CURTIS XR650
£2,530 (frame & shock) A work of art with a luid ride
Brian Curtis has been making frames for nearly 50 years and, together with Gary Woodhouse, he’s built a reputation for beautiful yet bombproof brazed steel bikes. The XR650’s outwardly simple yet sorted single-pivot frame combines a tautly-sprung ride feel with stunning looks.
The frame
T45 chromoly has been Brian and Gary’s tubing of choice since 1980 and, apart from a Reynolds 631 seat tube and X44 head tube, that’s what you get here. Both the top tube and down tube are gusset-reinforced, and there’s a small brace pipe on the seat tube, below the forward-facing seat slot with built-in bolted clamp. The main pivot runs through a wraparound saddle plate on the down tube, with big tubular terminals stiffening the connection points with the space-frame swingarm. Multiple bracing tubes add stiffness.
The big, chunky, replaceable alloy rear mech hanger arm is a micronperfect fit. There’s room for up to 2.8in rear tyres between the stays and behind the kinked seat tube, but even with (admittedly big) 2.35in Schwalbe tyres, the Curtis already had the highest BB here. At 3.8kg without shock, the frame is also a kilo heavier than most carbon rivals. There’s no space for a bottle either.
Instead of one of Curtis’s 14 paint finishes, an extra £150 (to cover hand-polishing time) gets the stunning clear powder-coated finish here. It’s definitely the best way to appreciate the artistry in Brian’s unique multi-layered, rippled filletbrazing. There are four standard sizes but all bikes are made to order, so you can customise the head tube length and angle, frame height and length, as well as choose ‘stealth’ or standard dropper routing and full outer or stop/start cable routing. If you want a longer bike or you’re a 40ft-gap-sending savage like team rider Jim Davage, then Brian and Gary will add stiffer/stronger tubing at no extra cost.
The kit
Most XR650 frames are built into full bikes by their owners but Curtis also sell the complete build tested here. The kit mostly showcases the frame really well, with the quieter, lighter feel of the Shimano transmission (compared to SRAM) suiting the subtle spring of the steel. We might choose more responsive wheels than the smooth and durable Hopes, though, as well as a bigger front brake rotor and wider bar.
The ride
There are obvious similarities between the Curtis and Starling,
but straight away it’s clear that the suspension action of the XR650 is more fluid. There’s still enough pedal pull-back to reward power injection through the braced back end, but it doesn’t butt into blunt edges or hang up on roots and rocks.
The kinematics of the frame suit the Fox X2 shock perfectly too. On some bikes we have to spend ages tweaking the independent high and low-speed rebound and compression settings of this damper, but we hit the sweet spot on the XR650 in just a few minutes – a testament to the massive experience of the Curtis crew, which elevates the ride of this bike.
Even Hope’s tough but sometimes unresponsive wheels can’t stop the obvious ‘warmth’ and vitality of the frame shining through, but switching to lighter carbon wheels released more of the pure steel feel, making it a joy to load up through corners or drive out the far side, with the subtle compliance of the mid-length rear end and the muscular pivot-points keeping the rear wheel connected.
But Curtis never let that flex and twang get out of hand. The front and rear ends definitely have some flow and twist between them when pushing hard but they never become disconnected. There’s no head shake or tank slap if you really slam the bike either. Remember that all Curtis bikes are built with size/usespecific tubesets too, so deciding to go longer or slacker won’t leave you with a bike that rides like a noodle.
WE HIT THE SWEET SPOT ON TH EX R 650 IN JUST A FEW MINUTES A TESTAMENT TO THE MASSIVE EXPERIENCE OF THE CURTIS CREW, WHICH ELEVATES THE RIDE OF THIS BIKE