Small Items of Note

• They’ve gone and done it — Shimano has joined the 11-speed ranks with the leaked information about the new Dura-Ace 9000 group. It’s mechanical, it’s 11-speed, it’s got a press-fit bottom bracket, and that’s about all the details I’ve got. It’s really not surprising, given that Campy had already gone that direction, and had followed Shimano into electronic shifting, as well.
   
• I shipped out the Trek 720 frameset yesterday and was sad to see it go. I bought it from Mike Williams while I was working at Penn Cycle years and years ago. It’s a great frameset, from the last year that Trek made lugged frames, and it rides like a dream. It’s been sitting in a box for some time now, unbuilt, and I decided that someone else out there would probably love it and use it a lot more than I do, so I sold it. I regret it only a tiny bit — I can build something comparable in fit/comfort/performance fairly easily now. And the money I made from the sale is going toward some new equipment.
   
• It being Friday, I’m pretty stoked that the weekend is about to start. Hope you all have awesome plans. I know mine are.

What I’m Reading Right Now

One of the best books I've read in a very long time. Click for more info.

Greenlight!

Very excited to announce that my CFO (Chief Financial Officer, AKA “Wife”) approved the project to upgrade the electrical in the garage and to insulate/drywall the whole thing. By the end of October, I should have a very well-appointed garage — extra electrical, insulated, drywalled, with a huge copy of the headbadge painted on the wall. And new workbenches, but I’ll be doing that on my own dime.

Pretty stoked. Got to give my father-in-law (master electrician) a ring.

The One in Which I Whine About Things

1. Do you have any idea how tough it is to justify building yourself a Pugsley/Moonlander bike when it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever really ride in the cold/snow? Man, it’s tough. A past history of frostbite and hypothermia rendered me highly susceptible to cold injuries. Even having to do things in gloves here in February can leave my hands hurting so bad it feels like they’re being crushed in a vise. The chances of me getting a fat bike out in the snow are pretty low. But I still keep thinking about it.

2. I really, really need to stop looking at the workshop pictures of other framebuilders. I get envious. I know I should be thankful for what I have, and I am. But man, I look at some of these setups on Flickr and all I can think about is how much awesome stuff I could build in there. The name of the game is bootstrapping, and that involves patience. I’ll get there. Eventually.

Behind Schedule

So the move to the new location went off without a hitch. I’m now in the third bay of the garage of my new house, in the south ‘burbs of Minneapolis. I realize I haven’t been posting here lately, and I missed July’s email newsletter completely. I’m in catch-up mode for the rest of this month. I’ll be getting the email newsletter out, posting some new pics, finishing some frames, and getting ready for Minnecycle.

Holy Crap!

I get the feeling sometimes that the Universe meant for me to be doing this framebuilding thing. In the past week, three new orders have come into the queue, just as I was getting ready to get the current batch of three out.

One of them in a work-for-trade that will result in me getting a brand-new fixture delivered to my doorstep. And the client is a genuinely nice dude, very laid-back, and is giving me a free reign on the design, construction, and paint. I’m going to build him a masterpiece.

There’s the possibility of a formal workspace away from the house. That’s not set in-stone yet, but it came up during TACO TWEDNESDAY this week while I was dining with Josh from Three Stars, his wife, and a bunch of the other Balance Team riders. There’s the possibility that Alex from A-Train will be joining us, too. BUT. It depends on a lot of factors. We need to see the place in-person before we make any decisions.

So it’s coming along nicely here, and I’m pretty happy with that. Paul’s bike will be done tomorrow, Andrew’s bike is waiting on cable stops, and Justin’s bike needs chainstays and some minor finishing work.

Work Queue

Right now, the work queue is on its way toward empty. Fang’s 29er should be ready to ship to paint in the 4-5 days. My brother’s road frame won’t be far behind it. And Justin’s 26er should hopefully be finished by mid-April. Ideally, I’d have a moment or two to breathe, take stock of things, and maybe give my track pursuit frame a little bit of attention. That, however, probably won’t happen.

I’ve got three people about to drop deposits in my lap — Aaron for a road bike, Erin for a cyclocross bike, and Alena for a road bike. Of them, two of the three will be lugged. Holy crap, I’m going to be busy for the next few months! (And remember kids, the production queue is in-order of deposit — first in, first out.)

Keep Calm

Keep Calm and Build Frames

How Could I Forget?

I somehow managed to mention it on Twitter and Facebook, but not here. What? Oh, only that I, and Three Stars Cycles, are sponsoring the AGRS (Almanzo Gravel Road Series) this year!

The mens’ series winner gets a custom steel frame built by me, and the womens’ series winner gets a custom steel frame built by Josh!

For those unaware of the gravel racing scene here in MN, a good place to start is with the Almanzo 100, a beautiful, challenging hundred mile race over nothing but gravel roads.

(Formal announcement of the sponsorship is here.)

A Rare Weekend Update

Not much bike time this weekend. Basically, it’ll be filing down some fillets on the niner, and doing the Sunday morning recovery ride with the Birchwood team. I’m fatigued and out-of-shape, so it’s going to be a struggle to keep up, I suspect. Might have to throw the race wheels on the road bike, just for a little extra edge.

Picked up a couple of bike books this weekend — Bicycling Science and Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling, both of which I intend to save for honeymoon beach reading.