STRATI’S ALLOY SINGLE SPEED BICYCLE

“I wanted a single-speed bicycle handmade specifically for me and I knew that in Rhodes Fidusa was producing high-quality custom frames. I contacted George because I knew that he could build me a frame with the tubing that I wanted and with a paint scheme to my exact specification”.
Stratis is a designer and manufacturer of handmade bags using the material from recycled boat sails. A special and demanding customer, he knew exactly how his finished bicycle wanted to look. He did not, however, have any particular technical knowledge about the technical intricacies of frame building to produce a finished product best suited to its intended use and with the handling and comfort characteristics he wanted.
After a lengthy consultation and knowing that he wanted a bull-horn style handlebar, we agreed to build a single-speed frame using 7005 aluminium. For a more comfortable position, we lengthened the head tube by 2cm from his current, stock frame and added a carbon fork with slightly less rake to make the steering quite stable. Stratis decided to include mounts for both front and rear brakes so that the bicycle could be used with a flip-flop double rear hub as both a fixed wheel and single speed with a one-speed freewheel. The bottom bracket height is higher than a normal road bike to give more ground clearance for pedalling through turns in fixed-wheel mode. The rear horizontal dropouts are reinforced with stainless steel plates to give added security when tightening the rear axle lock nuts.
Stratis’ colour choice for his custom alloy single-speed bicycle was British Racing Green as the main colour in conjunction with a secondary Prussian Blue dark metallic. We suggested that he separate these two colours with a metallic golden orange colour with 2 rings of 1cm each. This colour was also reflected in the rims and hubs of the hand-built wheels and some of the build components. Stratis, we wish you a lot of enjoyment from your new bicycle.