Chapman

 

Royal H - Bryan Hollingsworth

Purpose and inspiration

This bike was built as a road bike for a good friend at Seven Cycles. We wanted to combine the classic stance of the 90s steel Italian bikes that we both love, while incorporating top of the line contemporary components. The paint was inspired by the 1979 Saab that the customer learned to drive stick shift on.

Favorite features 

Overall, I love the juxtaposition of the Di2 electronic shifting with the classic tube sizes and lug shapes. Specifically, the Zeus 2000 crown was a treat to work with - a dead stock part from Spain that I traded another builder for. The Columbus fork ends and semi-horizontal dropouts were also vintage parts that were fun to incorporate. The routing of the Di2 wires were fun to lay out as well, with the goal being clean lines and a streamlined look.

Frame tube and component selection

For this rider's height, weight, and riding style, the Columbus SL tubeset was a perfect fit. I was able to design the chainstays to be relatively short for quick acceleration/handling, while taking advantage of the 1" top tube and 14mm stays to provide the comfortable feel of steel that makes it such a great material for bikes. I paired the very modern Shimano Di2 Ultegra group with more classic silver parts from White Industries. I think the polished silver White Industries cranks and hubs temper the modern look of the Ultegra's greys and blacks. I laced the hubs to the H+Son TB14 hard anodized rims to ease the transition from polished silver to grey. I think the resulting combination of greys, blacks and polished silver strikes a nice balance.

Design challenges, if any

Modifying the Soma Highway One handlebars for the in-bar Di2 junction box was a small challenge. Two small holes were drilled near the end of the bars and a lot of patience fishing the etube cable from end to end. Nothing a few beers didn't help with! In the end, it was a small amount of work that resulted in a very clean, hidden junction box and charging port.

Additional notes

The paint was done by Jordan Low at Hot Tubes. I met Jordan when he was a painter at Seven Cycles years ago, and he is also friends with the owner of the bike, so it was fun to collaborate all together on that. The graphics are all painted, and the shading Jordan did with the Royal H logo just has to bee seen in person- it really looks three dimensional. Exceptional work on that and the box lining on the down tube and chainstays. It's a relatively subtle paint scheme for a show bike, but i think it is powerful and really works with the rest of the bike. I love it!

Weigle