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 nations’ best known surf towns and crowned Santa Cruz the colloquial holder of the title. 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.
This is a geared version of Joshua’s Diffusible frame, created for the 2009 edition of 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.
