Mark Derryberry
- Nov 25, 2019
- 3 min read

From a Crayon, becomes a Picasso

Updated: Jun 24, 2020

What started out as a seemingly simple undertaking, turned into quite the adventure. After getting started with Marti's bike, we quickly realized that some of the components in the colors that she wanted to use were much harder to find than we had anticipated. We started off with the Madera "Party Paint" groupset. The groupset was basically going to serve as the foundation of the bike. Luckily, we were able to source the hubs and sprocket through ORP. In doing so realized that the size selection for the sprocket was limited. We originally wanted to go with a Madera Helm 28t in Party Paint but Rickard was only able to get a Madera Signet 28t with the hubs. We then took on the challenge of locating the stem, which we were able to get from Profile directly.

Once we knew we had the groupset, we had to find the right frame for her. Her first choice on the frame was an FBM Gypsy 4 in Mint, but it was literally impossible to find one in the size we originally wanted. We searched globally for one in 20.5, but came up short. During the search, we just so happen to come across a really nice 2016 Terrible One SFA in 20.75, so we went with it. It initially came an army green which was one of the standard colors for that year, but Marti opted to throw a little spin on it with a pearled turquoise powder from Prismatic Powders. Once we had the powder in hand, we took the frame down to Precision Powdercoating in Spring, TX to get it recovered in the fine new metallic powder.

The T1 SFA is an extremely well designed frame made for the legendary Garrett Byrnes. The design has been in place for over 15 years and has only undergone minor revisions to keep up with the evolution of frame technology.

While the frame was getting powdered, we began seeking out the balance of the components that were going to be needed to complete the build. We sourced as much of the items as we could from ORP, but there were a few very unique pieces that sourced elsewhere. Our next place of choice was Empire in Austin, TX. We were able to get a few things from them, including the limited edition GSport Ribcage rims in cyan blue, and Total double butted spokes in rainbow. The spokes took a few days to come in as they were actually being sourced directly from Total in the UK. Once they were in, Gaia and I made quick work of putting them together. Gaia is our 20 month old and, believe it or not, is pretty handy with an allen wrench! The wheels turned out pretty amazing. I've never actually built a set of wheel as colorful as these, until now.

One of the more difficult items to find was a good pair of purple tires in 2.25 that had a tread capable of both concrete and dirt. We looked around for a while and only found a couple options. We wound up going with Sunday Current tires in 20 x 2.25, which are no longer in production, but were found in a bike shop in Florida. The seat was also one of the items that was a limited production, but after looking far and wide, we managed to find one in Australia. So I guess you could say the seat is literally from down under. Overall, the bike came out really nice. There are a few details we will probably fine tune as Marti continues honing in her skills, but we are very pleased with it for now.