Dr. Swigg's guid to wine

Yeah, I know.......it's been probably two years since I have made a recommendation and it speaks not only to my laziness but also to the scarcity of good bottles in the lower price brackets.....at least ones good enough and plentiful enough to merit a notice by Dr. Swigg. Plungerhead zin can come in a few different forms....Lodi, Sonoma, etc. This one is the 2005 Dry Creek old vine version. I really liked the Lodi edition but this Dry Creek number eclipses it in terms of taste,complexity and it also has the distinction of coming from a boutique appelation for this particular varietal. Dry Creek wine for $ 13.99 ? And good ? Oy, soch a deal. I vant a case......Plungerhead is from the Sebastiani empire, a family winery that has just sold off a portion of its catalogue so Plungerhead might be going through some changes in the coming vintages....better get this one before its history. Cheers, Dr. Swigg.

Steel fixie trainer

Here is a steel frame I built in between the last '08 batch and the first '09 batch of aluminum frames. This one wasn't due for a few weeks but I know this racer is wanting to get those winter fixed gear torture miles in and far be it for me to stand in the way. After this it's back to aluminum for the rest of the month.

last alunimum batch for 2008

The last batch of 2008 has leaked into 2009.....what can I say ? I'm a framebuilder-at least I show you pictures of the frames and don't make up some excuse that they are tied up at the painter......that's for later in the month. Hey, I'm going on vacation and I wanted these frames to be on the way out the door before me. This first one will eventually be in Vermont.......hope he has snow tires. It's a 26" wheel single speed mtn. frame with most of the ADG goodies, the upper yoke and the slider dropouts in 7005 aluminum.

Here it appears that the frame is looking longingly at the outdoors, wanting to get the heck out of my shop. Be patient, little frame-it will happen soon. This frame is for none other than our valiant team mechainc, Ryan. He has been wrenching for us for three seasons and is chomping at the bit to race cyclocross like the rest of the team. Cyclocross....it sells itself, I don't know......

I made Ryan's seatstays a little more curvy than stock so he could spot his very own bike at a glance...it gets confusing when there are upwards of 20 seafoam green team bikes in the tent and you are in a hurry to line up for your race : " Heck, which one of these green $%^*'s is mine ? Iv'e got 30 seconds to get to the start ! Welcome to the club , Ryan !

Steel is real....light in this case

The man in the photo is picking up his new road bike and just finished a short ride around the building. Getting a steel bike used to mean that you were getting something significantly heavier than carbon , ti or aluminum. This is no longer the case with how light components have gotten and how a welded frame is close to a pound lighter than a lugged frame. I didn't go out of my way to make the frame especially light as the bike will be for training and get many miles in all sorts of weather. Being mostly of True Temper steel the frame should be very stout and have good longevity. If this man rides a lot then he will also have good longevity !

Pasadena bound steel MTB frame

My batteries in my camera died before I could really get the detail shots of this frame. It's a shame because I am really happy with the results of my labors on this one. It's just swoopy enough to have a rhythm to the whole look of the frame.

Old number 16

Do you remeber what you were doing in 1987 ? I was in a band playing in casinos and at weddings and building frames part time in my 160 square foot garage. This bike is # 16 , built about 7 months before I made the leap to fulltime framebuilder. The owner was in high school when he bought it....now you can see he's got a family and is in his 30's ! The bike has had some work done on it over the years but most of the equipment is from the days before clipless pedals, shocks and many other things people expect to have on their bikes. The rims were rolled-down Mavic MA-2's from the Bontrager shop on South Rodeo Gulch road, many years before the sale to Trek. The flat-top seat tube with the forward facing binder was something I did on maybe my first 20 MTB frames, just to make them look a little more distinctive.

Touing bike built up

This 26" wheel touring bike is the real deal,stable and designed to carry a load. The Nitto stainless racks weigh quite a bit and the stainless fenders are rock solid. Toe clips ? SPD ? not for this rider-back to the basics with flat pedals and hiking boots .