RyanBuildsWheels Audax

This was a long time coming.

The metalwork was finished I think two years ago now, but the accumulation of parts, and the outrageously fancy paint job by 7Pot Customs took a bit of time to come together. It’s been worth the wait.

Ryan, of RyanBuildsWheels is, in many ways, the reason I’m a frame builder now. He’s an instigator, an agitator, and a dear friend. We got our first two workshops together: Ryan for his burgeoning wheel building business; me for my brazing explorations.

So this bike has been a process, and I’m all about the process. Ryan knew exactly what he wanted: a comfy, fast and relatively lightweight bike for lightly-loaded touring, audax rides and Sunday back lane runs.

It’s built from some pretty lightweight Reynolds tubes, some from the box of tubes I bought off Robin Mather during his workshop clear out. So a fun little link there to the line. It was the first bike I made with my twin plate flat mount dropouts, of which I’m probably immodestly proud. Ryan wanted all the carbon, so it’s got a tapered head tube to fit a carbon fork, making it one of the very few of my bikes out there without one of my forks. The head tube has little copper anti-paint rub bars.

Because of the carbon fork that Ryan chose, I had to come up with a simple and elegant way to attach a front rack for Ryan’s Restrap rando bag. I decided on a press fit under the crown race, braced with a strut to the steerer tube to make it light yet really sturdy. There are threaded bosses for the Restrap bag’s magnetic bosses. A minimalist rear rack holds the rear light, panniers and has more copper capping to match the front.

The rest of the parts are a pretty boutique selection of Hope, Middleburn, Brooks, Shimano GRX, and carbon this that and the other. Ryan treated himself to an amazing pair of wheels, with Parcours carbon rims, Sapim CX Ray spokes, Hope/SON hubs and Challenge tyres.

It’s going to be a pleasure to see this bike getting the miles in on the back roads. Bikes for friends are such a privilege and joy. Love you Ryan!