RONASAUR'S MESSENGER SPECIAL

A Messenger Special for Ronasaur, fillet-brazed and clear powder-coated, made extra tough so he won't break it.

Totally customised for him, a rugged working bike; built around tough Paragon rear fork-ends in 4130 cro-mo, Kaisei 022 .9/.6/.9 oversize top and down frame tubes and seat-stays, a burly TrueTemper .9/.6/1.2mm externally butted seat-tube, Reynolds tandem chainstays and the headtube I use for mountainbikes. At 2.05kg coated, it's only about 250grams more than a usual frame: not much for such a rugged frame.

The fork is oversize road, built around the new True-Temper road steerer, which is lighter and a little stiffer than a 1 inch steerer, with a lightweight lugged crown and Llewellyn cast fork tips. It's clear powdercoated to show off the fillets and give it an industrial look and was built up by Ron with high-end parts all over.

The finish isn't one I'd recommend to any customer because of the greater than usual surface corrosion with powder-clear but for a messenger bike that's probably not what will end it's life. I drill a drain hole in the bottom of the frame at the BB shell to enable it to drain, and treat the inside of the frames with a corrosion preventer. As with any high-end frame, if well-cared for* corrosion of the steel will not be the problem it is sometimes made out to be.

(* dry your bike and tip water out of the seat-tube after a wet ride if it does not have a drain hole in the BB shell. Steel is not alone in reacting to moisture. Titanium frames can cause accelerated galvanic corrosion of the bike components, particularly the aluminium material, while for carbon fibre small scratches in the clear-coat can lead to problems). In practice, all these are not a major problem with a well cared for bike.......click here to see what clear powdercoat looks like 1 year on.

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