Joel's Ultra-Raw Durmitor
Building custom bikes is awesome, end-off, nothing better. That is until a friend asks you to build them a custom bike, then it gets better, it gets personal. Back when riding circles around Regent’s Park was a thing I did, I would ride with the 10000km.cc group. Every so often we would go further a field and that’s when I met Joel. He didn’t know it at the time, but he would soon be signing up for a Quirk.
It feels good to get asked to build from a friend, so it had to be special. For a while I had been developing 3D printed dropouts and seat clusters, but so far had only fitted them to MTB and gravel bikes. We needed something special for the road so I asked Joel if he wanted to be the first, it’d take a little longer, but would be that much more special. What else could he say!
When it comes to custom some people need it more than others, and having broken his back previously, a custom geo was necessary. Joel’s reach as a result of his accident had shortened so off-the-shelf bikes just were too long and low. You can see that Joel’s Durmitor has increased stack and a lessoned reach, but we’ve managed to keep the proportions looking good. One way this was achieved was with an integrated system.
One way an integrated system keeps proportions in check is with the larger stock under the stem. The whole unit adds bulk (in a good way) and this prevents s large stack of spacers looking spindly. Perfect for this fit. Previously I had used Enve for hidden cable builds but there were other systems on the market I wanted to test out. FSA make good looking parts with a great range so we opted for those.
One last piece you’ll notice is the 3D printed titanium seatpost. The headstock is 3D while the post is custom turned titanium stock. We built it on the Enve 2-bolt system and stripped the internals to have a completely raw finish. Very nice.
The whole frame rolls on some Stayer Cycles hoops and is finished off with SRAM Force AXS. Super clean, unfussy and slick as.
Custom Quirk Cycles frameset
Columbus Spirit Tubing
Ultra-Raw Finish
3D Stainless steel dropouts and cluster
Enve Integrated Disc Fork
SRAM Force AXS Groupset
FSA ACR Energy Integrated Controls
Quirk 3D Printed Ti Seatpost
Stayer Road Wheelset
Photos by Nikoo Hamzavi