My new Elephant

The obligatory garage door photo. Similar to the brickwallers for band promo shots
Here's a pile o super high-rez pics. Click any of them to enhonkin.

So far I've ridden it about 60 miles and it's everything I was hoping it would be.

I still have a few tweaks to make. I've swapped out the crankset/bottom bracket since I took these photos yesterday. I need to put another stay on the fender. And I need a new rear cassette. Anyone have a nice 8spd XTR 12-30 or so they want to unload? This one is toast.

Other than that, this bike is ready to ride. I'll take the long, mostly dirt way up up to Kettle Falls on Friday to give it a full shake down. I'll probably make those tiny saddle/bar adjustments that you can only detect after 50 miles or so on that ride.

I dig the color. Officially, it's "International Orange," but really, it's XO1 orange, which is the king of all bike colors. I left the color up to Glen. He then told the powdercoater to use one of 3 colors: optimizing for quick turn around time. The other colors were Pat Red and super yellow. I'd like either of those too, but this orange is pretty ruley. Especially with the bling logos.
Generally speaking, I really don't care much about the color -- and if I had any request, it would be sparkles, but sparkles aren't as sparkly in powdercoat as they are in wet paint, and I'm a powdercoat lover. BUT, I dig this orange.

Glen also has a proper headbadge on the way. Which is why there's a big blank spot on the headtube.

Logo on downtube

Chain hanger

Crazy rad chainstay work. Clearance for Hetres with fenders. Take off the fenders and you can put Quasi-motos in there for more serious dirt touring.

Dig the bi-plane mono seat stay. So cool. I also like the cable hanger. And the fancy-ass adjuster barrel.

Wiring. Wiring. Crazy man. Above and beyond. Exceeded expectations. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

This is an Alex rack. Cyo light. Wired to LED rear.

The wire runs down the DT, through the bottom bracket and out the left chainstay. According to Glen, the light mount is a prototype. He'll have a fancier one coming. Not sure what to expect there. This looks fine to me. But I'm curious.

Another pump peg. The idea is for mounting with the knobbies, so the bike is easier to shoulder when in "dirt" mode. Cool.

Glen made the fork crown. It's beefy and rad and suits me well.

Yep. That's internal wiring through the fork. Word.

Some crazy Italian tubing. 858. Standard.

So, we started this with a drawing from Alex. The basic design is the same as the Gifford.

I dig how Glen made it his own and really focused on the details. There's an externally reinforced seat tube because he knows how I ride. Against his aesthetic judgement he went with me on 1 1/8" steerer -- he was worried that it would weird against the standard diameter tubing, but it came out great. He sacked the first attempt at the chainstays because they weren't perfect. He added little carve out frillery at the headtube. He did a little Bontrager fillet trick at the chainstay/bottom bracket junction. He probably did a bunch of stuff I'll never know or appreciate.

I look forward to riding this bike for a long long time. Hopefully it will fit Maddie some day.