Tom Teesdale TET Cycles Road Frame: 58cm -Reynolds 853 Steel - Blue/Orange/White - (EXC+)

This gorgeous road bike frame was built by the legendary Tom Teesdale, who passed away during RAGBRAI in 2014.  Tom built relatively few frames under his own name, and did more work building for other makers starting in the early 1980's.  Among his most prolific gigs were with MountainBikes / Fisher (Mt. Tam, others), Dirt Research Cabrillo Cross, Kona Hot, Marin, Quintana Roo Superform, Dean Culebra / Zona / Zester, and several others.  Finding a frame with Tom's signature T.E.T. engraved next to the frame number is a sign that you've gotten the very best workmanship that model is capable of.  The T.E.T. marking is as desired as finding a Yeti or Spooky with Frank The Welder's F.T.W. marking.

This frame in particular is quite likely made from heat treated Reynolds 853 as that was Tom's base level material.  The seatstays are attached a few inches below the top tube, one of TET's common features.  There's a delicately formed pump peg on the head tube, very thin support material buffering the bridges, and shielded "Breezer" dropouts.  The fork ends are Kinesis.

The paint job is a lovely colaboration of sky blue, creamy white, and hunter orange.  Delicate pinstripes border every panel.  The T.E.T. and Tom Teesdale names are handpainted under the clearcoat in a brilliant glittery silver.  

The frame number stamped on the bottom bracket shell is T.E.T. 087, potentially indicating it's an early frame (in this model?).

*We have a Chris King GripNut headset and R45 hubset in Mango Orange that would look wonderful on this frame* 

Condition

Excellent to near mint lightly ridden condition.  The frame is straight, and has zero bends, dents, cracks, or other damage.  Overall the paint looks wonderful, and passes for brand new at 5 feet away.  Up close you'll notice just a touch of marks here and there on the driveside chainstay, as well as a few other light marks (mostly only on the white panels and thus are hard to see).  Show bike worthy shape!

Size

The frame felt like a 58cm when it was built up.  The measurements are slightly larger, but it rode like a true 58.

Details

• Top tube: 58.5cm
• Seat tube: 59cm c-c
• Head tube: 180mm
• Chainstays: 420mm
• Seatpost needed: 27.2mm
• Spacing: 130mm
• Steerer: 1" threaded