It's been a long time coming and boy it was worth it!

Well I finally got my MP prototype frame to test for Salvo. I’ll be running this for a month or so and giving Salvo feedback along the way. Then it’ll get passed onto another well known CT rider to test and give his feedback as well. Check Salvo's blog for photo's taken while the frames were being made and close ups of Malcomn's personal 21in red, danger machine.

First off the build quality is awesome. The guy who welds all the frames for Salvo, welds airplanes for living, so I was expecting a good finish. The end product is even better than that. The welding is top notch and you can see the guy knows whats he’s doing and is proud of his work. Coupled with the post-weld heat treatment process, this makes for a tough, clean looking frame.

My frame is raw and there are no "burn marks" around the welds because the whole frame was reheated and this makes all the tubing basiclly become one unit and all the tubing ends up the same colour again.

All the tubing is aircraft grade 4130 imported from the USA and even the headtubes and BB shells come from FBM! The top and down tubes are 1.2mm thick straight gauge tubing and the whole frame still only wieghts 4.65lbs. The shorter headtube with the 75* angle makes for a lively feeling frame and feels great for front wheel tricks. The downtube has a neat hollow gusset on the underside too to add some strenght.

The back end is 13.4in slammed and my 25/9 ratio fitted great. The dropouts are micro to say the least and they hide away very nicely behind my pegs. Even with running 2 hub guards, my rear wheel slotted in perfect and I had the whole bike built up in under 30mins.

The seat and chain stays are not capped at the ends and this gives and nice effect and saves a little weight too. My frame does not come with brake mounts but frames can odviously be ordered with a choice of top or bottom mounts.

Thats it for now. I’ll be filming a little edit this week and you’ll get to see the frame in action.