The Curtlo Story

This is the story of the Curtlo, my Curtlo, the bike who doesn't know what it wants to be.

Doug Curtiss is a frame builder in Washington. He is the classic, reclusive  - some would say infuriating - frame builder who, lives far from the madding crowd and won't reply to your questions. The question of Steel vs. Carbon vs. Aluminum (well. not to many people will argue with you about aluminum.) is debated in the forums endlessly. Whatever. Ride what you like, I like both Steel and Aluminum. Anyway. Back to Doug, he will build you a bike for $900 and I wanted one. Even though I was riding a Ti Dean at that time. The Curtlo process began harmlessly with an email in February of 2009, and I was actually inquiring about a MTB. After a few months I gave up on hearing from the guy and found a steel Mikkelson in CL which I bought and built up. In November I get an email from Doug, "ok - you are up." Geez...I have a cool steel MTB by a custom builder already, I have a cool Ti road bike, oh I know CX bike. CX sounds fun (little did I know my 20 year old Fisher was, in essence and CX bike.) So Doug took my details, my measurements, my wants dreams and desires and a few days later I received this:

Dougs' Drawing

Now here is where it gets foolish. I had a CX bike already, it was a black Soma Double Cross. If you have never ridden one, CX bikes are odd. I found that if you road a 54cm road bike, a 54 cm CX bike will be too big. So I had a 52cm Soma, a nice inexpensive bike made from Tange Prestige steel. Saner folk would have stopped there. I did not like the Soma, it was fun on the local trails to be sure, but on steep climbs where your wheel could waggle - my foot would hit the tire. So Dougs design basically shifted from CX bike to Touring bike (i.e. a longer top tube.) I said yes, paid a deposit, and waited again. In February of 2010 I arrive home from work to find a large box on my porch. My Curtlo.

Curtlo True Temper OX III bike MkI.

Above you see Curtlo MkI - Road Mode

Shimano Ultegra 6600 Ice Gray Crankset, FD, RD

Shimano Dura Ace 6500 9 speed STI

Easton EC70 bars, stem and seatpost

Avid Shorty Ultimate brakes

Neuvation wheels

I built this up and rode it, I like it so much I sold the Ti Dean. I put 4000 miles on it. But then I got the Salsa (fuck me I should have had him build me a road bike.) The Salsa has a shorter top tube, but is a traditional road bike. In 2013 the Curtlo did not see much mileage. Having never really liked the near black "Laser Moss Green" I had Doug repaint it in my original choice the more Root Beery "Brown Trout."

 Which leads us to the dilemma... I love this frame, but what is it?

If I build it back up a a road bike, that give me 4 road bikes. Right now the Echelon is the only road bike I ride. And here is the answer, my most frequent ride of late is the Mixed Terrain ride; a ride that consists of BOTH road and dirt. You may have read about my Marin in another post, it seems to me a flat bar 700c CX or Monstercross is the answer. I could build the Univega up as this, which would be cool -or- use my favorite bike frame. I think the Curtlo would make a sweet mixed terrain ride.

Soma Tange fork or the 1" Nashbar Carbon fork?

 Let's try it!

Echelon Odyssey - Japanese Mystery Bike

3 years later... To recap: I found this box of bike on CL, seller listed it as Echelon Odyssey with a interesting tale of its origins.

Box of junk

With no info on this I did a search which yielded this result:

History

It seems a small Japanese company by the name of Cherubim was marketing a new bike for US sales, several demo models were made and sent to the states for evaluation. The brand never took off and those demo models were all that were ever made. It also appears that the master Yoshi Konno (3Rensho) worked at Cherubim for a time. More can be learned of Yoshi Konno here. However this bike, the Odyssey, was built by Cherubim and they are still producing bikes today. The beauty of this bike is in its classic lugwork, very similar to 3Rensho's bikes. The above link to Bike Forums provides proof several models still floating around, and a note from Cherubim bikes itself:

"I've looked at your bike and I'm absolutely sure that it was built by us.
I'm not sure how many of these are built, but Cherubim's former chief builder Hitoshi Konno built the several models for Echelon for the couple of years.
Your bike have luge sets and fork crown of our own, so there is no doubt about it.
Keigo Hirota"

So the origin is known. I could never find any indication of the metal used so I will assume it is Ishiwata 022.

This box of bike sat around for at least another year or more. Bikes came and went and this sat around. Last year (2011)  I finally built it up. Once built I just didn't get in to it, it rode like a brick, I rear wheel dislodging issues and, well, it was just plain, well...plain Then fast forward another year and I am still looking around at Bike Forums and I open a thread by user Flog00 called Tempo Project. That thread can be found here. I was in love with the green apple green he had painted this bike. I visited  Rick at D+D in San Leandro, Ca. We went through his color book, put down a deposit and voila!

Plain no more

I made vector art of the labels and had buildasign.net make me vinyl labels. I did screw up the decals, they are too small, which I can live with. Main issue is the color really faded, it was supposed to be a dark blue, now it is a medium purple - oh well. Now with my investment rising, this bike needed a cool headbadge. So I contacted Jen Green and using my design, she knocked it out of the park.

WOW.

I have drank the fat tire kool-aid. 23mm no more. The frame has a somewhat race geometry, and I cannot get the 35mm tires on it. So for now, Conti Grand Pix 26.

From the parts bin:
Ultegra 6500 Triple crankset
Ultegra 7 speed Bar End shifter (from Fisher)
Ultegra 6600 Triple FD
Deore LX RD (wanted to use the Ultegra but it gave me problems - will revisit in the future.)
Tektro Brake levers
Tektro long reach brakes

purchased:
Velocity Synergy 700c w/LX Hubs - Built by Rich a Rivendell Bikes
Velo Orange 1" headset
Nitto Rando Bars
Jagwire Gold Cables

Quality Lugs

Did not like this look

Sweet.

 

UPDATE:

I puchased a pair of the new Soma tires, Shikoro. 700x28. I doubt 33 would fit. I found the cockpit too narrow, and just a bit long. So I also picked up a shorter stem. Just need to adjust the shifting as it sucks.

1997 Marin Bear Valley SE

This is how it starts

Craigslist. February. 2013
My first 26" CX bike has proven a success. I like the flat bars in the dirt, but have a Nashbar Carbon fork I want to use and hate altering the Miyata, so...

The 1997 Bear Valley SE

This frame looks sharp, I want the loud colors of old Marins or Kleins but this is a cool looking, understated US made, Tange CroMo beauty.

Deore LX Crankset (Mowa Red bolts!!!)
Deore LX FD
Deore XT RD
Cane Creek S8 (Red) Headset
Nashbar Carbon Fork
Avid SD7 brake (R)
Avid BB7 disc brake (F)
Synchros stem
Selle Italia saddle
Schwalbe CX Pro Tires

So far it has worked out well. The top tube is too short, so even with the holmesian 150mm stem the reach is a tad short. Given it has a short wheelbase it is nimble, and rides lighter than its 25#, but I did use the old LX cranks & UN51 BB so I cannot complain too much. It is my mixed terrain monster, good on the road, good in the dirt. Didn;t get to use it on the Grasshoppers this year, but I plan on riding it for 2/3 of the SFR "Adventure Series" rides; La Ruta Loca 200k and the Marin Mountain 200k.

Saturday June 1, 2013 - A Marin Adventure

The Ride:

The Bike:

With temps soaring my ideas of a local "mixter" seemed foolish. I had created a route some time ago starting from the SFR's Crissy Field location with the miles totaling about 100k. Getting my typical late start I hit traffic at the Mill Valley exit and bailed on the first two starting point options and hit the park and ride under the freeway. then is was a matter of saddling up and heading out. I rolled through MV and joined the bike path to Blithedale. Lots of folks on the path of course, but my travels quickly brought me to the road. Using all the maps on the Marin OSP site I found a fireroad  just off of Camino Alto. The rather steep Overhill Rd was the access point, but the fireroad was quite nice, fairly flat and a welcome change from riding the roads. I had pieced together a series of fire roads for this route and had another really steep climb to access the Southern Marin Line Road - a very nice stretch of fire road running along the hill overlooking Larkspur, Corte Madera and Ross.

View from Southern Marin Line Road

The cut is flat but the drops a are steep. You are mostly in the woods, but the temps were getting higher. Passed a few folks enjoying the day and was well pleased I had found this road. Sadly it ended and I knew the drop to Ross would be steep. I had planed on taking Crowne St. all the way but poor signage dropped me down on Idyllwild and into Ross, where I quickly found the traditional route. Ross then Fairfax, I stayed on the bike route until the base of White's Hill, then it was back to the shoulder for the grunt up the hill. This time however my route led me to the White's Hill trailhead. A dark, forested cavern just of the road with a luxurious singletrack trail, coated in earth and redwood - sadly it was also straight up.

Steep singletrack off of SFD Blvd.

I began the first of MANY Hike-a-Bike sections and pushed the bike up this trail, to another steep fire road, the White's Hill Fireroad. No denying it was damn hot out now, and this road kept going up. It flattened and became exposed, but superb views - Woodacre is below me to the west, and east is China Camp, the bay and Mt. Diablo. The trail here is rocky and disappears into the trees. A nice, soft singletrack trail switchbacks up the hill and for the next hour or so I climb, walk, sweat, curse and bounce over rubble. I miss the cut-off for the Blue Ridge fire road, and discover I have dropped my map. I eek out enough signal to verify my alternate destination is "just up ahead." The rocks get worse but the surrounding stunted forest is spectacular as White's Hill fire road finally ends at the junction for the San Geronimo fire road.

San Geronimo Fire Road

Phew, hot and getting low of agua. This road cuts over the ridge and the views are, of course, awesome. A baby rattler enjoys the cool shade and I munch my grapefruit, as I stroll. The skinny tires of my CX bike shake me on the rock strewn wasteland - this is pleasure? How can a flat ridgetop have so much climbing? My lips crack in the sun. A cyclist rides by "Yo." He's young, tan, shirtless and effortlessly glides up the hill. I suck it up and follow and slowly I cross over and see the trail drop. Due to time constraints I had already trashed my plans of Bolinas-Fairfax over to Hwy 1 and was now looking at a return on Drake. I can see the Golf Course on BoFax Rd. and the SG FR ends getting me onto the legendary Pine Mountain Fireroad, Pine Mountain my ass, rock mountain.

Pine Mountain

I hit upon the bright idea of keeping it dirt and the trailhead map shows me that Sky Oaks Rd leads back into the lower Mt. Tam trails. So I zip down BoFax Rd and almost miss the damn sharp right turn. More climbing. I enter the Bon Tempe/Lake Lagunitas area and the road ends but the dirt continues. I have been on this before, but opt for the exit at the Eldridge Grade junction. A fun, rapid descent follows -  down, down, down to Phoenix Lake. I find water as well here and drink my fill, fill up the bottles and hit the road for the return on the Marin Bike Route. One last climb awaits, the Corte Madera/Mill Valley bump on Camino Alto.

the road bike. 

i do love bikes and can get easily caught up with the desire for a new one. the curtlo is, of course, a CX bike. a one day while noodling around on ebay i saw this. no, wait, that's not right. i saw this bike on craigs list, temascal area i think. it was sweet; a 2010 salsa podio, midnight blue, scandium, a red chris king headset and an alpha q fork. they wanted $1300. i'm out. but that put this frame on my radar and sure enough, a week or so later i see this frame, 54cm. with fork. i still had all the parts from the dean in a box, so...

frame was built up with the 6600 "ice gray" ultegra stuff i had "lying around"; triple crank, brakes, 10 speed STI shifters, cassette, easton ec90, yes 90, carbon bars, used the same gray jagwire i pulled from the dean as well. had a fsa headset, but some critical parts were missing so...yup, red chris king headset. found a sweet dark blue selle italia gel flow saddle, added a salsa stem and dug those blue vittoria rubino's out of the tire pile and viola! effing love this bike. the geometry is a bit cramped, compared to the curtlo. but i can ride this thing for many hours in complete comfort.

as i can chronicling backwards here i will try to be brief. as salsa promotes "adventure by bike" i put some 28's on the podio and rode Grasshopper 2 and 4 on it. given how slow i am i had plenty of time to enjoy the ride and the sights.

Meyers Grade

Abandon all hope? Old Caz

Willow Creek