Our favorite is when we get repeat submissions by our community for Readers’ Rides. Brad submitted a Curtis Bikes SS MTB back in 2020 and he just sent in his Curtis GR6 G.O.A.T. gravel bike…
I’ve since spent some time building another bike. Again working with Gary @Curtisbikes, a small handmade frame builder based in rural southwest England. With over 50 years of experience in frame building. Originally, in early motorbike modifications before moving to push bikes/BMX in the 1980’s. Predominantly known now for their MTB frames, Gary wanted to offer a frame to the ever-growing “Gravel” market.
Check out Brad’s SS MTB Readers’ Rides…
I had probably overdone looking at geometry and finally settled on what you see here. Something with a decent stack height for long, comfortable days riding and angles that are relaxed and stable. Gary and I named it the “GR6” as it was Gravel-based and 650b specific. This was early on in his Gravel journey, this is almost now what is known as Curtis’s G.O.A.T. (Go over any terrain) model. We opted for Reynolds 853 main tubes and Columbus stays. Small details like the seat stay bridge, a simple amount of bottle cage mounts, and the versatility of bolt-on external down tube cable guides, and nothing more. “Everything matters,” as they say.
Keen on things a little more subdued, I like to build bikes that aren’t what I consider “Loud”. Colours are something I struggle to decide on. I often look at other projects people build and obsess over like cars. When people know every detail about their classic car and the stories behind all its quirks, it’s kind of how I see custom bikes. Like my Curtis single-speed, I wanted a fairly simple 2/3 colour paint job. After feeling I really needed to decide on a colour I finalised on a 1970’s Ferrari Dino brown colour. Custom painters are so skilled, and I worried my choice would not fully flex their skills like the crazy multi coloured, gold leaf show bikes you often see them post. Enigma Paintworks in Sussex was where I had chosen to paint the frame. The paint shop was run by a friendly chap called Dave. Not painting one of their own titanium frames must have been odd, although Dave seemed quite excited when I dropped the frame, forks and stem off. He later added, “I saved up all of my paper round money over the course of a year in the 80’s to buy a Banana yellow Curtis freestyler BMX frame, after all these years, I finally get to paint one”.
At this time in late 2023, the bike industry had been and was still digging itself out of a mess. With a lot of negative feelings within the industry, this build was the start of me experiencing the love within the bike industry again. I knew the frame was in good hands with Dave. He spent some time researching the Dino colour and finally found it. He went as far as pairing another Dino gold colour for the decals and basic top tube Pine tree (A nod to the mountain/ forest trips my wife and I enjoy together most years). A later added @ronsbikes tulip badge too, my wife’s favourite flowers, and because Ron is a legend.
After years of being interested in frame building and craving small maker details, I reached out to Mark @bentleycomponents. He is an ex @Pacecycles tool maker/ machinist, now working with scientists. He also had a side hustle of making Top-caps and earlier on frame-building components like dropouts and seat clamps. Hoping he had one of his stainless steel seat binders kicking around, I was gutted he replied he didn’t anymore. I’ve bought Mark’s top caps, small items, and the like for years. Fast forward two weeks, and a small Bentley components envelope appeared through my letterbox. “Weird, I thought, I don’t remember ordering anything.” Opening the envelope revealed Mark’s last stainless steel seat binder with a note, “I hope it finds a good home :)”. Sent through the love of bikes, without any payment. Quickly, I sent Mark a thank-you message and some money. Gary silver soldered the binder to the frame, and Dave brushed it to finish before painting.
Looking into the small details, I’d found a small American maker under the name @yellowbirdthreadworks on the net. I enquired with Brian about shipping to the UK (it wasn’t something he did but had done back in 2023), and he was going to get a quote when he next did a post drop. Not long had passed, a week or so, and I’d had a reply saying it was so and so, they’re all shipped. Chuffed to be Brian’s first UK order. Again, I hadn’t paid for the top cap and bar-ends. Brian mentioned, “The people into this stuff are usually good people.” For the love of bikes, it had happened again, and I was so grateful. A thank-you note and payment were sent. Upon arrival, the machining detail of my Ruth Hill top cap and bar-ends exceeded what I’d seen online. I’ve been looking at the top cap for a couple of years now, and I still think of Brian’s gesture.
Parts-wise, I managed to source some NOS Chris King Matte Jet ISO hubs. Wanting the full 72T CK experience, I’d bought a straight fit 142x12mm rear, the front was a 15x100mm though. Machining the front axle ends to 17mm from 19mm and using a 15>12mm sleeve, the front is now fitted. I could have bought an R45, but I wanted them to match. These were laced to some DT rims with Sapin spokes by a legendary UK wheel builder, Harry Rowland. He lives 10 minutes away from me, growing up in South London bike shops as a mechanic, frame
Builder and wheel builder, he has so many stories of the golden era of steel road bikes before I was born.
Crank-wise, I’ve ridden Middleburn’s for around 20 years across all sorts of bikes. With no gravel-specific setup currently, I reached out to a contact there, and they sent me several spiders, axle widths, and arms to try and dial in the best setup. Trying to bring the chainline in whilst still maintaining a short rear end and wide tyres is a challenge for most builders. I ended up running a Duo R0 spider on RS8 arms with an R0 width axle. Machining the inner chainring shoulders off of the spider and recessing the rear of the chainring bolts helped me tuck the chainline in pretty tight. The black spider had its newly machined silver edges, which were chemically blackened in my garage, haha. Thank you so much for this setup, Paul @betdcomponents /Middleburn. These have recently been paired with a NOS Chris King bronze splatter bottom bracket.
I’m a fairly analogue person, for example, all riding routes are memorised, and I’ve never owned a bike sat nav. Which leads me to electronic gears. I’d been on the fence with anything like this for a long time. After buying a Sram AXS dropper post for my MTB years ago and never looking back, I ended up going with a SRAM AXS setup and must admit I really do rate it.
The small interactions of encouragement and kindness I had with people who added their small detail to this bike are another reason I enjoy riding it so much. Perfect for UK bridleways, fire roads, singletrack, and pretty much anything I fancy setting off from my front door to ride. This bike is very capable, underbiking at the woods is pretty fun.
Anyway, I’ve spoken enough, thank you, John, for continuing with the site. Now a supporting member, I still remember the NYC days of the blog and have my PINP Viking patch on display in my garage.
Massive thank you to:
Gary & Brian (Brian now retired) @Curtisbikes
Dave @enigmapaintworks
Mark @bentleycomponents
Brian @yellowbirdthreadworks
Paul @betdcomponents /Middleburn
Bike pictures taken by me @bradflynn, profile picture taken by @Christinegei.ger @brotherscycles in the wild last year.
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!