Here’s the (circa?) 2012 Spot Rocker Titanium frame. It’s handmade in Golden, CO and there’s no stamp or serial number on it. If I’m not mistaken, the welder is still in the state and working for a different frame builder, but I’ll have to look into this.
This is a frame I’ve oogled since it first came out, but at $3800 for the frame only, it was always well out of my reach. Recently, this one came up on craigslist and I fortunately snagged it and a period correct Reba XX fork for what I felt was an excellent deal. I’m planning my next moves for this build, you can keep up with it in this series!
The Plan - A Spreadsheet, Of Course.
So if you’re not familiar, I really like spreadsheets. I’m (usually) a pretty organized person and I find spreadsheets are a great way to organize and visualize data that I’m considering. Yes, databases. I know. Move along now.
For this build, I’ve created yet another! So exciting. I know. Gather ‘round children:
I actually quite like this one. A checked box changes the row color to green and the total cost (F1) and total weight (E1) are summed. It’s somewhat handy for seeing how different build options can affect the total weight and cost.
You may notice the single cog and lack of a derailleur. This will be a single speed MTB build. This frame could accomodate a rear derailleur, but there are no braze-ons for cable routing and I’m not interested in adding them. Keep it simple. Keep it singlespeed!
This doesn’t mean there aren’t other factors to consider, and I’ll detail those out below. Presently the biggest consideration is how to get this frame rolling.
As designed - Period Correct
This frame came with a Reba XX fork, the same as my Niner SIR hardtail. It’s a 1 1/8" steer tube, 100mm travel, and 20x110 non-boost thru-axle fork complete with a remote lockout. It’s by no means a bad fork and at 1850g, it’s heft is quite manageable. This would, however, limit me to a 20mm axle front hub which is available, but hard to find in the used market. Likewise, the dropout inserts that came with the frame are for a 10x135mm QR rear hub, again becoming more difficult to find these days. However, if I’m investing in a wheelset- should it fit the build now, or should it be a more current standard in the event that I don’t keep this build until I die?
Estimated cost: $500-1400 for a used/new wheelset.
More Current Hub Standards
I could sell the fork and replace it with a newer fork that would accept a 15x100 thru axle, but finding said fork with a straight 1 1/8" steer tube is also not easy. Most forks and frames now have a tapered head tube taking a 1 1/2" race on the bottom and 1 1/8" on the top. While this would make sourcing wheels easier, I’d likely need to shop the used market for a long time or spring for a new fork which is not cheap.
Likewise, the sensible option here would also be to update the rear dropout inserts to 12x142mm. Fortunately this is easy as the parts are readily available from Paragon Machine Works and would only set me back $75 or so.
Estimated cost: $500-1k for a used/new fork and $500-1400 for a used/new wheelset.
And the planning continues. I’m confident that if I’m patient with this build and plan things smartly, I could easily have this build done with all great parts and I could very realistically be looking at a sub-9kg bicycle.
