Baldwin Titanium custom frame

Baldwin Titanium is a relatively new company, established in 2012 with an actual launch just last year. From their base in East Yorkshire the aim is to create custom built, one off titanium road bikes. While framebuilding in the UK is seeing a bit of a resurgence at the moment steel tends to be the material of choice so its good to see someone specialising in titanium.

Frame

If you fancy your own bespoke titanium machine Baldwin will need your measurements which can be gone about in a couple of ways. A fitting session is the best option to get analysed and discuss exactly what you want from your bike, whether you're after race, touring, cross etc. If you already have a bike setup you're happy with Baldwin will email you a form to fill out from which they can work.

The frame we've got is made from plain gauge tubing supplied by Paragon Machine Works though should you want a butted option or just fancy Reynolds you can spec that to. The titanium itself is 3Al/2.5V (3% Aluminium, 2.5% Vanadium) Grade 9 which is the standard titanium alloy for bike manufacturing.

Straight away the build quality is impressive. I like the way the blasted finish gives everything a blended, natural look with the welds being neat and minimal. Don't think minimal means fragile though, Baldwin were very happy to share the destructive & non-destructive test reports for their welds and offer a lifetime guarantee to the original owner.

The Baldwin uses an integrated head tube which is a beefy looking affair in relation to the rest of the frame. The main triangle is a pretty simple affair with no oversizing, shaping or diameter changes along their lengths. The seat and down tube meet at a standard bottom bracket shell although thanks to the imminent delivery of a new custom jig options such as BB30 will be possible. Basically it's much the same as the rest of the bike: flick through the catalogues and spec exactly what you want.

The rear end is pretty slender too with the pencil thin seat stays and surprisingly unfussy chainstays. Nothing is overbuilt or squared off to increase performance, rather the builder uses the properties of the material to get on with the job.

The dropouts certainly give plenty of clearance for whatever quick release lever you fancy using. The drive side has a replaceable mech hanger attached, always a bonus should you drop it.

The cable guide and water bottle bosses are welded nicely to the frame rather than riveted, always a neat touch and the seat tube uses an alloy sleeve for the post which is soon to be changed to a composite one.

The geometry and sizing isn't the only thing that's individual to the customer either. You can have your Baldwin supplied as a frame only or a fully specced bike depending on your preferences or budget. There are finish options to, blasted is the standard or you can have it brushed or even painted should you desire.

Ride

The Baldwin is stiff, probably the stiffest titanium frame I've ridden in terms of forgiveness from the material with feedback more akin to an aluminium frame but with just that hint of elasticity that titanium is renowned for. Admittedly the frame is a small size but it's obviously been built with performance in mind.

The front end continues that theme with the short head tube providing very direct handling. The Baldwin tracked nicely descending and through fast bends, with the titanium still soaking up the bumps and rough road surfaces despite that underlying stiffness.

Climbing and sprinting hard both require plenty of stiffness around the bottom bracket area and can often be the Achilles heel of titanium frames. There were no such issues here highlighting the performance aspirations of this particular frame.

All this stiffness though doesn't mean an uncomfortable ride. There is still enough plushness there for big miles; this frame would be perfect for a fast paced sportive or club run blast.

The build here complements the frame as well. The Ultegra mechanical groupset is a good match for the performance of the frame as are the Easton wheels, providing a balance between speed and comfort. The Deda cockpit is stiff, oversized alloy and matches the tight handling, and the chunky stem works well with the small diameter tubing.

Something we haven't seen before is the Aerozine crankset. Rather than threaded holes for the pedals it comes with adaptors to allow you to choose between 170, 172.5, or 175mm length. As well as making it easy for shops to offer a range of sizes, it's possibly also a simple solution for riders with leg length imbalances. They also provide the seatpost as well which looks smart in its polished alloy finish.

Price

So whats this all going to cost you then? The overall price is just as custom as your new bike but as a ballpark figure a frameset starts at £2950. That'll get you a plain gauge tubeset with Reynolds double-butted tubes upping that to £3150. The frameset comprises the custom handbuilt frame with a choice of Columbus or Deda fork, Ritchey headset, and a choice of seatpost and associated fittings.

The build time is around about seven weeks depending on how busy the workshop is and Baldwin will send you photos on progress. A nice touch I reckon as for me the whole point of having something bespoke is that the designing, building and speccing process is just as much fun as the delivered product.

Overall

Custom frames are always difficult to review if they've been designed and built for someone else but from what I've seen here a Baldwin frame is going to deliver whatever you've asked it to do. The build quality is very good as is the overall finish and it's definitely a good looking machine. Spending a lot of time on oversized carbon or alloy bikes tends to make you forget how beautiful a small diameter tubed titanium bike looks, and the straight top tube adds to that classical theme.

The fact that its a smaller size than I'd normally ride will influence the feedback a touch but the ride quality of the plain gauge tubing is very different from any other titanium bike I've ridden and I rather liked the directness of it.

The price is going to divide people's opinion but it comes down to how much you value the individuality and the benefits of having a truly bespoke frame. A frame built to your exacting standards and preferences then backed up with a lifetime warranty doesn't seem too bad in my eyes for your three grand.

On the whole the Baldwin is a well built, beautifully finished bike backed up with (judging by their social media activity anyway) a high level of customer service and knowledge with the added bonus of your own frame being handbuilt in the UK.

Verdict

Beautifully crafted, custom frame handbuilt in the UK providing a great balance of looks and performance