Roger, the winner of the Groovy free custom frame/fork/bar from the '08 race series, stopped by to pick up his winnings and show off his two boys. They are going to build the bike together, as I've got a feeling Dad loves to share his fun with his family.
I focused on Mike's road bike today. Mike has a loyal road frame that he loves to use for sport riding and light touring, but it needed a face lift. We are going to spray it up in some deep subtle hues; a metallic British racing green to metallic black moondust fade. Here we start off with a freshly stripped and blasted frame, all blown off and wiped down, ready for primer.
I mixed up the primer nice and thin so that it lays down smooooth...
Between each application of primer, the frame gets flashed off in the bake box for about 20 minutes then sanded down with 600grit paper to give a nice mechanical tooth for the next coat and to level out any irregularities in the finish. Taking your time here is important, as any imperfections at this stage will be ugly warts in the final finish.It was so sunny, I did my sanding outside :)
After the primer is all finished, I moved on to the color stages...three coats of British racing green gave a nice deep look
I then faded in the moondust on the lower sections of the frame, covering all of the chainstays and bottom bracket, fading up the tubes to the mid waterbottle level.
After the primer is all finished, I moved on to the color stages...three coats of British racing green gave a nice deep look
I then faded in the moondust on the lower sections of the frame, covering all of the chainstays and bottom bracket, fading up the tubes to the mid waterbottle level.After flashing off, it was on to the clear stages...
The frame will receive three coats of clear, baked and sanded between each coat. Here's number one into the box...
When the frame comes out, it looks so nice and sexy, you almost hate to sand it down. But truth be told, despite it's good looks, the frame needs the multiple coats for durability and visual depth. Here I am taking down the first clear to an even base...
The process will repeat it's self numerous times today, another shiny layer goes on...
After a final 4 hour bake at a lower temp, the frame will be ready to have it's last special item applied, a custom Jen Greene headbadge...
Jen does superb work, taking customer supplied images and turning them into silver works of art. A young Bob Dylan will adorn this frame when finished. Add in some new Ultegra components and Phil/Mavic wheels, and Mike will have a super ride for years to come.
The frame will receive three coats of clear, baked and sanded between each coat. Here's number one into the box...
When the frame comes out, it looks so nice and sexy, you almost hate to sand it down. But truth be told, despite it's good looks, the frame needs the multiple coats for durability and visual depth. Here I am taking down the first clear to an even base...
The process will repeat it's self numerous times today, another shiny layer goes on...
After a final 4 hour bake at a lower temp, the frame will be ready to have it's last special item applied, a custom Jen Greene headbadge...
Jen does superb work, taking customer supplied images and turning them into silver works of art. A young Bob Dylan will adorn this frame when finished. Add in some new Ultegra components and Phil/Mavic wheels, and Mike will have a super ride for years to come.Emmy came down after school to help out, cleaning up the machines and helping me tidy up a bit. Here she caught me cleaning out the gun after a clear coat session. The clothes are getting a bit baggy!
Of course, you gotta have the manditory cute puppy shot...Frankie is getting bigger. Soon we'll be able to begin running him on the trail with our other dog. Should be quite a posse on the trail soon :)
Welding up the some more bars today, then next week I'm on vacation from the fire department so will be working on Basti's stem, forks for lots of folks, and perhaps another resto. I'm gonna push really hard this month to clean some patient projects off the build list before hitting frames hard again in June.
Of course, you gotta have the manditory cute puppy shot...Frankie is getting bigger. Soon we'll be able to begin running him on the trail with our other dog. Should be quite a posse on the trail soon :)
Welding up the some more bars today, then next week I'm on vacation from the fire department so will be working on Basti's stem, forks for lots of folks, and perhaps another resto. I'm gonna push really hard this month to clean some patient projects off the build list before hitting frames hard again in June.cheers,
rody
2 comments:
Your aussie is a beautiful little dog, and the red/white/black paint job is of the chain! Three of the best 4 bike colors - all on one frame. Awesome!
Thanks guys for the nice comments. Adam, I really enjoy teaching others, but time is always tight. Give me a call and we can talk about your goals and what you'd like to achieve.
Andrew, I was really happy with the color pallate too, turned out pretty swell.
cheers,
rody
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