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.

Why It’s Taking So Long

A friend/former co-worker snarked in my Facebook this weekend about the pace at which I’m building frames. Something to the effect of “you’ll be doing one per year” — in further discussion, he indicated that it was more just an issue of him being jealous. The remainder of that conversation isn’t really germane to this post. I realized that if Morgan were thinking it, it was probable that other people in our circle of friends/acquaintances were thinking similar thoughts, so I wanted to address that here.

First, it’s an apprenticeship. This isn’t some pump-and-dump UBI course where they slam dunk you through the basics of framebuilding in two weeks and when you leave, you have what you have and that’s it. We’re covering everything from welding (both TIG and brazing), to design, to business, and so on. Since September, I have learned more about frame building than I thought possible. We started with welding, and we moved to design, and now we’re on implementation. I have two frames underway, and parts stockpiled for two more.

Secondly is a time consideration. Because of our schedules, and the distances involved (it’s 50 miles one-way to Paul’s place), we try for once a week. Sometimes, it’s less than that. So we cram as much as we can into 7-10 hours every Sunday we have a chance to get together. There have been stretches where we haven’t seen each other for three weeks.

So that’s why it’s taking so long. Because it’s a time-consuming process to learn all of this, and I want to make sure I do everything right. See also: the old adage about two ways of doing things — the fast way and the right way.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to write up a price quote for my boy, Clint, for whom I’ll be producing the Coolest Bike Ever Made™.