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:
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Dougs' Drawing
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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.
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| 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?
