2017 Philly Bike Expo: Stanridge Speed
Photos by Jarrod Bunk, Intro by John Watson and Words by Adam from Stanridge Speed
When modern builders utilize NOS tubing from the late 80’s, the results are more often than not, mind-blowing. Take this Stanridge Speed road bike from this year’s Philly Bike Expo. As soon as I saw it, I knew Adam had selected Gilco tubing (or is it?), yet there’s much more to the story, of which I’ll let Adam do the talking.
Adam, can you tell me about the Philly Bike Expo road bike? I’m suspecting there’s more than meets the eye here…
“I built the bike in conjunction with 7th and Park in Brownsville. It’s part of a larger project consisting of six available tubesets we’re making into frames. Three track and Three road. All the sets are NOS from the tail end of the golden era of steel in 1986. Most of the tubes are date coded. Columbus etched the iconic Dove and born on dates in the tubes in an effort to reduce false advertising by unscrupulous builders during this era. The story goes, builders in the 1980’s masked the imprinted doves on the tubing only to reveal the mark after the painting process.
One half of the Fabrica framebuilding team in Milano is a self-admitted nerd when it comes to NOS componentry including tubing. He scored the motherload of these NOS tubes a few years back. I met the guys at Fabrica through the RHC 5 years ago.. which ultimately led to the remaining tubing cache on the shelf within arms reach. What you see with the Columbus SLX tubing modified by Silva was an attempt to increase rigidity by adding surface area while remaining braze-able into a lug.
It was nice to work with the team at FSA to build a frame around their wireless WE group. Visually revisiting the smaller diameters feels refreshing in contrast to the current double oversize shaped modern steel offerings. It’s the Juxtaposition. These tubes remind me of how steel has constantly been Johnny Hustle over the years – the hardest worker – in this case – to stay competitive against aluminum in the eyes of a broad consumer base.
I like underdogs and I’ve never waivered from Steel.
How does this tubeset feel? Do you think it ever had the slightest idea these components would be hung from its bones… Ha. Too much time alone at the workbench I guess.”
Now that’s a story!
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