Single speed 29er bound for Colorado

It's a lobster in Yeti's clothing, almost. I can't build one much more burly and deluxe than this one. It's got all the ADG stuff to make it stout , have room for big tires and still be short in the rear triangle. I'll be interested to hear the ride report.

Sliders in 7005...its a beautiful thing and they are made here in the good old republic of California.

Big tire 'cross bike, this time with paint

Here she is in all her glory. This frame represents a lot of work and some old techniques adapted to a modern steel frame.

The little tube on the bottom of the chainstay is there to prevent the cable from rubbing on the 700x45 c tire that will no doubt fill out the rear triangle. As a former bike mechanic I know that not putting stuff like this on a frame can really be a major bummer for the customer or the person building up the bike.
The fork looks like my normal 'cross fork but it isn't. The blades are about 20 % heavier to be durable on the trail and not to flex much under hard braking load. A big tire bike demands this and the larger tire volume will give the bike a smooth enough ride.

rock huckster

This bike will see some serious trail riding here in Santa Cruz very soon. Looking at the dropout situation it can be seen that the frame will be versitile, to say the least.......single speed, geared, disc brake - it will all work on this frame in relative harmony . this frame was also built from stout tubing to withstand a rider who has a downhill racing background.

Rawness

There seems to be a trend right now....the British " Path Racer' of the '50s and '60s is making a comeback , possibly in the wake of the general fixed gear frenzy of the last few years. A Path Racer is a fixed gear bicycle that has a longer wheelbase for long road use and fittings for fenders, a novel concept but sensible when one thinks of winter fixed gear training that is a tradition in the U.K. and here in the U.S. in some areas.

This frame and fork will eventually wind up in Boise, Idaho and supposedly get used in alley-cat events and be a general commute bike. I'm hoping that some of the little extra touches I have done bring a smile to the future owner. It's a special bike going to a special cyclist.

Amgen Tour of California, stage II photos

In case you didn't know, my home town is Santa Cruz and today we were lucky to have a pro-tour race finish right downtown. Here are a few of the photos I took of the day. This one is the finla sprint with Peterson and Leipheimer. Here are the last stragglers just ahead of the broom wagon making the turn onto Bonny Doon rd., the last big climb of the day.

Here's the main field starting the climb, Armstrong near the front keeping an eye on things.

This is the breakaway containing local rider Ben Jaques-maynes , visible on the left in the black and red kit. The breakaway was clear from about mile 10 until only 30 minutes from the finish. It would have been fantastic to have the local hero win the local stage but the race is far from over for Ben and the rest of the peloton.

Ken's Alfie 'SL'

This is the first Alfie that I have tried to make lighter. It does not have the wishbone stays and that will save weight. I also went with a lighter tubeset and will build a light unicrown fork. I'm trying to make this one 2 lbs. lighter than mine, which is a tank. The components will be the same Shimano Alfine group with 8-speed internal hub and generator front hub. This is only the third Alfie and it makes me wonder if bikes like this will ever catch on.......they are the most practical , low maintenence and least expensive complete bikes that I offer.

Boaz 29er fork

All you folks who can't seem to get enough tire clearance, bear witness to this monster. I'm pretty sure a 3" wide tire would be right at home between these blades. This one is bound for Kansas City as soon as it comes back from the powdercoater. Just a little rethinking of where I miter the blades makes it possible to create forkzilla.

really big tire 'cross bike

Really big tires require really long seatstays....longer than I can buy. I did some 'boots' on these that gave me the additional 1/2" so the 49.5 mm wide tire would fit. This bike is a 'cross bike but it's a gnat's whisker away from being a 29er.

Here's the fork......not a mountain bike fork, a big-tire 'cross fork. It's stouter and wider than a stock 'cross fork but it's not as rigid as a mountain bike fork.
The wishbone stays are a little less likely to flex under hard braking as they have a thicker wall and larger diameter. The shock absorbtion will come from the tires, not the frame in this case.

More NOS rifled prestige tubing...seems to be my choice as of late. The quality of Tange is really the best.

two for the road

Winter time for some could be a fixed-gear season-such is the case for this person and her fixed-road trainer built from NOS Tange Prestige.

No rear brake or any possibilty of adding one in the future..........at least you know where you stand-legs are the rear brake.

Felicia's bike. The stays were all manipulated ( read: bent) in the shop. When the frame is this small the pre-bent offerings from the tubing manufacturers won't fit the bill. It's difficult to have symmetry when hand-bending steel and some times a tube or two will go into the scrap bucket but it's worth it to get something that makes the person riding the bike smile.


The panels and striping were done by Allan Neymark, an under-the-radar bike painting veteran of 30 plus years here in Santa Cruz. This is one of his best.

29er single speed in Easton 7005 with all the fixin's

This frame will eventually be in Colorado and get the beating that a lot of bikes of more basic construction couldn't endure. With all the yokes and stout Easton Elite tubing this frame should be the right tool for the job.....racing over the rocks with a very tall person on board. The ADG sliders really solve the problem of disc brake placement in realtion to the axle and also will enable the use of a Q.R. instead of a bolt-on axle.

First batch of '09 in 7005 aluminum

Back to the bright arc of aluminum welding. There are 'cross bikes, road bikes and even a 29er single speed in this batch. I'll have these all ready to ship in about 3 weeks after the heat treament , powdercoat, clearcoat and prepping are done. When the frame is all welded up you are really only about halfway there !