Introduction by Francis Cebedo
We get a little bit of a different look at this Steve Potts Ti Hardtail. The perspective from the buyer's point of view is represented by Peter Tsang who is a regular forum member (aka "tburger") on Mtbr and also a good friend. Read on to follow Peter's bike building journey and watch our interview of Steve Potts at NAHBS 2012!
Peter is a resident of San Francisco who works in San Jose so he is a tight member of the mtbr riding group. He hangs out in Norcal Forum, drinks fine beer with the gang and he rides at every opportunity. But he crashed a couple of times on his shoulder and it would not heal properly. So had surgery on it and was down for about 6 months. He used this unfortunate turn of events to turn his custom bike dream into a reality. Follow his odyssey into the world of owning a custom bike.
Check this interiew with Peter below. And on the very last page, check the interview with Steve Potts.
By: Peter Tsang
I've been waiting a long time to start this new bike build thread! The planets had aligned, and I was finally able to order that custom dream bike I've been waiting for all my life. Being a NorCal native, and resident still, I quickly narrowed down my list of potential builders. It really became a no-brainer, when all I had to do was drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, and in a short time, be sitting down in the shop of the legendary Steve Potts. I had an awesome visit with Steve back in July, and we chatted about bikes and everything else for about 2 hours. I even played doggie soccer with Cowboy, his Jack Russel, in the shop. Just the visit itself was priceless. But more than that, I just agreed with his philosophy of bike building. Pure and simple. I appreciate and enjoy all of the improvements in cycling with modern technologies, but I'm also a bit of a retrogrouch at times. For example, the Santa Cruz Highball was actually high on my list, but carbon fiber just doesn't move my soul like a custom ti frame. This is going to be one to take to the grave. I have already told my wife to bury me with my Potts.
Okay, so fast foward 5 months, and now my bike build is in the works. During the last 5 months, I found that there is really not that much information (bike p0rn) out there with Steve's more recent creations. A few pictures here and there when the bike is new, but it seems the typical Potts customer is not one to spend much time on the interwebs posting pictures of their pride and joy. Well, I hope to change that with this thread. Rather than posting my build spec and pics of the final product, I thought I'd share my build process with you as I get parts together, and as the frame gets built.
I'm 5'6" with a 29.25" inseam. I don't race, and I have a Nomad for bigger hit stuff, so I wanted this bike for all around XC trail riding with intermediate gnar thrown in. I definitely wanted a Type II fork. I knew I would kick myself later if I didn't get this bike with the Type II. I also definitely want a 2x10 geared bike, so no sliding drop-outs, and it needed space to accomodate a front derailleur. I described my riding style to him, and deferred the number crunching and geometry design to him. Here is the preliminary drawing that he came up with.
I debated for a bit whether to have the bike built for me, or do the build myself. Steve works with Mike at Black Mountain Cycles, and I would not hesitate turning the frame over to Mike for a truly professional build. But during the wait, I did a lot of on-line shopping, and I ended up buying pretty much everything I needed. So the motivation hit me full on, and I will be assembling everything myself. Parts have been trickling in from Brown Santa.
Here are the Shimano Deore XT M785 brakes. I chose the 29er compatible silver color.
Everything pictured here weighs in at about 655 grams. That's before the hose gets cut down to size.
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A few odds and ends for happy wrists and a happy butt. And possible inspiration for the color scheme on the fork.
Big box received right in time for Festivus!
I got my big box of parts from Bikerbob yesterday. Spent some time last night checking everything out, and then I geeked out and had some weight weenie fun putting everything on the kitchen scale. I can post actual weights if anyone is interested. Took some photos today to share with you all.
More silver bits in the mix. Not much to say about the Cane Creek 110 headset. The interlocking alloy spacers they come with are kinda neat. I chose the White Industries MI6 hubs because they were a good compromise between cost, quality, weight, and performance. Plus, they're another good local company. These are going to be built into a nice reliable wheelset with stainless steel spokes.
The Shimano drivetrain looks pretty slick. I went with the slightly more expensive shifters with the integrated mounts. It should make for a nice clean look while still providing lots of adjustability. The weight of all the Shimano stuff is pretty close to what's advertised, except for the cassette. This 11-36 cassette weighs in at a portly 345g.
I'm off work next week, and it looks like I may be able to squeeze in a visit to the shop while Steve does some work. It would be awesome if I could actually see some work on tubing that will eventually become my bike.
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Major progress update! The frame has already been built. I was also able to work out some time to visit Steve for a couple of hours while he worked on welding the rear brake mount and stay bridges. He showed me a ton of stuff, and it's amazing the amount of thought and work that goes into everything he makes. He showed off his steady hands and attention to detail while I hovered over his shoulder. The remaining welding and cable guides were attached after I left, and the fork should be built over the weekend. Once I get the color scheme for the fork sent to him, off it goes to the painter.
Few more shots of the weld detail at the major tube junctions. I also received the Jones Ti Loop Bar on Friday.
And one final treat for you all...
I went thru my pics again to try to find a few more worth posting. I know it's pretty much more of the same, but these additional pics may have a few more things of interest.
The big metal cylinders on the workbench were a place for him to rest his hands and stabilize his posture. For those who don't know how these torches work, what you can't see is that he's also operating the torch with a foot pedal.
Another shot of the brake mount. I brought him some home baked goodies from my wife, and he liked it so much, he had to write down her blogspot site.
There were various vintage bikes hanging from the rafters that I didn't really have time to ogle. There were also some ti rear triangles hanging around. Not sure what they were for. Could be for some of Castellano's bikes. Notice the shop is filled with natural light. We're on a hillside facing North with a really nice view of Tamales Bay.
And finally, here's a pic of Cowboy, Steve's Jack Russel. He dragged his bed over to join us at the table when we were talking. And he kept tapping me on the foot for more play time. But he pretty much just chilled whenever Steve was working.
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This was a great weekend for Niners football, beer drinking, and wheel building. My frame and fork should be ready very soon, so this weekend I dug out the wheel building tools, refreshed my memory by re-reading the literature, and went at it.
The build consists of:
- DT Revolution Spokes
- Alloy nipples
- Stans Crest Rims
- Stans rim tape and valves with removable cores
Front tire weighs 830g, and rear tire weighs 795g.
Tires are Ardent 2.4 and 2.25, and they both aired up with a floor pump. I haven't added sealant yet, and the front is actually holding air. I'll hold off on sealant for the rear until I get the frame, just in case I have clearance issues with this tire.
Rotors and cassette installed today. One thing is for sure. The Shimano cassette is not nearly as pretty as the Sram cassettes.
It's been a while since I've had any updates to share. After my visit with him in December, he still had to add all the finishing touches to the frame, and he also had to build the fork. I knew he was busy working on many projects. So I waited. It turned out he had several forks to make, so he saved set-up time by making several at once. The fork is with the painter this week, so it should be done very soon.
If you've been following Steve's blog, you know he's been cranking out a bunch of new stems. A few weeks ago, he emailed me to see if I had ordered a stem. (He was about to head into the shop to do some mitering, and he wanted to make sure he didn't forget anyone. I had not ordered a stem.) After a couple more email exchanges with him... attached below is a picture of my new stem.
I knew Steve was going to get really busy around this time of year as he prepares for the NAHBS in March. I was just hoping to get my bike before the show. He sent me the pic of the stems last night with a note saying the fork is being painted this week. So I went to bed very happy, knowing that I'll be getting my bike any day now. This morning, I get another email from Steve:
"I have an opportunity to show your bike at the NAHBS. I have been asked to enter a 29er for best titanium and best tig welded bike. It can be shown as a frame or complete bike. The show is March 2, 3 and 4th. Let me know if this is something you would like to do."
Looks like I'll be going to Sacramento for the handmade bike show this year!
Photo credit goes to Steve. Check out his blog here: wwwstevepottsbicycles.com
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First of all, sorry, I don't have more interesting pics to share yet. As you can imagine, the painter has been slammed with work as the handmade bike show draws near. But the fork is painted and back in Steve's hands as of today, and I can go pick everything up tomorrow! I'll just have a few days to enjoy it in my hands, though. I'll be building it up over the next few days, then it will go back to Steve for the trip to Sacramento for the bike show. While waiting for everything to get done, I've just been thinking about the build, and making sure I have all the tools and parts I need to do a proper build. I won't have much time to make those frantic last minute trips to various bike shops looking for stuff like inserts and olives for Shimano brake hoses. I believe I have all my ducks in a row and I'm really rearing to go!
Got the frame, fork, and stem today. The frame is a beauty, and I'm so happy with how the fork turned out. The color is great. Looks a bit reddish in the photo, but it's a really nice classic orange and cream. Rick at D&D really nailed it!
Almost done!
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Well, here she is, folks! Finished final cable and hose adjustments this morning, then had a little time to snap a few pics. The bike is now out of my hands and headed back to Steve for the handmade bike show. I believe he'll swap the bars out for the show so he can showcase all his component goodies, too.
My initial excitement started to turn into stress yesterday as the final pieces were coming together. I kept second guessing myself, thinking I made "wrong" choices, and it would all be out there for the world of Pros to see. But it's done and out of my hands now. I *think* I did a respectable job with the build and paid attention to detail. Now I can relax a bit and then go have some fun at the show drooling at everyone else's bike!
Bathroom scale method tells me the bike weighs in right around 24 lbs.
Here's the build list. I recorded all this weight weenie info, so I might as well share this, too
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Legendary bike builder and mountain bike originator Steve Potts tells us about how he got into mountain biking and how his whole career has come full circle.
I just got a sneak peek last night (courtesy of halaburt) of how the bike will be set up for the show. It looks freakin fantastic. It will showcase Steve's work very nicely. For the VRC fans, there will also be a vintage '89 Potts at the show that is a very similar frame size. It's really neat seeing the 2 bikes side by side!
Wow. Just, WOW. Steve was really stoked. There were so many awesome bikes here today. Eriksen and Potts came out tied! Eriksen's bikes were beautiful!
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