Robin Mather Fixed Gear Bike

A gallery of pictures is here

A gallery of the frame build is here

The full specification of the bike is here

The frame and fork were custom built by Robin Mather, near Bath (UK). The front triangle is Reynolds 853, the rear stays are 725 and the fork is Reynolds 525. I think the head tube is 725, too. It's silver brazed.

Since I'm 6'1" and just under 190 lbs, the tubing was selected for strength and durability rather than saving weight. The bike lacks gears and a back brake so it's nice and light. I haven't weighed it. One day I might.

The wheels were built by Brixton Cycles and most of the other components were bought from Will at Hubjub.

The tubes are connected with Pacenti lugs. The fork crown is stainless steel. I asked Robin to cut the lugs so as to make them simple but elegant. Nothing too curly or ornate. I think he did an amazing job. The fork crown and rear fork ends (drop outs) are my two favourite features. The cutting and polishing of the fork crown are incredibly precise as is the paint work by Argos Cycles.

The geometry is as follows:

73' seat tube
74.5' head tube
400mm chainstays
580mm top tube c-c
590mm seat tube c-t
280mm BB height
36mm fork rake

That's pretty tight for a road bike and not too far off modern track bike geometry for a frame of its size. It's a very comfortable ride given that I asked for something a bit more 'track' than the Surly Steamroller which it replaces. And since it allows for a quill stem I can use the beautiful Nitto steel 65' track stem at a comfortable height and still achieve the classic track 'drop' which I like.

I'd highly recommend working with Robin. He absorbed many lengthy emails from me with pictures of lugs and other frames I like and was happy to meet my very detailed requests while making sure I ended up with a frame design that 'made sense' to him given the uses I was going to put it to: fairly short road distances, lots of hills and the occasional velodrome ride.

Robin works alone and the wait on my frame and fork was four months. It may well be shorter for you, depending on how busy he is. There are interviews with Robin here and here. He's been building frames for about 13 years and I'm very pleased he's built one for me.