When I sat down with Burnsey, the builder behind Oddity Cycles and shopmate to the famous Corbin “Rough Diamond” Brady, to talk about his action-packed booth at NAHBS, I first asked him what he was most excited about. “I’m really excited about the purple adventure bike.” That’s right, our favorite cantankerous one-speed hero was gaga over a geared bike he built for himself – and it’s easy to see why.
Runners up for most exciting includes a 24in fat bike, to follow his 20in fat bike last year, and a titanium 29+ bike made for one of his cycling heroes… no big deal…
“I want to appeal to people coming from road and cross, and meet halfway with people coming from mountain bikes with horrible straight bars.” The bike is designed with a shorter than typical front end to accommodate a drop bar cockpit if needed. When pressed about gears, Burnsey responded, “I’m just trying to keep it as simple as I can. It’s my personal bike, and I haven’t ridden with gears in over a decade. Bikepacking on a singlespeed is a kick in the balls. I figured I’d make it easier on my old bones- not that I’m too proud to push my bike up something.”
At the show it was displayed with his new Tour the Divide style bar, more adventure oriented with many hand positions and place to mount gear. “It just makes sense to me that you would fit the human body. I think people are hung up on how a mountain bike is supposed to look a certain way. Obviously, I jumped off that bandwagon a long time ago.”
It features a 15 degree sweep with 35 degree hooks for comfort like the Oddity Razorbar. Unlike the Razorbar, this model features a third position for an aero tuck when needed and both an upper deck for mounting lights or a computer and a lower deck for the bar clamp area, accessories, and more bags. In all, the bars give you plenty of places to put your hands so that they lay comfortably and predictably on the bar and room for gear so you can be comfortable and your stuff is where you need it to be.
The frame is opened up with a belly in the front triangle and a crowned top tube for more bag space. For the show, a set of custom Porcelin Rocket bags were made using sail fabric- inside out. The resulting texture and glimmer made it look like reptile scales.
The seat pack featuring an integrated titanium cup.
The build also had some nice custom bits, like these custom PAUL brakes, along with a stem, seatpost, and cranks.
While Burnsey was excited about his purple Tour the Divide bike, he was giddy about this particular model. Some time ago, Paul Price of Paul Components put in an order for bikes for him and his wife. When she decided against it, Paul changed his order to a single titanium bike.
How was it to get an order from one of his bike heroes? “I was glowing. I’ve always loved those pretty ano bits and I remember from before I knew anything and hand any money- I just thought his stuff was cool. I rode only PAUL hubs back in the day.”
Even more flattering was what the order was for. “He’s the easy customer. ‘I want it to look like this-‘ and he showed me a picture of my personal bike.”
The frame design is a “ghostship” style (look at it to see why). Burnsey even branded the underside of the bottom bracket.
Predictably, the frame also was dripping in custom gold and black Paul Components.
Last but not least is this 24in fatbike. The 20in frame seen at the show last year was built for the same son- but kids grow. “I use the shows as an excuse to build my kids bikes.” Like the frame for Paul Price, this bike is also done in the Ghostship style. Ghostship was, “on the top three list when I was trying to name my band,” according to Burnsey.
“Singlespeed because that’s what I ride. I don’t want to short change him by thinking he can hit a button, make some noise, and make life easier for himself.”
And I’m sure you’re noticing a theme here, but this build was also covered in Paul Components. “I asked my son what color. ‘Can we do pink?'”
