Down came the rain and washed the spider out...

Yep, still raining, only saving grace is that I'm sick and couldn't do anything fun anyway.  I've been doing what I can, but after I threw up in my respirator today and made too many stupid mistakes, I'm throwing in the towel for the night...

So, heres a few of the things that happened the last week.

I get requests from local riders for all kinds of stuff and it usually is with the same misconception..."you should be able to do it in no time".  Folks just do not realize just how long even little things take.  Take for instance the lowly replaceable derailleur hanger.  Folks forget it's even there until it gets broken, ripped off, or bent beyond repair.  Of course, no one wants to look through pages of hangers and wait for one to arrive, so I end up just making one to get them back on the trail.  The dog gone things take forever though, as there is SO much going on.

Another project that's been taking up floor space for too long was this weight bench.  Wont fit through the door to get it into their basement..."can you just cut it apart and make it so that it bolts back together, shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes, right?"

Five hours later; bench cut apart, surface prepped, ends milled square, new tabs machined, holes drilled, welded, painted, bolted together and delivered.

Fabbed up more ti bars...

and put together this frame... a dirt road cruiser with box crown fork and a wicked multi layered candy orange finish.  This one is a birthday surprise for a close friend, so I can't reveal much more, but should be a killer build with SRAM Rival components, Stan's wheels, and a few custom touches.  Here's a few shots from the paint booth...

Sunday was Katen's 16th birthday and he requested a HO HO cake, so I threw together this beauty...four layers of chocolate fudge cake with white cream filling, topped off with rich milk chocolate icing.  Yummy.

Two very cool items came in the mail this week...the first is the padded belt runner for my beloved Dotco detail sander.  Going on 17 years old, she still runs as perfect as the first day I plugged it into the airline.  A perfect example of spending a little bit more for a quality item that will last.  A big thanks goes out to you know who for hooking me up with the replacement parts (name withheld by request).

The other item was one that I've been patiently waiting for, this one piece steerer clamp in Ti.  We were hoping to have this available before Nahbs, and although the prototype was there, the stocked product was still weeks away.  Got it now though, can't wait to finish Chad's stem with this beauty.

With the final piece of the puzzel, I hope to wrap up Chad's build and start Martins build this week.  Gonna get some sleep and hope to wake up feeling better.

Later,

rody