Victor comes to the shop with a repair

Yes- that is Mr. Vincente himself- with his 1985 MTB frame that got run over by a truck. Fortunately, Victor was not on the bike at the time. I'm charged with fixing the frame and building a couple new handlebar assemblies. This will all happen in the next week or so. I have the fixture to build the bars- it has not been in use since the '80's and is very rusty. This is not a job I would have accepted from anyone else- it will be an honor to work on this man's bike.

650 boost MTB frame for Montana

 This frame replaces a non-boost 650 frame from the customer that I built a few years back. The owner decided that the bigger tires would be a good thing- also , the old frame was not set up for thru-axel in the rear. This one sports the same older-style cable routing and a silver Jen Green head badge.

 The paint and decals are identical to his old frame. What will happen with the old frame ? We will be building it up and selling it as a complete bike in the coming weeks. The frame is 7005 aluminum and the parts will be a mix of XT and XTR. It will be priced to sell- it is perfect for a 5'6"-5'7" rider. It will come with a Fox 32 120 mm tapered steerer fork and Stan's rims. I'll be putting up photos when I have it all together.

40th anniversary MTB frame

 I thought about building a 40th anniversary MTB frame for the upcoming NAHBS but decided that I didn't have the time- that was until my 8+ year-old aluminum 29er frame broke. Along with that, another component company asked if I had a frame they could use in their booth for the show- it all added up to the building of what you see: 650 boost frame in steel with dropper post routing, 1X guides and relatively modern geometry. After riding aluminum for over a decade in the dirt I'll be on steel now- yes, this one is for me.

 I elected to use a tapered head tube- I still have to put on the re-enforcing rings as of this photo. My goal was to make something mid-weight- not super light but not over-built. I'll weigh it today. I just built another one last month like this and it was just under 5 lbs. My 29er frame was under 4 so there will be a bit of a weight penalty but since I'll have 650x2.6 tires, I will not be setting any uphill PR's.

I'm hoping with the larger profile tires and a 120 mm fork I'll get beat up a bit less and be able to ride the rocky stuff without being as terrified. The dropper post will be a nice addition.

7000 aluminum frame

 I have a frame built from this same set- Dedaciai Aversa 7000. This is virtually Italian Scandium. The frames build up very light but still reasonably stiff in the BB area. This one is going to the other side of the planet. The frame will be fitted with the customer's 3TTT Funda tapered fork. The weight is 3 lb. 1 oz- not bad for a fairly tall frame. Frequently these frames are under 3 lbs.

 The shaped tubes are not that easy to work with but now that I have about 6 of these under my belt I'm a lot more confident working with it. I'm not sure that there is any other builder in the USA making frames from this exotic stuff. If you want the lightest fastest feeling frame I can build, this is the way to go.

Aluminum CX frame for Iowa

 This customer already has a frame I built with rim brakes. This one is a bit more current with flat mounts for disc brakes front and rear. This is a pretty heavy duty frame that should take a beating.

 This color is called "teddy bear brown" and really goes well with the original black and yellow logos that I designed in 1984. In the beginning this was the only decal I offered but around 8-10 years later people started asking for other colors. I still think that this is the best color-even if it isn't as popular as back in 1984.

Dead wood no more

 I have a few old projects in my shop- frames that needed some repair but never got done for various reasons. The biggest reason is that I have so little time apart from being a custom builder. These old frames that have been hanging in my shop are the result of either a shop or a customer dropping something off to be fixed and then deciding that the frame was not worth the expense of having me fix it. After that the usual result is that the customer or shop winds up giving me the frame with the usual : " Hey, you want this thing ? - you can have it."

Another scenario is the customer leaving town and I lose touch with them. Some times I'll  hear that the original owner of the frame died- the next of kin will get in touch with me and ask if I want the frame. I usually say yes- I like to fix things and keep them out of the landfill, especially when it is an interesting old bicycle frame. This one is no exception. The only thing it needed was a down tube replacement. There is, however no small amount of skill needed to do this job properly- otherwise it is quite easy to destroy what is left of the frame in the attempt to get the old tube out.

 Fortunately I was able to get the old tube out cleanly and replace it. I had to do a bit of alignment on the frame and fork but it is now fixed, straight and ready for a repaint after hanging on a hook for untold years. The frame was built in the early '80's by Dave Tesch , someone I knew and had some discussions with back in the day. Unfortunately , Dave got cancer and passed away at the young age of 44. I liked Dave and on this particularly rainy Sunday ( When if it weren't raining I would definitely be riding ) made it a point to eventually fix this frame so it could live on.

There's a good chance the newly restored frame will see duty at the Eroica California. I'll get the correct decals and try to make it as original as possible. I think that Dave might have approved.