto M13 rack, which is designed for 650B bikes. Very nice frame! It sounds like he thought of all the details.

Nope - he has a few different fellows for the job plus a powdercoater if the buyer prefers a budget paint job.

This is one of my all-time favorites - it has a very crisp, C&Vesque paint job:



Indeed they are, but those aren't the Olympic rings. Mike has a color rendition of the Terraferma logo which shows that the circular design is a solid gold color. The rings are not level either; they angle to a point in the sky.

We spoke about the possibility of doing a fully painted badge, though that remains on the drawing board for the present. Here's another variant:



I think that's the Grand Bois rack, not the M13. Notice the flashlight/headlight mounting off to the right.

-Kurt

Gorgeous.

I had the opportunity to see one of these frames at a shop in Ft. Lauderdale recently. I think it was a 650b model similar to the yellow one above, but in dark blue and loaded with the snazzy details - card suit cutouts on the inner tang of the fork crown, etc...

Absolutely gorgeous!