Kang Did It Again….
Brivael, a.k.a. Kang, is one of my closest friends. We’re animated by the same passion, we like to hang out when we can, and we enjoy pushing each other in our respective bike endeavors. Even though I consider myself a massive bike nerd, frame building is something that I have yet to touch upon. And when Kang tried to teach me what was a good and a terrible weld, they looked completely the same to me. But researching a little further, and continuously training my eye, I’m now fairly confident in my capacity to analyze quality if I can see the frame naked.
Since we always had a good amount of banter between us, you can imagine the smirk on his face when he revealed his new creation out of his car’s trunk. I could just read on his face: “Looks good, huh! Say it! Say my shit is awesome! I dare you!”
It's true that what Kang decides to make is usually close to perfection! The welds, the choice of tubing, the geometry, and every little details he decides to put into anything he creates, has been calculated and crafted with care.
So, let me tell you the story of the “Mecakang Turbo” and how Kang, transformed a peculiar road frame into a street-slaying machine, destroying Instagram and every social platform on its way.
We need to go almost forty years back to meet Raymond Creuset, a French frame builder who created his brand in the early 80s and got some recognition for his divided seat tube design. The result was a shorter wheelbase than your usual road bike of the same era, with the benefits coming with it. Most of them were directly order-made out of Super Vitus or Columbus SL tubing, and if you want to acquire one today, I’m afraid pocket money is probably not going to cut it.
Our story starts with an old and clapped out one owned by one of Kang’s friend. It’s only after a few years of back and forth messaging, that our favorite frame builder got the frame for free, with the condition that he would make it “rideable” again.
What arrived at the workshop was a dinged up frame with nasty dents in several places, an army of small dings and the seat tube looking like a blooming cauliflower, probably from an attempt of removing a stuck seatpost. In summary, it was unrideable, looked awful and was probably going to end in a landfill.
This is where Kang’s work starts. Beginning by cutting and saving the divided seat tube, that was, honestly, the only part that was worth keeping. Then it was a matter of removing every braze-on, filling the holes left behind, and sanding everything for a smooth finish.
The second phase was to build a bike around this single feature. Since the Mecacycle philosophy was to reduce the wheelbase to make your bike tighter, he naturally decided to make the tightest bike possible.
A perfectly logical and sane thing to do when you’re a frame builder who just want cosmic level challenges to keep you busy.
Kang ended up choosing an exotic mix of tubing with a fork and some seat-stays made out of Columbus Max. The chain-stays are Columbus Spirit, the down-tube is Columbus Zona, and the cherry on top is this Tange Prestige top-tube, getting as thin as 0.35 millimeters in its center.
Finally, this carbon part of the seat tube was a more convenient and stylish way to redo the seat-tube rather than just re-welding something new end to end.
But wait, there is more! The rear drops, and seat mast are both custom stainless steel parts, with some integrated Tune spare parts for the saddle clamp. You can see the banging job, making the tradition between the fork lug and the blades absolutely seamless, but if you ask him, he’ll tell you that he could have done better.
For the geometry nerds out there, here are a few numbers that you might enjoy.
To start with an understandable, base, I thought it would be interesting to compare some dimensions with a similar size Mash Parallax that is already considered as a really tight and aggressive frame to ride.
The wheelbase on an M size Parallax is 938 mm, with a chain-stay length of 388 mm and a head angle of 74.5 degrees. It also had the tightest fork on the market for quite some time, with only 28 mm of rake.
What about the “Mecakang Turbo” then?
With an almost four centimeters shorter wheelbase at 900 mm, and a chain-stay length of 359 mm, it would simply be impossible to achieve these dimensions on any “normal” bike.
BUT WAIT! There is more…. It takes a fool to agree that a 75.5 degrees hand angle is a perfectly sensible thing to do. But it takes a madman to pair it with a fork that has a taunting 16 mm of rake.
If none of those numbers speak to you, just know that we’re still wondering if this thing will be rideable or not.
The beauty of it, for me, is probably the balance between freedom and limitations that Kang gave himself. It’s been one hell of a project and I can’t wait to see the next one. As always you can follow Kang’s projects here —> @kangtheframebuilder
Finally, here is a little bonus for our Patreon supporters. I did a complementary video interview of Kang, where we talk of course about his new project. But also his vision as a frame builder and some of his future plans. And it sounds like our plan is getting into second gear for 2023.
Just a little reminder: 100% of the extra content we produce is available with our first patron tier, and you’re free to cancel anytime!
Just wait until you see the paint….
🎞: Kodak ColorPlus 200
📷: Nikon F100
