BBBBBF Sale 2022

The sale:

Kinda like this one, but in black…

It’s back! And now with more B’s than ever before! Not just a Black Bike Black Friday (BBBF) sale this time around, but a Black Bike Black Bag Black Friday (BBBBBF) sale. We’re partnering with our friends at LordsLuggage to provide custom frame bags for the sale. The other thing different this year is that we are only offering the sale for complete bikes, and only for our Travelall model.

We’ve been hard at work developing what we think is the best bikebacking / trekking / go anywhere do anything bike possible and we’ve dubbed it the Travelall. The BBBBBF sale 2022 is serving as an introduction of the model to the public. For the BBBBBF sale we’re offing it at a reduced introductory price.

There will be only 5 slots available for this sale, first come first served. All orders need to be placed on Black Friday, 11-25-2022.

And as always, just like Henry Ford once said, you can get it in any color you want as long as it’s black.

The details:

The frameset:

Geometry and handling optimized for bikepacking, off-road touring, weekend rambles through National Forest lands, and other such pursuits. In other words, if you want to carry some stuff on your bike, not a whole lot of stuff, but enough to do some light camping, wilderness exploration, long distance ultra-lite bikepacking, and the like, this is the bike for you. The geometry of the Bantam Travelall is quite different from your typical MTB. The needs of a loaded mixed-terrain touring bike are not the same as an unloaded MTB, so we’ve adjusted things to reflect that*.

Each frameset will be custom sized to the customer.

TIG welded construction.

Fork with a lugged crown, curved fork blades, and dropouts for the SON SL connectorless generator hub system.

Clearance for 27.5x2.40" tires, with fenders.

Flatmount disc brake mounts, front and rear.

Set up for a 1x drive train.

Full cable housing, run under the down tube.

Spaced for a 100x12mm thru-axle front hub and 142x12mm thru-axle rear hub.

Head tube and fork for a 1.125" threadless headset (straight steerer).

73mm threaded bottom bracket shell.

Bosses for three water bottle cages on the frame (two inside the main triangle, one under the down tube).

A copper ‘Bantam’ headbadge.

Frame painted in any color you want as long as it’s black. Contrasting decals. Handlebars and rack painted to match the decal color.

*If you have any questions about this, send us an email, we'd be happy to discuss it with you.

The front rack:

Each Travelall will come equipped with a custom fitted Travelrack. We have found that in contrast to fiddly handlebar mounted bag set ups, a well designed front rack is often lighter and definitely more versatile. Our Travelrack comes with hard mounts for a Wald 137 basket (included), triple bosses for cargo cages (one set on each side), and a mount for the headlight.

The bags:

The intention behind the Travelall was for it to be a complete bicycle. Included in the cost of the bike is a custom frame bag and two stem bags. (In black, of course, this is a Black Bike Black Bag Black Friday sale). So we’ve partnered with the fabulous LordSluggage to make the bags for us. The frame will be set up with hard mounting points for a roll top framebag. You’ll also get two stem mounted bags (one for hydration, the other for snacks and stuff you gotta access on the go). LordSluggage will be making these out of highly durable waxed cotton canvas.

The components:

With the intention of providing the Travelall as a complete bicycle we’ve been trying out all manner of parts. To that end we’ve put together a decently priced build kit* with a keen eye towards durability, repairability, and aesthetics. There will be a limited number of options, just to accommodate different rider’s needs at the contact points (handlebar, saddle, pedals). Everything else will come standard.

Wheels: SON SL front hub and Shimano 105 rear hub laced up to 32 hole Velocity Blunt 35 rims with Sapim double butted spokes. 27.5x2.40” Schwalbe Super Moto-X tires. 12mm thru-axles front and rear.

Drivetrain: Shimano Deore XT 1x11 shifter, derailleur, chain, and 11-46 cassette. Shimano Deore crankset with 32t chainring.

Brakes: Shimano 105 hydraulic flatmount calipers, paired with Shimano RS 600 flatbar levers. 160mm centerlock rotors.

Lighting: SON SL connectorless generator hub. SON Edelux II headlight with a B&M taillight.

Fenders: Honjo 74mm wide aluminum fenders.

Handlebars / pedals / saddle: Customer choice**.

Other bits: Cane Creek 40 headset, Shimano bottom bracket, Dimension seatpost and stem, Wald 137 basket, ESI grips.

*We’ve done our best to make sure that we’re able to obtain all the parts on the list above. But due to the unpredictable nature of the bike industry at the moment, the parts spec might change a little. The final price will be accordingly adjusted.

**Base price figured with a Brooks B17 saddle, Jones butted Loop bars, and Raceface Ride platform pedals. Final price TBD, according to parts chosen by the customer.

The options:

We’ve discovered over the years that at the far ends of the spectrum there are two types of cyclists out there: Those who want a kickstand on their bike. And those who want a dropper post. Kudos to you if you want both. We’re also offering a USB stem cap charger as an option for folks who want to charge up their rechargeables while they are riding.

Kickstand plate (+$75).

Internal cable routing for dropper post (+$75).

Stem cap USB charger, Sinewave Cycles Reactor (+$250)

The tire size:

The Travelall bikes will be set up to take 27.5x2.40" tires. This size tire seems to work well with both short and tall folks. Even all the in between tall and short sized folks. It's wide enough to provide good float and traction on all but loose sand and snow. Super smooth and comfortable riding on gravel and rough terrain. It works well for on and off road applications. Slick tires for mostly paved touring, commuting, and gravel. Knobbies for better traction when adventuring off road. Availability of 27.5” tires and rims is excellent. In other words, you won't have a difficult time finding shoes for your new horse when you need to.

If you want to run a different wheel / tire size than this, you are welcome to try it. But we are not going to take any responsibility for anything that might happen.

The how to buy one:

The base price of a BBBBBF Travelall is $5900 (depending on options and choice of saddle / handlebars / pedals). If you want to get on board, a deposit of $3000 will get you into the batch. Deposits will be accepted only on Black Friday, 11-25-2022, for this run of bikes. Expected delivery time is about 12 months from now. Space is limited, due to our production capacity, so there are only going to be five available spots for this first batch of Travelalls.

Thanks, and we are looking forward to hearing from you. 

BBBF Sale 2020

It’s a bit short notice. And a little bit different of deal than last year. But the Black Bike Black Friday Sale is back!
For any deposit put down on a TIG frameset on 11/27/2020 you will receive a 15% discount off of the normal price.
Here’s the caveat: (There’s always a catch, right?). It’s Black Bike Black Friday. So you can get your new bike any color you want as it’s black (a la Henry Ford). Don’t want your bike to be painted black? Not a problem, but not part of the sale. All BBBF Sale bikes are gonna be black. A nice gloss black finish. Nothing fancy. But it’ll look good, don’t worry. Silver decals (with a head tube decal instead of a headbadge, headbadge option but is +$$).
This year is for TIG welded frames ONLY. You will be put into the queue as normal, first come first served. (We’re about 12-14 months out currently). Full builds are available (your choice of components), but sale does not apply to parts. Normal pricing on a TIG frameset is $2050. With the discount, that will be $1742.50. A deposit of $850 will get you a place in line.
So gives us a shout, an email or a phone call today. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Black Bike Black Friday Sale 2019

Same deal as last year. It was a pretty good deal and we’re doing it again.

We’ll be running a one day sale on Black Friday, November 29rd, this year. For any deposit put down that day on a new frameset you will receive a 15% discount off of the normal frameset price.

Here’s the caveat. (There’s always a catch, right?). It’s Black Bike Black Friday. So you can get your new bike any color you want as it’s black (a la Henry Ford). Don’t want your bike to be painted black? Not a problem, but not part of the sale. All BBBF Sale bikes are gonna be black. Nothing fancy. But it’ll look good, don’t worry. Single color decals, with a head tube decal instead of a headbadge. Keeping it simple.

Any type of bike. TIG, fillet, or lugged. You would be put into the queue as normal (about 9-10 months out currently). Full builds always available, but sale does not apply to components.

So gives us a shout, send an email, or even a phone call on Black Friday. Or before, if you want to discuss details before putting a deposit down. We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you.

-Just not on Turkey Day, please. I’ll be too busy stuffing my face full of food to answer the phone.

Black Bike Black Friday Sale

Capitalism at its best!

We’ll be running a one day sale on Black Friday, November 23rd, this year. For any deposit put down that day on a new frameset you will receive a 15% discount off of the normal frameset price.

Here’s the caveat. (There’s always a catch, right?). It’s Black Bike Black Friday. So you can get your new bike any color you want as it’s black (a la Henry Ford). Don’t want your bike to be painted black? Not a problem, but not part of the sale. All BBBF Sale bikes are gonna be black. Probably a nice matte finish. Nothing fancy. But it’ll look good, don’t worry. Single color decals, with a head tube decal instead of a headbadge. Keeping it simple.

Any type of bike. TIG, fillet, or lugged. You would be put into the queue as normal (about 7-8 months out currently). Full builds always available, but sale does not apply to components.

So gives us a shout, an email, or a phone call on Black Friday. Or before, if you want to discuss details before putting a deposit down. We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you.

-Just not on Turkey Day, please. I’ll be too busy stuffing my face full of food to answer the phone.

Sunburst yellow disc rando

Fully equipped disc rando ready to roll. This one’s got all the bells and whistles (although no actual bells nor whistles...). TIG welded frame with lugged crown fork. Thru-axles front and rear. Schmidt connectorless hub and drops on the fork, keeping things nice and clean. Honjo fenders, Compass rubber set up tubeless, polished Stan’s rims, White Industries rear hub. Brooks saddle on a Nitto post. White cranks with a BB from SKF and VP pedals. Simworks handlebars, shifty bits from Shimano, and stoppy bits from Paul. Beautiful bike that rides as nice as it looks:

Dark green Allroad

Wrapped up this on a little while ago, but haven’t had time to post anything about it yet. The customer is an avid randonneur, and we designed the bike around being a comfortable and durable for all day cycling. It’s got low trail geometry, lightweight tubing, tubeless 650x48b tires, fenders, disc brakes, thru-axles, generator lighting, and Ultegra 11spd shifty bits make for a reliable, dependable, ultra comfortable brevet crushing ride. 

A few weeks went by and I got this:

Hey Bob, 
Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how much I'm enjoying the bike- I really couldn't be happier with it. So far I've put about a thousand miles on it, including a 600k brevet last month, which is my longest to date. Looking forward to many many thousands of more miles on it. 

Ever so happy to know that the bikes I make are out there being ridden. Also got some pics of the final build (click on the image to see more pics):

Pastel Pink Allroad

Got sent some sweet pics of a build from the last Bantam Allroad batch. A pink pastel painted frame done up right with lots of high quality components. Looking so go. Click on the photo to see more...

Thank you!

Got the from a customer just the other day:

Bob,

I love this bike. After a couple hundred miles over the last two weeks through early spring weather, muddy forest park rides, commutes on snowy weather I can tell you that this is the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden. It's really unbelievable to me; this bike has met any expectations I had about a custom bike. Additionally, I've gotten quite a few comments about how beautiful the bike is, which I respond 'thank you, I think so too' in as humble a voice as I can muster. Guys at my LBS were poring over the details and it was great showing it off. 

I just wanted to drop you a note expressing my appreciation for your work. This bike just makes me happy. Definitely worth the wait. Thank you!

It's great to feel appreciated by my customers. I work very hard to make sure that they get absolute best bike that I can make for them. And know that my efforts are well received mean a lot to me. 

And I would like to say that I appreciate my customers as well. None of this could happen without the people who what to invest in getting a custom bike from me. It's great to work with other people to make their vision of a perfect bike come into physical reality. So, a big Thank You! to all my customers, past, present, and future. You are appreciated.

700c Commuter / Light Tourer

Got to build up a super nice bike for a customer recently. While I most do trade in frames and custom racks, I do like to build up full bikes for my customers as well. Having a good idea of what parts will be going on a particular bike informs the design in ways which make the whole bike seem more harmonious. In my desire to make the best and most beautiful bike possible for each and every one of my customers I would have to say that I prefer it to delivering a frame only. 

This particular bike was outfitted with a lot of nice US made components from the likes of Paul (brakes), White Industries (cranks, rear hub, headset), VelocityUSA (rims), Compass Cycles (taillight), Thomson (seat post), Wheelsmith (spokes), Wheels Manufacturing (spacers), and Paragon Machine Works (skewers). I love that even with the juggernaut of Asian manufacturing dominating the bike parts world you can still get quality bits made domestically. And I am happy to support the people that do it. (Not to mention that their stuff looks and works like awesomesauce). Thanks, people. I appreciate what you do.

Specs on the bike:

700x44c tires with fenders (can fit a little bit larger if needed), disc brakes, thru-axle hubs, generator lighting with integrated taillight, custom front rack with removable lowriders, stem and fender stripes painted to match the decal color, and a custom head badge of a seashell in the style of a badge from the Camino Real. Paint, of course, by Colorworks.

Green Allroad

Another green Allroad frameset headed off to the East coast. This one is fillet brazed, will take up to 650x48b tires, cantilever brakes, custom Demi-porteur rack and decaleur, and a custom stem. Also fitting in a Compass Cycles taillight mounted on the seat tube where it'll be nicely protected and visible to traffic. This one will be rolling the NYC area. Stop and say hello if you run into it.

Yellow gold allroad in VT

Sorry for the lag in postings folks. We had a little bit of a computer flub a month or so ago and lost all of the everything that was on it. Including all the photos of the lovely bicycles I've been making over the last few months. But I've finished up a couple of bikes in the last few weeks, and it's about time to start posting things again.

Just sent off this beautiful lugged, yellow gold metallic allroad bike to Vermont. It's got 650x48b tires to tackle the gravel roads of rural VT, front bag support with detachable pannier mounts, Schmidt connectorless dropouts up front (and internal wiring for the headlight and Compass taillight), MAP drops on the rear, and of course a fantastic paint job from Colorworks. Super sharp looking and reportedly rides just as nice as it looks:

Your bike was a great hit this weekend among a crowd of New Englanders...

It road solidly without a hitch over the weekend of about 230 miles. No shimmy up to 50mph on descents with ~20 lbs up front. And super comfy. Thanks again! 

Here's to hoping it will see lots  and lots of miles in the Vermont sunshine!

Olive drab Allroad

Matte finish olive drab Allroad bike built up and ready for delivery. Super nice paint in a matte olive drab from Colorworks. And lots of well chosen parts from the likes of Compass Cycles, Chris King, Velocity, White Industries, Paul Components, Shimano, and SimWorks. Rolling out on 650x48b tires, and a tried and true 9spd drivetrain.

It also has a custom front platform rack with removable pannier mounts and hard mounts for a Wald basket (no zipties here!). You can also see the connectorless Schmidt SL generator hub. Wheel pops in and out without the need to reconnect any wires, the juice flows thru the axle ends (you do need a specially made fork for this option, we are happy to do that on any custom fork we make).

I'm sure this one will be getting lots of miles commuting, touring, and exploring the Pacific NW.

GDMBR ready Rohloff Adventurebike

The last of the Adventurebikes heading out of the shop this year is all built up. This one features a super clean Rohloff drivetrain, brakes and levers from Paul Comp, Velocity Dually rims, Schwalbe tires, a White Industries crankset, King Cage cages all around, and a set of Jones Loop bars to top it off. Pretty much a perfect long distance bikepacking setup. GDMBR anyone?

Lemon meringue, pt. 2

All built up and ready for Adventurebiking! 

With beautiful lemon meringue paint from Colorworks, custom front rack, 27.5+ plus sized goodness. Reliable parts build with Jones loop bars, White Industries rear hub and SP front hub laced up to Velocity Dually rims, a black Brooks Cambium saddle, good ol' Avid BB7 brakes, Thomson post, and a super dependable Shimano SLX drivetrain. All set for late summer explorations of the PNW.

The tongue sez it all...

Strong like a kitten, soft like a whale....

Or is that the other way around?

TIG welded traditional 700c road touring/commuting bike, done up in teal with orange accents. Kitted out with tried and true parts: Mavic rims, Shimano cantis, SP dynamo-hub, B&M lights, Sugino cranks, Panaracer tires, Shimano STI shifting on a 9spd drivetrain, Tubus racks powder coated to match the decals, and fenders color matched to the frame. 

I'm really loving the color scheme on this one. And I'm especially fond of the custom cut headbadge. Probably one of my favorites so far.

Happy customer pics!

Some recent shots of peeps being stoked on their new bikes... Always always the best part of the job! 

Adventurebike review

Another video about Bantam Bicycle Works up on the Path Less Pedaled YouTube channel. This one is a review of one of our Adventurebikes. Nice little piece, with some (semi)unbiased* thoughts about the bike. Check it out here:

*Full disclosure: I would say semi-unbiased because the PLP peeps are friends of mine, I've know them for a while. But Russ really did love the bike. Just maybe not the part about getting sting on the lip by a bee while riding it. But I'm not taking any responsibility for that part of it, pretty sure I didn't have anything to do with it.

Shop tour video

Had a great visit from the folks at The Path Less Pedaled yesterday. They did up a nice little interview/shop tour video with yours truly. If you've ever wondered what the inside of Bantam Bicycle Works World Headquarters looks like, or what Bob's favorite tool is, give it a looksee:

Kinn Bikes (or why people who aren't bicycle designers shouldn't design bicycles)

So, I normally do not like to criticize other bicycle maker's (designer's, fabricator's, framebuilder's) work. But every once in a while I run into something so appalling that I feel it's part of my civic duty to the bicycling community to speak up about it. 

I took in a Kinn bike the other day for a repair. Kinn was a small production brand out of Portland, OR (now out of business). They designed a bike meant as a 'midtail' cargo bike/family transportation. Not a terrible idea for a bike. Somewhere between a regular bike and a long tail cargo bike (hence the midtail monicker).

The bike originally came in because the kickstand plate had had experienced a lot of rust and eventually torn off. The owner thought the problem originated from the fact that there wasn't any drain holes in the BB shell and the seat tube had filled with water. While this is a huge problem on it's own (I'll do a write up on drain hole theory later...), the seat tube didn't even have a hole into the BB shell. The corrosion problems around the kickstand plate were all external, due to water pooling up on top of the plate and getting in under the powder coat where the joint wasn't welded all the way around. Not a particularly great design feature in itself, but also by far not the most concerning thing going on with the bike.

As I was stripping the bike down to do the work on it, I noticed something going on with the fork. There was a 1/8" deep groove worn into the back of the steerer tube about an inch above the crown race. This is pretty much exactly at the most stressed point of the entire bike frame (the top of the fork crown where it meets the steering column). Any damage to the fork there can easily cause catastrophic failure. As in you hit a pothole, the fork separates into two pieces, and the rider hitting the ground face first. If you're really into seeing pictures of people's faces that had their noses ground off by the pavement, do a Google search for what happens when your fork breaks on you... And this is even more concerning because the Kinn bikes were meant to also carry children as well. I don't even want to think about what happens to the kid in this situation.

So it immediately occurred to me to figure out what had caused the fork damage. Had to have been something inside the headtube rubbing on the steerer. CORRECTION: According to Todd from Clever Cycles (the shop that sold the bike) the pointy thing inside the headtube was meant to be part of a fork locking system, see Todd's comment down below. (The good folks at Clever are in the process of contacting all owners of the Kinn bikes they sold, to have their bikes checked out. Thanks for your effort in keeping people safe!). [MY ORIGINAL TEXT: A quick inspection revealed that there was an attempt at using a carbon brush as an electrical grounding contact for a taillight between the frame and fork up in the HT at just the spot where the groove is. This ill conceived design feature is similar to something they used to do on high end French rando bikes back in the day. However on the old French bikes they would braze a contact plate to the steerer for the carbon brush to rub onto, and they would use a wide, flat brush to spread the contact point out. This was all to prevent damage to the fork. On the Kinn frame the brush is small and pointy and rubs directly onto the steerer.] Over the two years the owner of the bike has had it (it was bought new), there developed significant damage to the steering column. Enough to where I would say without a doubt that it could cause the fork to fail and the rider(s) to be injured, possibly fatally. I was so concerned that I filed a Consumer Product Safety Commission report about it. Hopefully that will have some traction and word will get out to bike shops and Kinn owners, and they will have their bikes checked out. This definitely deserves a recall IMO.

Now what does this have to do with bike design and why people who aren't bicycle designers shouldn't design bicycles? 

I would say that the guy who designed the KInn bikes had a decent idea. Mid-sized cargo bike. Smaller and lighter than a typical cargo bike. You could even throw it on the front rack of a bus to expand your biking range with public transit. Pretty good idea. Now, the part where it all fails IHMO is that he didn't have anything resembling adequate experience to safely design the bike himself. Would you trust someone without any experience in designing buildings to safely design you an apartment complex? Would you trust someone without experience to design you a car? A bridge? I wouldn't think so. You would want someone with years of experience. Someone who knows intricately everything that goes into the design process. 

What makes bicycles different? (Especially bicycles meant to have children as passengers). There are plenty of fly-by-night bike makers out there that throw their name up on a website and BOOM! people assume that they are knowledgable and capable to design and build them a good and safe bicycle. Definitely not true, see case in point. In the current age, ideas and marketing seem to speak more to people than experience and knowhow. In the bicycle world it's hard to not be swayed by a smart idea, a sexy website, and fancy paint schemes.

But really, what people should be looking at is how many years experience does the framebuilder or designer have? What is their track record of failed products?  Can they actually do what they say they can do? Should you place your trust in them or not? At least in the case of Kinn Bikes, I would think not.

*Please note that the fabrication of the Kinn Bikes frame was done by Zen Fabrications in Portland, OR. The fork is a Surly Disc Trucker fork that has been repainted to match the frame. To all appearances the actual fabrication of the frame and fork was done well. The failure here is in the design of the bike. 

Kinn Cascade Flyer

The original problem. Kickstand plate broke off due to a combination of design and the powder coat holding water in next to the steel. 

The groove in the steerer tube.

You can kind of see the pointy business [not a carbon brush] inside the head tube here.

SoCal bound Adventurebike

The first of five Adventurebikes that are getting a full build from Bantam Bicycle Works World Headquarters (BBWWHQ?) is ready to roll out the door. With a bunch of high quality and reliable parts from Paul Comp, White Ind, Cane Creek, DT Swiss, and more. Amazing paint by Colorworks in a sandy yellow and black decals with a matte finish. Topped off with a custom stem and custom front rack built here at BBWWHQ. It's not hard to imagine the adventures that will be had with this bike...