Step-through 26" wheel townie and rider

 I got this one built finally-an interesting build. The drive train is mostly Ultegra with a CX-70 crank and fr. der. so I had to get some flat-bar road shifters. These shifters look just like the MTB versions but they have a leverage ratio that matches the road der's-it is not quite the same. Shimano was nice enough to dig up a set of these rare items for this little bike. The V-brakes are mated to some XT levers that have a reach adjustment good for small hands. The whole bike is surprisingly light and moves along with little effort , largely due to the handbuilt wheels with Mavic 717 rims. The Michelin city tires have reflective sidewalls and are really durable-I have gotten about 5 years out of mine on my town bike !

 Here's Mary, the owner of the bike picking it up-the day before 'Bike to work day'. Yes, that is a kickstand on the bike......can't have a town bike without one !

Pajaro Valley high school talk

 Every once in awhile i get asked to do a talk at a school or host students in my shop. This is my first time at this school but the instructor is a former employee and friend, Kirk Bernhard. The class is bike maintenance.

 There's lots of stuff on the walls including the 2006 edition of out HRS/ Rock Lobster team jersey

This guy with the low rider bike kind of stole my thunder.....I thought that I had the coolest bike on campus.

Here's both of our bikes.....a kind of mini bike show outside the classroom.

The batch is done !

 Two weeks and two days, seven frames-all different .....that's custom for you.

 This is a road frame for a tapered steerer fork. It is almost all NOS Easton 7005 tubing-2 lbs. 9 oz.

 This is a single speed 29er that can fit some fairly large tires. This will be bound for the Sierra foothills.

Tom's ride , 2012

 This ride was routed and started by the late Tom Cuthbertson about 23 years ago and some of his freinds have kept the tradition of the annual ride going, usually around the first week of May ,close to Tom's birthday . This is the start of the ride at around 8:45 a.m. at Jolon rd. just north of King City, Calif.

 At the top of the climb, just me and Dumpstervaagen. Most folks chose to stop on the climb for removing vests or roadside breaks but I went non-stop just to see if I could do it.....it was not easy. This is the first turn to get into Hunter Liggett military base.

 After a long downhill and some valley riding we passed through a fake 'checkpoint' and a model of a village not unlike something one might find in Iraq or Afganistan.......or Pakistan for that matter.

 After the checkpoint we had a paved climb, not as severe as the first that got us to this nice river valley.

 There were some really interesting rock formations along the desolate road.

 After a stream crossing we got back onto the dirt and rode along a creek and eventually came to Tom's swimming spot, about 1/2 way into the total mileage of the ride.

 After the swimming spot we went steadily up a side-hill double track dirt climb that had some amazing yuccas and wildflowers.

 This is the third climb of the ride and the most dramatic , traversing with many switchbacks over a ridge and down into Arroyo Seco.

 Here's the group at the summit , having some food and removing a few ticks. There are all sorts of creatures here that you won't find at home.

 Right before the final descent I shot this photo of a bush with some pale blue flowers...too bad they got bleached out in the shot. This was taken right before the incredibly long and amazing downhill run.

 At the bottom of the dirt descent there's a campground where one can refill bottles and air up the tires as needed. This was the end of the dirt and the start of 28 windy paved miles back to the cars.

 Here's the last food stop and the only actual store on the ride, about 20 miles from the finish. It's an odd place with more souvenirs than actual foodstuffs for sale-I managed to find some 'pop chips , edible and non-offensive.

 This is an emerging wine area with some award winning Chardonnay grapes growing right off the road , lining the valley with green vines.

Here we are at the finish in just under nine hours , supposedly fast for this ride. No matter how fast or slow the group rides  it is always about nine to ten hours long. I can't think of a better way to spend the day.

Scandium track frame

 all of 2 lbs. 5 oz.  , this frame will be the third I have built for this young racer. The frame will take 650 wheels as this rider is an 11 year old and not quite 5 feet tall. She's a district champion and has endless enthusiasm for riding.

 The family was lucky enough to find a Reynolds Ouzo Pro 650 fork.....a rarity. Her road bike had a Wound-Up , also a great lightweight carbon fork and still in production in the USA.

The rear dropouts are from Ahrens design and have bronze inserts that wrap around the axle for maximum support. These aren't cheap but are worth the price. With luck ,this frame will do duty at regional and national championship events.

MTB 29er frame , fork and stem for Switzerland

 This one is in a box and with luck will go out tomorrow bound for a shop in Switzerland.

 This fully rigid steel 29er single speed is pretty old-school in that it is meant to be ridden as a rigid bike without making allowance for a suspension fork addition.......makes me think that this rider is into simplicity.

I don't make very many stems and fewer like this one-a 25.4 MM bar clamp that really goes along with the retro style of the frame. The internal brake cable is something I used to do in the early '90s.....it adds quite a bit of style for $ 100. The champagne gold color is like an early '70's Masi Gran Criterium.

A duo of single speed aluminum frames

 This poor guy's last two race bikes have been stolen. This is the replacement, although it is the first of my bikes that this rider has owned. It is nearly the same as the frame that was ridden to the National win by Aaron Bradford except that it is for disc brakes only .

 Another difference is the 44 mm ID head tube for a tapered-steerer fork and the BB-30 shell. I guess this frame has all the new stuff that has become available in the last year or so.

 This frame is a fixed-gear road frame, essentially a track frame with road angles and a brake bridge.

 The frame sports the more traditional head tube and threaded BB shell. Both of these frames are in a current batch that looks to finish up at 7 frames total. With luck they will all be done by the end of the week .

The dropouts have stainless steel inserts , a nice touch for durability. These will be a standard feature of all of my aluminum track frames.