Eric's Fast Belmont

Open the pictures in a new tab to see 'em good and big.

I was really excited when Eric wrote in asking if we could make a Belmont his way, because it showed he really understood the point of the frame, and that it's probably the only one around that fits his needs.

He'd been looking for a Canadian replacement for a road frame "with more class and soul than a modern carbon special" with which he could do road rides and randonneuring out in BC. Speed and comfort was the name of the game.

Eric wanted silver parts everywhere (and was disappointed but understood that we don't offer the Belmont with a quill stem) and, a surefire way to have a corner of my heart to himself, downtube friction shifters. I'm also in agreement with him that a 700C wheel with 32mm tires is plenty for anything on a road and keeps rotational weight and pneumatic trail down compared to a wide all-road tire.

In lieu of the quill-stem cockpit, we found a beautiful setup with a Dia-Compe CB-2 headset, Nitto Ultimate Road UI-26 forged stem, and Velo Orange Nouveau Rando handlebar. To complement that, the seatpost and saddle are, to my eyes, an iconic combination: Brooks Swift with Nitto Crystal Fellow. The results speak for themselves and everything will be tough and remain just as gorgeous for the lifetime of the bike.

The Brooks microfibre bar tape goes with their saddle, no surprise there, and the TRP brake levers can be set up on modern compact handlebars or on traditional round drops, depending on if you install the included spacer block, which is such a relief when trying to narrow down bar choices. They naturally pair perfectly with the TRP Spyre brakes that come standard on a Belmont build.

The three-arm French throwback YMC crankset is sourced from Blue Lug, and it really ties the bike together. It was Eric's first choice of cranks and he was entirely correct, the æsthetics couldn't be better, even if he and I would have been just as happy with a Bassi Classic compact.

The Belmont is a frame that's happy to be built as a fast modern randonneuse, but is in no way limited to that. I really look forward to building peoples' ideas of a cool bike and seeing what we can come up with together, it's one of the fun parts of this job!