Tamarack Cycles

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Tamarack Cycles

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Custom bicycle frames and bicycles, hand made in Halifax, Nova Scotia https://www.flickr.com/photos/markbeaver/collections/72157665464252658/

10/31/2026

Starting prep-work on John’s new Classic Road Tamarack frameset. This one’s being built with Reynolds 853 tubing in a Road OS configuration, with Llewellyn Manorina sloping toptube lugs, and Pacenti bottom bracket and Artisan shell. I’ve modified the sweet-looking Takahashi dropouts to remove the eyelets, trimmed the extension off the upper head lug, and trimmed the seat lug as well. The PCD fork crown got the tang removed for it as well, I think it looks a lot better this way. This will be built with a full DuraAce 9100 mechanical kit - classic.

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10/26/2026

A few “sneak peeks” from the spray booth. I finished spraying the final clear coats over the decals on Denis’ new Tamarack road frame today. The rich ruby red metallic looks great in the sun and in the spray booth lights. After the paint has cured, this beauty will be built with Ultegra-11/Stronglight/Cinelli/Grand Cru componentry - more pics to follow.

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10/11/2026

So, Denis’ new Tamarack classic road frameset is ready for paint. After brazing in the seatstays, next step was to put in the rear brake bridge. On thinwall seatstays, I like to use reinforcing stiffeners, but the ones I have are a little bulky for these slender 14mm stays so I trimmed them down, drilled the 1/2” bridge tube for the recessed brake fitting and brazed it all together. After adding rear brake cable guides and rear derailleur cable guides,
I milled the head tube and chased and faced the bottom bracket shell, then gave everything a final bead blasting and sculpted the top of the seat lug. Always satisfying to stamp a serial number in a completed frame! Stay tuned for pics after it’s painted…

10/10/2026

Building a rear triangle for Denis’ new Tamarack road frame. Some sweet Paragon dropouts have been fitted to the chainstays, and the chainstays brazed into the frame. Next, the seatstay tops are sculpted. While I could use some pre-cast slugs, they’re kinda heavy and I like to customize each frame’s seat cluster to the look of the bike. This frame called to me for some long flat top caps with a little curve at the lug. The seatstays get cut at an angle that I like, and some flat sheet steel brazed onto them: then after a whole lot of tedious filing, the shape is defined. I fitted the stays to the dropouts and tapped the ends of the seatstay caps over to give them a gentle curve, then brazed everything into place. The frame now looks like a frame! But there’s still the brake bridge and braze-ons left to do, but it feels like the home stretch now. Almost ready for paint!

10/05/2026

With a rim brake frame build, I like to build the fork first, to maximize the tire clearance by setting the for blade length so that the brake pads are *most* of the way down in the slots - *most* to allow for variances in rim width to be used - in case I need to adjust the down tube angle a bit on the drawing. So Denis’ fork is built, to clear 700x32’s with 57-reach Velo Orange sidepulls.
After joining the head tube to the down tube, and the seat tube to the bottom bracket shell, the two assemblies are brazed together in my frame jig, then the top tube gets brazed into place. So, the main triangle is now completed, with the customized Manorina lugs giving a five degree slope to the top tube. Now on to the rear triangle. Coming along nicely, I think.

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10/02/2026

Starting prep-work on the next Tamarack Cycles custom frame. Denis has selected a set of investment cast lugs, designed by Llewellyn, called the Manorina lugset. These are designed for a sloping top tube, with a five degree slope cast into the upper head lug and the seat lug. The seat lug is set up for a fastback seatstay cluster, but I’m going to use a sidetack seatstay design, so I’ve trimmed down the back of the lug to a pleasing more suitable design. And the upper head lug is designed with an integrated lug extension, so I’ve modified it a bit to lighten up the look. Some before and after pics for you.

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09/27/2026

DC’s new custom Tamarack road bike is assembled and ready for adventures!
This one’s a classic road geometry, built with Tange Prestige heat-treated steel tubing in 0.7-0.4-0.7mm superlight wall thickness, with a straight-blade fork for a modern look. The Long Shen arrowhead lugs and matching bottom bracket look sweet. DC chose full mechanical, Shimano Ultegra R8000 with a 105 R7000 53/39 chainset, and Shimano’s lovely RS500 wheels shod with Conti GP5000-S tires. FSA provides the finishing kit, and a comfy Brooks Cambium C17 promises long hours in the saddle with comfort.
I think this came out quite nicely, the internal cable routing is clean and the Dupont Imron paint has a great gloss.

09/22/2026

A couple of sneak peeks from the spray booth today, with the final coat of clear applied. PPG Ceramiclear flows out wonderfully!
Stay tuned for the complete bike build in a week or so, after the paint has had a chance to cure…

09/19/2026

Spraybooth time today - primer coats, and some midnight green. Tomorrow, decals and clear coats.

07/27/2026

DC’s new Tamarack classic road frame is ready for paint. This one’s built with Tange Prestige Japan 7-4-7 superlight tubing, and a wonderful set of lugs and bottom bracket shell from Long Shen. Shift cables run through the down tube, and rear brake cable is inside the top tube. Double-taper seatstays fit into the seat lug’s cast spigots, giving a sleek fastback. The straight blade fork gives the frame a rakish look (as it were…) and has clearance for 700x30’s with Ultegra R8100 sidepulls. The rest of the build will be full Ultegra mechanical with some sweet RS500 wheels. Looking forward to laying some coats of paint on this beauty!

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Address

Halifax, NS

Telephone

+19024552878

Website

http://www.tamarackcycles.ca/

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