Big Projects and single parenting...ughh!

Been some long days this week. With Christi gone on vacation I've had the opportunity to experience the single parent thing...two dogs, two kids, and too much to do = not a lot of fun. The kids have been bitchin about being at the shop until 10 every night, but ya know, it is what it is. To all you folks out there that are working hard and raising kids on your own, kudos to you.

A couple of issues are pressing this week...

Carey, better known as Wangpig to his cycling friends, stopped in this week to get fitted up for his Groovy frame that he won as the lucky drawing winner for the final Groovy series race. Each time a participant races in one of my sponsored races, he gets an entry into the drawing. Ironically, it was the additional entry given to those who came out for the trail day at Vulture's Knob that was the winning ticket...see, good things come to those who give back to their local trails :)

While I was hanging with Cary and Keith (who came along to check out the process and the shop), I was also stripping a few frames. In the line for loosing their tired colors were Doug's Fat, DL's Fat, and Jarod's Fat...sensing a trend?

This kind of stripping is a messy business and does not pay near as well as what my lady friends on stage take in ;)

The big project this week was for Jay Remko. I built a Bigwheel cross frame for Jay earlier in the year which went to the show in Indy. Jay lives in the mountainous south and wanted a dirt road vehicle to cruise the back roads of his area. He was having so much fun he wanted it to take the place of his full time mountain bike... the only problem, the cross stays would not allow a big enough tire for the rocky terrain. With aspirations of doing the Great Divide race and my desire to have a fully satisfied customer, we decided to build him another frame after hours (who needs sleep anyway, right?). This one soon grew...couplers, custom rack, etc... I had to change up the design a bit to accommodate the couplers and allow for better travel efficiency, but I'm sure he'll be pleased with the final outcome.

Jay is coming into town on Friday to build it up, so I had to hustle to get it done in time...hope I make it.

Couplers arrived just in time...

Flashing forward a lot, I'm putting the final touches on the frame...custom rack attachment points. the seat stay ones are hidden on the inside of the stay and I drilled and tapped the stainless dropouts to keep a clean look for when the rack is not in use.

Into the blast cabinet it goes to get ready for paint... a lot easier to fit when the frame is separated.

Ready to be unmasked, cleaned, re-masked and shot...

I hated to leave the pups all locked up at home while no one has been there, so Cubby and Frankie have been tolerable shop pups this week...

As I've been waiting on Steven's dropouts to land from the CNC shop, I finished up one of the retro frames that will be a shop demo/my bike/Kalten's race bike next year. This one just got straight stays and sliders.

Fitting the chainstays...

Cutting up the seat stays...

and through the magic of the blog and a few days work, the bike is together and ready for the fiddley bits to be brazed in; H2O bosses, disc cable guides, etc...

Gonna be painting today, so if y'all call, I may not be able to answer straight away.

cheers,

rody