So, I’ve been riding my replacement frame for three months now and it occurred to me that I hadn’t written anything about it. So here goes…
I won’t revisit the saga of my original broken Pegasus frame, and the subsequent run-around that Nevi gave Singular Sam & me. Suffice to say, Nevi ducked their warranty responsibilities and Sam stepped up & did the right thing by arranging for a new frame from another builder. As it was a one-off, I was able to specify a full custom frame…result!
I already had a pretty good idea of exactly what I wanted out of a frame…
– 29er Ti (obviously!)
– Tough! This frame needed to be strong but still relatively light. With that in mind, Sam specified larger diameter down tube, seat and chain stays. Seat tube is 30.6 shimmed down to 27.2 so I can still use my lovely Eriksen Sweetpost.
– Geometry. Mostly based around the medium Singular Swift, I wanted the head angle of the Swift with the lower front end of the Pegasus. So, based on a 470mm axle-crown Niner rigid fork (or a sagged 100mm Reba, which I also have), this frame has a 71.5 deg head angle.
– Frame bag space. Being a short-arse, my frames tend not to allow much interior space for a good size frame bag. For this one, I specified a higher intersection of the top & seat tubes to allow for a larger frame bag for bikepacking and multi-day rides/races.
– Singlespeed chain tensioning. EBB, but a full link EBB rather than the half-link of the old Pegasus (half links = shonky)
– Cable routing. Although I’ll be primarily riding singlespeed, one day my knees may say otherwise, and I’d like to still be able to ride this frame.
– Curved chainstays. I had some heel clearance issues on the original Pegasus.
– Extra bottle cage bosses on the underside of the down tube. Allowing three bottles in total, very useful for long & multi-day rides/races.
With all that in mind, here is the final design…
The framebuilder for this one was a talented chap called Mathias Scherer, of Mawis Bikes (Germany). Mathias was kind enough to send me some build photos during the framebuilding process. I’d always wanted to see my own custom frame built up from design to reality, and this was my chance! Here’s the full gallery…
In the three months since I received the frame, I’ve ridden it well over 1000 miles, both loaded & unloaded, from smooth roads to loose rocky descents & it hasn’t put a foot wrong. Probably the most noticeable difference from the original Pegasus is just how stiff this one is. Clearly, those oversized tubes are doing their job. That does have some impact on long distance comfort, but on a mountain bike with big fat tyres it’s not such a big deal as it’s inherently quite a comfortable beast anyway. The larger internal frame space has been a revelation. I’ve already got a new custom frame bag from Wildcat Gear which has a really useful capacity and still allows for two bottles inside the frame (one full size, one smaller).
Overall, I’m really pleased with the bike. After the stress of last year’s frame failure, I think I’ve actually ended up with something more suited to my own riding style, and hopefully a frame that will last a lot longer too. Oh, and current weight as per the pics near the end of the gallery (with three bottle cages)… a smidge over 21 lbs.