Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Building the Time Trial Frame!

At the conclusion of last years Northwest Time Trial Series, NWTTS, with a little talent and some luck I came away with the grand prize, a CO-Motion Espresso frame & fork. The guy's at Co-Motion were super cool and said that for the difference in cost, I could trade up to any other frame set. I looked really seriously at both the Espresso Co-Pilot, best single travel bike, and their TT Frame which is just amazing. In the end I decided that the TT frame would be both very special and a fitting prize for a time trial series.

The next step in the whole process was to take a trip down to Eugene, OR, home of both Co-Motion, and that other university. On arriving I was immediately introduced to the whole staff, given a tour of the facility, and taken step by step through the entire build process from raw tubing to a painted and finished bikes. These guys make those motorcycle guys on "TV" look like amateurs. One of the distinguishing factors of a Co-Motion frameset, is that they are entirely 100% made in Eugene, OR, which now has me wondering why on they don't carry them at "Made In Oregon".

One of the real pleasures in dealing with an artisan frame builder is instead of being forced to find an acceptable "stock" frame the frame is instead crafted and fitted especially for you, the way it should be.

Co-Motion starts each build with a questionnaire asking questions like:

  • What kind of rider are you?
  • What kind of bikes have you enjoyed in the past?
  • What are your goals going forward?

Then it’s on to the measurements where they put any tailor to shame. Finally instead of being limited to a stock color, you dictate the entire paint scheme. Want your name on the top tube, done, want the drop outs in your own favorite custom shade of neon-80's-lime-green, done, though they might suggest you consider an alterative color.

After all this expect to hear some suggestions. In my case they suggested I make a slight saddle adjustment and increase my crank arm length.

Flash forward a few weeks, and you can expect to see a glimpse of what will be your custom frame as a schematic in your email, in my case it looked something like this.


(Click To Enlarge)

1 Comments:

  • My wife purchased a C0-Motion Americano and enjoyed the same experience as you. As such, I am sure our next tamden will be a Co-motion.

    By Blogger John Henry, at 8:29 AM  

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