A nice, simple hard tail gets the bold ’90s treatment…
Based in Australia, former aerospace engineer Darren Baum has been building beautiful (and beautifully photographed) steel and titanium frames since the early ’90s. Not fixated on building the lightest or the stiffest bicycle possible, Darren and the Baum team aim to create bicycles that have the sort of je ne sais quoi to keep them in service for decades (or longer).
For anyone who rode through the the fluoro wars of the early ’90s, this particular Extensa Ti hardtil is likely to strike a chord. Usually, painting a Ti frame tones down the metal’s inherent ‘look at me’ effect. In this case, neon yellow does precisely the opposite. Pink decals on the SID fork and Enve wheels are a nod to the original RockShox RS1 and racing stripes can’t help but make things faster.
As a custom builder, Baum’s creations are driven by the tastes (and budgets) of their owners. The Extensa Ti is available with 26in, 27.5, and 29er wheels and twenty-one (!) stock sizes – including an XXXL 26er – and can be tailored to suit. Sliding vertical dropouts, Rolhoff compatibility, and rack mounts are all options.
Baum is distributed in the UK by Prestige Cycles.
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Blimey, they look FAST. And strangely old-school – like a Dean from 1994. Love it.
Want. Looks ace…