dabern

I shouldn't even make this post without pics but am super psyched. Anyway, my Brown Santa just departed and I'm sitting here at work with my Rock Lobster frame beside my desk counting the hours until I can go home and get intimate with it...oh, sorry about that mental image but you get my drift. I'll post pics of frame tomorrow and pics of built bike the day after. It's Reynolds 853, Paul Comp. track ends with adjusters, roughly 58x58, pump peg, bottle bosses (don't start on m about bottle bosses unless you live somewhere with more heat & humidity than the sticky FL gulf coast...or as we like to say, L.A....as in lower Alabama), 38 deg. rake straight blade steel fork (Columbus steel for fork), pearl-ish white powdercoat, just absolutely stunning. Beautifully welded and detailed by Paul Sadoff who I highly recommend to anyone looking for any kind of frame...his website is in serious need of redesign, but he says he's working it. Total damage to my wallet was $940 including shipping...think it's a bargain for a custom frame these days.

Mish-mash of parts sitting at home awaiting installation are TA Pista crank & rings, TA BB, Miche cog & carrier, Campy headset, Nitto bar & stem, Surly "new" medium flange hubs w/Ambrosio Excellence rims, Conti tires, Brooks saddle...a fairly international kind of thing it'll be with U.S., France, Italy, Japan, and Germany represented...prob ought to throw Taiwan in there as that's likely where the Surly hubs are made.

Thanks for sharing my excitement!

progre-ss

Ya....you could have waited til you had pics to post. Now I gotta go to the damn Rock Lobster website! Damn you!

manboy

What kind of a frame is named after a B-52's song?

Probably an awesome one.

Thylacine

Whats the deal with Rock Lobster? Paul got real popular in the early 90's, apparently had a real backorder thing going, and now you can buy them in England for a couple of hundred bucks. If you check the Brit mags, some shop is selling them very cheap. I often wonder if they're not made in Taiwan versions or something

dabern

Apparently he's licensed the name to those folks selling the frames in UK and I'll bet you're right about Taiwan...I notice Merlin does the same thing in UK. He is still backordered as my frame took 11 weeks for him to build - he quoted me 10-12 weeks so he hit the sweet spot time-wise. Paul made his name doing cyclocross and ss mtb frames. Anyway, great guy, great service, great experience. Pics coming...

dabern

Apologies for pic quality...will have to remember to take smaller pics so as not to lose resolution during resizing.

dabern

As you can see, kitty likes Paul Comp. dropouts/trackends...but she doesn't have a tail so what does she know...

auk

Very very nice. Now, take the day off and go finish that bad boy! We need more pics, completed pics, pics that make us all a little teary-eyed. You get the point.

Dave

pitboss

AH! A black cat...run!

That fork makes me want to rob you.

sohi

oh, its so beautiful!

familyman

Could you hurry up and finish that please.
You're just mean.

dabern

Awww, I'm not trying to be mean...had to wait overnight for Framesaver to dry...it's hard to sit here at work today. Am off for next five days, though, and ready to ride. 165, please don't hork my fork!

MKRG

He'd rather fork your hork.

a2psyklnut

O.k. man that avatar has GOT to be the funniest yet!!!!

L8R

jitensha!

nice. the graphics are simple and cool. i don't care much for the Paul's dropouts, but it ain't my bike.

j-

lucklust

I've got it, sohi !!! Why don't you photoshop some sunglasses onto the cute girls bum?

MKRG

I miss that bum too!

streetdog

Nice cat. Bike is ok too.

Thylacine

You do realise white isn't a colour, right?

Just curiously, what geometry did you settle on? Good to see I'm not the only tall bastard, too.

Msngr

sorry, but that IS pretty. and i am not talking about the cat.

dabern

Thylacine, I'm not sure on geometry as in I don't know exact angles other than to say HT is about 74/75 and ST is about 73/74...I do know fork rake is 38 degrees. I didn't spec angles, just asked Paul to make it quick/nimble feeling...wanted it to handle somewhere between dedicated track and traditional road geometry. I did tell him I needed something close to 58x58 and asked him to extend HT by a couple cm so I could run a Nitto drop stem (just because it's cool looking), but left the rest up to him and his experience. You know better than anyone here - isn't that what customers should let framebuilders do?

Departing on first ride in a few minutes! Pics and details coming later.

HereNT

Ok - you finished it, you're about to go out, and you take the time to log on and rub all our noses in it?

You are MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have rode it THEN logged in to gloat.

lucklust

You're absolutely right. It's a COLOR!

dabern

Built pics! Quality not the best, but there's a 100Kb file size limit, dangit. Thanks for putting up with me thru this...

dabern

And a few more... Rode it with bullhorns this morning on my reg 21 mile loop, will do again with drops this afternoon. I love how it rides, handles, etc etc etc. It was my first ever custom frame and well worth it. Retiring my Fuji track - will sell it to a local and get somebody else into fixie riding.

Thanks again for putting up with all the teasing...but I was simply too excited to wait. I learned a lot hanging on this forum for the past year...and from Harris/Sheldon/etc. Thanks again all you fixie freak friends.