Fūjin: Kumo Travel Roadie

General Road
1

Knocked this frame out the other day whilst I was being filmed for a short documentary.

Columbus XL Spirit frame, S&S coupled.

Geometry is an experiment, it is the result of a visit to Steve Hogg. I built to his drawing (couldn’t help myself, extended chain stays by 5mm).
I’m all leg, so seat tube is 620mm, seat tube angle 75 deg, 565mm Top tube, 120mm stem. 577.8mm tip of saddle to middle of bar, 73.5 deg head tube, 45mm rake, 230mm (!) head tube

I was slightly sceptical at first, but after some thinking I realised he was on to a good thing.
Shit this bike rides well, I hopped on it yesterday at work, tired and battered after an 11 speed chain fiasco (guide pin on connector rivet snapped before getting anywhere near through the chain), and it just feels perfect straight off the bat.

Acceleration is amazing, goes fast, handles perfectly.
Not to say that any of my other bikes handle badly, they handle great, but this bike has a certain something.

I’m loving the whole package too, the Chorus shifting is deluxe, the saddle amazingly comfortable, and the Grand Bois tyres are great.

Specs:

Kumotastic custom frame
Pegoretti Falz Carbon fork
Chris King Black Sotto headset
3T ARX Stealth Stem
3T Stealth carbon Ergonova bars
Campy Chorus Group
Speedplay Stainless Pedals
Fizik Cyrano Seatpost
SMP Dynamic saddle, recovered in delightful mountain motif by Busyman
Perforated leather bar tape by Busyman
Brams Ligfietsen M5 brakes
King Cage Ti bottle cages
Kumo built Wheels, Chris King R45 pewter laced to HPlusson Archetypes with Sapim CX Ray spokes
Grand Bois Cerf Green Label 26c tyres

2

Nice!
I saw the mist out by Majura this morning on the way to EPIC. Very cool.

3

So the Steve Hogg geo is a success? That saddle looks a fair way back.

4

Would look less far back with a thomson setback atmo.

Very very nice Keith. You just keep churning out the good stuff.

5

Nice ride Keith, so every time you build a bike for yourself are you getting new groupsets, brakes etc?

6

Typical Kumo awesomeness.

7

Unmitigated success,

It sort of looks too far back, but it ain’t

It’s in the middle of the rails, ugly saddles but feel so good.

8

Cheers,

I disagree, the Cyrano has the same setback, and Thompson only make the straight in 30.6mm

9

I recycle what I can, in this case brakes, then sell the rest to fund the new build

10

P.S. Fujin is the Japanese god of wind

11

Fair enough then. Knew there’d be some sound reasoning going on.

12

Sorry, what I meant was that the position in general looks a fair way back. As in - if you leant back a bit you’d pop the front wheel up.

How does the fit compare to your previous bikes?

Just interested because I can’t decide on the right fore-aft position on my road bike.

13

The 75 degree seat tube angle pulls the whole shebang forwards, and accommodates my T-Rex arms.

The weight distribution feels spot on for a tall bike. Some tall frames I have ridden, especially ones with a long TT, pop the front wheel up all the time.
Not on this one, short TT, steep ass ST, feels nailed to the ground.

What issues are you having on your road bike?

14

It just needs a nice set of bar plugs to finish it off.

I tried shotgun shells but they were mere millimetres too big

15

That explains it. With a longish stem you’re kind of overhanging the frame at each end, like the pros do.

I’ve had some knee trouble since last year, for various reasons, but I think with my saddle pushed back a bit I’ll use my “vastus medialis” a bit more which seems to hold my patella in place. Should probably just get a proper fit done though.

16

What is your cleat position like?

17

About 5 mil behind the ball of my foot. But I haven’t changed that in years. Enough of that though - tell us more about the build!

You must be stoked with those wheels. Best rims, best spokes, best hubs ever. How do they feel?

18

Best thing I did for my knees was push the cleats back as far as they can go. And a fit is helpful if you have specific biomechanic issues.

Wheels feel great! Love the King Buzzzzz

19

Beautiful build with some interesting component choices (don’t see Brams brakes very often).

Toying with the idea of a S&S coupled travel frame… Ideal if you travel often with a bike and don’t want to lug a full sized case everywhere!

20

410? Too small?