Messin' with Texas

Hey, Y'all.

This frameset is for Davis Bickston from the Republic of Texas.

Davis wanted a single speed 29er, and that's just what he got. 

This little bridge between the top and seat tubes allows for a bit more 

stand over clearance while keeping the arced line.

Pewter anodized dropouts.

A mix of careful masking and brush painting.

Segmented forks allow the builder to tune the ride of the fork

for each individual. I like to fillet braze the crown first with brass, 

leaving the steerer tube and fork blades to be brazed in 

with silver, which has a much lower melting temperature,

 to keep the steerer and blades much less heat effected

and as strong as possible.  

Thanks, Davis.

Here's a little clip from Texas.

It's the Lillingtons. Man, they were young!

Death By Television has to be one of the 

most ridiculously fun records since The Ramones.

Viva, los powerchords!

Pack Mule

Hey gang.

This post is slightly different than the norm.

I'm going to show you the bike while in action.

This bike was built for NAHBS as a bike packing bike.

Full Moto-Touring.

 I guess it makes sense to show it off to you half way through a short 

excursion in the local 87,000 acre state park.

  

The bike was built as a fairly straight forward mountain bike.

Not super light, not super beefy. 

 

I've seen rack mounts torn off seat stays, or worse, 

cracked or torn the seat stay itself.

These mounts run through both sides of the tube

and are threaded all the way through.

Keeps the frame strong, the rack stiff, 

and the mounting bolts much less likely to back out.

The loops on the racks are for running straps through to 

stop them from migrating around and loosening.

I prefer to make touring gear to be as universal as possible. 

With these racks you can strap anything on them and off you go. 

I like running dry bags. Easy, light, and replaceable in a pinch.

These are third set of racks I've made myself
to make sure all the bugs were worked out.

Those bugs are now long gone.

Racks allow for things to be tight, immovable, and out of the way.

I like my skills dictating whether or not I feel comfortable 

going for that steep off-camber switchback, 

not my gear getting in the way or pulling me around.

The front rack is mounted both from underneath, with an 

expanding wedge that holds tight in the steerer tube, 

and from above between the headset and stem.

With all the moving parts, there's not a lot of room to spare so the bolt head

 on the wedge must be a button head, and the brace from below must

 do a little up and over to make room for the bridge on the fork lowers. 

It's tight, but there's just enough room.

 

 Add some extra pounds on the front end of a bike 

and wider handle bars make a lot of sense.

Add a few inches of width to your handle bars and 

suddenly that stem is a bit overwhelmed.

Adding a bit of width to the stem suddenly 

brings it all back to the comfort zone.

It looks pretty cool too. 

Proto-typical proprietary dropout.

Holes drilled for 5mm, 6mm, or 8mm bolts.

You thought the holes just looked cool? 

Full length housing routed on the top of the down tube, 

the side of the tube least likely

 to get yanked when barging an overgrown trail, 

damaged from portaging or kicked up debris.

 Protects the frame when using front triangle frame bags,

and keeps those bags tight, 

since you're not fighting the cables to strap them on. 

This bike is going to be a work in progress.

At the show, I wanted to have another fork and 

set of racks for more road going voyages but ran out of time.

I'll keep y'all posted as it occurs. 

Sorry it's been so long posting, but the timing of frames going out has been awkward  

and I've gotten a bit bored of my own web-log. 

If I'm bored, you've got to be in tears by now. I've

been thinking that the "end result format" is getting a bit stale.

I'm not going to start covering religion and politics, 

and I'm not going to wax poetic on the virtues of my chosen

brand of flux, tubing, safety glasses, peanut butter, etc, 

but if you were coming to visit the shop, 

what would you want to see?

See. Not read. See.

Think photo essay, not a regrettable ranting diatribe.

You will not be let off the hook when it 

comes to my horrific taste in music though.

It is a one man dance party, after all...

Lately I've been obsessed with

Future of the Left

Small Bones, Small Bodies

Manchasm

The Lord Hates a Coward

Or you can watch a whole set starting here.

Monochrome

Another bike made for the Handmade Show this year.


It's built with Enve Composites top tube and seat mast,
otherwise, a nice mix of True Temper's S3 and Columbus Zona.

The lugs are hand built by yours truly to utilize the seamless aesthetic
offered by the King Inset 6 headset.
Very square, very deco.

Campagnolo Super Record and Enve Composites, what else do you need?

Here's the completed head tube lugs. Now to build the bike...

Head tube lugs in action.

This is the seat tube lug before it's cut out of the seat tube. 

At this point the seat tube has been brazed onto the bb shell

and is awaiting to have the center cut out so it can be made into separate lugs.

The Hold Steady.
Anything off
"Almost Killed Me".
Positive Jam
The Swish
Barfruit Blues
Most People are DJs
etc, etc, etc...

Always Check the Horse's Teeth

Salutations!

This bike may or may not look familiar to you.
It has the distinction of being the one-two punch
for the marketing division of Black Cat Bicycles.


It was built for Bike Mag's Ryan Labar, aka Squirrel, to do a review on
in the latest issue of said magazine.

It was also spotted at this years NAHBS.

My thoughts on the plan was similar to my thoughts from last year's
show: so many of the show bikes are incredible examples of
the builders' craft (dare i say, art?),
but bikes really are made for riding, first and foremost.

Anybody (and I mean anybody) can ride their
own creations and give the thumbs up.
This takes it one step further and asks someone else
to give a thumbs up or down, on a bike going to the show
as an example of what I make and ride.
Lay it all out.

The bike was displayed as it came back to me.
Not polished, not filthy, not artfully spattered with mud just so.
How a real bike looks after a few good hard rides,
without meticulous cleaning.

This bike is outfitted to shred. How I wish my bikes were set up.
Shimano XTR crank and brakeset,
Fox fork with that kashima business,
Chris King hub, headset, and cog,
Easton carbon cockpit bits,
Enve composites rims,
WTB rubber and saddle.

This bike is up for grabs!
Check out the new page over on the side bar for bikes for sale.

Sold!
Thanks.

The music selection for this post is:
the Mountain Goats.
Hardly unknown, hardly known enough.
Nobody can write a song like John.
The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton.
This Year.
Psalms 40:2.

Mr Reliable

Yo.


This bike is for Mike Adamski in Durango, Colorado.


I really like how this one turned out.
Super simple and clean with a very smart color selection.
Good thinking, Mike.

Thanks, Mike!

Russian Circles is today's
listening assignment.
You can't fake drumming like this.
Get some.