NBD - Custom Chinese Ti HT content

Duddon valley?

Nice bike btw

@StuF - thanks, no it's Troutbeck valley with the bike pointing up Garburn pass way.

Looks good does that.
Custom geo?

Very nice, may I ask how much the frame was? I've been tempted for a while to get a custom Waltly road frame

Nice that!

I’m loving that! Ti and coil forks is the direction I’m heading with my signal ti. <br />how was the process? I’d be tempted for something similar to my signal, but with a little more flex in the rear triangle and a taller head tube.

No idea how because there’s nothing particularly lightweight on it but it’s pretty much bang on 11.5kg with an empty bottle in the cage.

Impressive!

My 853 gravel.bike with rigid carbon forks only just scrapes under 10kg 🙄

@singlespeedstu - yes, it's fairly similar to things like the new Transition Trans-Am but with a slightly lower BB and then some aesthetic preferences like the brace and curved downtube.

@dc1988 - it was roughly £825ish delivered but it all got a bit messy pricewise because I accidentally ordered a custom gravel frame at the same time along with some of their carbon gravel forks and spare dropouts etc. Plus I'm a returning customer so got a bit off for that.

So with all that said, the price being in USD, customs and VAT etc it was somewhere between £800 - £850.

@P20 - the process is easy if you know what you want, they'll give advice on the actual construction of the frameand will probably stop you doing anything stupid design-wise but stuff like geometry is down to you so make sure you check everything!

That’s a great price. Good to hear they’re good to deal with.

Love it.

Very nice, that looks spot on 👌

Reminds me of posting up my first Waltly frame 6.5 years ago and having it roundly slated on here for being so weird looking and sure to snap immediately.

Off the shelf slack hardtails didn't really exist back then and some folks just couldn't cope with the custom weirdness 😅. I was riding it today as it happens, still rides fantastic and my teeth are all intact.

I've since had a fatbike off them, and a bikepacking/ adventure 29er just in time for lockdown No1 in 2020.

Coincidentally, I was in touch with Waltly today about having some high rise braced klunker bars made, like a Surly sunnrise but half the weight.

Are they still sending out baggy seat tubes? That was the only issue with all of mine, they needed a beer can shim.

I’ve had a couple of frames from Waltly, still both going strong. They were a delight to deal with in comparison to XACD/Xi’an Titanium where their customer service was like psy-ops.  

Yeah, Waltly wouldn't make me a truss fork so I had to go to XACD for that. Guy called Porter was a bit of a nutter...

Porter at XACD is brilliant in an IYKYK kind of fashion!

No sign of an oversized seat-tube, on my first Waltly from about 2018ish it seemed to be the case but it turned out to be an undersized RaceFace seatpost.

They will do handlebars, I asked them and they were well up for it but in the end I decided I needed to rein things in a bit.

Looks ace!

Each time I've wanted a new frame I've thought about custom Ti.

Each time I've chickened out in case I design something that doesn't work well and I'm stuck with it.

That looks great. Did you just design the geometry numbers or did you decide everything like the bracing/ seat stay bridge/ chainstays and dropouts?

@tall_martin - geometry numbers were mine but fairly standard for the style of bike. 

Dropouts I changed to UDH from their standard option, normally there'd be internal routing but I only wanted the external ziptie brakehose routing so that saved them a job!

The top-tube brace was my preference, they dealt with the braces on the chain/seat stays/bb etc.

Originally they drew it up in regular thickness tubes but I asked that they be beefed up a bit.

Their standard headtube was straight 44mm but I prefer the look of tapered so changed that and I requested another set of bosses under the downtube.

It's actually a really interesting process and as long as you don't go completely off-piste and you think about what you want beforehand you probably can't go too far wrong. 

Lovely Waltly. Great family business. Spent a fair bit of time there in previous life.

That’s grand,that is 👍

as long as you don’t go completely off-piste and you think about what you want beforehand you probably can’t go too far wrong.

I ride a geometron G13 and on one hello Dave. I was thinking about getting a road bike with similarly long and slack geometry.

Might have gone quite far wrong😉

Maybe I'll get something next time it's time for a bike.

Very nice. First ride on a bike you've designed yourself is always exciting but strangely familiar where you know exactly how it is going to fit straight away without playing with stems etc.

Did you order the SQ lab bundle direct, or through the guys at Ghyllside? I use various SQ bars but not brave enough to risk the saddles without trying first.

I fancied a Waltly- maybe the timing was bad summer 2020 with Covid - but they didn’t reply to a couple of requests for quotes with their form filled in. Everyone had different issues at that point I guess.

Marino replied and it took ages but I got a frame after about 6 months - sounds like the Waltly would have been a chunk lighter based in the near 25lb weight of this one. I don’t think my build is wildly heavier but my frame must be as it weighs about 30lbs!

Anyway - this bike looks lovely - bare titanium always looks great 👌

I'm not sure what Waltly were up to in terms of supply etc during COVID 2020 but they took the time to send me an email out of the blue saying they hoped I was ok and not ill so on that basis I've got to agree with Brant about them being great!

@mick_r - SQ Lab saddle is odd, it's comfy but noticeable if that makes sense?

@tall_martin - there's only one way to find out...

Lovely, nice job - and well done on the additional accidental purchases 😆

It really is a fun process, I went with the infamous Porter at XACD and whilst, yes, the interaction is quite 'interesting', they rattle through the comms and design process and then bang out a frame in pretty fast order.

I went back to XACD recently for a quote for a modified design, but the prices had pretty much doubled. 5yrs ago I paid quite a bit less, I think prob about £650 all in.

My Chi-Ti fat bike, Nanny, is now 5yrs old and still in use and has still, amazingly, not cracked. There is a not a heck of a lot I would change from the original design so was not far wrong. Maybe I would stiffen up the BB/rear axle flex as it took the lovely @mick_r to machine me a solid unobtaneum 197mm rear axle to stop me shafting free hubs every 200km. Mostly ridden with 29+ wheels (hope on lightbicycle carbon 50mm rims - v nice), but also full fat for fun when needed (sadly don't live in as snowy a place as when I got it, but they have their place).

enjoy yours Ivan, glorious stuff!

@bedmaker

Coincidentally, I was in touch with Waltly today about having some high rise braced klunker bars made, like a Surly sunnrise but half the weight.

Or like a Moonriser but half (less?) the cost?

I'd be interested in what you have in mind and what you hear back. Will DM you!

@nedrapier yes, that's the plan

If the Whisky Millhouse was available in the UK I'd probably just get one of them.  Surly's near 800gr bar is just more than I'd like to add to the front of a bike unless it's a lovely coil spring...

I need to order 5 sets of the bars to go ahead so will be looking to sell on at least two of them.

Each time I’ve wanted a new frame I’ve thought about custom Ti.

Each time I’ve chickened out in case I design something that doesn’t work well and I’m stuck with it.

That looks great. Did you just design the geometry numbers or did you decide everything like the bracing/ seat stay bridge/ chainstays and dropouts?

The great thing about the Waltly process is the abiltiy to do whatever you want , for better or for worse!

I added rack mounts to the huge head tube of my bike to fix on a little rack which would carry my tent without adding steering weight.  I've never seen them on another bike.  I also got the very long DT in the biggest diameter, mated to a nice big PF30 BB, in turn joined to full tubing chainstays with bridge.  It's really nice and stiff under loaded pedalling.

Id love to do another, but I'm pretty content with my collection.

One thing I've long fancied is a dedicated, really clean rigid SS.  Perhaps for the 50th....

I had a very bad experience with welded Ti bars (not Waltly) and wouldn't repeat with anyone.
Nobody was injured and I kept my job but crikey it was a worry at the time. Thought it was all good to go, but no.
All the best.

tall_martin
Full Member

Each time I’ve wanted a new frame I’ve thought about custom Ti.

Each time I’ve chickened out in case I design something that doesn’t work well and I’m stuck with it.

Standard I think, I was going to get a custom hardtail, was worried I was going too extreme, ended up getting a Titus Full Moto when On One were pooping them out for £450, which is longer and slacker than I would have dared to go with custom but it's fantastic. I mean, I might have been as happy with custom or it might have been like my solarismax which I liked but never loved, for no reason I can put my finger on.

Probably it helps if you're good at convincing yourself once it's arrived 🙂 But the overlap in the venn diagram of "obsessed enough to want to design your own frame" and "likely to be content if it's not exactly what you dream" seems pretty small?

Ha, I think there's some truth to that but in my case it's a bit like "there's loads of designs which will be more than good enough for me, I just want one pretty much the same but in silver with more standover and another set of bottle cage bolts".

Or that's how it starts anyway!

So what sort of price are we looking at for a frame? In my case gravel or monster cross. Having looked at looked at the geometries of existing bike options are limited. My back doesn’t bend that well so I need a fair bit of stack and a mid length stem. Loads of desirable options like Fairlight have really steep head angles in Xl, which i don’t think would work with a 90mm stem. The best “fit” so far is a Mason Explore which is £2k plus for frame and fork. Whilst that’s not impossible it’s a bit crazy compared to Fairlight and Brother Cycles

 Are there similar services in steel or aluminium?

Each time I’ve wanted a new frame I’ve thought about custom Ti.

Each time I’ve chickened out in case I design something that doesn’t work well and I’m stuck with it.

I've been through it twice. The first was basically a Ti copy of a Salsa 29er, bought through Burls. That was a success, but then B+ came along. I knew that would be perfect for much of my riding but my Burls frame didn't have the necessary tyre clearance. I managed to sell that frame to a rather sweary cycling author who once proclaimed it was the best frame he'd ever ridden.

The B+ replacement was bought from Brant when he had that Pact thing going on. Did I get it 100% right? Well, the only change I've ever thought about was that I could maybe have gone for a slightly less angled top tube - just to take a marginally larger frame bag. That frame is now past its 8th birthday. 

I've also long pondered a Ti Fatbike frame. I even bought a donor Cube Nutrail a few years ago when CRC was selling one off at a crazy price. Once I'd ridden the Cube I could never quite convince myself that a Ti frame would be all that much "better" so never got around to it. 

I think as long as you stick with reasonable geometry you shouldn't get something awful. Just take a look at the geometry of various frames that you're interested in and keep to those sort of numbers. Most off the shelf frames will be a slight compromise anyway.

I did that with a custom steel frame and I love it, the only slight change I'd make is a slightly longer head tube. I was worried about the stack being too high but now I'm left with quite a few spacers under my stem.

I had a very bad experience with welded Ti bars (not Waltly) and wouldn’t repeat with anyone.

@brant out of interest, were the bars moto / klunker style with one tube end to end and a brace, or a centre bar with ends welded on like the original Jones H bars?

Probably it helps if you’re good at convincing yourself once it’s arrived 🙂 But the overlap in the venn diagram of “obsessed enough to want to design your own frame” and “likely to be content if it’s not exactly what you dream” seems pretty small?

I'm no good at all at convincing myself a bike is okay...  I bought an original Krampus and knew it wasn't for me as I popped off the first kerb.  I sold it on and lost very little, no problem.

I also bought a very expensive full custom 29+ in steel which I didn't gel with.  That stung a bit...  It cluttered the shed for a few years before selling it for peanuts.

Conversely, my last custom frame brings me real joy every time I sling a leg over it, and that's almost four years in.  There's still nothing equivalent off the shelf so going custom paid off.