Zach's Red Jollipop Bigwheel

Hello again folks,

it's been a busy couple of days. I fit up and talked to a few folks for some future builds and got the finishing touches completed on Zach's Bigwheel.

This is a full on geary build with custom s-bend stays, breezer dropouts, and down tube cable routing for the mostly dry, mulchy single track he frequents.

The rear end includes a really gorgeous curved brace and a custom machined disk tab.

This frame received a red metallic jollipop powder coat...it's a really nice transleucent finish. If you look close at the dropouts, you can see that the brass shows through as a different shade...very cool.

Throw in some techy componenets, like the dual control levers and XTR rear derailleur, and he has a build that will perform as well as look killer.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I'll be in the shop working on Roy's El Jefe...I'll post some progress pics for ya.

Enjoy the new year,

rody

A little yellow luvin'

Here's a little something for y'all to check out. Dick wanted a winter bike that could handle everything from fast club rides to mild off road adventure. So, I whipped up the magic wand and this is what I came up with...
This Big Wheel is the definition of versatile; designed for use with an 80mm suspension fork, V-brakes, custom bent s-bends to accomodate anything from Ksyriums with 20mm up to 48mm tires. Add in some little custom touches like the Ho Down fork with scalloped dropouts and a box crown, polished stainless headbadge, and aero yellow paint, it's just gotta go fast!

Dick dropped by today to check it out and talk parts. Looks like she's gonna get a full XT group with SRAM shifters, Phil Wood wheels, 32mm Cross tires, Luv Handles, and some Thomson bits.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one get ridden hard, long, and with a lot of smiles. Feels really good, don't it? :^)

Til next week,

rody

Bits and pieces and weeks gone by...

It's been a while since I last update y'all on the happenings around the shop, so here goes...

The big news was the warming addition of a new radiant ceiling heat system. Although I hated to invest in a new heat source, the old one was shot and despite my best efforts, it's tough to stay focused and motivated when you can't move your fingers due to the cold...ick! I ended up losing 4 productive days with the install; had to run new gas line, new electrical conduit, breach the concrete walls in two spots and then lift the 24' long system up by myself to hang it in place. It was totally worth it though...the warmth is soooo nice and I'm getting back to the business at hand.

I've been waiting on some Magura Firmtech brakes to arrive to begin Roy's frame, a 26" wheeled rim brake frame with Rohloff internal geared rear hub, custom bar/stem and fork. So, in the interem, I tackled those never ending little projects that seem to hang in the fringes, nagging at you for attention.

The laundy list included;

turning up some Eccentric bottom brackets for Roy's build, worked on the final design for his custom dropouts, replaced a super short threaded steerer tube in an old Slingshot fork with a bright shiny new long threadless one for Hoss, built a set of Stans Arch 29er and Phil Wood wheels with pink nipples for Chris's Bigwheel, sprayed up a set of cranks for Kaltens bike, finished paint on Eric's Ho Down fork, and began milling some new swaging plates. Whew!

So, been keeping busy through the holidays, feeling the pressure of getting my stuff together for NAHBS in Februar;y, and looking forward to posting again tomorrow night hopefully with two completed builds :^)

Here's a photo courtesy of Big K, self proclaimed photographer for the blog today...he likes this one!

cheers,

rody

Sweet and Sour...

Ok, let me set the stage...

Cold (30 degrees F) and freezing rain, totally yucky outside. I'm glad to be in the shop today and not slogging away outside. I meander in, looking forward to being productive and brrrr... it sure is cold in here. Where's the heat?

First, the sour. The heat source for the shop is dead. As I contemplate my next move, I playfully fill the air with my visible breath; it's gonna be a looooong cooooold day :^(

So, back to the trusty Volvo, put on lot's of layers of stinky cycling clothes from the back, and back at it.

Looks like I'm going to order a radiant ceiling gas heat tube...puts out 60000 BTU's. I'll have to bust arse this week to get it installed so I can get some of these frames through paint. For some reason, paint does not spray well at 30 degrees ;^)

Next, the sweet. I got my new media blast cabinet installed. I've been looking for a newer model cabinet for quite some time and was lucky enough to find an almost local guy (30 miles away) who builds them; Mark from BAD BOY Blasters. These are sweet units for frame building, as they are just the right size, have good feed rate, and the vacuum kicks arse! No stopping to dust off the glass anymore. I had to rig it up to the old compressor, as I'm waiting on my motor contactor/starter to be finished up for the new one. The poor little thing could hardly keep up...looking forward to getting the big compressor up and running later this week.

I finished fabrication on Dicks Cross Frame and fork, blasted them and went to shoot a couple of pics for y'all. Guess what, the digi camera battery would not last long enough to process a pic...too cold!

Also got a DJ fork fabbed, blasted and ready for some gloss black powder...it's destined for Eric's orange Trek Jack, should be very cool.

So today was a mixed bag. Oh well, hopefully I'll have a better/more consistant day tomorrow.

cheers to ya,

rody

Federal training, short nights, and a bit of fab fun.

My dual role playing both framebuilder and fireman caught up with me this last two weeks. I had the "opportunity" (read...mandated) to attend a week long federal class on National Incident Management Systems for supervising emergency incidents of significance. Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds :^)

I followed this up with 2 days of Pediactric advanced life support Instructor training...my brain is a bit fried but I am thankful to be through it all. It's nice to be back on my normal shop schedule again.

However dull the training was, I was able to spend my evenings cranking out some work.

I got a good start on Dicks cross frame...a nice steely with matching Ho Down fork. Gotta finish up the rear stay brace and silver on some tidbits and then it's off to the paint booth.

I also finished up some forks and got them out.

Jim's Ho Down fork with 1.0" steerer is destined for his Yo Eddy. He loves the ride of the rigid bike but was dealing with a steerer that was a bit too short. His new fork has plenty of steerer and I spun up some custom spacers in a variety of heights so that the can dial in the fit for the new ride. Hoping it is all he wishes for in ride characteristics and style.

Well, breakfast is finished and it's time to boogie down to the shop.

Hope all is well with y'all,

rody