Meet “Darling”. Darling belongs to Tom. Tom, being involved in the build process from the word go, has grown greatly attached to Darling.

Tom was after a steel frame which would be responsive enough to give to keep him going at race pace and a bike which would be the perfect fit from the first pedal stroke. On his first ride, his functional threshold power was already up and I put this down to him having the correct setup, thanks to his fitment from Cyclefit.

We used Columbus oversized Spirit tubing for this build to achieve a greater level of stiffness. Tom, who likes to push himself with his riding, chose a quote from Greg Lemond – the only American cyclist to with Le Tour – to sit on the top tube. It says “It does not get any easier you just go faster”.

In his own words, Tom says “The bike feels lively”, a comment which I feel describes the ride of steel down to a tee.

We wish Tom every bit of enjoyment from his dream machine.

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