Hump day happenings...Mike's Yo and stuff

Howdy guys and gals,

Today was spent in paint and bars (not the drinking kind).

I continued to prep the balance of the Ti Luvs by drilling the vent holes to allow the argon to pass throughout the piece for oxygen free welding.

Here's #1 of 50 going through the mill... Mikey J. gave me a CD of our Arizona bike trip pics and I came to a couple of conclusions...it was a great trip, gotta go back, and man, I'm fat. Too much work and too little play time, eating dinner at 2200 hours, and poor choices have added up. I now weigh the most I have in my life, so it's time to start a lifestyle change. Actually, I began last week.

My goal for this year is pretty focused and is three fold. I have not raced since my heart problems started in '96 and I'd really like to participate in an event. So I decided that I'd like to participate in the last race of the Groovy series this fall and turn in a lap in less than 1 hour, a personal best for me. Considering some of the experts run 32 minute laps, it's not a lofty goal for most, but it's achievable. with lots of work from me.

To do this, goal number two...gotta lose 30 pounds off my fat arse. So, I've been making better choices, not eating like a teenager, and am doing pretty good. Almost two weeks in and I'm down 10 pounds without suffering too much. I should be able to hit this goal in time for the last race of the season.

Finally, goal number 3...to ride the entire 24 miles of the Mohican Forest singletrack in one go. Now this is something that most avid mountain bikers could run off without much effort, but the killer for me is the hills. Due to my meds, my heart max's out at about 130 beats per minute, but the aerobic effort required for the climbing is MUCH more. After a few minutes, I literally see stars dancing in my vision, so I have to get stronger at riding right at the ceiling limit for longer periods of time. The only way to accomplish this is to ride more. So, I'm gonna try to get out at least 3 times a week, we'll see.

I'll let ya know how I'm doing...here's what I had for lunch, just in case you're keeping tabs on me :)Today I worked on the final coats of clear on Mike's Yo project. I thought I'd bring you up to date on the progress thus far, then hit ya with the finished product tomorrow once the final clear bakes out tonight.

We started with a Saratoga Yo that I added a disc tab, curved brace, removed the canti bosses, cable stops removed, then added new cable routing.

The frame was stripped, blasted, and started with a little primer...

The frame and fork each got 3 coats of primer, sanded between each coat with 600 grit, the final coat rubbed down with 1000 grit to give a nice smooth base.

Here's the final coat of primer on the frame and fork, resting out a bit before I bake it. I typically rotate the frame through multiple axis after spraying to eliminate any drips or sags if one area gets too much material...a nice feature my paint fixture allows.

The final primed pieces go in the bake box to flash off the solvents for about 15 minutes before the first color coats...

Now, before the color coats begin, a little history. The Team Violet paint used on Fat City bikes has always been a popular color, yet a difficult one to replicate. Mike Flannagin, now of ANT bikes, was the original painter who mixed it up. Contrary to popular belief that the color came from a Milka Chocolate wrapper, Mike stated that the color originated from a customer's desire to match the color of his favorite cycling jersey. Mike took the jersey into the booth, mixed the color by eye, adding a little pearl red in the clear to "make it pop", and "Team Violet" was born.

Throughout Fat's years, the color had always been mixed by eye, therefore, multiple hues of the color exist. I've had at least 6 different "Team Violet" colors through the shop, so it's tough to color match existing parts. I was told that Serrotta had a PPG code made for the color, but after speaking with their painters, found this to be inaccurate; too bad.

I've always just mixed by eye as well...start with lots of white, a little bit of red, more blue, etc...

This time, I actually measured out the formula and wrote it down. I'll post it up tomorrow on the blog and on Fat Cogs so that the color will be able to be consistently replicated for other's in the future, regardless of their painter.

Anyhoo, off to the color coats...three are applied with 15 minute flash times between each.

The frame and a happy fork...

After the color goes on, a single coat of clear mixed with Sunset Red pearl is sprayed on to give it that crazy red glow in the sunlight. Here's what it looks like mixed up in the cup...you can just see a tint of red near the top. See it? Squint a bit more ;)

The pearlized clear coat on. You are probably saying..."it doesn't look any different". You're right, the pearl is really tough to catch in a picture, without sunlight, on a crappy camera. Oh well, you will just have to trust me that it is cool!

Tomorrow, I'll post up the final decal'd frame.

Gonna be welding most the day, listening to tunes to keep the soul enriched.

Cheers,

rody