Disc brake Di II CX frame for Ashville, N.C.

I call this color 'blacklight' purple. It really looks amazing in the sun. Too bad that this photo was taken in the late afternoon. The fork is a Whiskey through-axle version, the first that I have had in the shop. It was provided by the customer. The frame is set up for a 31.6 mm seat post so that in internal battery can be used. I also made a large hole in the interior of the BB shell so that the junction box could be fitted inside the downtube.

 The blue decals were special order , not something that I stock. There's a lot of special touches to this frame that will no doubt see some mud duty before the end of the season.

Disc brake CX frame with matching carbon fork

 Here's another frame for Ashville-this one is a team aluminum CX frame for racing. The bigger head tube accommodates the tapered steerer on this fork.

 The whole  package is pretty light-I don't remember quite how light but it felt that way while I was boxing it up.

The tubing is mostly my standard kit-NOS Easton top tube, the rest a mix of tubing from Dedaccai and Taiwan.

29er with rigid thru-axle fork and dropper post seat tube routing

This frame and fork are going to Ashville, N.C. , a place where a number of my bikes are going these days. There's some good riding there and some bike companies are based there. A number of folks from these and other companies in the south have a CX team and I have built the bulk of there frames. This one is a bit outside the norm but I know that it will get ridden a ton.

Big tire road bike for Santa Monica, Calif.

This bike is going to live in my old neighborhood from my junior high school days. The bike is outfitted with the  Shimano 105 5800 eleven speed group. The shifting is about as nice as it gets, even with the long cage der. and 11-32 cassette for the dirt roads above Will Rogers state park.

 The brakes are long reach R-450 in black and seamlessly blend with the rest of the group. I built the wheels with Mavic Open-Pro rims and D.T. spokes. Bar, stem and post are Ritchey and the saddle is a Fizik Arione. The headset is a King, also in black. The rider should have the bike tomorrow afternoon-plenty of time to get it ready for the weekend.

 the original vinyl decals made in S.F. in the eighties are on the downtube of this frame.

 This fully rigid 29er platform will be a sure-footed ride in the Santa Cruz mountians. The tapered head tube and disc brakes represent the present-the original deacls and 1984 'lobster red' paint represent the beginning of my MTB building.

Got a little sideways on this shot and couldn't rotate it after I put it on the site.....I guess you'll have to turn your computer 90 degrees !

7005 CX race frame or Glenpool, Ok.

 There's CX racing in Oklahoma and this is going to most likely be the only Rock Lobster at the events out there. This might change in the future but the owner of this bike can lay claim to having the only CX race bike from me in the entire state......at least as far as I can remember.

 The tapered steerer fork should be good for hitting the corners hard and holding up to the rigors of hard racing.

7005 road frame and fork for Singapore

 The sky blue paint and pink logos really play tricks on your eye-an interesting effect, almost making it look as if the decals are floating above the surface of the frame.

This road frame will be seeing rides on the other side of the world in a country where there are currently only three of my frames. The fork is a Ritchey WCS road carbon and the headset is the King inset. 

This frame should handle up to a 700x28 tire and provide a nice stable ride without being too harsh.

Ashland UBI trip 2014

 School founder Ron Sutphin gives a demo on the mill . There would be no UBI without Ron.

 Chris is here helping David do the final braze-ons on the last class day. There was an unprecedented amount of co-operation and help among the students.

 Patrick prepping his frame for the seat stay installation.

Matt moving too fast to be in focus.

 Tristan having a good day at the welder.

 Technical data found its way to the big board-many new terms were coined during this class.

 The demo at the big machines was generally Ron's venue-he has the most experience.

And here is your 2014 tig steel summer session graduating class from Arkansas, Thailand , New Zealand, L.A. , Portland , and of course Santa Cruz.This was a great trip.

CX frame for the Sierras

 This is an adventure style disc brake CX platform for exploring the backwoods near Yosemite. The owner of this bike is a trail advocate and has a crew of folks who are building a trail network outside the park.

 This frame and fork are steel but there are a couple modern features. The fork has a tapered steerer and the gearing is a new Sram setup with a pretty huge cassette. There may be only two chainrings up front but the gears are low enough for the high mountains.

The pedals, bars and wheels were the only used parts in the buildup.All else were brand new......the bike rides really smooth and should be good for all-day excursions.

Di II disc brake aluminum CX frame for Santa Rosa

 These are the colors of CX Nation-a coaching and race promotion organization. This frame is going to CX Nation's founder in Santa Rosa. It just so happens that he has raced on our team for a few years as well.

 The big head tube accommodates a tapered steerer fork and there are fittings for the internal Di II wires. There will be a seat tube mounted internal battery pack.

Single speed CX frame S3/Life mix tubing

 This frame is made for racing-no bottle mounts and a very light tube set.

 Rim brakes , 1 1/8" steerer and threaded BSC BB make this a really basic chassis-the kind that avoids complications in construction.......I like frames like this a lot.

 The wait of 7 months is over and Jake now has his new ride well ahead of the coming 'cross season. I wish I could say that for all the 'cross frames I have on order but there's only so much time in a day and there's only one person at Rock Lobster cycles to build all these frames.

Steel CX frame for Verona, Wi.

 This has a tapered headtube to accept the Enve tapered steerer carbon fork. The fork painted to match is becoming a very popular option.

 This is a pretty solid build, ready to take on the hilly and demanding courses that are frequently icy and slick. I have experienced racing in Verona a couple of times and sacrificed a helmet in the process. It's amazing how fast you can go from riding to sliding on your butt down an icy hill.

The decal on the back of the seat tube dates back to some of my earliest bikes-nice to have someone request it again.

Road frame for Virginia

 This aluminum road frame with carbon fork painted to match will get a red seat collar tomorrow. The frame has a level top tube, a nod to tradition .

 The customer requested and Enve fork and a Cane Creek 110 headset in red. I like the way the red looks with the seafoam green team edition color.

Big tire road bike for San Fransisco

This frame is a lot like one that I have-the mid point between a road racing bike and a CX bike. I like to call this model the BTRB. This particular frame has columbus stays and True Temper OX main tubes, my go-to stock tubeset. The frame is a hair under 4 lbs. 

 The fork has True Temper blades and a Pacenti Mitsugi crown , pretty much my favorite to build with as the look is classic and the blade fit is the best. Nothing really out of the ordinary on this frame and fork-it will take Paul Component 'racer' brakes and up to 700x33 tires. If it is like the one I have, it will be super nice with some 33 file-tread Challenge or Clement tires.

aluminum road frame for a local

 this guy has worked in the bicycle industry for a good number of years-long enough to know pretty much my beginnings as a builder here in Santa Cruz. He chose a paint scheme to echo the one on his Eddy Merckx frame that he has been riding or a long time. I wonder what he will think of the 7005 frame material.

The logos on the frame are painted on and are not decals. This four-color paint was done by local painter Allan Neymark. Allan has been painting bicycle frames since around 1979 so he is also one of the old guard.

 Here you can see how Allan lined up the stripes on the fork with the ones on the frame. he was justifiably proud of that aspect of the finished product.