I’m building another bike. How surprising! Last summer I signed up for the IRO Rob Roy “group buy” on BikeForums. A group buy works like so: a bunch of internet-enabled bike nerds convince a small bike maker / importer to offer reduced prices in exchange for pooling all their orders together in one lump. The frame features and colors are worked out, deposits are placed ($60 in this case) and a few months later– frames! This batch apparently got held up by end-of-the-year production schedules in Taiwain, so instead of the standard three-month wait, it took closer to six.

The BikeForums folks were polled and suggested orange, green and matte black as the most popular colors for this buy. The Rob Roy is a single speed cyclocross frame, which is essentially similar to road bike geometry but with some mountain bike-style features: wider clearance for larger, knobby tires, and brake bosses for mountain-style brakes. Last night I recieved my green frame and set to work on installing the headset, bottom bracket and cranks:

I’m using the wheelset and cranks from the IRO Angus I bought a couple of years ago. I just haven’t gotten around to building it back up since moving from Arizona. Unlike my orange Angus, the Rob Roy is not exclusively a fixed-gear bike– it’s got the necessary mounts for a rear brake as well. I really haven’t had much of an urged to ride a fixed gear in awhile, and its practicality is almost always trumphed by coasting. Or shifting, for that matter. My single speed beater has been wholly adequate for commuting, so I’m basically going to use this as a more solid, slightly speedier version of that bike.