Psalm Frame Project
We're on a Mission
What began as a completely CNC machined front triangle and swingarm has evolved into something more advanced. The most noticeable change is our move to custom carbon fiber tubes bonded to precision CNC machined lugs, but those new carbon tubes are only a small part of the story.
This has always been a passion project, a crazy mission I was on to create unique bikes based on my 3VO suspension system. I worked with great machine shops and got support from brands like Jamis that licensed one of my early suspension designs, but at the end of the day, Ministry Cycles was just me, going to extreme lengths to ride the bikes I saw in my head.
That all changed when an old riding friend came on board to help me out. Twenty-some years ago, Glenn used to hang out a my old bike shop and ride bikes with us. A lot. When I went over the bars on my Spooky Darkside on a Halloween night ride and lost the only key I had to get into my house, it was Glenn who somehow found it in the leaves in the dark.
So many years later, Glenn is helping me unlock a lot more. He’s a successful engineer in the medical industry now, but he’s never been just a “theoretical engineer.” Glenn has always been hands on, capable of running just about any machine you put in front of him, and creating his own bike parts and tools. He knows how to make things.
This is Where it All Started
My suspension designs go all the way back to 2005 (you can still find a few triple link “Speedgoat” 3VO frames out there), but the Psalm project began when I took my ideas to Certa Designs, a design and engineering firm based in the UK. Working with Jordan at Certa, we built the look of the bike around the suspension design–not so much integrating suspension into a an existing frame as developing the front and rear triangles as a kind of single concept.
People thought it looked good, and parts Certa drew up took me one step closer to turning massive slabs of aluminum into thin, hollow shells, bonding them together in my garage, and riding this thing. When I finally had the first frame bonded and built up with parts, I just stepped back and stared. Part of me always thought I would never actually see this version of the 3VO suspension turned into a bike. Here it was in front of me. It’s tough to describe that feeling.
The Ups and Downs
The bikes rode fantastic. One thing you really notice about the precision of a CNC machined frame is that your suspension points all stay exactly where you had them on the computer screen. Every millimeter really does affect the feel of a suspension system, and these frames were absolutely dialed. The bike handled great, was fun to ride, and was fast as hell. I started to think this might just work.
And then they broke.
Routine ISO 4210 testing showed us there were weak spots in the design that Certa’s analysis missed. Frames were ridden, frames were tested on more machines in more labs and broken in new places. It was an absolutely brutal learning curve, but one thing I came to realize is that it always is. That process of making, testing, and changing, iterating, is forever, but in those first painful phases you learn so much about priorities and proper design, that even the bad news becomes really interesting. Learning is never bad. It’s just time consuming. And expensive.
The Point
The reality is that all of this was my passion, though. Outside of family and maybe music, making bikes and working on bikes was all I cared about. Don’t ski. Don’t own a boat. Whether it’s dedication or just stupidity, this is my jam, so when you're doing something you love, even the bad days are kind of good.
In early 2026, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and my perspective became even clearer. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have been able to chase this obsession, to be working on this project. In the grand scheme of things, I didn't matter. But I found things that mattered to me. That's the most I could wish for everyone.
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Forward
The Psalm frame currently in development is all about collaboration. Glenn has been able to create parametric CNC machined lugs with a unique asymmetric double lap joint design. These lugs can adapt to different frame sizes just by changing a few numbers, giving us the ability to create frames based primarily on demand: if there's demand for something between an S1 Small and an S2 Medium, we'll plug in a few numbers and create an S1.5.
Into the proprietary double lap joints of these machined lugs, we'll be bonding custom carbon fiber tubes. We designed these carbon top and down tubes to work across our full size range, so they can be cut to fit to create whatever size frame we need to make. We've tried to make creating these as efficient was possible.
For our swingarm, links, and hardware, we’ve partnered with Stinner Frameworks. They’ll be producing our welded aluminum swingarms in Santa Barbara, CA and featuring them on their own Romero frames. We’ll also be making these complete suspension kits available to select framebuilders interested in working with the 3VO suspension system. That roster currently includes Prova Cycles, Sanitas Cycles, Ogle Component Design, and Firefly.
Next Steps
The first "Glenn-size" sample front triangles have been bonded and are waiting for swingarms to be finished so we can start riding this new version of the original Psalm 150. One reason I've dropped the "150" from the name is because we've added an adjustable lower shock mount to this design, so there may be a few travel options. Ideally, we would be able to create these as pretty unique frames, customized for each individual rider.
If you'd like to follow along, we'll keep documenting the development on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. More work ahead (always), but the platform we've developed for different frame sizes–and even totally different designs–has us looking forward to what we can do next.