Small Steel 29er

Here's a nice winter sunset out of the front of my shop door....the second to the last business day of the year.
This little guy is going to a customer who I have built bikes for since 1991. He's got the idea to try a 29er and this one is steel. The bike will be set up with XTR and a Fox fork, similar to how I have my bike set up. I hope he likes the geometry and big wheels as much as I do.
I used a NOS Tange Prestige 'concept' seat tube , probably the best steel ever. The rest of the frame is True Temper OX and Dedaccai wishbone seatstays.
After many weeks of waiting I finally have some Salsa dropouts in stock again-always nice to work with and they are stainless as well. I routed the cables under the top tube, something I didn't do until recently. I think on a smaller frame it's a good thing and the bike isn't as noisy when the road gets really bumpy. This is the last frame of 2011. Happy new year !

Really large triathlon-TT frame

This rider is about 6'8" and he needed something stiff. The top and down tubes are 7005 US made Easton tubes. I'm hoping he'll really feel comfortable on this frame.

Merry X-mas from me and plastic Santa

I think ol' Santa should cut down on the booze-he's looking a little stiff.

Steel fork for a Bontrager road-lite

I think I build a fork or two just about every week. My Anvil fork jig makes it a real pleasure , which is actually remarkable as most framebuilders do not use the words "Fork" and "Pleasure" in the same sentence. -That said, these are different times than when I hated the process of building forks.........I'm glad for the change.
This rather crappy photo shows one of my very last pair of Campagnolo front dropouts. Why did I use them on this particular fork ? I just felt like it.

Shredding the gnar with retroshift

Behold, the retro shift. I guess after riding it on the trails here there's good attributes and maybe a little bit of funkyness. The shifters are simple and durable and very straightforward to use. My only complaint is trying to hit a low gear requires some added body english that I'm not super keen on-kind of an awkward move for a clutz like me. Appearantly it isn't too awkward for Erik Tonkin who sports a pair of these on his bike.
Behold, the gnar.....err....Monterey bay. I couldn't get a photo of the real gnar as I was too busy shredding.

Scandium road frame for eleven year old girl

She's not your average eleven year old-she trains like crazy and likes to ride fast. She rides on the velodrome and already has a track frame from me.
This 2 lb. 6 oz. frame is made for 650 wheels and has a 47 cm top tube. The seat tube is 39 cm c/t/c. If she grows out of it she has a little sister who will get a very nice hand-me-down.

Small scandium 'cross frame for NYC

I was told that this rider is pretty short, especially in the upper body. She is supposedly really tearing it up in the N.Y. 'cross series and plans to have this as her second bike. My hope is that after she rides it she might make it her first bike. Anyway, this isn't my decision-I'll just have to wait for a ride report.
Before I put all the guides on this frame tipped the scale at 2 lbs. 13 oz........getting down there for one of my race frames. The only way to lighten them further without weakening them would be to use an integrated style head tube and BB-30.....not on this customer's wish list. I'm sure a couple less ounces would not be super important for this rider.

Another team scandium 'cross frame

This team member really lagged on ordering this frame but here it is and it might even get raced before the season ends in Feb. The frame weighs 2 lb. 15 oz. , pretty light for a 'cross frame but not too light for what it will be subjected to.
Since the rider is well under 150 lb.s she will get one of my last 32 mm top tubes made in the USA. I got these tubes back in 2007 and use them sparingly.
I added the new drive-side chainstay gusset as this rider might be hopping logs occasionally.

Small steel road frame and fork for Berkeley

This frame is all of 3 lb. 5 oz. , not bad for steel. The fork is 1 lb. 6 oz. and will lose a few oz. when trimmed. I'm hoping that the rider will like the geometry. Small bikes like this are really tricky to build-much more difficult than really large bikes. Keeping the rider balanced while making the front end long enough so that there's not a ton of foot overlap on the front wheel can be a serious challenge.
The straight blade fork might look pretty racy but it can take a 700x28 Continental tire.
I got a little carried away with the bends but I think the look is nicer than it would have been if I had not bothered. I also think the sweeping bends might soften the ride a taste-not a bad thing on such a small frame.

Almost all the new stuff

If this frame had disc brakes it would be all the new stuff. It does have the new large head tube for the tapered steerer forks and BB-30 as well as the latest ( and possibly last) scandium.
Because the frame has an oversize tubeset the big head tube looks proper.
I put the chainstay re-enforcement on as this rider is definitely not a shrimp.

'Cross frame for Santa Rosa

With luck this frame and a selection of parts will be in a box and on its way up north on Wednesday. I'm just waiting on the fork and as you can see, the King gold bits are already installed on the fully prepped frame. I built some wheels and have selected some other stuff so that the build should be easy to complete once the frame has been delivered.