Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

An oddity from Frances Cycles: The Diffusible Tourist

Frances Cycles Diffusible Tourist

There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the true location of the USA’s original Surf City.

It’s either Huntington Beach or Santa Cruz, depending on your origin, but Surfer magazine reviewed the surf, food and vibe of the nation’s best-known surf towns and crowned Santa Cruz the colloquial holder of the title.

Frances Cycles Diffusible Tourist
The city’s laid-back attitude and moderate climate contributed to the decision, which keeps inspiring Joshua Muir of Frances Cycles to build his artisan and unconventional frames.

Frances Cycles Diffusible Tourist
This is a geared version of the Frances Cycles ‘Diffusible’ frame, created for the Oregon Manifest Constructor’s Design Challenge. It incorporates Ritchey‘s Break-Away system, allowing the nifty splitting of a frame at the seat tube cluster and the down tube, near the bottom bracket.

Joshua’s entry for this year’s Manifest was one of his far more elaborate, yet equally beautiful cargo bikes — for which, with his innovative cable-steering mechanism, he has developed a strong reputation.

Frances Cycles Diffusible Tourist
Frances Cycles Diffusible Tourist