Two Things

1. Made some excellent progress on the new website template last night. Really happy with the way things are coming along. Expect to see that new design appear in a matter of weeks, rather than the months I had been thinking it was going to take.

2. I briefly, this morning, thought about building a penny farthing. I dismissed the idea as a bit daft. But I keep coming back to it.

Weekend Update

Hello, I’m Chevy Chase. And you’re not.

In all seriousness, it was another productive weekend on the bike front.

Friday, between jobs (I currently have an office gig and a part-time gig at a bike shop), I stopped at the Active Living Bike Expo, as Paul was there, and it’d give me a chance to meet Erik Noren of Peacock Groove. I only had a couple of hours there, but I helped them set up, shot the shit, and had a good time. Erik’s a groovy cat and shared some knowledge that’ll be extremely helpful in the near future. I also discussed getting in at Minnecycle 2 this year, and he was amenable to the idea; I may end up at the “newbies table”, which I envision as being something like the pre-teen table at Thanksgiving. And I’m okay with that. I’m new to this, I’m just starting out and I gotta pay my dues.

Saturday’s shift at the bike shop was uneventful and quiet due to the weather. I left early and went home.

Sunday was good. I got up and did the Minnesota Ironman (not a triathlon, but a century ride). I opted for a shorter route as it was in the mid-40′s, windy, and pissing rain. In addition to being mildly sick (sore throat, congestion), I was experiencing some digestive problems that morning, so the ride was not all it could have been. I was cramping and grumpy within 4 miles, but I ground it out and finished, coating most of Lakeville and other surrounding suburbs with a thin layer of snot.

Once off the bike, I drove straight up to Princeton and Paul and I got to work right away. We discussed pricing models while we prepped — he shared his insights and opinions based on his experiences with framebuilding, and I shot back and asked questions based on my time working in B2C and B2B environments. It was good stuff. And we got down to work.

The 29′er needed it’s seat tube/top tube joint finished before we could install the seatstays. Got most of the way through that. The fillet was shallow in a few places and required some silver to be floated in on top of it. I suspect next weekend, we’ll be finishing that and attaching the seat stays.

Between soaking the joint of flux and working on it with the Dynafile, I did work on the commuter some more. The downtube got mitered and installed into the BB shell, a time-consuming process. Next time, I’ll check and make sure there’s no headtube twist (there shouldn’t be), and start mitering the top tube and prepping the lugs to finish out the front triangle.

Sorry for the lack of photos this time. By the time we wrapped up, both the ST/TT joint of the 29′er and the BB of the commuter were both in the soak tank and I was ready to call it a day.

Moving Right Along

So right now, I’ve got four frames in-progress, as you’ve probably gathered. They are:

• The rigid 29′er frame. At my next session, I’ll be finishing up the TT/ST joint and then getting the seat stays bent, mitered and put in-place. All that will remain after this is the braze-ons (water bottle bolts, cable guides, disc brake mounts, internal cable routing on the TT), the finishing of the joints, and the assembly of the forks. Then I’ll ship her off to be painted. Parts-wise, I still need to acquire hubs, headset, stem and seatpost. This is a 4130 chromoly build.
• The commuter frame. Next session, I’ll be mitering the downtube for the fit to the BB shell, putting that into place, and getting any headset twist resolved. This is a lugged frameset and is moving faster than the fillet-brazed 29′er has. I’m re-using the parts from my Surly Cross-Check commuter; I do need to replace the headset, however, and put a sleeve between the stem and steerer tube. I’d also like to update the crankset. This build uses Columbus Spirit for Lugs tubing and some Long Shen lugs with some minor shape changes.
• The track pursuit frame. Right now, this exists as a box of tubes. Next session, I may undertake the blueprinting. I have some parts for this, but not nearly all that I need. I’d like to get ahold of some HED H3 wheels with track axles as part of this. Not building a custom fork, opting to use an Edge Composites model instead. Tubing is a mix of True Temper Verus HT 4130 chromoly and Platinum OX. This may also serve as a test-bed for a product idea that I’ve had.
• The singlespeed cyclocross frame. Only exists as a box of tubes and an idea. Tubing is True Temper Platinum OX.

So that’s where things are with the bikes themselves.

I’ve still got to do something about the head tube badges — the tough part has been getting the artwork done. I had an artist, but she’s checked-out since getting my first round of feedback over six weeks ago. At this point, I’m ready to start looking for another solution.

Infrastructure-wise, I’ve been trying to figure out the bare minimums I’ll need to get this all moving. Everything from space to tooling is under consideration.

Business-wise, I need to file some paperwork and get some cards printed up.

As for the website, well, it’s not my highest priority at the moment. The design I’ve pulled together is predicated on having at least two bikes ready to show the world. So probably another ~2 months or so before I’m ready to show it off.

More pictures after the next session.

29′er Update

Paul eyeballing the frame alignment on the 29'er. Click to enbiggen.

Accomplished this weekend:

• finished mitering top tube and brazed it into front triangle
• rescue of 5-month old kitten from 20 feet up in a tree
• mitering of chainstays and tacked to bottom bracket shell with TIG welder

Not sure when the next session is happening — the 18th, I promised Kate I’d stay home with her (and want to), and on the 25th, I have the Minnesota Ironman (a century, not a triathlon). Even if I didn’t work on Saturdays, there’s enough else going on where we’re a no-go. Maybe I’ll see if Paul wants to do the session on Friday afternoon/evening, and bust out all my work hours before then.

Additional pics of the 29′er are available on my Flickr account.

No Session This Weekend

The holiday weekend preempts the framebuilding session this weekend, and I’m fine with that. I need a day off somewhere, with some time with my future wife, and some decompression. This is truly a good thing.

This weekend: head badge design work, work on website template, design mitering fixture, start thinking about writing frame design software.

Ongoing projects:

• 29′er frame
• Commuter/touring frame

Next session: finish front triangle for 29er. Major headway on the front triangle for the commuter. Blueprint pursuit frame — tricky to do with that curved seatpost.