Mark Combs, Chumba’s Lead Framebuilder pens some history of how he got into building bikes, crafting metal & becoming a partner at Chumba. For more don’t miss his recent Podcast over @ Shut Up and Build Bikes!
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How to measure your standover height for best bike fit
Standover is generally much taller than your pants inseam. It will tell us how much standover clearance is needed for a good bike fit. It is critical for a proper fit so you can comfortably dismount your bike.
To measure your standover height:
Find a large hardcover book, tape measure/yardstick and pencil.
With your riding shoes on, stand up straight, with your back against a wall.
Straddle the book, spine up, as if you were sitting on a saddle. Get it as high as it will go.
Have a partner measure the height of the book from the floor. If by yourself a yardstick is easiest.
This number is your standover height.
Best results will be if you reset and measure twice, then average the difference.
Ideally, you’ll have 1” or more of standover clearance.
Though rarely needed, the custom geometry options on our steel models allow us to offer custom options for standover. One more step to ensuring your bike will be fun to ride for years to come.
Terlingua Titanium Dream Build
Our Terlingua Titanium gravel frame is a canvas to create the best all road bike. We wanted to share some of the details on this inspiring recent custom build.
We’ve focused the compatibility of the Terlingua around working with a wide range of road plus tires both 700c and 650b. The tube s-bends and chain-stay yoke maintain clearance for large chainrings on narrow Q factor road cranks. This custom gravel build takes advantage of these features running 700x45mm tires & a wide range SRAM AXS Red/XX1 wireless drivetrain paired to a 40T chainring. (up to a 46T chainring is compatible)
While our standard brushed titanium finish offers a clean look, sometimes you gotta sweat the details. This is our #lvl2blackcerakote finish. An oven cured Cerakote ceramic film reveals hand polished raw titanium custom details and graphics. Beyond looking slick, the Cerakote surface has a “coefficient of friction, rivaling Teflon®”, making it an ideal paint to encourage mud to get back on the road vs. stuck on your bike. Our Cerakote finish is extremely easy to keep clean and is very durable. Black is our favorite, tying all the other matte black components into a cohesive look. We can also do custom colors from the Cerakote E and H series, even on the alloy & carbon components.
The Sram AXS Red system is truly amazing, however as a 1x drivetrain the low gear options with Red & Force cassettes only go up to 33T for the easiest shift. So, most of our customers on the Terlingua are going with a Red or Force AXS road shifter & crankset paired to a XX1 or X01 mountain derailleur & cassette, “the mullet drivetrain”.
This build is setup with a 40T chainring to 10-50T cassette, making it most focused towards climbing and all around gravel courses. The gearing combination would allow you to cover nearly any terrain that is rideable. Running a larger chainring with a higher gear ratio will make the Terlingua more balanced for high speed gravel / road group rides or smoother more level races. You not only get the wide range in the gearing for long gravel road climbs and descents, but also the highest wear parts are more durable in the dirt.
Since we went with a mountain cassette we were able to run Industry Nine’s amazing mountain hubs, the Hydra’s, with .52º of engagement laced on their Ultralite carbon hoops! The Thomson stem is part of our fit kit and will later be swapped for an Enve carbon stem once the ideal size is chosen. Our Thomson fit kits are available on request for a small fee.
This build also spec'd the Red cranks w/ SRAM’s Quarq Power Meter. Long distance cyclists can benefit from learning their zones and using a power meter to keep from over exerting themselves during challenging endurance rides/races. More on that in an upcoming post!