So now that I finally have this frame, I can really see the details and come up with some overall opinions. First of all, I’ll go through the disappointments that I’ve had:

• Mentioned in an earlier part of this series covering my experience with Carl, I thought that it would have been cool if he had some sort of bottom bracket stamp or something. Merlin goes a bit too far with the below, but something like a hammer guy would be cool on the BB perhaps. Actually Merlin has the eagle logo stamped on most of the frames which is very nice. Cool? Yes. Do I really care? No. Is it really a bummer? No, but I’m struggling to find things to complain about.

• Also written somewhere on this site, the terrible disappointment of not having my bike show up in a Carl Strong box. I was going to take pictures of the UPS guy and the box on my porch and everything, but alas, it showed up in a Specialized box. I suppose there’s no point in Carl having someone print cardboard with his name on it, and truth be told, the thing was delivered to my wife’s work. So once again, disappointing? Yes. Do I really care? No. Is it really a bummer? No.
• Here’s the real bummer. The whole process took way too long. I first ordered the frame around April 1 and here I am not having built the bike yet (I’m writing this in mid-September). After Carl called me to let me know that mine was 3rd in the queue, it took him all of 3 days to build the thing. He could have sent me the frame a full month early (promised 16 weeks I thin and was ready in 12). Unfortunately, I spent the next month pondering what type of paint job I wanted, if I really even wanted paint. I was warned that Spectrum paint was going to be moving, and when I decided, it was right in the middle of their move. As you know, they did a fantastic job. Then, I went on vacation for 2 weeks and told Carl not to send me the frame so it would not be sitting around my porch or workplace. Then I didn’t order parts until after the frame was in my hands for 3 weeks, with some back ordered parts. So, bummer? Yes – major bummer that it’s not built yet. Carl’s fault? No. My fault? Yes.

So having exhausted all the things that went wrong with the frame and paint job, I guess I’ll move on.

• The welds are beautiful. My wife does stained glass and has some understanding of these things where I don’t and she is just amazed at the workmanship.
• The hammer guy cast headbadge is beautiful. Worth the extra money and the extra 40 grams (I’m making the weight up).
• The paint job is beautiful. Spectrum did a fantastic job. Could not have asked for any better.

Not having built and ridden the thing, you’ll have to wait for a ride report next.   Here are more pictures including some detail ones.

Click on the picture for a full size image.  Warning – some of these are large.

Drive side above.  Also happens to be the Carl Strong signature side.

Non-drive side above.  Also happens to be the Spectrum Paint logo side on the chainstay.

Above is my one good picture of the head badge.  I love that thing.  I think that metal head badges are a thing of the past in so many cases, and it’s nice that Carl uses one.  This is a bit robust being a cast badge, but I dig that.  It’s possible I should have gone with the gold one as there are gold highlights on the bike, but I’m happy either way.

Above is a detail of the strong signature as well as the hammer guy and the gold highlights.

This entry was posted on April 3, 2007 at 10:00 am and is filed under Bicycle, Bicycling, Bike, Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.