Colossi Team Bike RR

One of my little background projects as part of the Colossi.cc team is working on the concept for team bikes. The idea is that club members who are 'loyal to the cause' are able to get 'team issue' custom frames at a reduced rate from Jan in Shenzhen. When we talked about this initially everyone was quite keen to have something quite subtle to match in with our kit (as modelled here), taking a slightly retro feel with a few contemporary twists, such as the integrated headset and seat post (seeing as it's tailored to fit, why not?).

The black colour scheme seemed obvious, then I looked back to the likes of vintage Colnago for the simple down tube panel in white with a 5mm red stripe set off by an extra 2.5mm white stripe.

Another idea as an input from Matt was a pair of red stripes where the seat stay meets the chain stay, this time 4mm. I'm quite happy that this is all that is needed. Perhaps a 'Jan Kole' signature would also be nice but that is Jan's call. Hopefully everyone in Colossi.cc is happy to sign this off this a principle and we can submit the design to Jan for further refinement.

As part of the project I also thought this was a good opportunity to get a CAD replica of my current Ridley so I know all my measurements and angles for future frames, or for further refinement if I want to change anything. I thought it would also make the design look more realistic and easier to assess in terms of detail. It's taken me at least three goes to get this right, starting with the base geommetry Ridley supply then adding in some industry standards that they don't, then measuring and re-measuring to finally get there. Of interest was the fact not all the Ridley figures were correct (top tube length being longer than I thought for one). I've also been surprised by how much of a difference very small changes can make visually. I put many of these things down to the fact my Ridley is a semi compact monocoque design, but interestingly having finally got there with the measurements it looks like 'my bike', despite being very different in execution. It might be a while till I'm able to see the reality and have one built (darn weddings soaking up my $$$s) but I'm pleased to have the numbers there and to feel I have a better understanding of bike geommetry.

Comments / feedback welcome. I think a slightly bigger downtube logo would be nice but I'll save that for Jan's experience and it's also dependent on tubing diameter, which is frame specification defined. I'm thing Columbus Niobium Spirit myself. Now onto the TT bike...

Edit: check  http://bikesandbuildings.blogspot.hk/2013/04/club-edition.html for our latest track bike version of this initial idea.