Groovy Open House

May 23, 2009

1000 - 1400

Ever wonder what goes on in a framebuilder's shop? Want to see all the grime and "glory" in person? Really don't care about the first two but want to get your grub on with some free food?... here's the opportunity to do it on my dime.

You are cordially invited to attend the Groovy Spring Open House on Saturday May 23, 2009. Shop tours, tech talk, good food, and a lot of socializing will be in full force. Whether you are a customer, friend, or just wanna see what custom is all about, feel free to stop on by. Throw in some door prizes, a couple games of corn hole, and we've got a dilly of a good time. We'll wind up the fun and then head out to Vulture's Knob for the Groovy Race series #2, where we will ride the Knob's challenging trails, eat some more, chill to some killer tunes by the bonfire, then turn into the tents and sleeping bags to camp out for the night.

Should be an excellent time for all.

Drop me a note if y'all plan to attend so I can insure that I get enough food and drink for all.

cheers,

rody

A new week rolls in...

And another week begins...

I pushed through a 36 hour shift Thurday and Friday at the fire department and then jumped in the car to head south of Columbus to attend Em's Ohio Valley Regional Volleyball Championships in Pikerington.
I threw my bike on the car in the hopes that I could stop at Alum Creek to ride on the way home. Good and Bad with that decision; Em's team went all the way to the championship game to win their division, finishing up late into the evening...Good. Bad...the only riding my bike got that day was on top of the car. It was an even trade though as it was awesome to see her team have some success.

I also got to hang with my niece and nephew who kept me well occupied most the day. I got quite a work out throwing them in the air, doing flips, running around the gym, etc... Here's my niece Elly hanging tough during the long tourney...

Monday morning it was back to the shop. I spent the majority of the morning changing out the hoses and fixtures on the blast cabinet, as the original pieces began springing leaks last week. I made a valiant effort to patch them as they sprouted, but after 3 spontaneous blowouts, I figured it was better just to bite the bullet and replace them all. After running after parts and wrenching a bit, four hours later I was back in business.

The shop needed put back into place with all the new equipment moved in, so I spent an hour and cleaned up the band saw a bit before setting it up. She was a bit rusty when I started...

But cleaned up real nice with a little work, here's the table in progress...

The next project attacked was a custom rack for Mike S's road bike. Mike wants a minimalist rack for some light credit card touring with a spare clothes. I don't do a lot of racks, as there are many good production options available. But when there is a special need, I've built a few. Racks are just as intensive as many other custom parts and take a bit of time to do right.

Here we started with .375 4130 tubing that is hand bent to my pre-determined specs for this application; 12 inches long, 4.5 inches wide...

I've never liked butting tubing together and circumferentially welding it, so I plan a bit of a gap in the joint and then spin down a press fit inner piece with a recessed shoulder to join the pieces.

Here you can see the gap to be joined...

and the lathe turned piece of steel that will be pressed into the ID of the tubing...

Once in place, you can see the recessed shoulder. This gap will fill nicely with a bit of silver to be filed down a bit for a seamless, strong joint. I off set the joint from center to leave room for a light mount to be added later with a little tig work.

Fresh out of the torch...

To connect the rack to the frame mounts, I spin down some more press fit ends that will be brazed in place. Here you can see the rough shapes that will soon be drilled to allow for the 5mm bolts to pass through them.

and finally a quick mock up of the top portion of the rack. I will align the rack laterally then braze the pieces so that all is straight and true before attaching the lower struts.

Not as fast as using a pre-made fixture to insure form, but when building one rack at a time for unique applications, the time taken insures long term happiness.

Before I knew it, the day was winding down. I really wanted to get a quick ride in, so I shut off the lights, locked the door, and flew out of the shop headed to the trail.

I've been doing really well with the weight loss, shedding 17 pounds thus far, and was hopeful that it would translate on the trail. The weather was cool but sunny, the trail a bit tacky from the recent rains, giving good traction, and though tired, I was moving consistently. I had a great ride, climbing every hill in a gear larger than I have before. Two thirds of the way around the trail, I began to believe that I'd have a good chance of meeting my goal of finishing a lap in under an hour.

I pushed a bit harder on the climbs and did my best to recover on the descents. Despite my "hard" effort, a young kid on a full squishy buzzed right past me hardly breathing and humming some punk rock tune...hmmm, I've got a way to go yet :)

As I rolled through the finish, I checked the clock in the Volvo, 55 minutes. Hot damn! I hit that goal earlier than I thought possible. Gonna have to re-evaluate a bit and set some more aggressive goals to strive for.

Good day overall, looking forward to getting back in the shop on Wednesday for final paint on Mike's road bike.

cheers,

rody

Happy 200th post!

Wow, 200 posts already, sure has gone fast.

I'm thrilled that y'all have been following along for the fun.

Today started off with a project for my dad...he called and asked if I could move a piano out of a storage unit for him before the end of the month. Now, just to be clear, that was move a piano for him, not with him. No worries, I thought. How big and heavy can an upright be? Well, let's just say that after lifting the piano into a trailer and then off loading it all by myself, it's a darn bit heavier than I remember a piano being. Workout for the day...check.

Thanks for the encouragement from y'all on the lard ass loss (ahem...lifestyle change), so to show ya that I'm hanging in there, here's today's shop meal; Spring rolls with spicy shrimp and seaweed salad...that oughta make an interesting turd ;)

I was only able to eat half of it before I was full. Kalten promptly showed up after school and sucked it up in about 5 seconds, oh to be a teenager again.

As I began cleaning up to begin welding, Mike S. showed up with a BIG something for me, my new Hardinge horizontal mill fresh from Plaza Machinery in Vermont. I've been patiently waiting for just the right machine to become available and this guy is the one. The mill, while a bit dirty, is tight and in great shape, should be a killer piece for mitering uni-crown blades and a few special parts I have on the back burner. I hadn't planned on receiving it today, but you gotta take life as it comes sometimes. Here she is all wrapped up like a big Christmas present...

I'm not sure how much this guy weighs, but it is a fair bit heavier than the piano :)

It took Mike and I and a 2 ton crane lift to off load it from the truck with some creative strapping and pulley work. All that rescue experience definitely came into play when setting up the rigging for this one.

I'm pretty sure I burned about a bazillion calories in getting this one placed. Maybe I should start looking for a nice used fork lift...hmmm.

And, as promised, the formula for the Team Violet Fat City paint. Take this list to your favorite supplier and you to can have the elusive color.

For a matter of information sharing, I use PPG paint, DBC series, listed by weight based on a pint formula...

FCC TEAM VIOLET:

DMD 1684 White 668.5

DMD 1679 Red 40.3

DMD 1683 Black 17.7

DMD 1676 Blue 8.0

DBC 2002 series clear 6 oz with 3 puffs of Sunset Red Pearl overcoat

There y'all go...hopefully we'll keep more vintage rides looking great for decades to come.

At the FD for a 36 hour push so I'll try to catch up on correspondence.

cheers,

rody

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

April finishing up quickly

Not a bad day, today, I got a lot done.

I finished up the final prep on Roger's frame so I can wrap it up for him...tapped out all the threads, put on the polished headbadge, rubbed it down with some mild compound and polished with wax, and then gave it a little slap on the rear, the final touch when a new frame/baby is born :)

The rest of my day was spent getting Luvs ready for welding...lots of moly and Ti bars to melt together. Most of the April stuff has shipped, just a few stragglers left which are made up mostly of favors and extra pieces that I said I would "fit in" to the schedule. The majority of these boxes will make up the next months order.

Since the weather had improved, Kalten rode to the shop from school and spend some time cleaning and blowing out the cobwebs from the new bandsaw. Gonna take some time and elbow grease to get most of the rust off the table and blade support arbor...keep working buddy.

The plan for tomorrow is to put the final touches on Mike's Yo so I can send that bad boy out.

I've gotta go back into the FD tomorrow night, so I'll try to post up some pics of the Team Lavendar paint on the blog while I'm there.

cheers,

rody

The weekend busted out with all the spring glory you could ask for; warm, sunny, and not a drop of rain in sight...too bad I was sequestered at the Fire Department Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a relentless push at work. It's days like those that the 24 hour work day really sucks, kinda like being in prison some times.

Monday morning was fortunately just as nice, so I snapped a pic of the finished renovations with my spanky new red awnings we built...

Those should keep the rain off so I can leave the doors open in the summer.

While at the FD, I had some time Sunday afternoon to do some free wrenching for some of the local kids. It starts off with one or two kids who know that I'll help out, then before you know it, they begin to come by in a steady stream...

Armed with only the tools in my camelback, I was actually surprised to find just how much stuff I carry in there. No wonder I'm always bringing up the rear of the pack ;) (wish that was really the reason, and not my fat arse and out of shape cardio system!)

Yesterday, after coming off of the three day push, I was pretty worn out both physically and mentally. Christi let me grab a 45 minute nap before getting me up to get me to the shop.

Typical when you are tired, you don't have the mental acuity necessary for a lot of tasks, and I paid the price;

While mixing up a cup of clear, I grabbed my can of catalyst (hardner) and poured in the measured amount...Oh no, something doesn't look right! Here I had grabbed the catalyst for the primer system, not the clear. Well, there's 5 bucks wasted...so I grabbed the bad cup of product, ripped the lid off the waste can I keep on the bench for washed out paint and such, and poured it in. That's when I realized I had just dumped the bad stuff into the new can of clear. Wham, 100 bucks down the drain. Should have quit for the day an hour earlier ;)

But with every bad circumstance, something good can occur. After feeling miserable about my screw up, my friend Gary showed up with something for me...a free metal cutting bandsaw!

Gary had bought this 8 years ago and never turned it on..."I thought you could use it". He wouldn't take any money for it. Should be a nice piece for rough shaping custom dropouts and such. Things are looking up again :)

I also heard from Jeff, my sponsored rider for the season, who had competed in the Cohutta 100 in TN. Jeff finished 4th overall, 2nd in the singlespeed class...AWESOME! Watch this kid folks, he's gonna be real good.

cheers,

rody