It’s been a while since I had an Aluminum track frame, the MASH AC1 has been in the works for a couple of years and now that we have the first production run I was stoked to build mine up!! From the No22 titanium Little Wing to my steel MASH Work frame set there is nothing like hopping on an oversized beer can and ripping!!
I consider myself a tubeless convert.. for year’s I rallied against all things tubeless, until a 3 CX races in a row ended with flat tires and DNF. Once I saw the light I became a true believer and couldn’t imagine running tubes on any of my bikes. But tubeless on a track wheel-set was (still is ?) still kind of an unknown, like…skidding!?! I raced RHC Barcelona last year on a tubeless set up with 700x25 ZIPP tubeless tyres and I was really stoked on the handling, especially in the super tight hairpins. So for this build I really wanted to got tubeless all the way, luckily it all came together, 28h MASHxPhilwoods hubs in the craziest of anodized colors laced with Sapim Cx-ray bladed spokes to ZIPP 30 course aluminum disc rims. My dude Adam Schwarcz at Oakland Service course put it all together and mounted up some ZIPP Tagente 700x28 (yup the AC1 fits 28c front and rear!) tubeless tyres. I love the 30 course disc rims, i have them on all my other bikes, they are a few grams heavier than the carbon 303’s and a little more forgiving when you are smashing hard.
One of the things that really gets me stoked on the AC1 Frame is the full carbon fork, MASH had the mold custom made to give us the geo we wanted. With a full carbon steertube you can really feel the road while still getting a ridiculously light and responsive front end. Plus it’s cool knowing the fork was custom with a 30 degree rake to match the geo of the frameset…. did i mention it fits 28’s with some room to spare..?
Took a small step towards the next generation with the Sugino DD 75 crankset. Still has the same rad subtle style of the original 75’s but with an outboard sealed bearing BB… i hear they are NJS approved, but who knows? and really who cares? They are super still and light and paired with a limited camo edition 44RN 47t ring it rips!!!
Finished up the build with ZIPP service course seat-post, 110 stem and pair of “slightly” beat up SL80 carbon ergo bars. For everyone who has asked about the bar tape… it’s the cheapest cloth tape you can buy, well worn and seldom replaced.
All of these photos were shot by Mike Martin with Sasha Shvachko assisting and holding a single strobe light, it took a long time to get it right..