Thursday, May 10, 2012

Out of the office until May 30th *and* current build queue.

Howdy, all - yep, I am out of here until May 30th & will then return and do not have any big trips planned for...........a year..........Dang.

And, here is the current build queue.
I am taking one from the top, and then building the next - expect a flurry of building when I return.
And to get started: Greg B. (CO) Ted M. (AZ) Bob G. (NM) Eric P. (AZ) Dave B. (AZ) Barin B. (Venezuela)
Peter F. (UK) Dave B. (AZ) Bill S (NM) Jason C. (UT) Eiji (Japan) John L. (AZ) Barry W. (CA) Steve K (AZ) Jonah M. (VA) Tim H. (?) Jim E. (?)
And also, the missing - PLEASE get ahold of me and let me know your status, PLEASE?
- Hunter S. (NV/CA) John A. (VA) Michael L. (?) 
Thanks to all & I'll see you on the other end of the canyon - Steve.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Wrapping up Melissa's frame.

 I got the seat stays all fabricated, I have these down to a few hours now with joining the segments, cleaning them up and bending them. I would be glad to stop making them but they look super cool and ride really nice, so they are here to stay. One of my signatures in framebuilding.
 And here all tacked onto the rest of the unit, and below all brazed together.
 Super-yummy: blue brass flux - take a chug!
 Finished fillets still very hot.
 Bling! a seat tube junction fully polished.
 And, the whole bike as well.
 Mandatory booty shot - nice curves with the Coco-Motos.
 Excellent "flow" throughout.
 What can I say? That's money.
 Signature Coconino seat cluster.
And, the Coco-Moto dropouts - soon, Vulture Cycles & I will be working on a version with a derailleur hanger and twin rack mounts - a few months out.
 Thanks for reading, all! - Steve.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Chris's bike, Melissas's bike.


 CN's frame fresh from the painter, a delicious ruby red with gold flake topcoat - que rico!
 One for the curves with standard hand cast bronze headbadge, all curves done in house, segmented seat stays, 17-4 stainless steel cable guides, internally relieved BB shell, hand made seat tube sleeve - a "stock" frame.
 Mandatory booty shot........
 Steve's eye view - BLING! this unit has some serious eye candy.
 Side view - a 26" wheeled bike made for a 120mm fork - a great bike for anyone's stable, a bike that can rock anything.
 Logo detail to show the color and the sparkle.
 And one of the H2O reinforcements - these keep the bottle from ripping out of the thinnest part of the tube if bent and bent back - please don't use your frame to bend back your cages, huh? Think about it.........not good.
 And below, the nearly finished unit. To be picked up in early June right after we return from the Grand Canyon & I wanted to be sure everything was here and works top-notch.
 And, at the same time I'm building Melissa's 26" wheel x 100mm fork dedicated 1-speed with Coco-Moto dropouts, light tubing, and a full build on the way.
 In the pictures above I have 1st cut the headtube from a 5' stick of raw headtube stock and faced and chased it, cut, mitered and prepped the seattube sleeve, and polished the BB shell as well as cut the tubes to raw length - the circles are where I need to drill the vent holes, which allow gasses to escape as well as give you a place to put in lube/rust protection, and I have done a good amount of prep to the Coco-Moto dropouts.

 Front triangle all tacked together.
 And checked for both straightness and twist.
 The pictures above show the fitting allowances - tight, damn tight.

 This detail shows how the brass flows along tiny scratches which I impart on the tube to show the molten metal where to go on a molecular scale - I think about giant canyons in the steel with rivers on brass following the metal arroyos - oh, working alone - lots of time to think and work on your technique.
And, all tacked with the chainstays - on to seatstays today.
Thanks, clients and readers! - Steve.