Mike’s Ti singlespeed

This winter when i was laid up in bed recovering from surgery on my knee, I put out a call for help in finding a physical therapist that would help me get back to doing what I love to do. There are a lot of PT’s and chains out there but i wanted someone like me – a cyclist or skier — someone that understands what I want to get back to doing. A virtual acquaintance, Ron, said i should message Mike Beretta as he’s the best there is. He owns Beretta PT and EDH Bike Fitting. Knowing Ron has had some pretty nasty injuries and recovered fast, i trusted his recommendation and I cannot tell you how happy i am to have reached out.

Mike is a great PT and has an intuitive sense of what’s going on. He’s an incredibly kind person that has an infectious positivity and it’s obvious he loves his job. Whenever i’d go to PT in a bad mood, bummed at where i was in my progress, i’d come back with a better outlook and with my knee feeling better. I’m having one of the worst of my 49 years so this was no small feat and I’m forever grateful. Beyond being my ‘concierge PT’ i consider him a friend that i look forward to riding bikes with in the future!

When you walk into Mike’s facility and look left there’s his old 90’s era orange Bontrager on the wall. Features of this bike made it onto his new bike, from the style of the panels on the top and downtubes, the sleeved wishbone seatstays, to a 25-year newer version of White Industries polished silver cranks. Mike has never had a Ti bike so when given the opportunity to create one from scratch he was visibly excited. Since he’s also a bike fitter, that part of my job was easy. The hard part came with creating his vision of a frame with so many curves! This design was new for me, i’ve built frames with bent top tubes and arched wishbone seatstays, but I’d never bent seatstays in three ways (wishbone, arched, and S-bend) and also be an early Bontrager style wishbone with the lower legs sleeved in the uppers. I think the seatstays took as long as the rest of the frame to build. The frame has internal cable routing for the rear brake and dropper post, Paragon hooded sliding dropouts, tire clearance for a 29×2.6 with 420mm chainstays, built around an ENVE mtn fork. He liked how his current bike rode and wanted to mimic that feel but with some small changes to make it even better. It’s an XC geometry that doesn’t place the front wheel too far out there, especially important on a singlespeed in my opinion. Short chainstays for good traction and the ability to whip the rear end up and over stuff while standing on the pedals. As seen it’s a 4lb frame even with the sleeved wishbone stays and sliding dropouts.

The mixture of paint and beadblasting was done by Dark Matter finishing and the design was all Mike’s. Wile E. Coyote is his spirit animal — his persistence, his creativity in pursuing his goal. Being over 50 and still racing 100 miles on a singlespeed shows the same grit and resilience as Wile E Coyote, although not as futile if you ask me. The text on the bike reflect what this is to him, not merely a bike but his rocket and his spirit animal come to life. There’s a reminder to abide by rule 5 of the Velominati = HTFU. This bike has some serious character!

Thanks Mike for taking care of me, providing inspiration, and helping me get past my injury! I hope the bike always puts a smile on your face!