Hot Tubes

[josh]

I don't think that there's a Hot Tubes thread yet, at least nothing popped up in a search. So here are some photos of my Hot Tubes CX bike at the start of last season.




I had a lot of trouble with all manner of cantilever brake and spherical washers, so I ended up switched the front to a Tektro Oryx and the back to a generic Tektro with the traditional smooth pads in the rear. Otherwise, no changes.

[caleb]

Really nice looking bike. Can you tell us anything more about it?

[bcplouffe]

+1 for Hot Tubes. Toby does nice work, particularly in regards to paint.

[WeakRider]

I love Hot Tubes bikes, but I can't decide whether or not I hate the logo.

[josh]

Thanks. There's not a whole lot to tell - it's not originally my bike, I purchased it from the original owner. The bike's equipped with first generation Rival. I was running a front derailer until I broke the right shifter barrel off, and then got an extractor and then a drill bit stuck inside. Rather than fuck with it anymore, I simply took the FD off, removed the guts from the front shifter, and ran it as a 1x10, with the RD run on the left barrel. The wheels were EP'ed cheap, and they're round, so I have no complaints. Everything else was scrounged or purchased un-glamorously, either online on in-shop.

I love the bike more than I thought I would. I'm grateful to have found it, because it is exactly what I wanted, with a steel frame, steel fork and traditional geometry (which matters when you're short and trying to carry a bike with a sloping top tube), but could never afford new (at least not of this quality). It's really perfect in both fit and appearance, and as lame as this sounds, I certainly enjoy having the only Hot Tubes in a sea of Redlines, Cannondales, etc (nothing wrong with any of those, mind you). It's certainly immeasurably cooler than the Performance brand CX frame I was going to race on before I landed this.

Toby's paint work lives up to its expectations. He is immensely talented, and the durability is basically unmatched by any other painter I've seen. As I said, I don't have the money for a new Hot Tubes, much less a Toby paint job, but if I did, I would certainly not hesitate to pull the trigger on either.

[josh]

Oh and I love the logo.

[messyparrot]

Nice looking bike!!
Did the original owner make it in a class there at Hot Tubes?
I think they offer that program, could be wrong though.

[davids]

I don't have a Hot Tubes bike, but I've got two Hot Tubes paintjobs.

Toby was painting for Seven back when my steel Axiom was made. It's over 10 years old now, and has suffered through several years of indifferent treatment at my hands, and the paint is still in remarkably good shape.

Last winter Toby refinished my Serotta Nove, including hand-painting several logos and re-doing the clearcoat. It looks swell now.

[josh]

Nice looking bike!!
Did the original owner make it in a class there at Hot Tubes?
I think they offer that program, could be wrong though.

I certainly hope not - it was sold to me as a Hot Tubes, so I'd be pretty bummed to find out it was actually Joe Schmoe's First Bike Brand Bicycle. You're right that they do offer that class; as you can imagine, I've perused the Hot Tubes website more recently than most.

[riceburner]

I certainly hope not - it was sold to me as a Hot Tubes, so I'd be pretty bummed to find out it was actually Joe Schmoe's First Bike Brand Bicycle. You're right that they do offer that class; as you can imagine, I've perused the Hot Tubes website more recently than most.

Take comfort there, the frame class bikes are not branded as "Hot Tubes" brand as far as I know. Furthermore, Toby does shepherd you through the frame class very closely such that he would not allow a sub-standard frame to leave his doors and be ridden. A little known fact is that folks like Jonathan Page, the McCormack brothers, Jesse Anthony and a bunch of other folks have ridden and raced Hot Tubes bikes......