David's 29er...

Lots happening here at Groovy headquarters...have both fixtures loaded up with frames in progress, trying to work through the last of the bars for the year, and getting ready for the final race and open house this fall.

Today let's check in on David's bike...gonna be a 29er built around 100mm suspension to rip through the Oregon woods.  It will be painted in a pink cheetah motif (color choice courtesy of David's daughter) and fitted with some killer parts.

The possible genetic family tree?

A quick shot of the bottom bracket/down tube coming together...

I rolled a top tube and then brought it into the line of the rear end to give the bike a fast profile, paralleling that of the speedy cat.

I also have been working on the last of the bars...probably said yes too often to folks when they asked if we could work in just "one more" bar before the end of the years run.  Here's the last of the steels, ready for paint...

Will be finishing up the Ti's today.

Next post...we'll catch up on the bike in the other fixture, Martin's Ti.

rody

Kids Contest Results: The Baby Luv goes to...

We had seven beautiful kids who share the love of cycling with their parents (or is it the other way around?) enter the contest...I'm so proud that EVERY child in the pictures have a helmet on :)

Though I'd love to give each one a special prize, I only have one bar  :(


Here are our contestants (no names to protect their Internet privacy)...

Christi and Em oooh'd and ahhh'd as we viewed each picture, but in the end, the winner was awarded by a random drawing.

So...Miss Etta Stephen is the winner of a new baby Luv bar that will grace her first two wheeled bike.  Lee, you'll have to send us a pic of it all built up for the follow up  :)

Thanks for playing folks!

rody

Random dribbles...

A quick note to catch y'all up...

After coming off of a 38 hours shift Friday and Saturday at the FD, I came home, hastily gathered up what I could to get ready for the Westbranch Enduro, slammed it in the car, slept 3 hours and was back up at 0400 to leave for the race.

Setting up in the dark under the stars was kinda cool (cold too!) but I could have done without the dew soaked feet we all suffered with for the rest of the day.

So many awe inspiring efforts from first time racers to our seasoned vets, I'm so blessed to be able to be part of it all.  We have one of the best mountain bike families I've had the pleasure to be part of.

The 331 crew deserves some big props for all the hard work put in this season...only the final party/race to go October 15 before we rewind the tape and start it all over in 2012...hoping to add in a womens only race, the start of the High School league races, and bring a higher level of professional promotion to the good folks of Ohio.

I crashed last night on the couch, downed a Marley, and fell into blissful sleep.

Plan today is to get lots of stuff shipped out...Chad and Jerone's bikes, bars, some decals, and a few tapered head tubes for a fellow builder.

Gonna try to make it to Em's volleyball game if I can squeeze it in.


Baby Luv contest results tonight, so check back!

rody

Time for a kid's contest...

Ok folks,

When I cleaned the shop this week I ran across a baby set of Luv Handles, perfect for a kid's bike, so it's contest time!

If you would like a shot of winning this set of bars, send a pic of your little trail guy or gal having fun on their bike to contest@groovycycleworks.com and we'll select on of our entries at random.

Good luck to y'all,

rody

Fabricating a custom Ti welding cup...

A common theme in fabrication is the necessity of creating job specific tools.  I'm often asked by other builders and hobbyists what tig equipment I use for welding titanium to insure the highest quality welds possible.

For a number of years I used a champagne cup from Weld Tech, but over the last year have transitioned to a custom cup configuration that allows better control of the argon coverage, greater electrode extension for those hard to reach places, and is less expensive to fabricate than purchasing ti specific equipment.

Here's a quick pictorial on creating the custom ti cup from available components...

Grab yourself a number 12 ceramic cup, large gas lens, and some JB weld...

 Chuck up the gas lens in the lathe and turn down the OD, removing the threads...

 Flip the part around and put a radius on the top edge, rounding it to fit the profile of the ceramic cup...

 One lens radiused, one ready to go into the lathe...

 Mix up some JB Weld...

 and apply generously to the chamfered edge...

 Carefully insert the lens into the cup so that the threaded end extends through the smaller diameter hole...

 I machined up a small fixture that the lens threads into and pulls it up tight inside the ceramic cup...

 Dip a Q tip into some acetone and clean up any stray epoxy...

 Allow it to set for 6-8 hours, remove the fixture and you have a custom cup that allows for maximum argon shielding, lots of electrode extension, and super clean welds...

If you want to check out a more in depth explanation with a demonstration, check out the vid on You Tube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPZ00jFDuxY

cheers,

rody

A pot full of update...yummy

Hey guys and gals,

Last I checked in, I was pushing hard to get ready for the big Manatoc race weekend.  I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday alternately working/sweating my arse off with the rest of the 331 crew to pull off another successful festival/race in the Cuyahoga National Recreation area.

Overall, we had a total of 690 racers between the trail run, cross races, kids races, and the xc mountain bike event.  Add to this another 700 registered trail riders and an equal number of families/friends who came out to enjoy the event, and you can see that we had our hands full.  It was a good time, but exhausting.

What compounded the effort was the fact that when I ran from the stage Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the awards ceremony, I had just under 2 hours to rush back home to Wooster, and get into the fire department, where I spent the next 4 and half days (I did get a 8 hour break Tuesday before getting called back in), landing me back home Thursday morning at 0730.  Thus the big empty space in the blog timeline.

Thursday I wasn't worth a poop for productivity; caught up on some emails, took two conference calls, office work, worked on assembling Chad's road bike, and then mowed my 20" long grass that had been growing maliciously fast while my back was turned the last few weeks.  I started Friday with a good nights sleep and tackled the task of cleaning up the shop...a job that had been unfortunately ignored in the rush of life the last couple of weeks.

With life back on track to start a nice Saturday I prepped and machined handlebars and worked on cleaning up the design for Martins dropouts, a tough piece as they need to have clearance for a belt cog and use post style disc brakes between the stays, a lot to try to fit into such a tight space threshold.  I'm close on making them a reality, and hopeful that they work in practice as they do on the computer.

Sunday started off with our departments 9-11 ceremony then right back into the shop to catch up on welding handlebars.

I heard from the plater today, cranks should be done by the end of the week, hooray!

I'll be finishing welding bars tomorrow and working on Martin's and Davids frames simultaneiously, as Martin's has a lot of small one off Ti parts and Davids is a more striaght up steel build.

I apologize for the lack of witty, entertaining content on the post...feeling pretty tired so just content to catch everybody up.

rody

It's time...Big Valley Race Weekend!

That's right folks, the biggest Mountain biking event in Ohio is here again this weekend; the Big Valley Race and Festival on the grounds of Camp Manatoc in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.  Come join us Saturday and Sunday for tons of demos, vendors, racing for all ages and abilities, and to just ride these fantastic trails that are open for riding only once a year.

Here's the info...

The Manatoc Experience

331 Racing's Big Valley Festival

September 3 & 4, 2011 - presented by 331 Racing and it's partner sponsors

Ohio's largest mountain biking event will be returning for its 10th year building on the successful two day festival format. This two day event is much more than a typical mountain bike race; there are clinics, open riding, group rides, race course preview, a children's zone that includes safety programs and 4 different types of kids races, limbo contest, bunny hop contest, CAMBA group rides, cyclocross races, Xterra 1/2 marathon trail run and manufacturer demo bike exposition in addition to the mountain bike race.



NEW for 2011
more demo bikes
more exhibitors
more new trail
more food
3 new youth categories - U-18 Expert, U-15 Sport, U-15 Beginner
Complimentary wrenching provided by Century Cycles on Saturday
Test ride bikes from the following manufacturers:

Specialized
Raleigh
Felt
Specialized designs for Women
Scott
Intense
Yeti
KONA
Planet X

Vender Expo:

The North Face
Sram
Edge Outdoors
Mountain Road Cycles
Idutri
The Bicycle Hub
Specialized
Raleigh
Felt
Eddy's Bike Shop
Ray's Mountain Bike Park
Century Cycles
Ohio Cycleworks & Indoor Cycling
CAMBA
COMBO
Pure121 Northcoast Mt Bikers
Spin

-------------------------Featured events---------------------------

Johnson Memorial Children's Races - Saturday afternoon

XTERRA OHIO - Trail 1/2 Marathon running race
Saturday morning

NEOCX - Cyclocross races
Saturday afternoon
The first race of the "NE Ohio Cross Season"

MONSTER XC - Cross County mountain bike races presented by MONSTER ENERGY
Sunday

XC Race day goodie bags include samples from: Emergen-C, revive, Larabar, Chamois Butt'r, Monster Energy, Clif Bar, Wheaties Fuel and more.

* FOOD * - There will be food served all day Saturday and Sunday as a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. Baked pasta, hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks, cookies and more. Please support the scouts and thank them for granting us access to their trail system.

Saturday Open Ride Admission:

- $5.00 gate fee for all biking participants - % of funds being donated to the Johnson Family Memorial. Kids are free

** NO DOGS ALLOWED AT THIS VENUE **

The event is located on the 600 acre Camp Manatoc Boy Scout Camp located in Peninsula, Ohio; (15 minutes from downtown Akron and 25 minutes from downtown Cleveland) This camp is located within the confines of the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) and is 1 mile from the historical Ohio/Erie Canal Tow Path Trail that stretches from Cleveland to Akron and beyond.

The first day is an 'open riding day'. Our local IMBA advocacy group, Cleveland Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) holds group rides and educational riding clinics with a focus on beginning mountain bikers and women. We host an array of kids-oriented activities including kid's races, safety reviews and games.

In addition, a demo loop is set up for manufacturer's demo bikes so that riders of all abilities can ride and feel the new technology where it was intended; on the single-track trail.

Saturday afternoon is filled with Cyclocross racing as the NEO Cyclocross series opens their season at the Manatoc Experience.

Day two is the mountain bike race. This event has built up momentum over the past nine years despite nature's lack of assistance. (6 out of 9 years it has absolutely poured race day morning or throughout the day) It has previously served as a NORBA State Championship qualifying race. We have all the necessary facilities for the avid racer to compete at their fullest.

Please check out http://www.331racing.com/cms/event/manatoc/index.html for more info
 
cheers,
 
rody