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 !

Number nine comes home

This bike is the ninth Rock Lobster, probably built in 1986. It's fillet brazed out of a mixture of columbus, reynold ans 4130 straight-guage aircraft tubing. The four-bolt stem was specifically built to fit 7/8" Salsa handlebars of the day. This bike predates biopace, Rockshox, clipless pedals and index shifting. I'll be putting up more detailed photos later.....it actually predated the decals which were applied soon after the bike was completed. The three-color paint scheme was the only one offered at the time.