Dog and Pony Show

Well, folks,

I should have a bunch of bikes for you to check out 

if things had gone differently last week.

Instead, I've got a 'tweener project, a fork for Russ Pope.

In this instance, the regularly scheduled frame(s) hit a mid-build snag 

and I didn't want to move the frame fixture. While building, the 

frame fixture is set to the current project and not moved

 until the frame is sent to the powder coater.

Perfect time to build a fork.
 This fork was a replacement for a fork Russ already had.

It was a production fork and extremely stiff.

Russ is on the lighter side of the spectrum so we could make a

much more supple fork than one that is made to survive the
heaviest, ham fisted rider out there.

 Most of time, these type of projects don't make it to the blog.

It made the cut this time because, as I mentioned before, 

last week didn't go as planned.

If things had, I would have a whole pile of bikes to blog about.

As it sits, I was handed a broken femur when a friend and
 I got into a tangle with a car passing another on a
blind corner while out on, what was up to that point, 

a great ride on a beautiful day.

Despite the bummer of it all, I'm doing my best to

 keep things in perspective. I was lucky enough to get hurt

 while spending my time with a good friend recreating in one 

of the most beautiful corners in the world, an area I get to call home.

I wasn't hurt while subsistence farming to feed a family.

I wasn't hurt while fighting a brutal authoritarian regime 

hell bent on destroying it's own people.

I wasn't hurt fighting a senseless war based on lies.

I wasn't hurt by cowards while watching my family run a marathon.

With a bit of luck and time I'll make a full physical recovery.

I'm one lucky dude.

Be safe out there, folks.

What happened to me

could have happened to anyone out there.

Thanks to everyone who has given their love and support
whether in person, email, snail mail, or just good vibes.
I'm one lucky dude.
 

Shellac hold a special place in my heart.

One minute aggressive and driving,

the next, quiet and melodic,

the next, dissonant and unconventional.

These songs are all from Excellent Italian Greyhound,

one of their more accessible records.

Steady As She Goes

Kittypants

Paco

Not Fragile

Hey y'all.

  This bike is made for Colby Weber.

It's got some interesting lug work on it.

Y'all say you're into pics of metal work, so here's some highlights.
The head tube lugs on this bike are made by me, so this is how I do it.

First off, I braze the tubes together at their correct angles and finish them, just like any other joint.

Next I cut them apart and put the head tube portion into the lathe to bore them out to the right diameter for the tube that will fit inside. Boring the tubes out once they've been brazed allows for a lighter lug.
There is a certain amount of distortion that happens when you weld things together and a thicker wall minimizes that distortion. Once it's all brazed up, you can get rid of the excess and make sure the lug has nice round sockets.

 I cut out a rough window in the head tube to access the inside of the lug.

Next I chuck the top tube part in the lathe and cut out the back wall of the tube.

With the same half in the lathe, the top tube portion is bored out to fit what will end up being the top tube. 

Roughly cutting out and shaping the lug.

 Skip ahead :

A couple lugs ready to be brazed.

 

All brazed up.

Colby is going to be riding this thing up and down the canyons of the Wasatch Front.

Look out.

I'm certainly not the first one to use a half tone fade, but it always looks cool.

 Here's those lugs.

 

 

A little of the old and new.

Old school Cinelli style bridge reinforcements with a PF30 bb shell.

Not the usual lug lines.

Thanks, Colby.

Acid King.

Mom, you probably won't like this one.

Between Me and the Ground

That time again.

Time for a new post of a new bike.

Disc brakes are the in thing for cross bikes.

All the cool kids are doin' it.

Before somebody gets their undies in a twist

 about the sacrilege that disc brakes on a 'cross bike represents,

I'll say it first: I've always had apprehensions about it.

My theory has been that the surface area that a disc 

and its pads have, is about twice the contact patch 

your tires have got on the ground. 

I said that half the fun of riding a 'cross bike is the

lack of braking that makes you just kinda go for it.

I was wrong.

Disc brakes on 'cross bikes are the jam.

Don't fool yourself.

The same arguments against disc brakes on mountain bikes

are being trotted out 15 years later when debating the

 merits of 'cross bike disc brakery. 

In the future, you'll be able to control your 'cross bike,

and ride it faster.

The future is now.
Actually, the future was like 5 years ago,
but some of us were to stuck to our own ways to see it.

Dead Meadow.

Sleepy Silver Door.

Blue Velvet

Hey, gang. 

This bike has found its way to Greg Ooley,

currently residing in Durango, Colorado.

This bike is one of those single speed-twenty niners

that seem to keep me pretty busy. 

 I guess I'll run through the details for those of us that just joined us.

 These bikes have a chain stay length starting at about 16.5". 

I've built them shorter, but they don't ride as good.

Shorter than that and they start pivoting on the rear wheel rather than carving through corners.

The shorter the stay, the less stable. That's good to a point, but when the rider's 

weight is perched over the rear axle things can get spooky at speed in the rough.

 The swinger dropouts that have been showing up on Black Cats for

the last 7 years have about .75" of adjustment.

Not as much adjustment as some designs but when designing them

my thinking was to keep them as small as possible to save weight

and that the shortest I want the chainstay is 16.5",

and the handling of the bike really starts suffering at 17.25".

The head tube angle changes depending on the person,

 their riding style, their local trails, etc.

A lot of these bikes are made for a 100mm travel fork. 

If so, the head angle runs at 69.5 degrees, give or take, 

based on the variables listed above.

The Thunder Monkey geometry is based on a 120mm fork

 and comes out slacker than that, starting at 67 degrees or so.

  

Turns out that the "new" "progressive" "all-mountain" "aggressive"

29ers so popular this season are about 4 years behind the curve. 

Greg's is built around a 100mm fork, 

and ready for the action found up in the high country.

These bikes aren't made to be hung over your mantle.

They're made for a good thrashin'.

Thanks, Greg.

Go forth and thrash.

Somewhere between Bruce Springsteen,

The Violent Femmes, and Nation of Ulysses;

somewhere between Transcendentalism

and Existentialism lies

Titus Andronicus.

Their "The Monitor" record is the real deal.

A More Perfect Union

Four Score and Seven

The Battle of Hampton Roads