This gorgeous bike came across our flickr contacts page and we couldn’t resist checking it out. The framebuilder, Eric Estlund of Winter Bicycles calls it the “RoadAxe”. He does a fantastic job of documenting the process of how he makes his bikes on flickr and sent us a few words on how he designed the RoadAxe:
“I build quite a few different types of bikes, but my strongest segment seems to be what I term “high-performance non-racing bikesâ€, or bikes designed to handle well and still retain a certain amount of versatility for daily use with a balance made to meet the specific clent I’m building the bike for. I’ve been building more and more randonee style bikes with fully integrated racks, lighting systems etc. The RoadAxe was a way for me to meet a similar style of riding, but by only slightly relaxing a race bike rather than sporting up a tourer or traditional rando bike. The name is a bit of a pun on “road audax†and the idea of grabbing your “axe†and rocking (bike builders are a bit geeky).”
More from Eric, and more pictures after the break…
“This bike is designed as a fast all weather rider to hold a fast pace all day. The frame has a really clean look, but for the careful observer there are a lot of little details from different time periods and different build styles. Some fun touches are the wishbone rear end with the top tube binder bolt, a handmade 50’s style stem updated for a thread less system and some stainless touches. This is also one of the first bikes with my new custom font and seat tube badges.”
“There are some strong American influences, some Italian and British flair, and of course my signature bi-laminate head tube. In this case that head tube lug (all handmade) also gave me a place to play with the aesthetic features. I blended the boundaries between a head tube, the lug and the head badge and really brought together what I hope is a lot of style in a fairly clean package.”
“At a recent show someone asked me if this was an art bike. While I appreciate the sentiment the answer is “noâ€. This bike was designed first and foremost as a performance machine, but allowed me to really relish in some of the possibilities afforded my custom, individually tailored bicycles.”
Check out more pictures of the RoadAxe and Eric’s bikebuilding process here . For more information on Eric’s bikes check out his website here.
