Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Orange Is The New Black: Field Cycles SF Road Bike

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

Big Orange was the name of one of the favorites slated to win yesterday’s famous Melbourne Cup horse race, but it didn’t turn out to be its day. To make up for it, this Big Orange road bike by Sheffield’s Field Cycles will probably be riding faster and for a lot longer than its equine namesake.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

This isn’t the latest machine to gallop from the Field Cycles stable, it was finished and sent to its new home in San Francisco in March this year. But thanks to the creative effort of Field’s in-house designer, Tom Smith, it’s still eye-searingly fresh.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

Tom applies the paint to each of their frames in a design that’s formulated after consultation with the customer and their own personal vision. Most are happy to let Tom do his thing, which is a perfectly confident call.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

The brief handed to Harry Harrison, frame builder at Field, was for a speed machine to explore the myriad of roads around the customer’s home-city of San Fran, and Harry responded in suitable Field style.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

Tubes from a variety of manufacturers were selected, primarily from Columbus, including the massive HSS Spirit down tube and tapered Life chain stays. Those shapely stays are married to Field’s proprietary CNC-machined dropouts.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

To complement the plus-sized girth of the down tube, and also to provide extra rigidity, a 44mm head tube was used, which firmly grasps the ENVE tapered fork with a Chris King i8 headset.

Field Cycles SF Road Bike

Tom drew inspiration from San Francisco’s sunshine and orange-growing industry for the paint design, which cascades over the ENVE stem and along the top tube. It’s a graphic fountain of positive energy, perfect for carousing Californian carriageways.

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Field Cycles SF Road Bike