No, no shame here... German fork, American components
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The frame is one of a batch of 6 we ordered from Frank. I had always dreamt of having a bike made by him, so my friend Paolo, who owns a small distribution company, asked me to give him a call. When he answered the phone, well, I couldn't believe it. We spent quite a lot of timechatting. Frank is a very friendly guy, and he doesn't mind losing some of his time talking with people who share his love for bikes. We ordered a stock of 6 dirt bikes, both 29 and 26, but I'm an xc rider so there was nothing for me. The next step was having these 29ers built.
Tubing is a mix of Easton Elite and Columbus: apparently, getting light tubesets for 29ers is difficult in the USA, so Frank mixes and matches different aluminium sets. I went for the rugged look so the frame is brushed and not painted. Also cool because with some scotchbrite it gets like new again. For a 29er, the headtube is a tad tall. Frank choses not to shorten it as the other brands do because short headtubes are prone to cracking. I've mounted a negative -16 degrees stem and the position is perfect. Besides, I can't see why so many people want an ultra short headtube and then they use upward pointing stems and risers (ok clearance is better, but the frame is less sturdy).
The bike is just perfect, neutral feel, good climber, stable on fire roads, fast on twitchy singletrack. Welds are transcendental.
