This bike was designed and made in 2020 to serve as a road bike with the option of running wider tires. This was my first attempt at designing a bike that would look great and ride even better. The manufacturing company, Waltly, provides design options such as various tubing dimensions and frame add-ons, but it stops there. They’re a simply a high quality manufacturer and don’t offer the structural or handling analysis that some boutique custom bike builders do. Therefore, when designing this frame I went for stiffness and robustness. I maxed out the tubing size for the down tube, seat and chain stays. For the top tube I opted for their oval tube. And for the head tube, I went with the design I observed on other bikes at the time; a tapered 1.5″ headtube.
Geometry
When working with Waltly, they offer custom made frames but do not offer the same level of design consulting that a custom frame builder would in terms of geometry, handling, and rider experience. When you send Waltly dimensions, they fabricate it and their execution and price point make are what make them stand out.
For geometry, my starting point was the geometry of the frame I was currently riding, a Storck Visioner. At this point, I could have sent Waltly the geometry numbers from the Storck but decided to make some tweaks based on ways I thought the Storck could be adjusted to better fit myself. For instance, the reach on Storck’s tend to be longer and the stack height higher for what I needed. With these changes in mind, and instead of blindly adjusting numbers, I started looking at geometry of other frames that aligned with these changes.
I ended up settling on the geometry from the Low MKII Disc All Road. These frames are aggressive, and have reach and stack dimensions that are more aligned with my size and preferences. Next, I had to choose the fork that I would use with the frame; Low does not sell forks separately so an aftermarket fork was the best option. I went with a Columbus fork that was robust enough to handle the occasional gravel ride. This meant I had to make some small adjustments to the geometry to accommodate the fork which had a longer axle to crown length. I shortened the head tube and increased the head tube angle such that the stack and reach would be unchanged.
Other features this design included:
- Lowered seat stays
- Curved seat and chain stays
- Frame inserts for both Di2 and mechanical groups.
- Maxed out tire clearance
- 31.6 seatpost
- T47 bottom bracket
- Seat stay and bridge mounts for fenders/racks.
Note. The drop outs, cable inserts, rear caliper location, water bottle mounts, and seat and chain stay bridges were all selected by Waltly.
Complete Bike Ride Review
The first immediate issue I noticed had to do with the steering. The Columbus fork has an insert that allows for the rake to be adjusted to 47 or 52mm. When riding with the 52mm rake setting, the steering felt slow/delayed. I would never end up using this setting.
The 47mm rake setting improved the steering such that the bike felt stable when corning and riding without any weight on the handlebars (no hands!).
The geometry of the bike appears to be a aggressive with a negative sloping top tube but this is due to the wrong headset being installed. The Chris King inset headset has negligible rise whereas a lower cup would have provided the stack height needed to prevent the negative slope.
Other features that I encountered with this build that would be changed on an updated frame:
- Water bottle mounts were too high, making it difficult to fit a frame bag.
- Steering is not as smooth as it could be with the Columbus fork.
- The top tube is too short.
Final Thoughts
This turned out to be a great bike that has the potential of a lot of different build options. It is a fun, fast bike to ride despite the design flaws. It is light weight and resilient in all weather conditions.
Zacksunsang 