TIG-welded steel gravel and mountain frames from a two-person shop in Cutbank. 14.2 km, 360 m of climbing and one rock garden. If a frame comes back with a problem, it goes back on the bench, not in a box.
The test loop
We built the Cinderback Loop out of the worst bits of the Scarcroft Hills: a braking zone, a steep climb, a rock garden and a long fast descent. Pick a checkpoint to see what it tests and how the last frame did.
14.2 km, 360 m of climbing, highest point 604 m. Sample results.
Checkpoint 3 of 5, at 7.9 km
300 m of limestone ledges with square edges up to 30 cm, dry or greasy depending on the week.
What it tests. Tyre clearance with mud packed in, chainslap on the stays, and the head tube junction, which takes the hits first.
Scree gravel, last test lap
6mm each side, wet
45 mm tyres through the ledges on the wet lap. Clearance left with the mud still packed in:
Both are built to your measurements, both come with a steel fork or a suspension fork of your choice, and both do the full loop before paint.
Gravel
For the rider whose gravel ride keeps turning into singletrack. Long enough to be calm at 55 km/h on a fire road, short enough at the back to climb loose rock.
Frame and fork from
$2,600
Complete bike from
$5,200
Mountain hardtail
A 29er hardtail for rock, roots and the kind of descent you walk the first time. Built around a 130 mm fork and a steel rear end that takes the edge off without folding.
Frame and fork from
$2,900
Complete bike from
$5,600
Abel welded pipeline and race car roll cages for 26 years before he built his first frame. He still welds every one, at one bench, and stops at two frames a week.
Every tube is cut on a manual mill and filed to fit. A tight mitre means the weld fills a gap you can barely see, not a gap it has to bridge.
The fixture is set to your drawing, not a size chart. We tack the front triangle, check it, then tack the rear end and check again.
Back-purging keeps the inside of each joint as clean as the outside. 41 welds on a Scree, all by the same hands, none by a robot.
Aligned on the table after welding and dye-penetrant tested before the loop. After the loop, it happens again. That second check is the one that matters.
Every frame is shot straight off the loop, in bare steel, with whatever the Scarcroft Hills left on it. Clean photos come later, after paint.
We take two frames a week and no more, so the date we give you on the fit call is the date the box leaves the yard.
Week 1
An hour on the phone or at the shop. Your measurements, the numbers off your current bike, and the riding you actually do. $800 holds your bench slot and comes off the final price.
Weeks 2 to 3
Ione draws the geometry and sends it with a note on how it will ride. You approve a drawing, not a size.
Weeks 4 to 7
Mitre, tack, weld, align. You get photos at each stage, including the ugly ones.
Week 8
Two laps, one dry and one wet if the weather obliges, then the bench check. You get the checkpoint results and the muddy photos.
Weeks 9 to 10
Powder coat or wet paint from the booth across the yard. No decals unless you ask for them.
Weeks 11 to 12
Complete bikes are built here and ridden once more as a whole bike. Then boxed and shipped, or collected from the yard.
Welder since 1988: pipeline, then roll cages for a hill-climb team. Built his first frame in the shed in 2014 because he could not find a hardtail that survived the Boneyard. He mapped the loop the same winter.
Six seasons of enduro racing and a mechanical engineering degree. She draws every geometry, rides every test lap and writes up the results you get in week 8.
340 frames since 2014. Three have come back with a crack, all three were rebuilt free, and all three failures changed how we weld (sample figures).
I asked if they really ride every frame. Ione sent me a clip of mine going through the Boneyard, still in bare steel. Four seasons on, it has never made a noise.
I cracked two carbon hardtails on the same rocky ridge at home. The Spall has done three seasons on that ridge and the only thing I have replaced is tyres.
They told me my first geometry idea would get nervous above 50 km/h, drew a second one and explained why. They were right. Twelve weeks, almost to the day.
Next bench slots
Tell us what you ride and where. Ione replies within two working days with a rough price, a slot date and a time for the fit call. Nothing is booked until you pay the $800 deposit.
(555) 014-3131Unit 4, 88 Coke Oven Row, Cutbank. Visits by appointment, Tuesday to Saturday. Bring your current bike.
Slot counts are sample values.