four out of six....

Working hard this week I fell short f my goal , but only just. I'm hoping to have six shiny aluminum frames off to the heat treater by the end of next week. These are four completed front triangles of the six started. I like switching from steel to aluminum and back again every 5 weeks or so.....the variety makes the job more fun and keeps me sharp at both mediums.

first aluminum batch of the year

This pile of tubes represents an afternoons work. I did machine the headtubes yesterday but all the mitering , welding and alignment took place between 2 and 6 p.m. The morning was devoted to a really ugly seat tube repair on a more mass-produced frame. The work came out great but I think I charged about half of what I should have....out of sympathy, I guess. The aluminum batch is at four now but will be about eight when I'm done.

Push bike for a one year old

I have built a bike for a 10 year old triathlete, a mountian bike for a 2 1/2 year old toddler but this is positively the smallest bike I have ever built. The frame is a replica of one of those wooden "Like a bike" push bikes that are currently so popular. If you look at the frame you can see that I started with a tange cro-mo road fork and built it up from there.....the front fork is one that I built a little too short so I chopped it, spread it and welded on some old plate dropouts that I had sitting in a box of leftover Bontrager pieces. The seat tube is from a BMX tubeset , the rest are various cro-mo straight guage aircraft tubes except the headtube which is another relic from the Bontrager junk box. The tube that hangs downward derectly behind the fork is a steering restrictor, something requested by the customer......even one year olds can be very specific.The whole thing looks like a leaping jaguar, or more appropriately , some sort of creature from a movie done with too much computer animation. It was fun and challenging to build.

Very small steel road frame

It was late and dark outside so i had to shoot the photos in the shop. This frame is pretty tiny but it has a fairly long top tube for its size to accomodate the riders proportions.

I did some bending on the seat stays to make them a little more roomy for the tire, the brake bridge and to space the rack bosses properly when I put them on tomorrow, along with all of the other braze ons. This is the last frame of 2009.

The headtube extention puts the bars in the right place without sacrificing important standover room. Here's a view of the seatstays from the rear. I did all the bending with an elderly mandrel from my prehistoric Bontrager fork raking fixture. While it is possible to do some nice bends with the setup, it is also possible to ruin some perfectly good tubing. Fortunately I didn't ruin any today.

853 'cross frame

It has been a while since I have built an 853 frame. I must say, these tubes feel different just pulling them out of the box. There's a perceptable 'solid' feel.....maybe I'm crazy , but the high surface hardness of these tubes seems to be something I can feel just picking them up. O.K., I am crazy......nobody can feel that-jsut the same, the tubes are really round, ultra finely finished and just reek of quality. I now have a renewed enthusiasm for using these tubes, even if the price is a little steep. Maybe my next hardtail MTB will have a set. This frame is going to a local rider who will probably be riding trails more than racing. I built it solid so that it will hopefully last a long time.

I can put a few extra bends in the seatstays on a larger frame such as this. It's a nice look and makes for a more interesting appearance.

Al Carbon for Santa Barbara

This frame is one of my more popular styles. The 7005 aluminum provides a very quick response to the pedals while the carbon seatstay keeps the ride from being too rough. My newest personal road bike is very similar to this one. The long head tube is to accomodate a higher handlebar position in accordance with the customer's instructions. I feel that most cycling related body ailments can be traced to the handlebars being too low, too close or both.

Rita gets a bike

Only two of the photos I took of this frame were in focus. It's too bad because the welds on this frame were about as good as I can do. The tubeset is mostly Columbus Life....I don't use it much as it is a little light for riders about 150 lbs. but this rider is well shy of that. The result is a steel 'cross frame that is 3 lb.s, 11 oz. , not much more than the weight of an aluminum frame. The difference will be a bit more compliance in the ride and a little more shouldering room as the tubing is much smaller diameter. This is one of the few frames I have left to finish before 2010.