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How have I missed these bikes? Utterly stunning, particularly the La Ruta , which after discovering it a few days ago, goes straight to the top of my Ultimate Bike List!

Anyone able and willing to share their undoubtedly life affirming experiences brought into being by riding/owning/buying one of these?

Or as it’s STW, any thoughts, opinions and/or musings please! 😀

i’m sorry but those are the bmw mini compared to the original 😉

i lusted after one of these (and titanium version) back in early 90’s 🙂

$4295 plus taxes for an 80mm travel xc frame? It’s ti but for that price it should be gold. Whats so amazing about it?

I had one of those!!! And just like everybody elses….it snapped 😥

Funk Cycles. I’m smitten! Anyone else too?

Oh yes, just a little bit!!! 😀

Shame the pricing has gone up a third over last year 😕

My dream bike!

I didn’t realise until reading their site that those elevated chainstay frames were sold under the Scott brand in Europe. I remember them from then and the Alpine Stars HT, with an unfounded uncertainty of elevated chainstay’s, which was probably more to do with aesthetics. Although now, they don’t look so bad to me.

Yep, expensive! Beautiful too. Proportions, even on the 29, straight tubes, exquisite welds, cowled drop-outs, interesting pivot-less suspension, tuned and built to order. I find that amazing!

Gold would be way too heavy. 😉

La Ruta with a Lefty! Now we are talking!! I like your style DanW – in fact, it was your pic I think in the head badge thread that alerted me to Funk and then saw a La Ruta for sale on the US ebay.

Let me know when you get one please!! 😉

well rorschach, I was wondering if there was a common downside. Where did yours snap, presumably it was the chainstay plate? By the weld or further back?

…tuned and built to order…

Am I missing something here ? How do you “tune” a bike frame ?

$4295 plus taxes for an 80mm travel xc frame? It’s ti but for that price it should be gold. Whats so amazing about it?

Why does anyone pay £2000 for a frame, or £1000, or £500 or £100… in the real world it is all utterly pointless. This thread is about lust 😀

Yep, expensive! Beautiful too. Proportions, even on the 29, straight tubes, exquisite welds, cowled drop-outs, interesting pivot-less suspension, tuned and built to order. I find that amazing!

This too, plus blooming light for a FS, despite being Ti. Small volume, custom geo Ti rather than mass produced Far East plastic will always cost a bit. That said, they do have a version with a ENVE CF front triangle. Even more expensive, no lighter and certainly not sexier.

La Ruta with a Lefty! Now we are talking!! I like your style DanW – in fact, it was your pic I think in the head badge thread that alerted me to Funk and then saw a La Ruta for sale on the US ebay.

Let me know when you get one please!!

Here is a link to the Funk the picture is from. I believe the guy is selling it soon although it is a fraction too big for me thank goodness! Do you have a link to the one on ebay?

In my understanding, that would be the make, type, profile, size and gauge/s of the tubes, selected for the rider, their weight, height, type of riding and style.

For true custom build anyway. And as its my Ultimate bike, cost no object, I’m sure they would accomodate me 😀

Spec the tubes for the riders preference for stiffness/weight/strength?

Am I missing something here ? How do you “tune” a bike frame ?

Shock tune, flex pivot design can be adjusted (tuned), custom butted tubes tunes the feel not to mention every aspect of the frame can be adjusted to preferences. Perhaps tuning is a bad choice of words but they are entirely custom framesets which I think was the point

Indeed I do! Be quick, 4 hours left! Its on auction and buy it now, no bids so far and starting price is $1500USD so a cheeky last minute bid could bag a bleeding bargain! Unless the buy it now matches his reserve price?

18″ Medium frame…

La Ruta eBay

Aye at the chainstay/seat tube brace….and the sat clamp.Solved by cutting the top of the seat tube of and using a jubilee clip.And wrapping carbon fibre (my dad made foils for racing dinghys) around the chainstays.Hopefully it killed the scrote who nicked it.

One for sale on here the other week

Spec the tubes for the riders preference for stiffness/weight/strength?

Absolutely and as Dan mentioned before, by butting the tubes 1x, 2x, 3x and where they are will fine tune the ride characteristics as required by the person destined to ride it.

I’ll stand by my use of the word ‘tune’ 😉

Or is a more bikey term ‘dialled’? 😉

Sorry to hear yours was stolen rorschach, must have been heart wrenching.

One for sale on here the other week

Thank goodness the seller is over optimistic with pricing and had it built completely differently to my own preferences otherwise there would be a large chunk of money missing from the bank account to have to explain 😀 It is the right size though 😕

The bigger question is, who on earth builds up a bike like that to end up never riding it?! A lot of hassle and expense to go to!

Just had a look too and thought his valuation was a tad optimistic.

One of the plus points for me would be to have the frame built for me, not someone else, even if it is unridden. So makes it’s worth to me as the same as an off the peg bike that I didn’t really want.

It’s a size large Dan, 24″ TT. The one on your link is 23.75″ TT, so too big for you as well?

Thankfully, I don’t have the funds available to be recklessly spontaneous. Although I confess to hitherto unthinkable thoughts, of mental arithmetic if I were to sell all my bikes, and how much a class A’d kidney might fetch in the open market 😉

Thank god they do custom. The standard geo is a joke.

It’s a size large Dan, 24″ TT. The one on your link is 23.75″ TT, so too big for you as well?

I thought the one on Weightweenies was longer than 24TT??? Maybe I am remembering incorrectly 😕 24 inch TT is what I’d be after if I were to win the lottery.

Thank god they do custom. The standard geo is a joke.

All frames are custom so the geo posted online is somewhat meaningless. Maybe a slightly long chainstay length but I wouldn’t take a few numbers in isolation

Aye, 71 / 73 is quite steep by today’s standards. Same as my 00 Superlight with 90mm forks, very quick to respond and required subtle input to change direction and flick. Much fun and a ride I enjoy, even with the tendency of the front wheel to tuck under. Would it being 29 or 650 have less tendency for the front wheel to tuck?

I’d be looking to slacken the HA a bit, and interested to hear their take on that. It is after all a short travel and very light bike, so may be more competition focused?

Cannondale Scalpel 29- 71.2/ 73.5
Specialized Epic 29- 70.5/ 73.75
Giant Anthem X 29- 71/ 73

Seems fitting for an XC 29er. I was under the impression 29er HTA’s need to be steeper to accommodate slower turning compared to the equivalent 26, so although the angles seem similar to super steep 26ers they should actually ride a little less nervy. STA just determines inline post or layback post really and is only important for getting the saddle in the right position. I can see anything that jumps out as awful in the stock Funk geo besides slightly long chainstays although I’d be getting way ahead of myself to worry about such small details when the price is far out of my range

Rorschach’s Funk probably also broke as a result of around 11 people sat on the bike at the same time at one of the early Eastridge races 😀

If it’s a full sus Ti frame you want I’d be going for one of these. Similar looking but with a good old pivot at the BB

https://kenteriksen.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/

Seems fitting for an XC 29er.

You’re correct. That’ll teach me to just glance at links. I thought it was a trail bike!

That said, even on a 20lb race 29″ I’d like nothing steeper than a 69 degree HA

69 degrees on a 29er is slaaaaack for an XC race type bike 😀 I’m still riding 71 on a 26er and it makes you keep your wits about you. Something of an acquired taste 😀

If it’s a full sus Ti frame you want I’d be going for one of these. Similar looking but with a good old pivot at the BB

I was always of the opinion that if you are going for Ti as the material for a full sus frame then you have to make the most of its properties (i.e. something like the flex pivot). Otherwise you just end up with an overly flexy or heavy frame in comparison to the equivalent alu or CF frame (albeit better looking).

Just noticed that the pricing on the Funk La Ruta is the same as a Litespeed Sewanee which has no custom options and is a million times uglier. I did have a soft spot for the old Sewanee’s… just a shame the wall thickness was so thin they had a penchant for denting like a coke can.

The Eriksen’s are indeed lovely although not particularly keen on the one with the curved TT. I too share the view that if I were to have a Ti FS, I’d be wanting to make best use of its inherent properties and the pivot less design of the La Ruta makes sense for me.

Having yet to ride a 29, or take much notice of how and where they differ geo wise, I too thought the 71 HA would be similar to the same on a 26. Clearly not! Everyday is a school day! The Ala Carte SS I’ve just put together has a 71 HA and I do like the difference between it and my other, now slacker, bikes. It felt very similar to my previous XC rides and delighted to have something with such quick handling.

Back to La Ruta, I’d be speccing 650 anyway, so would be interested to see what they suggested for my ride preference.