Reportage

Cameron’s Not a Falconer Caballo Road Bike

This bike is not as it seems. Sure, it says Falconer and it uses Cameron’s signature no-nonsense solid color powder coat but it’s not technically a Falconer.

When Jason at Montano Velo was looking for a local frame builder to produce a new road frame for his in-house brand Broakland, he was introduced to Cameron at Falconer Cycles. Cam, as they call him, had some extra time and enjoyed making production bikes, so he built this frame as a job interview for the position.

Cameron's Falconer Road Bike

The tricky part: tig welding S3 tubing, a True Temper offering that has a bad reputation for being brittle and in general, difficult to work with. Difficult to work with yet a pleasure to ride. Since S3’s seat tube offerings are limited to a 1.125″ diameter and the S3 top tube measures 1.25″ in diameter, Cameron took to Solid’s seat tube cluster sleeve to solve not only the difference in diameter but as a reinforcement for what is essentially a crack-prone area of an S3 bike.

Cameron's Falconer Road Bike

For the fork, Jason’s a fan of the Wound Up. A fork that’s polarizing in terms of consumer’s aesthetic preferences. Some hate it, some love it and for Bay Area cyclists who began their passage into cycling on a track bike, Wound Ups offered a bomb-proof solution to a street-thrashed track bike with a bent or cracked fork. As Cameron and I were discussing the fork, we both concluded that we’re not a fan of them aesthetically, but they ride really damn well.

Oh, he got the job and began making the frames… Months later, Cameron still had this frame in his shop and it wasn’t until a customer requested pink powder for his own bike that he decided to get it coated. From there, it became a home for his thrashed Dura Ace group and now it’s Cameron’s only road bike.

There’s more to the Falconer story coming soon. If you want to know more about the Caballo road frame, head to Broakland.