S/S nscandium 'cross frame

Something is up with my poor old camera so two of these photos are abnormally dark. If you click on them you'll get the larger image which might actually show something. This frame was built for an Easton employee who had a personal stash of sample tubes. These are not currently something I can buy but maybe some day there will be a pallet of tubes of this style coming my way from the far east. The frame has sliding Ahrens dropouts and is all scandium except for the seat tube. It has a specially profiled top tube with a flat area on the underside for more comfort when shouldering. Funny, I thought that cyclocross was all about discomfort......silly me.

Working too much to blog...

Hard work pays off some times. Here's the result of a couple of weeks of real focused grinding work in the salt mines. Six scandium frames will be in boxes tomorrow off to the heat treater along with a repaired team bike. These frames along with numerous repairs have made a September that really ran me down. I don't know how I'll have anything left to race cyclocross on Sundays but really, my job is to make fast bikes-not make my bike fast.....just the same, I'll still try !

Halfway there

After spending the morning prepping frames and driving all over town doing errands I was still able to get this front triangle done after lunch. The rest will have to wait a couple of days as tomorrow is my birthday and I'm shutting the shop. I hope when the door closes I'm really gone. I'm so hell bent on getting things done in the shop I think I might have forgotten how to do anything else.

Crazy busy this month

I'm pretty slammed this month and have not been able to photograph many of the frames going out to various points across the country. Broken team bikes, new team bikes, new anything bikes......I could be here 24-7 and still not keep up. At least now the broken team bikes are all fixed and bound for the heat treater .( Note the red one in the photo with a new front triangle..) To answer the obvious questions, # 1. Yes, aluminum and sandium frames can be repaired and re-heat treated for more seasons of abuse.# 2, yes, team bikes can and do break after many races and pounding rides. # 3, How long does the typical scandium 'cross frame last ? That's up to you....ride it like a BMX bike and you'll be lucky to get two seasons out of it. Ride it like and old man ( Me.......26th in the Nationals.....not bad, actually-just not noteable) and you'll be on season 6 on your frame with a big smile. #4 How do they fail ? Typical failures : Cracked chainstay , fatigue cracks near welds in the front end. These frames don't break in half catastrophically unless you don't pay attention to weird noises , and or front-end riding characteristics. The frame will warn you when it is ailing. Essentially, race bikes are just that-made to go fast, not made to wind up being handed down to your grandchildren. ....Yeah, I'm pretty burnt out from the repairs but happy that the bikes will be back out on the circuit getting the same beating as always.

Disc Brake 'cross frame and fork

This frame will be able to be thrashed on the trails, take racks for light touring and maybe get abused in the occasional 'cross race. This is a lot of bike in one package.

Team Euro cross

I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out. It is bound for Shillington, Pa. and the owner of a bike shop there. I hope he likes it.
My trademark wavy gussetts are easy to see in this photo. They are a bit more work but they personalize the frame and extend the life at the same time . Tig welds are really tiny so any kind of re-distribution of stress away from critical areas of the frame seems like a good idea.
All the bends back here were done by me with my 22 year old bending forms , mostly used for raking forkblades but useful for rear stays as well. I have another set of forms for bridges.
I shoot details of the welds a lot but they seldom come out this clearly. You can see in intimate detail the bead and the heat affected zone. I hope they pass your inspection.

Coupler frame painted

It isn't often that I send out a frame to Colorado for paintwork but it is always worth it-the results speak for themselves. Spectrum powdercoating is probably the top at what they do....put on a durable powder basecoat and lay on nice graphics. They also do an excellent job of masking where it is needed. This frame is aready with its owner as of today. It will get a Campagnolo 11 spd. gruppo and also has a matching steel fork and fenders painted to match.