Hello Kitty

The last post's bike was all about subtlety.
This one is a little more outspoken.

It's for David Bonnet in France.

The paint scheme on this one was nerve wracking.
Getting the masking in register was a leap of faith.
Turned out as I hoped though.

There's something about that blue...

Rock out with Big Business.
Check out the drums on that dude!
If you were to ask me, I'd tell you
they were way better a few years ago
as a two piece, before they picked
up the noodling guitar. But that's just me.

Hand in Glove

Hey y'all.
This bike is for David Meredith in North Carolina.

Subtle arcs, subtle colors.

Thanks, David.

How about some Smiths?
That's right, The Smiths, not Morrissey,
The Smiths.

I Got Stripes

Hey gang.
Another bike here.
This one was made for Brian Vernor.

This bike is a pretty straight forward mountain bike.
Twenty six inch wheels and a full compliment of gears.

These are a new dropout option from black cat.

This bike replaces Brian's Fat Chance Yo Eddy
he bought new in 1991. Big shoes to fill.

Yes, there were a lot of tiny pieces of tape
used to make this paint job happen.
A lot.

You know how sometimes
something pops up repeatedly
in a small amount of time?
For me, lately, that's been
Willie Nelson's
Phases and Stages.
A very good record, but when you go
to the TUBES of YOU, all you can really find
is other folks singing Willie's songs.
All but this song.


Here's that Johnny Cash song that
matches the post title as a consolation.

Chug-a-Lug

This post is going to a little long on pictures this time
around as this bike took a painfully long time to build.
I'm going to make you guys look at everything.

The bike was built using a variety of techniques.
Amongst those used are traditional fillet brazing,
bi-laminate construction, and quasi-traditional lug work.

Most of the "lugs" are bi-laminate construction where
collars are brazed onto the ends of the tube,
the tubes are mitered, then fillet brazed together.
The curved tubes are REALLY hard (if not impossible)
to get to a snug fit on a pre-made or custom made lugs,
so the bi-laminate method is the preferred route.

Curvy, curvy, curvy.

This chainwheel is the bee's knees.
made by the guys at RCR Fabrication.
I've got a bunch of 34 tooth numbers in black and silver.
They fit straight up to any of the newer Sram carbon cranks.
They will fit from a 3/32" to a 10speed chain.
Super light, super clean.
Give me a shout if you are interested in one.

The fork is made with a variety of methods by itself.
The crown is made by fillet brazing. The fork blades
and steerer are then silver brazed into the crown.
The reasoning for this is the silver filler melts at a
much lower temperature and effects the steel much
less than using all brass. Much stronger that way.
Strong forks are nice.

400 Blows is the music pick.

Stripped down and abrasive.

Spring Break!

Hey Gang, another bike today.
Today you're looking at a bike that
was made for Paul Price.

Paul asked for what he was calling an "XC CX."
We settled on a bike that had room for fat cross tires
(45c's in these pics), a 1x10 speed drive train,
drop bars, and slightly slacker geometry
than a traditional cyclocross bike.

As I was taking these pictures, this month's
storm of the century moved in.
Sorry for the droplets.

The music this time 'round is
Iron and Wine. The songs are from
The Shepard's Dog record.
Lovesong of the Buzzard
Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car
Boy with a Coin

Oh yea, part two.
The theme of our road trip started as
"Let Go 2010" but we decided that
sounded totally last year, so we shortened
it up a bit to "Let Go."

Full Blown Touring

Steve Brawley is the recipient of this touring rig.
This bike was built for one thing in mind: loading up,
and being able to comfortably go the distance,
no matter where that might be.

While the bike may look gentlemanly enough,
it will fit a 45c knobby tire, just in case the
desire for a gravel road tour strikes.
Not that gentle people can't ride dirt roads...

I've decided that painting or pin striping lugs
is the hardest paint job around.
It takes so much concentration and technical ability.
More than I've got, anyway.

Plain and simple lug lines.

Here are some more of those racks that so
carefully repeat the lines of the bike.

I've already told Steve that if he
doesn't want this bike, for whatever reason,
I'll happily take it back.

Music pick: Jawbox
Just dissonant enough to remember
that is was the 90's in DC.
Good stuff.
I like them very much. Always have.

Huh?

Now that I'm totally famous I'll only be taking orders from celebrities,
celebrity chefs, celebrities' assistants, and celebrities' pet caregivers,
and celebrity chefs' pet caregivers.
Thank you.