Woodrup have landed the account. They are being instructed to fabricate a bicycle using their finest Reynolds 853 and/or Columbus whatever steel, bearing in mind all my needs:
• Track ends to facilitate singlespeeding
• 130mm OLN so I can use regular road wheels with rim brakes, which I understand are rapidly becoming irregular as 135mm disk brake equipped bikes muscle them out; I'm content to sink deeper into the retro mire
• Horizontal top tube, which I shall be checking with a spirit level
• Must be light enough to make my heart sing
• Yet strong enough to withstand the awesome forces of honking up the hills surrounding NACF HQ
• I'll be having a steel fork while they're at it, which I may wish to initially exchange with a used carbon fork if it isn't too forked. [
Looks forked. - Ed.]
• You mean it has to be painted as well? Goddamnit.
When my Litespeed bit the dust through no fault of its own
the horror
A younger and more foolish version of myself had holes drilled in the down tube to admit shifters. The holes finally sprouted cracks. I had it repaired. They cracked again. The end.
I was left in a quandary, which is not necessarily an unpleasant state for a cyclist provided not
too much time is spent there. My stable was now down two road bikes, one strictly an emergency ride because reasons, the other (the Langster) fine, but given its composition
and that it was getting on in years, not suitable as an only bike.
As I have loudy lamented, letting go of titanium was difficult after 22 years of the stuff. Believe it or not, its most prized quality to me wasn't its lightness – carbon obviously wins there – but that it wasn't painted: that plain fact meant that I didn't have to be precious with it. No worrying about scratches. And I just liked the look.
Stock singlespeed ti is pretty thin on the ground, as are those companies which offer an affordable custom build bundled with confidence, which in any event had taken a battering lately.
I've never been big on eBay, but started checking in every day, apparently willing to trade confidence & bespoke for big $avings. At one point I spotted what looked like a catch. The man's story was that he was a gardener who liked to collect bikes. Very nice bikes. The more I heard ("After work I pick up odd jobs...") the more I realised the provenence of his collection might be in question, and it would perhaps be best to give this one a pass.
Then one morning I was riding my break-in-case-of-emergency bike, which I take out now and then even when there isn't an emergency, and two things struck me: I could live with paint (it's a nice shade of blue, though that's probably not the future for my new bike), and it doesn't fit me that well; in other words, fit is important (duh). My main bike has to feel as good as possible. That means custom, and due to my economic station in life, steel. And that was OK. In fact I should be grateful I can access good steel. So the decision was made and I was finally at peace.
For about a week.
Then this bloody thing came roaring in:
I'd seen it before but immediately dismissed it because
IT'S CLEARLY UNSUITABLE. And yet... could it be made to work? My Litespeed took a magic gear; if I crossed my fingers hard enough, maybe this would too.
(The other ways of stripping your gears are too clunky, except for the eccentric hub option. Unfortunately White Industries don't seem to be making theirs anymore. Used was a possibility, but the only one I saw on eBay didn't look so hot.)
Hell, why not get two Spitfires? One as a backup to double the 2 year warranty (such is the way my mind operates). It would still be cheaper than one good steel bike.
The measurements looked OK, though as others have pointed out,
the sizing is a head scratcher.
Less than an hour after the idea had impacted my brain, I had bought one. The next day it arrived. I'd ended up with a Waltly after all – apparently designed by none other than Mark Reilly.
I'd also ordered a chain tensioner from Wiggle, somehow having relented in the clunky dept. You see what ti can do to me? It's a sickness.
No need to repeat myself. I wasn't immediately thrilled. The fork was also on the scary side of lightness, which was kind of great but also kind of terrifying.
There was no headset. Given the already jawdropping bargain it would be churlish to bitch about that. As it happens, this omission undid the entire mad plan. It gave me time to contemplate the likelihood of success as I eyed that too shiny finish.
The tensioner was hideous. A regular derailleur would also do the job and might look nicer. If only I liked derailleurs. As much as I wanted this plan to work, my sense of aesthetics was going to have its way after all. Almost as quickly as I had fallen in love with the idea, I wanted out. The only thing that would turn it around is if a magic gear was indeed possible.
This was tricky. To show any sign of use at all would endanger the possibility of returning the frame. I partially installed a new bottom bracket (no grease of course) and proceeded to try the four combinations of chainring and sprocket available to me, taking care to not even let the chain touch it.
And there we have it (along with
that work of art). I might’ve gotten away with it if the chain wasn’t new and un
stretchedworn. It also wouldn't have been ideal being stuck with one specific chainring which has never been available in abundance anyway.
It doesn't exactly sound like I'm running into the arms of Woodrup, does it. And yet I'm confident they'll do me right. They're happy to base the measurements on an existing frame (
despite dire warnings), and they can put together a good email; amazing how many can't manage even that. They also keep active social media accounts, which while nowhere on my list of requirements, is a welcome sign of life.
Three or so months from now a box will be heading back down that drive and I'll be riding my new non-titanium bike back up it.
