Part 1 in the “CX First Timer Custom-Build Experiment”

Before your bike, or my bike (or anyone’s bike for that matter) was rolling down the road it had to be built.  (In this instance we’re not discussing welds and alloys per se, but more the actual fitting together of components into a recognizable vehicle known as a bicycle.)  We all start off in a different place, some of us don’t know the difference between a rim and a tire, a wheel and a spoke.  Some of us can debate the nuances of quick release systems by make and manufacture.  We are a continuum.

In case you’re new, or an old hand and just appreciate clever things, Mr. Aaron Kuehn put this delightful graphic together:

WordBike

And when building one of these up yourself, where to begin?  A frameset helps.  Here are some of ours here at the headquarters of folding bikes:

Montague Folding Frames

An Undiscovered Country…

Unlike other folders, because Montague bikes have 700c wheels and fit standard components you can customize them.  And so over the coming weeks, I’ll be gathering together the requisite knowledge and parts to put together a cyclocross (CX) build on a Montague folding frame.

I’ve read about this but never completed a build myself.  We welcome your recommendations and insights as I get this project started.  Just what can this folding mystery become?