Though Dominion Bicycle Company is a relatively new addition to the Austin frame building scene, company owner and builder Scott Ross is anything but a newbie when it comes to building bikes or working with his material of choice, steel. His experience with the material shows in artfully built bikes that function as well on the road as they look on the show room.

A lifetime of metal working

Ross has spent a lifetime working with metal. His grandfather was a metal shop worker, and he’s been working in shops since elementary school. His passion began with custom motorcycles, building and designing his own bikes as a hobby. He turned to non-motorized bikes about seven years ago. Ross is self taught as a bicycle frame builder using trial and error and the collective knowledge of the framebuilding community and teachers like Tim Paterek to develop great frames. In the last year, he made the jump into full on building hanging up his shingle under the name Dominion Bicycle Company. His workshop is spacious, well lit, and well appointed with all the tools needed to build high quality bikes. I have to admit coveting his workshop space, but any cyclist would also covet the Dominion bikes themselves.

As custom as you want it

Some builders stake out a specialty like mountain, road, or cargo bikes, but Ross has taken the more traditional craftsman, jack of all trades approach to his building. He does offer a product line of suggested frame styles, but very much looks at working with customers to build one of a kind rides.

When I visited him, Ross had a road, touring, and mountain bike frame to show off but was also working on a cruiser bike with an internal hub and belt drive. He takes the time to thoroughly interview the customer about riding style and needs and customizes all the tubes in the tubeset to get just the right build. While his primary material is steel, Ross dips into other materials based on the customer. He showed me a recently built road bike owned by a local racer with a carbon fiber rear triangle built on a steel front. Carbon is normally thought of as used for weight savings but with high end steel tubing, the weight savings is negligible. Instead, Ross employed carbon to allow a stiffer bottom bracket for the all out sprints of the racer. As he continues to build, Scott plans on expanding into other materials as well.

 

Finishing touches inspired by custom motorcycles

Behind his quiet, easy going persona, Scott Ross shows an artistry with the material when putting the final touches on Dominion bikes. No sticker head tube badge here. Instead, Dominion head tube badges are cut from sheet metal by Ross himself with a “D” pattern. On the cruiser he was completing, he had cut the cursive word Dominion from stainless steel sheet metal and brazed it to the down tube yielding an incredibly sharp looking, raised logo. These touches reflect a custom motorcycle sensibility that can produce some pretty stunning results.

Scott Ross will be on hand next weekend at the Sweet and Twisted DU and the Texas Custom Frambuilder’s Show in October if you want to see a sample Dominion bikes in person. If you are looking for a quality custom bike, especially one with some bling, you can’t go wrong with Dominion.

Contact info:

Dominion Bicycle Company
http://www.dominionbicycles.com
dominionbikes@gmail.com
(512) 850-9266

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