Despite being my wife and not bad on two wheels, Jacqui has ashamedly never ridden a Saffron road frame. She’d been riding a carbon frame for the past 6 years and was eagerly awaiting a steel build.

The brief was to make a frame as light as her Trek Madonne 5.2 SL carbon frame, something which was pleasing to the eye and of paramount importance was the perfect fit.

We achieved the brief and some. The overall bike is lighter than her off the peg carbon bike, and the fit in her words is ‘snug, responsive and just so comfortable’.
One of the best results of the build is that she no longer feels niggling in her knees after long rides.

I used a mix of tubing – the majority of the frame from Columbus Spirit, and XCR for the chain stays. The XCR chain stays were used for two reasons. Firstly for additional stiffness and secondly so that we could leave the drive side exposed so the that muck off the chain won’t damage the paint work. The rear brake routing runs internally through the top tube to keep the bike uncluttered and pleasing to the eye.

It goes without saying that the colour scheme was a topic of much debate and deliberation. But I’m pleased to say the result is to her liking.

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