# Beautiful custom bikes: steel all-road, road and gravel



## avecReynolds531 (6 Aug 2020)

Enjoyed this post at Rene Herse, showcasing three handbuilt steel bikes from the Enve Builders roundup: https://www.renehersecycles.com/beautiful-bikes-at-the-enve-builders-roundup/

Prova, Strong and Scarab featured as some of the favourites...

The idea of road geometry with clearances for 55mm tyres sounds all ok


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## DCBassman (6 Aug 2020)

avecReynolds531 said:


> The idea of road geometry with clearances for 55mm tyres sounds all ok


This is really good. I run a pure road bike frame, but with flat bars and MTB rear gearing. Front gears are pure road triple (and BIG!). But it can only go to 25mm tyres! Aaargh!


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## raleighnut (6 Aug 2020)

avecReynolds531 said:


> Enjoyed this post at Rene Herse, showcasing three handbuilt steel bikes from the Enve Builders roundup: https://www.renehersecycles.com/beautiful-bikes-at-the-enve-builders-roundup/
> 
> Prova, Strong and Scarab featured as some of the favourites...
> 
> The idea of road geometry with clearances for 55mm tyres sounds all ok


All with Crackbon forks though.


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## Vantage (6 Aug 2020)

Beautiful isn't a word I'd use to describe those bikes but, each to their own.


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## MntnMan62 (6 Aug 2020)

I think those bikes are nice. But I also like the idea of permanence and for that reason, my next road bike will likely be titanium. Maybe something like this one.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products...hampion-ti-disc-brake-titanium-road-bikes.htm


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## raleighnut (6 Aug 2020)

Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,


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## Ian H (6 Aug 2020)

Richard Hallett made this for me. 38mm light tubeless tyres, stainless steel fork blades & stays. He calls it an 'Adventure Bike'. It's certainly remarkably capable both on & off road.


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## newfhouse (6 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,
> 
> View attachment 540155


You’re old fashioned. Happy now?

That Mercian is a gorgeous thing though.


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## MntnMan62 (6 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,
> 
> View attachment 540155



Can I assume that's yours sitting there? It's absolutely gorgeous. I love the matching leather bar wrap, saddle and saddle bag. I'd probably go with clipless pedals but now I'm splitting hairs. But aren't you supposed to be a Raleigh "nut"?


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## avecReynolds531 (6 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> All with Crackbon forks though.


Yes, ideally with a skinny steel fork, and I'd be happy to stop at 42mm tyres (and a good set of centre pulls!). 



Ian H said:


> Richard Hallett made this for me. 38mm light tubeless tyres, stainless steel fork blades & stays. He calls it an 'Adventure Bike'. It's certainly remarkably capable both on & off road.


The Hallet is gorgeous & the versatility is something I'm looking for now: I've just retired my old road frame that couldn't fit more than 23mm tyres.

My early eighties 73 square steel frame fits 32mm tyres with mudguards. 32mm feels a lot better than 23, and it's rapid & comfy on bridleways and tracks. I'd love to try 38 - 42mm tyres, but at the moment it looks like my future bike is something from the past.


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## Vantage (6 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,
> 
> View attachment 540155



Black hood's with brown leather tape???
Who is this criminal?
Let them suffer a lifetime locked in a soundproof room and made to endure Barry Minilows Greatest Hits!


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## MntnMan62 (6 Aug 2020)

Vantage said:


> *Black hood's with brown leather tape???*
> Who is this criminal?
> Let them suffer a lifetime locked in a soundproof room and made to endure Barry Minilows Greatest Hits!



Awe, c'mon. Those hoods match the tires perfectly. That bike is gorgegeous. And I bet it rides like the wind......

It is the night
My body's weak
I'm on the run
No time to sleep
I've got to ride
Ride like the wind
To be free again


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## raleighnut (6 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> Can I assume that's yours sitting there? It's absolutely gorgeous. I love the matching leather bar wrap, saddle and saddle bag. I'd probably go with clipless pedals but now I'm splitting hairs. But aren't you supposed to be a Raleigh "nut"?


Nah, I was about to 'pull the pin' on ordering a Mercian Audax Special frame to be built when I had my accident, luckily I still had the cash in the bank when my Femur didn't heal and after the 2nd bigger 'Intramedullay Nail' was inserted I had the cash to buy and then modify the Trike from this,






To how it is in my Avatar for just on £1,000 (The cost of a Mercian Frame)

The 'username' raleighnut comes from my 1st ever post on here when someone was posting about drilling out a rear brake bridge on a Raleigh to take a modern 'sleeve nut' type rear brake and I suggested doing what I had done when I fitted one which was to use a front 'sleeve nut' type on the back and fitting a normal 'Nylock' nut to secure it (the threaded bit on the rear brake isn't long enough but the front is just the right length to do this.

I do own 4 Raleigh bikes though so the username stuck.


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## Fab Foodie (6 Aug 2020)

Ian H said:


> Richard Hallett made this for me. 38mm light tubeless tyres, stainless steel fork blades & stays. He calls it an 'Adventure Bike'. It's certainly remarkably capable both on & off road.
> View attachment 540156


What tubing is the fork Ian?


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## Fab Foodie (6 Aug 2020)

oh yeah....


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## raleighnut (6 Aug 2020)

This is my 'Posh' bike, a handbuilt Reynolds 653 TT bike with all Campagnolo kit, the bar extender on the stem is for my lighting rig as I rode it at night on unlit local lanes a lot (not fitted in the quick picture I took for insurance purposes)


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## Ian H (6 Aug 2020)

Fab Foodie said:


> What tubing is the fork Ian?


American: KVA. The main tubes are Columbus Life.


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## raleighnut (6 Aug 2020)

Vantage said:


> Black hood's with brown leather tape???
> Who is this criminal?
> Let them suffer a lifetime locked in a soundproof room and made to endure Barry Minilows Greatest Hits!


Yep mine would have had DT shifters and proper brake levers in the right place, none of this riding 'on the hoods' malarkey.


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## Fab Foodie (6 Aug 2020)

Ian H said:


> American: KVA. The main tubes are Columbus Life.


Thanks!


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## marzjennings (6 Aug 2020)

Received my new custom steel gravel frame about 2 weeks ago and I've started this week to order parts to build it up. B17 saddle on its way. It was going to be built up as a Rohloff hub gates drive bike, but due to parts and cash limitations will probably mean a Shimano GRX build. Hopefully I'll have it out on the gravel roads by September.


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## avecReynolds531 (6 Aug 2020)

marzjennings said:


> Received my new custom steel gravel frame about 2 weeks ago and I've started this week to order parts to build it up. B17 saddle on its way. It was going to be built up as a Rohloff hub gates drive bike, but due to parts and cash limitations will probably mean a Shimano GRX build. Hopefully I'll have it out on the gravel roads by September.
> 
> View attachment 540180


Lovely details - that curved brake bridge with mudguard boss, and neat cut out map of Texas with (I'm guessing) the frame number. 
The chain stay indent is something else too.


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## marzjennings (6 Aug 2020)

avecReynolds531 said:


> Lovely details - that curved brake bridge with mudguard boss, and neat cut out map of Texas with (I'm guessing) the frame number.
> The chain stay indent is something else too.



Thanks, I'm looking forward to the build process and then getting it out on the dirt. The frame is spaced for up to 2.5" tyres and I'm going to fit 750mm drop bars. It's going to be mile munching beast.


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## MntnMan62 (6 Aug 2020)

I've seen lots of these "gravel" bikes mentioned lately and I have to admit I'm taken with any kind of bike porn. But the concept of a gravel bike, a bike meant for the dirt but without shocks, just wouldn't work for me around here. I do live down the block from a 2,000 acre park that has some of the sweetest technical single track you could ever want to see but I don't have much smooth dirt to ride on around here. But I do love seeing any bike from the perspective of the rider looking over the handlebars at some nice dirt trails heading off into the distance. Maybe if I lived in south Jersey. But for me it's roads or mountain biking the single track.


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## Bonefish Blues (7 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,
> 
> View attachment 540155


You can scrub those silly decals off those tyres right now young man.


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## MntnMan62 (7 Aug 2020)

Bonefish Blues said:


> You can scrub those silly decals off those tyres right now young man.



What? Why would anyone spend valuable time doing something so daft as to scrub off decals from their bike tires? I would bet Raleighnut has much more important things to do than that. Like ride the darn bike.


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## raleighnut (8 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> What? Why would anyone spend valuable time doing something so daft as to scrub off decals from their bike tires? I would bet Raleighnut has much more important things to do than that. Like ride the darn bike.


Actually I'd never fit tyres with great big feckin logos on em.


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## Venod (8 Aug 2020)

I still am drawn to this.


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## Bonefish Blues (8 Aug 2020)

Venod said:


> I still am drawn to this.
> View attachment 540448


Today I may possibly be preferring this one:

https://www.templecycles.co.uk/products/adventure-disc-2?variant=29454470217814


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## raleighnut (8 Aug 2020)

Bonefish Blues said:


> Today I may possibly be preferring this one:
> 
> https://www.templecycles.co.uk/products/adventure-disc-2?variant=29454470217814


The 'Classic' looks nicer,






Not as expensive either

Oh and BTW I'm aware of the black hoods brown tape faux pas they've made


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## Bonefish Blues (8 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> The 'Classic' looks nicer,
> 
> View attachment 540455
> 
> ...


Do you think they'd put an ickle 'gravel' decal on it so I wouldn't be laughed at by hipsters?


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## raleighnut (8 Aug 2020)

Bonefish Blues said:


> Do you think they'd put an ickle 'gravel' decal on it so I wouldn't be laughed at by hipsters?


Ah you'd want the 'Lightweight' to impress them.


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## Nigelnightmare (12 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> Awe, c'mon. Those hoods match the tires perfectly. That bike is gorgegeous. And I bet it rides like the wind......
> 
> *It is the night
> My body's weak
> ...


Saxon?


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## raleighnut (12 Aug 2020)

Nigelnightmare said:


> Saxon?


Christopher Cross had the original, wrote it on LSD. It was originally dedicated to Lowell George.


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## avecReynolds531 (12 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Christopher Cross had the original, wrote it on LSD. It was originally dedicated to Lowell George.


Big Little Feat fan here & knew of the song dedication to a greatly missed & brilliantly eclectic songwriter, singer and guitarist.


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## MntnMan62 (13 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Christopher Cross had the original, wrote it on LSD. It was originally dedicated to Lowell George.



Yes. Chris Cross. I didn't know the origins of the tune though. I can share this cover of the tune however. I prefer the Zappa rendition. Better guitar solo, harding driving and harder hitting, better drums. I even like the drum roady better.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTyDD0YI7lA


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## avecReynolds531 (13 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> Yes. Chris Cross. I didn't know the origins of the tune though. I can share this cover of the tune however. I prefer the Zappa rendition. Better guitar solo, harding driving and harder hitting, better drums. I even like the drum roady better.
> 
> 
> View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTyDD0YI7lA



Thanks for sharing the Zappa cover - I wasn't aware of it. There's a three way connection as Lowell George played in Zappa's band.


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## raleighnut (13 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> Better guitar solo,


"Sounds like an elegant gypsy to me"


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## MntnMan62 (14 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> "Sounds like an elegant gypsy to me"


 
Ah. A DiMeola fan. Which means you like Steve Gadd as well? And maybe Return to Forever?


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## BigMeatball (14 Aug 2020)

avecReynolds531 said:


> Enjoyed this post at Rene Herse, showcasing three handbuilt steel bikes from the Enve Builders roundup: https://www.renehersecycles.com/beautiful-bikes-at-the-enve-builders-roundup/
> 
> Prova, Strong and Scarab featured as some of the favourites...
> 
> The idea of road geometry with clearances for 55mm tyres sounds all ok



Nice and elegant frames. It's a shame the paint job is as tacky as it gets.


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## Saracenlad (14 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Call me old fashioned but I'd sooner have a handbuilt Mercian,
> 
> View attachment 540155


Just gorgeous. A true work of art. Thanks for the pic.


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## raleighnut (14 Aug 2020)

MntnMan62 said:


> Ah. A DiMeola fan. Which means you like Steve Gadd as well? And maybe Return to Forever?


Nah but his clone plays well on the outro, shame it was so expensive to fly him in.

As for Al 'Black Cat Shuffle' ain't a bad tune.


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