Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Inspiration for Bringing Back the Stanyan Lugged Road Frame

The "ispirazione" first and foremost was when the L'Eroica organizers saw fit to bring their Italian event to Pasa Robles, California. The L'Eroica not only brings the "vintage bike feels" to us, but it is a great way for the cycling community to experience how it was to ride and compete on bicycles before there was 30 speed drive trains and carbon fiber and GPS. Some of the rules in this event is you can't use clipless pedals or aero brake levers. Most folks ride genuine vintage road racing bikes that are pre-1987.

For this round of Stanyans we went with a threaded 1"steerer fork, not just because "that's what vintage road bike used" but it just looks better with lugged frames. Lugs limit how angled your top tube can be, so if we used a 1-1/8 threadless set up most of us would need to run a tall headset spacer stack. The original Stanyan we launched in 2008 was threadless.

We ditched the polished lugs for color schemes that fit right into the scene of vintage jerseys and dusty roads. The main thing that's not period correct is the 130mm rear hub spacing, since it is hard to find quality freewheels these days. You can run an 11-speed cassette, if you want.

The Stanyan '18 is available now. ...More than enough time for you to source those old parts and build your perfect "heroic bike" for next year's event.