Chris’ Breakaway

This bike was a cool project. Chris came to me with a really clear idea of what he wanted from his new bike. An out and out road bike, but made for travel and the UK’s dodgy roads rather than some mythical Pro Tour ideal. A clean, simple look, 12mm through axles front and rear, and 700 x 28 or 650b x 42 tyres.

Made from a combination of Columbus and Reynolds tubing, the frame breaks apart using Ritchey’s Breakaway couplers, so that it can be packed away for flying to foreign roads. I turned a custom blind lower seat clamp boss that the seat stays flow into. I also turned the post mount bosses, and made downtube cable stops. A custom stem ties the whole frameset together.

There’s no racks here, no integrated lights or mudguards like most of my work. But this is still one of my bikes: the fillets are left unfiled, my copper maker’s marks on the head tube and BB poke out from the powder coat: the embellishments are subtle. Clandestine.