Wheels and stems on a rainy Monday...

Well, it's day 5 of rain and cold temps again. Kinda tough on the morale, makes me wish I had time to fire of the kayak and go hit some white water :(

Got busy working on a few small projects that have lingered on the build list for a while. First up was Eric's stem. Eric is restoring a classic West Coast steely (don't want to give away too much) and is in need of a specific drop bar stem to complete the build. Based off of the classic Salsa P10, but modified to become a P12.5 (numerical defines the amount of reach), this will be a quill stem for 1.0" steerer tube with a simple pinch clamp on the scalloped handlebar mount. Eric is a rabid vintage collector and made the classic mistake in commissioning a piece from me..."there's no hurry" ;)

Laying out the design...


Cutting the quill stock with the cold saw. Because this will be a rider and there is a possibility of a long quill extension, I used a heavier wall tubing for the quill to sustain the forces upon it. Should feel rock solid under harsh conditions.

Facing and reaming the quill down in the lathe...

Scallop cutting the handlebar binder piece...this is important to leave enough material for stability but allow the curvy drop bar to slide through the stem clamp for mounting.

checking it against the design table...

Well, I broke a tooth in my only .875" hole saw so I'll have to wait to make the final miter for the quill...on to some wheel work.

Dick brought me his 90 Litespeed for an overhaul and I found a crack in the seat tube/bottom bracket area. Looks like a fatigue stress fracture that started in the weld zone and wound it's way around the tube. Anyhoo, it's all repaired now and Dick decided to make this frame a single speed road frame.

To facilitate the conversion, I built up an Eno rear hub by White Industries. If you have not checked these out, you should. The Eric's Eccentric Eno hub utilizes an eccentric axle, allowing for the axle to rotate in the frame to take up chain slack. This allows for a frame with vertical dropouts to be converted to a single speed or fixie without an unsightly chain tensioner. Very cool!

I built the wheel up with some bomber Mavic A319 rims and some pimping gold anno nipples...yeah baby!

Johnny stopped by with his 6-5-0 that he is using to race on this season...properly muddy after a loop at Mohican. He turned an amazing 2 hours for the 24.25 mile hilly course. That's FAST! How fast? Let's just say that my best estimated time is around double that...ouch!

And finally, pulled a pic off my phone of Don's Cheetah build all done up. Came out pretty sweet.
cheers,

rody