Brian approached us for a stainless steel classic looking bike with a modern format to ride the hills and mountains of San Francisco. He has owned a custom carbon bike for many years as well as mountain, road and gravel bikes but fondly remembers his first steel bike. He asked Saffron to incorporate our clean aesthetic with the advantages of stiffness and lightness that modern stainless steel tubing gives.
Brian visited the workshop to get a hands-on understanding of different frame specs e.g. brazens, fork types + shapes and tube diameters. One of the nice things of working with Brian was his engagement when discussing details like the specific compound of the tubeless sealant and type of headspaces to choose. He wanted a rim brake and mechanical gear setup to lend the bike a more classical look. We wanted the bike as light as possible without compromising on the aesthetics – the entire build has come out at 7.2kgs.
We went with a steep head tube angle and balanced the front weight directly over the front axle, for very responsive handling to take into account Brian’s handling skills developed over the many years of riding.
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A slightly smaller diameter Columbus XCR tubing was used for lightness with silver fillet brazing. For a clean aesthetic we went with a pinch bolt with seat clamp, internal tubing for the top tube for the rear brake and a 1-1/8 inch head tube. We used a stainless steel breezer dropout as they have a detachable derailleur hanger.
We wanted classical looking components with a modern functionality for the 1970s Peugeot inspired bicycle so went with:
– Campagnolo Super Record 12 Speed Groupset
– Brakes are special edition metal eeBrakes G4
– Columbus Futura Caliper SL
– Crane Creek headset
– Deda Superleggera Handlebar stem and seat post
– The saddle is made by Berk Composites
– The saddle was recovered in Kangaroo with matching bar tape to match the frame paint scheme by Busyman Bicycles
-The hubs are White Industry and we used 30mm tubeless schwalbe tyres
The paint finish is inspired by the 1970s Peugeot bicycle with the main colour in a Porsche Pearl white. The 4 bands of orange, yellow and red run though the top tube, downtube and fork with polished stainless steel coming through the Saffron logo on the downtube and chain stays with colours matching the saddle and handlebar tape. Loving the overall playful aspect of the colour design.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
