Tech gallery: 2021 Enve Builder Roundup, part two
Ready for another round of two-wheeled eye candy? In this second round of coverage from the 2021 Enve Builder Roundup, we showcase titanium masterpieces from Firefly, No.22, and Bingham Built, plus Argonaut’s latest custom carbon road racer, and other works from smaller brands from around the globe.
Keep in mind, too, that not all of these bikes are over-the-top showpieces; some are beautiful more for their utility than their ornateness, but that certainly doesn’t make them any less appealing.
We’ll have the third and final gallery for you soon enough. And if you missed round 1, you can find it here.
No.22 Bicycle Company
This No.22 Great Divide road racer uses a Cerakote ceramic finish that the company plans to offer as an option soon. The fully hidden cabling makes for a very clean front end. The combination of grey, white, black, and gold looks oh-so-good. The white makes for such a striking contrast against the titanium’s stark grey that it’s a wonder more brands don’t use it. No.22 does a remarkable amount of the fabrication work in-house, including machining the rear dropouts and shaping and butting the tubes. Silca titanium bottle cages to match, of course. The seatstay bridge offers an ideal mounting point for the rear fender. Amazing. The titanium fenders are a pricey add-on, but if you have the money and even occasionally ride in wet weather, these seem like they might be worth the expense. Fantastic. The Kogel Kolossos oversized pulley cage somehow almost looks perfectly proportional here. Gorgeous welds here. An anodized titanium spacer might seem like overkill to some, but it’ll be just the right amount of attention to detail for others. I love these titanium fenders, but I’d also love to see a flap for a bit more coverage.
Firefly Bicycles
This Firefly is built for the (very) long haul. There are variety of neat touches, such as the Cane Creek eeWings titanium crank and oversized rear derailleur pulley cage from Ogle Component Design. If you need to carry even more, there are additional mounting points on the Enve carbon fork. You saw the anodized Rapha Cycle Club stripes, right? Now look more closely at the top tube. Firefly is using Z-Couplers developed by tandem specialist Santana. They’re jaw-droppingly beautiful (and incredibly stealthy). The Ogle Component Design oversized pulley wheel cage is incredibly expensive, but also amazing to look at. Will it make you faster? Probably not, no. But wow. Front and rear lights are very cleanly integrated. Firefly has become a master of various titanium finishes. The seatpost clamp comes from Ogle Component Design, too. You almost can’t even see it. King Cage titanium bottle cages to match? Yes, please. Just lovely. This extra button isn’t for shifting; it controls the wireless SRAM Reverb AXS dropper seatpost. Ogle Component Design supplies the over-the-top titanium lockrings.
Argonaut Cycles
Argonaut’s new RM3 is offered in both standard and custom geometries, both built in Oregon and including Argonaut’s made-in-house carbon fork. Enve’s new modular internally routed cockpit components offer custom builders a way to conceal cabling without going too crazy with the frame design. The modular front end also obviously allows for a wider variety of stem lengths, handlebar bends, and handlebar widths than one-piece setups. The seatpost is secured with a hidden wedge-type binder. Someone spent an awful lot of time picking off vinyl bits with an X-Acto knife. Argonaut’s 1 1/8-to-1 1/4″ fork uses “standard” headset bearings.
Bingham Built
Although the northern hemisphere is in the midst of summer, one Bingham Built customer is already thinking about winter with this custom fat bike. The curved seat tube allows the rear wheel to be tucked in a bit tighter. Etched logos are always a nice touch on titanium frames. So, so clean. Bingham Built equipped this frame with a T47 threaded bottom bracket shell.
Ritte Racing
Ritte’s new Satyr titanium gravel bike was designed with the help of framebuilding legend Tom Kellogg. Ritte designed the Satyr to fit 700c tires up to 50 mm wide. A bit of nice custom detailing work on the Cane Creek eeWings titanium crankarms. You could almost say that third water bottle mounts were a theme at this year’s Enve Builder Showcase.
Rock Lobster
Rock Lobster has been around for ages, and yet still manages to look fresh and current. External routing FTW. This little gusset likely stiffens things up a bit, but also provides a nice little spot for artwork. A modern classic. The Chris King integrated headset meshes perfectly with the aluminum head tube.
SaltAir Cycles
Salt Lake City-based builder SaltAir specializes in fillet-brazed steel. The paint looks black at first glance, but it’s actually a very deep shade of purple. The exit ports on the underside of the down tube are bolstered with brazed-on reinforcement rings.
Sklar Bikes
This versatile rig from Sklar Bikes is aptly named the “Super Something”. Painted-to-match stems are somehow just so right. The Paragon dropouts can accept a variety of different inserts to accommodate various drivetrain and brake setups. Wait, where are the brakes? This particular bike is set up as a fixie, using the rear brake’s rotor mount for the sprocket.
Sycip Bicycles
Sycip designed this to be the “ultimate trail-side party bike.” Need help lugging all of that food and drink to the top of the mountain? The Shimano STEPS EP8 motor is here to help. Sycip has apparently already verified that a small barbeque grill will fit inside this Ortlieb trunk bag. One of Sycip’s signature features is the use of coins to cap the segmented seatstays.
Tomii Cycles
This Tomii machine looks ready for a fun day of riding. The Enve fork may be off-the-shelf, but it looks like part of the whole when it’s painted to match. The direct-mount hanger looks particularly elegant. So how many gummy bears fit in that rear bag, anyway? Excellent. The clamped external routing doesn’t look as clean as internal stuff, but it’s much easier to live with.
