Friday I welded up the front triangle on a second road frame. It's so easy to cut up another tube set while I have the fixtures set, so Chris's road frame will have a twin, with the exception of the couplers.
This front section welded up super smooth, which made up for the mitering disaster I endured the previous day in the shop. Funny how stepping away for a bit helps to refocus and change the mood.
Here's a shot of the completed bottom bracket area;
and a quick pic of the front tri...it'll be a 58cm top tube with a 54 seat tube. A compact design that will yield a stiff responsive performance ride. If you know anyone who's looking for a nice steely road frame ;)...
I busted out of the shop and took my kids and Cubby out to Vulture's Knob for some muddy single track. Summer is here, as the mosquitoes were thick and the poison ivy abundant. The kids rode hard and Cubby did well for his first time out on the trail with the bikes. A couple of quick tire burns on his butt and he learned to keep moving :)
Off to the fireworks with the Francones who came in from Tucson for a visit and the day was gone.
Today I sat and looked at the rear end I was going to use for the road bikes, but decided that I just wasn't feeling it with the current materials. I'm going to run up to Joe B's on Monday and sort through some chain stays and seat stays to find the "just right" pieces for Chris's frame...something with some style to match the lines.
So instead, I built the front forks for the build; a sleek unicrown design. Here are the basic parts ad tools for the fork set up:
I draw out the design on the set up table and then it's off to fabrication. The first step is to clean up the crown race on the lathe for a nice fit and then measure and attach it to the steerer tube. I use a neat roller set up to cleanly weld the crown in place, a piece left over from the old Grove Innovation days...Love it!
Next up is setting all the pieces in place for confirmation and then begin milling and cutting.
Below you can see the end of the blade slotted for the drop out and set on the table for comparison:
Flashing forward a bit, I've mitered the blades and welded the fork up. I leave the steerer long so that when I weld around the bottom of the blades, there is no melting away of the steerer edge. I then go back and cut out a section with the hole saw to fit the radius of the tire, leaving a clean smooth look.
The rough fabbed fork back on the design to check all the measurements:
and in the frame with a wheel just to see how it flows, looking happy :)
Monday I'll braze in the dropouts, mill in the scallop, drill the brake mounting hole and do some quick polishing and the forks will be ready for paint.
Doug stopped by and was amazed that he actually saw me with shoes on. Yep, it's true, I rarely wear them but I do have some footwear that cover my toes :) As I left my Birks at the shop from riding home Friday, I threw on my classic Airway Bowling skate shoes, circa 91.
Emmy said I look like a weird hippy with them on...that's good, right?
cheers,
rody
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