Dan’s 29er

This was my first real build. Ever. After spending months at Wyganowski’s workship, just mitering and brazing countless numbers of practice joints — tons of time with the files, tubing blocks, and vernier protractor — I finally got to the point where it was time to build.

Dan's Rigid 29er. Click to enlarge.

And so we went at it, throwing in little details that forced me to get a real education. I fabricated the shell for the eccentric bottom bracket by hand, even going so far as to make the pinch bolt sleeves on the mill. It wasn’t enough to run the rear brake cable through the top tube — I ran the front brake cable through the fork.

Internally routed brake cable. On the fork!

Once the fillets were done and the frame was functionally complete, I got it built up with the parts group and took her for a quick test spin to ensure there was nothing functionally wrong with her.

Pre-paint test ride.

Once that was assured, I got her prepped and shipped off to paint. The wait, while short, seemed to take forever. Once back in my hands, I was a little underwhelmed with the quality, but holy crap! I had a bike that I built with my own two hands! I built her up and took her for a spin. Then I cleaned it up and took it to my friend Clint for a quick photo shoot.

The downtube, after paint.

The paint is a tribute to my tuxedo cat, Mooch, who passed away not long before I started my framebuilding class — black with white feet and a white belly. There’s a small bit of her ashes hiding in the bronze fillets, too — sprinkled in while the metal was still hot. A little bit of her still lives on in this bike.