thanks for the comments, nice to have a project appreciated 🙂
@slackalice, getting the copper plate to look like mine would be/is hard. the mtb is 853 tubing for the main triangle and 4130 cromo rear, with stainless headlug and drop outs, the whole frame was polished to almost mirror finish by hand by Tom, then copper plated, then polished again, then “roughed up” to give that finish you see, the plating doesn’t stick to stainless and literally falls away during the polishing stage leaving the contrasting lug work, then it is lacquered. the square rear end is fine, when i first rode it i expected it to be uncomfortably stiff, is wasn’t, i have done some pretty long rides on this bike and it’s noticeably more comfortable than the bike which the geometry is based on (which i still have) which is also steel, a 2007 orange clockwork, that was my main bike for 5 years and i love it aswel but the Demon is 10mm longer in the top tube while retaining the same standover height, the extra 10mm in the top tube enabled me to use a 100mm stem while still having the perfect position, which gives me slightly better handling than the clockwork, with the clockwork they made 17″ and a 19″, ideally i need an 18″ and the top tube length is perfectly between that of the 17 and 19, i had to run a slightly longer stem on the clockwork to get the length i wanted which wasn’t ideal, if i had gone to the 19″ i could have got the short stem but lost out on standover height, the Demon mtb fits perfectly in all aspects, and i’m sure this helps with it being comfortable.
@tang, stainless is a good choice, i assume you mean 953? or the newer 931 reynolds tubing? i looked at 953 myself instead of 853 at one point thinking ignorantly “i’ll have the best one they do” but as i was painting the frame i was told 853 and 953 are basically the same apart from the stainless finish of 953 meaning if you’re painting 953 is pretty unnecessary hence me not using it on this build. i’ll be wondering around the london show aswel, probably on the friday, definitely the UK’s best show. the cycleshow this here was abysmal.