I'm looking (actually ready to purchase) for a 29er or 29+ cf fork with gear/bottle cage mounts. And Carbonda & Carbon Speed both have a model.

My problem is neither is responding to my emails. Anyone in contact with either one?

Sorry, this doesn't address the "Carbonda or Carbon Speed" question but since you've dealt with Waltly in the past, I wanted to mention it.

Have you checked with Waltly? Supposedly, they have quite a few models available. You just have to ask for it. This one for my gravel build is $120 which seems really reasonable to me. that includes the thru-axle. But it only fits a 700*54 or 29*2.125 tire.

Do you plan to ride a dropper post ?

Not sure just yet so I planned the frame around one. I’m going to put a few miles on the bike before spending the cash on the dropper. I’ll run a 125mm BikeYoke Revive if I do.

I measured my 3 current bikes and got a rough measurement of 682mm between the seat rail and the BB center point. If my measurements are correct, I should have about 192mm of exposed post. The 125mm Revive requires 167mm.

Wanted to start a build thread for the new frame I have coming. I've been working with Amy from Waltly for the past month or so working out the frame details. Some of my thoughts they couldn't do and I've changed my mind on a few so it's been a process. Amy's communication and patience has been excellent through the whole process and I would gladly use them a third time.

This is my first drop bar bike so I wasn't sure what I was looking for. This will be roughly 45% smooth gravel roads, 45% pavement, and 10% single track. I've built probably a dozen mountain bikes from the frame up over the years and I'm pretty comfortable picking mounting bike geometry for my riding style and location. But drop bar bikes are new and I wasn't sure where to start. I demo'd a 56cm and a 58cm Otso Warakin from the LBS and settled on something in the 56cm range. I also tried the Salsa Vaya and like that quite a bit as well. I tried to mirror the geo of the 56cm Warakin with some Vaya geo mixed in. So on with the details.

Frame:
Twin top tube design
45mm tire clearance
30.9 seat post with internal dropper routing
12x142 rear with flat mount brake
ZS44 top, ZS56 bottom
Internal routing wherever practical

Fork:
Waltly FK-F06 carbon fork with fender and cargo mounts

Drivetrain:
Shimano GRX 810 1x shifters, left side dropper lever
Sram Force 1 GXP carbon crank, 172.5 with 42t ring
Sram 1150 10-42 cassette
GRX 812 rear derailleur
XTR MT900 rotors 160mm front and rear
YBN Hollow plate 11 speed chain

Cockpit:
Salsa Cowchipper Deluxe 44cm bars
Zipp Service Course SL stem 80mm 6 degree
BikeYoke Revive 125mm dropper
SQlab 611 Ergowave Carbon Saddle
Cane Creek Slamset, pink limited edition

Wheels:
Nextie 22mm inner 23mm deep carbon rims
DT Swiss 350 28h centerlock hubs
DT Swiss Aerolite spokes, white
Alloy double head nipples, pink
WTB Venture 700x40 120tpi tires

I just gave the final approval of the frame design so it will be 6 to 8 weeks before it's complete. I hope to be riding it before June.





**Edited to update component list**

Just the basic shape, sorry for the confusion.

The dropped seatstays may fade one day.
While the rounded top tube is intriguing and original.
I feel I would get tired of the look after a while.

I would go for a classic shape for a Ti bike I plan to keep for long.
But ok, this is all very personal taste territory 

Yup, it's definitely personal taste on the looks of the frame. I've just been looking at too many bike styles lately and figured I'd brainstorm out loud. 

Just a little update. I've been working with Amy at Waltly to get this frame going. Currently, there is about an 8 week wait between placing the order and shipping the frame. So I'm trying to get this order placed soon. I have most of the geometry sorted and it's basically an Otso Warakin with a few changes. The geo is based off of a 480mm fork instead of 420mm and it has 30.9 seat post to open up dropper options.

I have the rims, spokes, and nipples on hand and I'm currently waiting for the hubs to arrive. They will have a slightly different look with 3k matte carbon Nextie rims (27mm outer, 22mm inner, 23mm depth), white DT Swiss Aerolite spokes, and pink double head nipples.

Now the big question is which frame design to choose. I love the retro twin top tube design of the first two options. The problem with this is that they either look REALLY good or REALLY bad. So do I go retro, or stick with the more modern style in the third picture?

Are you willing to build your own or buy some of the components and have someone else build them? Nextie has some "last stock" rims for good prices right now on eBay. I just got a pair of 22mm inner width 28 hole 29er / 700c rims for $209 shipped.

If you don't need pre-built wheels and are okay with 24 hole, this is a nice set for $249 that should fit your desired tire size nicely.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SALE-Gravel-30mm-width-30mm-Depth-700C-Carbon-Fiber-Bicycle-Rim-CLINCHER-1PAIR/273244542884?hash=item3f9ea4d7a4:g:SSEAAOSwfR5gBqL3

So who wants to school me in the ways of CX bikes? That's the short version. Now on to the long version.....

Here is my "wants" and "needs" lists. This should help folks understand what I'm looking for. It's going to be all over the place as I'm not sure where the priorities should lie. Any help in putting the build plan together would be greatly appreciated.

Needs:
A new bike for riding pavement (25%), gravel roads (60%), and light trails (15%). Most of the riding will be in and around Acadia National Park in Maine. Something comfortable but still efficient on the climbs that I can be on for the better part of a day. There’s no need for a bikepacking bike as I’ll never be too far away from civilization. Also, there will be no racing involved so no need to get all crazy on that end.

Wants:

Frame: I’m thinking I will go for another Waltly titanium frame so I can customize it to fit my purpose. Something along the lines of the OTSO Warakin. I’ve put roughly 100 miles on one of those and it was great. It was a 56cm and I think I’d like to go up to a 58cm. I’m just under 6 feet tall (maybe 182cm) and prefer a longer reach than most cramped road bikes offer.

Stem / bars: stem probably in the 70mm range. I don’t need mountain bike short but I don’t want a 100mm stem either. Bars probably 46mm wide.

Fork: Rockshox SID SL run at 80mm. It’s roughly 1350 grams and I could run it on the higher side so I’d only use 40mm or so. Most CX bikes have a tall head tube so I think I could drop that by 80mm to be around 100mm and that would keep the overall front end height the same. It could create a problem if I want to run a rigid fork though.

Seatpost: I’m liking the BikeYoke Divine SL on my single speed so I think I want to stick with that. It’s not much trouble to give the frame a 31.6 seat tube with a hole on the bottom for the cable. The Divine has a bit of cushion to it so I think that would be nice. The cushion is normal if it isn’t at it’s highest setting.

Drivetrain: Shimano GRX 1x set up. That would give me disc brakes and dropper lever capabilities.

Wheels / tires: I’ll do another Chinese carbon rim / DT Swiss 350 setup here. The tough part is deciding on what inner width and spoke count I should go with. What’s the consensus on a 21mm inner width rim with a 24 spoke 2 cross pattern build? I know it’s on the narrow side for current CX / gravel wheels but this will see more pavement than trail. This bring me to tire size and I’m not sure what size would be ideal. Maybe the 40mm range?? Would 21mm rims be sufficient for 38 to 42 mm tires? Keep in mind that I have the Ti single speed with 29x2.25 tires so I don’t need to go all trendy with big tires on this one.

So those are my thoughts on what I think I want. PLEASE let me know where I went wrong. I do not plan on ordering anything until spring so right now it’s only being built on paper.

As far as my capabilities, I've been riding mountain bikes since the early 90's and have built more bikes from scratch than I have purchased "off the shelf" bikes. So I'm good there. As for road / CX / gravel bikes, I'm completely new. I have ridden a few here and there, and the wife has a Trek Domane 6, but that's it.

In my opinion, 25mm is too narrow for a 2.5” tire. It will work, just not ideal. If you’re running 2.4’s and 2.5’s, I’d stay around 30mm. They may have that profile available for a similar cost. Generally speaking, most vendors list the DT Swiss 350 hubs as DT350.