Dobby was conceived as the answer to a long commute. 20 miles each way through the centre of London, bumpy canal towpaths and the notorious roads of Enfield. An all-road, distance munching, aero monsteur.

Forks close up

Head tube close up

Head tube 2 close up

The top and down tubes are ovalised to improve lateral stiffness. The drive-side chainstay is dropped to give clearance for the 2 inch WTB Horizons while keeping the wheelbase at an arse clenchingly tight 415mm. The asymmetric seatstays are laminated from bamboo strips to give the desired balance between stiffness and vertical compliance. The modular dropouts allow conversion to single speed, gear hub or even fixed down the line.

Seat tube junction

Rear wheel setup

A SRAM Rival 1 groupset has the gear cable routed internally through the downtube and dropped chainstay. The rear disc cable runs through the top tube and along the seatstay. Thru-axle Hope wheels and finishing kit from 3T and Thompson round out the build.
The frame and fork are hand painted with acrylic paints and sealed the same way as yachts, with epoxy resin, for a finish that will last longer than factory applied lacquer. The bike as pictured weighs 10.5kg.

Rear stays