The perfect path bike

• Is a seventy-four degree seat tube the secret to happiness? Most road bicycles on the market today are really dumbed-down versions of Pro Tour bicycles, but with the same unfortunate geometries. Is it any wonder that gel handlebar tape is the fastest growing accessory category? Most of us weren't genetically engineered to ride at high velocities for hours at a time, so it's worth taking into consideration a rider's physiology, age, flexibility, and weight when considering any bicycle -- and especially a road bike.

  This is R's roadie, and it's the perfect path bike. R had all sorts of ridiculous and unnecessary pain when paired with his fast-but-silly Specialized Allez. The new bike is an ergonomic ideal: a vision of black-and-pumpkin simplicity, but still plenty fast. The basic concepts were to raise the front end in order to reduce pressure on his wrists, elbows, and shoulders. R has wide shoulders, and standard road bars weren't allowing his torso to open up, so we added some forty-six centimeter Nitto handlebars. Next, we changed the seat tube angle to a mildly slack seventy-four degrees, and paired it with chainstays measuring four hundred and twenty-two millimeters. The result? It's instantly comfortable in the saddle on the hoods, but get-up-and-go fast when stomping on the stiff bottom bracket. This is thanks to an overly built rear triangle and a triple butted front triangle and carbon fork. And did I mention that it has room for fenders? Yup, yup. The colors are pretty shocking, so I guess you'll just have to see it in person one day for the full effect. It's tough to miss.

  • 54.5cm 73/74 Triple/double butted steel frameset, Pumpkin orange, TATI
  • 57mm long reach carbon fork, Tange
  • 10cm alloy stem, Pumpkin orange, TATI
  • 57mm long reach brakes, silver, Tektro
  • 700x28c Pasela TG tires, blackwalls, Panaracer
  • M Series wheels, black, Neuvation
  • 5600 Series drivetrain, black, Shimano
  • 170mm XD Crankset, silver, Sugino
  • Sealed bottom bracket, Sugino
  • Silicone LED Frog lights, orange and black, Knog
  • 4.5mm alloy water bottle cages, orange and black, Minoura
  • Supertype alloy seatpost, black, Miche
  • B17 leather saddle, black, Brooks
  • Locking skewer set, silver, Kryptonite
  • Handlebar-mounted reverse LED lights, red, Bridgestone
  • 46cm heated treated alloy M176 handlebar, silver, Nitto
  • Cork handlebar tape, pumpkin orange, Soma Fabrications
  • Wireless Strada cyclocomputer, black, Cateye
  • Eggbeater pedals, silver, Crank Brothers
  • Synthetic saddle bag, orange & black, Timbuk2
  It's light and fast, yes. But most importantly, it's the final manifestation of many conversations and sketches and rides and measurements between R and myself. It's a bicycle that really R designed himself. My job was to interpret his concerns and issues with his previous ride into design solutions and allow him to create an alternative within a given budget and a realistic set of fabrication boundaries. And so the final work is both functional art as well as a series of geometrical solutions. This is the TATI process.