Cool Hunting

The fruit of a joint project between Robert Squire of Weaponshouse and Sylvester of Brakeless bike shop in Montreal, the “Leg Grenade” is one slick track bike. Deciding to build a bike that rode tight and looked classic, minimal and tough, the primary components are a Large Affinity Marta frame with a Miche Drivetrain and a Surly lockring sitting on some all white Aerospokes. Unfortunately this one's not for sale but a visit to the Brakeless or Weaponshouse website could open up a dialogue to customize your own bike!

Continue reading after the jump to learn more about the project and to see more pics...

Rob was kind enough to give us a step-by-step behind the project. Here is what he had to say:

I did this project with my good friend, Sylvester from Brakeless, Montreal. Sylvester is a really cool guy and a very generous person. Our personality and sense of humor are very similar. I had already bought a bike off of him in the past, and like supporting him and his shop.

We had been banging around some ideas for a project. Not a 'collab' and not necessarily a bike, possibly some jewelry for the shop, t-shirts or something along those lines. A short while ago I rode our mutual-friend Aaron's bike. I really liked his Affinity frame and decided that it would become the focus of our build, which automatically turned 'project' to 'bike project' which I suppose makes perfect sense, given that Brakeless is a bike shop.

I have always had nice bikes and for the most part (aside from a single Redline) I have always been into more classic looking frames. I've had a Rossin, a Fuji, an Italian one-off, a 531 Peugeot, some road, some BMX, but all 'classic' looking in their own way and the Leg Grenade is no exception. It a bike that I would want to ride day to day, everyday.

A lot of the guys that we kick it with are mutual friends that run in different industrial design and textile circles and I wanted to tie those circles together in some way. Originally we were talking about a 'friends and family' type project producing vinyl graphic outputs, custom part machining and other things like that, but after we started building it, all that stuff got scaled back to "let's just build something that rides tight, looks classic, minimal and tough looking." The draft was finished in a couple of days.

Brakeless already had a good relationship with Marinoni and I have always liked the finishes on their frames (especially their restorations). So we sent the frame to them to have the holes filled, the water bottle holders brazed off, some chrome added and the gun metal paint applied. When we got the frame back it was a very different looking bike but it came together very quickly after that. I am a pretty big dude and I suck on the truing stand so we went with the Aerospokes. From there it was a piece by piece construction. From the remainder of the build components to the casting of the badge, this is piece for piece the bike I wanted to ride.

The final touch is the badge. It is a signature of our friendship. (I drew the logo illustration of a scout's promise holding a wrench.) Our friends at Furni laser-etched it into wood for us. HH casted it to off the wood to the waxmold then casted and finished the silver together. The badge completes the bike in a nice way.

I have had a few people approach me trying to buy it, but since this was a personal project among friends, it isn't for sale. That said, we could conceivably build a similar one (or maybe just a custom silver badge for your build) if someone were serious and wanted one. They should feel free to holler at the Weaponshouse or Brakeless websites.

I would like to extend sincere thanks to Sylvester (and Nathalie!) at Brakeless for helping me out with this. I should also say thanks to Dane for putting me up on Surly lockrings, Furni for the laser-etching, and HH for helping with the silver. You are all greatly appreciated.