The Project

The request came in for a “completely unique” build – a single speed that would stand apart with a completely out of the box approach. If possible the bike was to be be single-sided, similar to the GT Super Bike. A unique finish was exceptionally important, so the fact that our customer is a big fan of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and the Spike Jonze film adaptation became artistic inspiration. What’s more, the bike needed to function as an everyday rider / commuter for the hills of Seattle, preferably belt-driven for reduced maintenance and increased longevity in the rain.

Implementation

Frame builder Rob English immediately came to mind for the project. We’ve known Rob for years and have enjoyed working with him during every step of the bike-building process. No one we know gets excited quite like Rob for projects like this. We’ve also worked with Geoff McFetridge, the Art Director on the Spike Jonze film. Geoff’s creativity and skill have been an invaluable contribution to recent projects like the 2009 Light Bike and the 3 Speed Fixed Gear. Teaming Rob and Geoff for this project was a natural.

With the frame builder and artist lined up, it was time to pick components. We wanted to go reasonably light while still maintaining the durability needed to be an everyday rider. For some components, items that didn’t need to be completely custom but maintained uniqueness with a good strength to weight ratio were chosen – specifically ENVE Composites rims and handlebar, THM Clavicula cranks and a KCNC Headset. Brakes and hubs got a little complicated – more to come on that.

Rob English, English Cycles

When we talked with Rob about Project Right, his enthusiasm was immediately apparent. With Rob’s custom Di2 integration, aerodynamic builds, and general approach to frame design, thinking outside the box came naturally. He instantly shared our concept for this bike and quickly got back to us with ideas for designing the rear end, and even the unique idea of putting the freewheel for the belt drive on the outside of the single-arm chain stay. English planned on machining a completely custom hub, using an over-sized fixed axle to increase strength, with an eccentric bottom bracket to adjust belt tension.

Rob drew up his ideas, along with calculated strength and weight figures. Did we mention he’s an engineer? One issue that we’d anticipated was brake placement; this was simply solved by using a disc up front and a road brake mounted under the BB for the rear. Rob’s assurance that modifying a disc brake to the right side by re-machining the caliper provided confidence in the brake setup.

With all these elements coming together, we green-lit Rob’s ideas and spec’d a Tune Cannonball hub, EE brake, and BB7 front disc to complete his enthusiastic vision. Over the course of the Rob English build process, we received photo updates until the time came for the bike’s green base coat and shipment to Geoff in LA.

Geoff McFetridge, Champion Studio

The Project Right bike is, to date, our most unique build and it fits Geoff’s vision perfectly. He hand painted characters across the bright green frame, fork and stem in a Where the Wild Things Are style. The characters fit perfectly with the shape and complement every junction and bend. Feet hang under the bottom bracket as if sitting side saddle across the pedal spindle, more feet run down the single seat stay while multiple figures and shapes create what reminds me of a totem pole on the fork. Geoff even painted a design on the quill-like neck of the stem as a surprise to anyone who pulls the headset apart. The vision Geoff brought to this project is completely distinct and really added to the overall feel of the build.

To learn more about Geoff’s work and his design studio, go to his website, Champion Studio. Please note that Geoff is an artist and not a painter, unless budget is of no concern to you, please don’t contact him about custom paint on your personal bike. If you like what he’s doing we ask that you leave a message letting him know on this blog.

Project Right Build List

*Thanks to Rob for keeping such detailed notes on his builds.

Project Right Image Gallery

David Haines sat down with Project Right for a bit to document the bike for us.  Normally we try to parse the galleries down to around twelve images.  This time though, with the detail of the build and the paint, we couldn’t cut any out and ended up with a whopping 31.  Enjoy!

All images are copyrighted by David Haines.

Videos of Project Right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLKYnwpdVkQ

From Road Bike Review’s coverage of NAHBS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BreQ9sX39FI

From Road Bike Action’s Coverage of NAHBS.

Links for Project Right

• Road Bike Review
• Road Bike Action
• Wired.com
• Bike Radar
• Bike Rumor
• Velonews
• of course English Cycles
• and finally Our Blog

In Closing

We’d like to offer sincere thanks to everyone involved in Project Right – the people we have the opportunity to work with are truly amazing. Rob reports that the ride is very nice.

The post Project Right – The Final Update appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

While we’ve been busy putting together our road bike trials video things have not stood still here at Fairwheel on all our other projects.  The Right Project moved from Rob English’s workshop to CoMotion for initial painting and then onto Geoff McFetridge for hand painting. We did receive photos from Geoff of the bike as he worked on it and I figured I’d share them with you. Since this is the first time I’ve written about the Right Project let me say that there are two aspects of this bike that really got me excited. The first was Rob English’s completely unique build using only a right chain stay / seat post and fork blade (seen here in update 6). The second is Geoff McFetridge’s work. Geoff has worked on two different bikes with us before, our 2009 light bike, and a hand painted Parlee TT frame converted into a 3-speed fixed gear.  Easily, aesthetically speaking, two of my favorite bikes.  This is his third bike and the first one for a customer of ours (the previous two are still owned by the shop).  The reason we went to Geoff with this project is that the final owner is a Where The Wild Things Are fan and even mentioned wanting the build done in a style inspired by the popular Maurice Sendak story.  Well, as many of you may know, Geoff art directed the 2009 Warner Brothers movie so the matching made perfect sense.  In the end we’re just really happy that Geoff is again working with us and think you’ll enjoy the updated build photos.

The post Project Right gets painted appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

Working with Rob English is always a tremendous pleasure, not only is he a talented builder but delivers what he says he will, when he says he will.  That’s a true rarity among custom frame builders.  So now I get to present the completed, though certainly not finished, project: Right.  Again just a photo update, we still have some really special touches to add.  The build list is still finished drawing from both the road and mtb communities.  Next a base coat has to be chosen and sprayed so that it can go off to artist Geoff McFetridge for some hand painted awesomeness and then back to the painters for finish work.

The post Custom Project: Right Part 6 appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

Mostly a pictorial update today.  The axle has been finished for the righty hub, and put into the nearly completed fork.  The 514 gram fork will use an inverted headset with the attachment point at the crown which means the steerer tube will be integrated as part of the stem rather than part of the fork.  Front disc brake has been mounted inverted as well for right hand use.  To get the brake to work on the right side of the bike, the mounting had to be changed.  To do this we are using the front postmount and the lower body bolt.  This meant the rear mounting tab could be removed.  and also the cable stop could be as well.  The actuation arm was removed and a new hold for the sping was drilled adn the spring reinstalled in a different location so that it pulls up to actuate.  There is also an internal cable stop brazed into the leg of the fork.

The post Custom Project: Right Part 5 appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

Just another quick update on this NAHBS project.  The rear end is coming along nicely.  Rob had this to say, “Jigging the back end of this thing is tricky. With a regular frame the stays are triangulated, and thus don’t move during the brazing process. With the mono-stay I have to keep the stay from moving with the heat, and ensure the ‘dropout’ remains perfectly in plane with the bottom bracket shell.

I have the chainstay to BB junction fully brazed and everything aligned, so now I just need to clamp it firmly to the alignment table when I add the triangulation brace. You can see the lightening holes in the BB shell, and also how the rear hub will match with the frame (the ‘dropout’ has a keeper in it to prevent distortion during brazing). I was worried that the oversize chainstay with the reinforcement sleeve would be heavy, but it isn’t much more than a pair of chainstays. I’ll wait to finish off the back end until I have the wheel built, but will put the front triangle together this week.

The post Custom Project: Right Part 3 appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

Time for another quick update on Project Right.  Part one can be found here.  Frame builder Rob English has continued machining on the hub, which now is almost completely finished, it’s needing just some polishing, spoke holes, splines and anodizing.  I think an interesting point is the non-conventional look and design of the rear hub.   As you can see the rear hub is not terribly heavy at 174 grams, and will still get a bit lighter.  Also shown is a selection of frame tubes to be used. 

In the photo of the frame tubes,  from top to bottom we have S3, Columbus Aero, Straight gauge seattube (still a lot of work to get this tube butted and shaped) and then some ovalized chainstay and a headtube stock.  The size of the stays and downtube make the 1.125″ headtube look a little small to me.

The 2nd to last photo shows the seat tube being externally butted, after which it will still have to be ovalized.

The last photo shows  what looks to be a bottom bracket shell with press fit bearings, however it’s definitely not a bb shell as that’s shown at the same time in the tubing picture.

The post Project: Right Part 2 appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.

A big part of what we do here at Fair Wheel involves building one off custom projects.  Not long ago, I realized that we’ve never chronicled a project start to finish.  The timing of this realization was pretty good because we are just starting a new and very custom project.  Project: Right.  Eventually the name will make more sense, but since we don’t want to give anything away we won’t be talking about or showing anything that isn’t done.  We’ll definitely make sure to share progress as it moves along.  Those of you that know me, know that I really enjoy these project bikes, the only thing that could make them even more fun is working on them with someone who enjoys them as much as I do.  One of the few people who fits that description and shares my enjoyment of doing things different is frame builder Rob English from English Cycles. 

Rob and I both enjoy doing things differently and the two of us working together just seems to magnify what the other one would normally do.   Then mix in an owner for the project who has a real appreciation for uniqueness and a strong liking of one of our favorite artists and the project really seems to have taken on a life of it’s own.

Sept 6th, 2011.  This is the official day this one started.  Stephen contacted us that day and asked if we’d be interested in doing a project for him.  Being that this project will show at NAHBS before going on the owner, we’ve tried to keep progression of this one a priority and keep it at the front of the queue.  The past 12 weeks have all been the planning stage, which went surprisingly quick for the amount of complex problems that have arisen from some not so normal designs.  Over the weekend.  Actual production began.  Rob started the machining of perhaps the most central element of the whole project, the rear hub.

Some of the other components are shown in the picture, and yes those are all part of one bike, even though it seems like they shouldn’t be.

Stay tuned for more as the build progresses.

The post Custom Project: Right appeared first on Fair Wheel Bikes.