English McFetridge Project build

This project was almost 2 years in the making.  The idea was to build a bike that could do double duty as a CX bike but also as a city/commuter bike.  During the week the bike is fitted with large slick road tires and fenders, but on the weekend, drop the fenders and switch to the knobby Cx tires.Working with Rob English is always fun to do and we really enjoy these process of back and forth with him on the different design aspects.  Probably the most noticeable is the elevated chainstay.  We opted for this to eliminate the need for a split frame to install the belt.  We also coupled that with a bent seat tube, bent top tube and a pass through for the seat-tube at the top tube.  Custom fork and stem with the steerer tube integrated into the stem and the headset preload adjustment located under the fork crown rather than on top of the stem.

The Shimano R785 is a solid foundation for the Di2/Hydro shift/brake levers, but being that we wanted to keep this build as top shelf as possible we removed the 785 calipers and replaced them the new XTR lines and XTR 9000 calipers and rotors.    The rear end is a Shimano Alfine 11 Di2 powered with internal battery.   Wiring and hydraulic lines are all kept in the frame to clean up the lines as much as possible.

While the build is really nice, let us certainly not forget the paint.  Paint was all hand done by artist Geoff Mcfetridge, and in our opinion makes the bike as much a work of art as it is functional goodness.