I've not been slacking!

Just because you've not heard from me, doesn't mean I've not been busy :)

Lots of stuff to get y'all caught up on.

Paint Booth:

Well, things never move as quickly as I'd like them too. I've been working away on the booth in an attempt to get it completed this week. Just goes slow when you are by yourself...one of the downers of the "one man show". Got most of the fire resistive drywall up and will be mudding soon. Once dryed and sanded, the windows will go in, filter wall up, wash down everything, and we'll give it a trial run. Really looking forward to having a well lit booth to lay down some sweet color luvin.

Restos:

I've got a slew of repaints/restos to do here in March; Bob's Yo Eddy, Todd's Yo Eddy, Jeff's Bruiser, a Wicked, an Assault, a Grove Ti, and the shop demo Bigwheel. We've been busy stripping them to prepare for the structural work and paint.

One of the best frames is a Fat Chance Monster that came in...gotta admit, I've seen lots of Fats without "clothes" on, and the Monster is the best constructed frame I've seen. The miters of the monostay are so much tighter than the typical seat stay design, allowing for smaller welds and a cleaner look. The design lends it's self to this, as well as a softer ride. It's definately what I'll be looking for when I get a new Fat for myself.

One of the worst is a Wicked that's lived a hard life. I've talked of the need to really be aggressive with your preventative rust treatment in steel frames (one of the reasons all my frames are internally vented and sprayed with chemical preventative) to have them last a lifetime, this Wicked is good evidence of why. Below are some pics of the Bottom Bracket...I literally had to resort to the BIG pursuader's to get these bearings out. Hopefully, some diligent work with the files and blaster will bring this frame back to where it needs to be.

My OTHER job:

Some of you know, my "other" full time job is working as a shift commander/paramedic for the City of Wooster Division of Fire. Occasionally, we have the opportunity to assist neighboring departments with large conflagrations, this week was one such opportunity. An arsonist started a fire in an old manufacturing plant; brick and large timber so there was lots of fire load. The temp was somewhere between zero and 10 degrees; while the fire was dramatic, it was VERY cold. Everything, including us, had a layer of ice at least an inch thick by the end of the operation. I'm the guy 100' up in the platform...our job was to suppress the fire on the East end of the structure and keep it from extending into the two connected buildings. Thankfully, we were successful.

Enjoy the pics...

Fire upon arrival;

Our position;

A good solid stream;

The wind shifted...look out!

Lastly, the last shipment of Luv Handles went out last week...US, Germany, and Japan all have some coming to their shores :) Next batch will hopefully be done in about 12 days, once the booth is operational.

cheers,

rody