Monday, January 19, 2009

Irfan's bike, another Sedona ride.

Irfan is a photographer, so he asked for extra pics, and i'll try and oblige! here's his front triangle during an alignment check. sweet! this is the 2nd alignment check, i checked the seat tube/ bottom bracket sub-assembly after it was tacked to make sure that i was building off of a straight base. note the employee lounge in the background........
sussing up the chain stays and the dropouts.

trimming off excess material from each end of the Dedacciai S-bend chain stays.
buffing out the dropouts - adding a bevel to the ends and sanding off the surfaces to eliminate hand oils and give the surface some "bite" for the metal to adhere to.
dummy-ing up the pieces to make sure that all the tolerances are correct - you have to account for tires, chain rings, cogs, chain, front derailleur, bottom bracket width, crank/heel clearance..........i've also marked the slots for the dropouts as well.
about 20min. with a hacksaw and a thin warding file and the dropouts are all fit up. most builders slot straight into the stay and then post-brazing bend the dropout in a vise to the desired angle. i account for the angle and slot the stay by hand to avoid bending the dropout. just stronger in the long run, i figure. harder, but that's OK - i sorta run that way.
the brazing has been completed in the anvil fixture and simultaneously mitered on the mill. i had a cool pic of this, but it didn't upload, i guess..........once the flux soaks off {tomorrow} i'll attach the stays.
a beautiful day in Sedona! thunder mountain and chimney rock in the background.
happy doggies in a nice muck hole left over from the snow.
Denise having fun with her new tripod.......
a long day - i was out 4 1/2 hours - quite the arm workout, i was totally cashed!
a couple arrowheads i found. i have quite the collection, i find them somewhat often. they are almost always broken, as they were lost by shooting the arrow at something and missing and loosing the arrow. hundreds or thousands of years later, i find them. i have a whole bowl full! more later, Steve.

6 comments:

Kristina said...

I miss you guys! Back from Idaho. I will come check you ouy when I get off work.
Lov, K-barn

Anonymous said...

The Sedona pictures make me think your handcycle might be the perfect way to see it. (Probably helps you find the arrowheads too.) Is it correct that you are either pedaling or braking/steering, but not both simultaneously?

Your bikes are wicked awesome. (I'm allowed to say that because I'm from New England.) Great blog. I appreciate the details on your building process, even though I don't know squat about welding or bending anything. Great pictures too. Found you linked from Walt works.

simon z said...

steve i just hit up east sedona last weekend and it was pretty sweet. there were some snow patches, but the trails for the most part were in great shape. i hope your ride looosened up some of that knotted scar tissue. that kinda of pain just ain't right. - simon

Anonymous said...

The photo fifth from the top is exactly why I want to go and steal your cs jig, just to mark the slot for the dropouts. I guess marking/cutting without a jig gets the brain working a little harder, which is good, but man...when I make the cut a little off I can't go back. No reset button on the stays, yo.

And the frame in the previous post got me drooling. The way the arc of the tt swoops over to meet the angle of the stays is killer!

jasona

Mimbres Man said...

Killer detail on the dropouts Steve!

Boedie Cycles said...

The pics of Sedona remind me of our awesome honeymoon we had there last fall riding every day we could. I wish I could convince my wife to move down to your neck of the woods.
Chris B.
Seattle, WA