As we learned in our pre-show coverage, Claudio Bellon’s heart is in cycling and it’s in steel. Bellon’s show bike was something that’s become a relative rarity at NAHBS: a classic steel standard. In flawless candy apple red paint with polished stainless details, this classic road bike was a total heart throb in the new builder row. Joining Bellon in lugs and steel is new Canadian builder, Krattli, with his submission, a tulip-themed steel cross frame with special consideration for Di2.
Bellon Handmade Bike Frames
The bike shown is named Nino, a nickname given to his father who introduced him to cycling and bicycles, and is the fifteenth frameset he’s built. While this model did not win Best New Builder, (bike)rumor is that it was a very close second place. Despite the level of sophistication in this frame, Claudio says that frame building is still only a hobby for him – he is still building mostly for friends and family.
The stem was made and painted to match the frame set. Like the frame, it is silver brazed and lugged. Unlike the frame, the lugs are stainless and polished to really pop.
But the story is in the tiny details of this frame. The chainstay bridge is this minimal stainless piece brazed to reinforcements. The stainless seat stay bridge is custom to Claudio Bellon.
All over the frame are red, white, and green touches signifying Claudio’s Italian heritage.
And if that wasn’t enough, the frame featured this stainless steel cable guide (with a mirror underneath it so you wouldn’t miss it).
Krattli Cycles
David Krattli made his first frame in 2012 after having taken two UBI courses, one on silver brazing and one on fillet brazing. This coupled road race machine, his eleventh bike, was built as a surprise for his wife who loves tulips and the color orange. Built with Di2 in mind, the bikes uses the lugs for some clever routing port solutions throughout the frame.
The goal was to keep the wiring as subtle and out of the way as possible as seen by the clean and hidden ports on the underside of tubes. The A junction box is tucked into the stem with the B junction in the down tube. The wire for the rear derailleur doesn’t surface again until almost the dropout on the chain stay.
The lugs of this frame were entirely made by hand by David using lugs constructed from over-sized tubes that were then hand-filed. In the case of the bottom bracket shell, the tulip was actually carved out of the lug blank rather than brazed to an existing shell and finished.
In case you were wondering: David’s wife was completely thrilled with the build.
