Custom Pegasus 2 design and frame build

 Bikes & Kit  No Responses »
Mar 282012
 

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…

custom_pegasus_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.

Waiting…

 Bikes & Kit  2 Responses »
Jul 282011
 

Swift

The wait for a resolution to the Pegasus breakage continues.  Singular Sam’s doing everything he can to chase the issue, but sounds like Nevi are a nightmare to deal with.  They originally said they’d repair the frame!  Thankfully Sam, along with everyone else who’s seen the frame, realises that would be a bad idea & pushed back on them.  Frankly, there’s no way I’m riding that frame if it’s just patched up, and that’s before you even think about just how worthless the resale would be on it…a major issue in this case as clearly I would need to fund an alternate frame for the TD.  Nevi now appear to be demonstrating either terrible customer service, or just plain & simple rudeness as they are not responding to multiple attempts at contact (by Sam) per day.  No surprise that Sam has revealed (on STW, no scoop here!) that he’s looking for an alternate manufacturer.  In the meantime, I’m trying to swing a design change from Nevi…beef up the frame a bit..assuming Sam does persuade them to provide an entirely new frame.  The waiting continues…

In the meantime, Sam’s kindly loaned me a Swift frame & fork, onto which I’ve bolted most of the bits from the Pegasus.  The Swift is a nice ride, if a bit tall at the front (shorter forks are available).  For a rigid fork, the 490mm steel one on this bike is remarkably compliant, making it absolutely fine on my usual Shotover/Boars Hill/Chilterns rides.  Bit of a heavy frame/fork, but it’s not some exotic steel (and without the price tag to match).

I do rather feel up in the air at the moment though.  So much of my TD mindset is focused on the bike, making sure everything is just right with it, and of course I’m just not able to do that yet.  Oh well, hopefully I won’t have to wait too much longer, and the Swift is a nice surrogate for the time being.

 

 

Peg’s dead, baby. Peg’s dead.

 Bikes & Kit  No Responses »
Jun 232011
 

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See the full gallery on Posterous

Bikefest was not without it’s casulties, not least of which was my lovely Pegasus.  Cleaning the bike a few days later, I found this game-ending crack above the bottom bracket.  Ouch.  Now, I have a theory that the “magic” ride quality that’s often spoken about a Ti frame is actually related to two things…light weight and flex, both of which the Pegasus has in spades.  Light weight, as in sub 3.3 lbs frame weight, and flex as in…it’s really flexy!  In the context of some kinds of bike, the latter would be a problem, but not on this one.  That flex is what gives you the supreme comfort for all-day rides, something that I’ve benefitted from time & again since buying this frame last year.  My layman opinion on this subject also, however, also suspects that the Pegasus may be just a bit underbuilt for the task of hard off-road riding.  Clearly, that light weight and comfortable flex comes at a price, and that is very thin tubes, something that even the Ti expert at Enigma was surprised about.  Without wishing to dump on Singular, as I think Sam designs some lovely bikes, but this isn’t the first Pegasus I’ve heard of failing, and as of my frame’s failure, isn’t actually the last.  Indeed, just yesterday, Aidan Harding, currently racing the Tour Divide on a Pegasus, reported on Twitter that he had bust his frame and was making an emergency trip to Kent Eriksen in Steamboat Springs for a repair (which fortunately worked, but not before ruining Aidan’s chances of a top group finish).

So, my frame should now have arrived back with Nevi (Italy), where the Pegasus is built.  I’m hoping for a completely new frame, as any repair to that area – two tubes are heavily cracked – could not convince me as a long-term fix.  More than that, whilst I do love the ride of the Pegasus…just sooo comfy and fast…I’ve lost confidence in it for a race like the Tour Divide.  As such, it will no longer be the frame I will ride on the TD next year.  Instead, there’s something rather special in the pipeline.  Watch this space…

tis the season to be jolly

 Bikes & Kit, Training  No Responses »
Apr 222011
 

Forget about Christmas, this is the season to be jolly.  The bluebells are out, the trails are dry & fast, and those seemingly endless months of mud plugging at all hours of the day are (mostly) a dim & distant memory.  The payoff for those winter training miles is here…short sleeves, the sun on your face and dust in your teeth.  Marvellous.

Training has gone quite well over the winter.  I’ve been singlespeeding since I snapped the mech hanger on the Pegasus in January, and loving every moment of it.  I don’t know whether it’s the SSing or the Monday morning spinning classes, or perhaps just my obsession with getting up Watlington Hill as quickly as possible, but my climbing has improved massively.  For the first time I can simply stand on the pedals & mash for pretty much as long as I like.  Of course, having a beautiful & lightweight bike underneath me rather helps too.  On that note, the Pegasus continues to impress, though I recently had a very bad moment…coming down Dame Alice descent on the Chilterns…taking the sneaky inside line to try & overtake a couple of chums…lots of deep, loose leaves & crap on the ground….obviously hiding at least one big flint…BANG…CRACK…the loudest impact I’ve ever heard against a bike frame.  The result…

Cracked_peg1
Cracked_peg2
Cracked_peg3

See the full gallery on Posterous

Yep, not just a dent, but a crack!  Cue a very sad me.  That happened on the Saturday.  Naturally I posted it on STW, got an idea to contact Enigma for a repair, hoping it wouldn’t need an expensive full downtube replacement.  I stripped the bike completely on Monday evening.  Up at 5am on Tuesday morning, drove 3 hours to Eastbourne, got crack welded up by Enigma, drove home, built up bike again, then out riding by 7pm.  Hurrah!  After a couple of weeks it’s still holding up, so fingers crossed that £90 repair has saved my £1600 frame!

Pegasus_weld_repair

 

Anyway, there’s tons to look forward to now the winter is over.  HONC (Hell of the North Cotswolds) was a couple of weeks ago, good fun.  I’m signed up for the Bucks Off-road sportive (132km), Welsh Ride Thing, Bristol Bikefest 12 hour singlespeed solo, Kielder 100.  Plus I’m planning on doing at least one South Downs Way run, maybe a double with an overnight stop.  Will try & keep this blog updated now the fun times are here again! :-)

Singular Pegasus!

 Bikes & Kit  No Responses »
Sep 132010
 

For months now I’ve been planning what would be my ideal TD and general long distance bike, and it’s finally here & built up.  Say hello to my little friend, the Singular Pegasus…

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Having had a ride on a few 29ers, I’m sold on them for long distance comfort and speed.  No real susprise there, just about everyone riding the TD uses a 29er these days.  I wanted something as light & comfortable as possible, hence the titanium.  Weight comes in at 23.5 lbs in this build, and that’s with fairly heavy bars & brakes.  Talking of bars, I’m really impressed with the Ragley Carnegie handlebars.  Very comfortable, natural position, and rather than decreasing control as I feared, I actually reckon they improve it!  Since taking these pics a couple of weeks ago I have changed a couple of things around…gone is the Thomson seatpost, replaced with a lovely Eriksen Ti post (again, more comfort).  I’ve also (sadly, from a looks point of view) replaced the Uno chainring with a Middleburn triple and an XT front mech.  I really like 1×9 for off-road, but I’m going to be using this bike for audaxes and other road events over the winter, starting with a sponsored Oxford-Cambridge-Oxford ride on October 3rd, and a triple is essential really.  Weight is now 24.5 lbs.  I’ve also got another set of wheels being built up which will be used with touring slicks for road rides so I don’t have to faff about with changing tyres all the time.

I’ve done a couple of 100km rides and some shorter ones on the Pegasus now & it’s everything I’d hoped for.  Very fast over long distances, surprisingly flickable in twisty singletrack, and super comfy all day.  The Lefty is awesome, very sensitve, no stiction at all.  Just a bit of brake dive, but that will hopefully be sorted once a spacer kit arrives for the air chamber.  My new favourite bike ever!!