ENVE Builder’s Roundup, Part II

Page One
By Padraig 0

It’s a shame that the Builder’s Roundup at ENVE wasn’t a bigger, more public event, but I can’t complain because, Delta Variant, donchaknow. That’s my inclusive way of lamenting the fact that I wasn’t there to see each of these bikes in person.

I’ve been writing about custom frame builders since the early 1990s. I’ve been to a number of events that brought together multiple builders to show off bikes. The collection presented in Provo, Utah, is arguably the finest concentration of great bikes I’ve ever seen. I put this ahead of NAHBS for the simple reason that the clarity of presentation was uniform—one bike—and so most builders took it as an invitation to do what they are known for.

I generally see it as bad form to comment on a frame builder’s paint as opposed to the build, but this is an excellent example of how good welds fade into the background beneath an incredible candy finish.
Breadwinner showed a long-travel, hard-tail mountain bike called the Bad Otis a few years ago at NAHBS; this is another Bad Otis in that vein, but with better paint. The all-mountain steel hardtail. That suits a very special rider. A badass.
The Breadwinner head tube badge is one of the very coolest out there and is a worthy nod to the quality of work that Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira do.
There’s nothing scavanged about this bike, but the build would make it look pieced together to the unaided eye. The coaster brake is such an awesome touch. Guaranteed, this is the only coaster brake hub laced to an ENVE rim on the planet.
The dropouts on this bike are stylish and the fact that they include adjusters means that the bike has a nearly unlimited range in gear choice.
The fact that they didn’t cover the entire bike with paint gave them a chance to show off just how good their carbon layup is. It’s an exacting skill that’s harder than people think.
FiftyOne is an Irish brand producing carbon fiber frames.
Seeing external headset cups gives the bike a somewhat retro look but combined with ENVE’s integrated bar and stem it makes for a cohesive look.
The welding on the Womble is just what we’ve come to expect from the Steamboat Springs-based builder.
Not many companies can claim to have been making mountain bikes for virtually as long as they’ve been around. Even fewer have been doing it in titanium.
The bike’s use of color is stylish and, well, un-ignorable.
The fade from green to gold to orange is utterly original and the metal flake in the logo doesn’t so much grab the eye as command it.
Padraig

When playing drums in a rock and roll band didn't turn at to be as lucrative as he'd hoped, Padraig left his hometown of Memphis to pursue an MFA in poetry at UMASS Amherst. Writing about his other love, bicycles, seemed a natural progression; certainly it paid better than either poetry or rock music. His work has appeared everywhere from Bicycling Magazine to the LA Times. His feature, "My Day With Ilya," won a Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. These days he lives in Sonoma County, California, where he attempts to inspire his two demitasse ninja with the wonder of bikes. Favorites: flavor: maple; wine: Boheme Pinot Noir; beer: Russian River Pliny the Elder; neurochemical: dopamine; poetry: Andrew Hudgins; fiction: Thomas Pynchon; music: David Sylvian; comedy: Firesign Theater; event: 8-Hours of Wente.

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