Sean Burns worked for Black Sheep Cycles for a while, and now he shares workspace with them in Fort Collins, Colorado. He builds all steel and uses coatings and etching to show the welds and material through the color.
One look at the bikes and you’ll notice there are a lot of bends on the tubes, particularly on the road and mountain bikes…this gravel grinder is one of the tamer designs he brought to the show. Well, stock tube suppliers don’t generally provide tubes in such a wide array of curves, so he bends every chromoly tube in house…
He wants to show the materials and the workmanship, not hiding welds and technique behind paint. So, the shiny part is polished, then it’s masked and sand blasted to etch it and create the darker color. Otherwise, it’s just sparkly clear coats.
Remember the old Mongoose Decade freestyle bikes? You could almost get that rad on this one.