Taipei Cycle Show Display Bike

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
This is a little indulgent of me to post a picture of myself, my latest design on its maiden cycle show reveal together with the frame builder, who some may be surprised to find is not an asian man but a quite lovely young Taiwanese woman. (Recently married, sorry lads.) Jenny Chen worked many hours with me to resolve the many design engineering challenges in producing the Silvio. The rear half was first shown at Interbike O6, 18 months ago. It was hard to design only in that I had drawn the bike's main frame many times and so before producing went through the design process one more time, very few issues, just had to verify the angles and dimensions and produce it. The front end was another story. It was very complex to achieve that simple point to point structure on the front triangle and the decision to make a direct connection between handlebar and BB might appear pretty logical now but it was difficult to arrive at the clarity of vision that in turn demanded this approach.

Turns out, its quite an attraction, with hundreds of people taking photos of it. Might see a few of those photos in personal blogs over the next few weeks.
55_5cff14d1c42597c66c241b18c83b8beb
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
So that's the "Jenny" of song and story? How wonderful to put a face with the name, and all the great things she's done for us.

Please extend my regards, I have nothing but admiration for how she's helped these dreams move from CAD to reality with such elegant execution.

John, you could show a little more enthusiasm and joy in your work... hee hee. ;)

What a great place to be and a great time to be there.

Good an ya, mate.
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
Hardtailcruzer wrote: Good an ya, mate.

Doug,

I didn't know you spoke Aussie! :lol:

John, have those bars had the ends cut? They look pretty short and sharp from that angle. Me likey!

Mark
 

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
Mark B wrote: John, have those bars had the ends cut? They look pretty short and sharp from that angle. Me likey!

Mark

Yes. Took 40mm off each end, they work nice that way. Still just enough at the end to hold a bell - the kind that hooks on with an o-ring. You can twig it off the little finger, always ready at hand so you tend to use it more on shared paths. Thanks Kendrick for making me use a bell. :idea: :D

Cheers,
John
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
johntolhurst wrote:
Mark B wrote: John, have those bars had the ends cut? They look pretty short and sharp from that angle. Me likey!

Mark

Yes. Took 40mm off each end, they work nice that way.
I thought so... I really like the looks of that. It doesn't look so much like a roadbar tranplanted onto a recumbent. I think that's why we're all so enamored by the WTB bar... It looks good on there!


Mark
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
johntolhurst wrote: New Picture

Mmmmm, bike poooooorn!

That is one sweet looking bike. Looks a lot like mine, except don't look now, but I believe you are missing a few spokes. Looks like a chainring might be gone, as well.

Everybody, please..... Take a look around and see if you can't turn up John's missing bike parts.

Thank you,

Mark
 

Hotdog

Active Member
Mark B wrote:
That is one sweet looking bike. Looks a lot like mine, except don't look now, but I believe you are missing a few spokes. Looks like a chainring might be gone, as well.

Everybody, please..... Take a look around and see if you can't turn up John's missing bike parts.
Nah, I reckon it's just fine how it is :)

If and when I get a Silvio myself it'd end up looking a bit like that, most likely. I'm thinking SRAM Rival groupset (the new 2009 stuff, with lots of shiny black) with compact cranks (50/34) and a big cassette (11-28). DT Swiss RR 1850 deep section wheels (with not a lot of spokes), largely because they come in a white version which I think would look great on a Silvio... :oops: To finish off the understated black and white with hints of silver colour scheme I'd go for plain white bar tape, and plain black GP4000S tyres. Well, that's my current 'dream bike' anyway... :roll:
 
Top