5/9/24 4:11 PM

Dropped a deposit on a Ti Strong yesterday. Always wanted a Ti bike and never had one. Got most of the parts at home so will just be doing a frame/fork/hs direct from Carl.

Going to be an all-rounder training/racing bike. Asked for clearance for 35-40mm tires depending on the fork and will primarily use it for gravel/cx.

Not sure if he can anodize but if so, that's the direction I want to go. Brushed finish with mirrored logo/text...maybe just anodize the logos, maybe do a rainbow ano over the whole thing....dunno yet.

5/9/24 5:24 PM

I thought he was only doing Pursuit???


Wow, I have no idea where I got that idea from.


So what is the plan/use. Disc, long reach rim, tire size planned more gravel, or like my 2015 disc allroad? Which I can get a 40 on.

If i had mine to do all over, it would have less BB drop.
What you have planned in this regard?


What bike are you using the Ekar on?

5/10/24 6:05 AM

You probably heard that from me, I seem to recall mentioning it.

Around the time he and I were talking about the options for the Pursuit I saw an interview where he said was only doing a limited number of Ti frames before retiring that part of the business. But the Strong site was still up so I just sent him an email and asked. He said he's only doing them for established customers and locals so yay me.

Planned use is something of an all-around racing bike based off the pursuit measurements. Will get clearance for gravel tires, probably a max of 40 pending the fork options. Disk brakes with internal routing through the frame but not the bars.

This is intended to be a 'lifetime' bike, the one I ride when I finally get too old and slow to train hard. I want it to be built for a wide range of options knowing that there may be compromises inherent in that design in the short term.

Currently have Ekar on a Cervelo Caledonia and it's (the ekar) not quite as frustrating as the SR EPS was but close. It's rarely shifted well for long and this matches expereinces I've read online. The 13spd tolerances are so tight it can easily go out of adjustment.

I'm completely done with Campag. It's a shame, they were the pinnacle of form and function for a long time but they couldn't adapt to the fast pace of changes in the last couple decades. In trying to become relevant they lost what differentiated them from the rest. I'm going to sell the Ekar bike and then all I'll have from them is an 11spd mech group on my Strong road which I haven't ridden in forever but will never get rid of.

5/10/24 9:43 AM

So road disc 11s, or GRX then?

5/10/24 10:30 AM

probably won't buy new shimano, the rest of the stable is SRAM so if I go that route it will likely be XPLR 1x but I'll have a front mech hanger installed just in case I want to swap to 2x in the future....also have a 105 mechanical group kicking around I'm considering but that means cable routing...