mike's bike

just thought i'd throw a quickie up on the blog, just got this pic from mike g. of charlottesville, virginia. he said she tracks sweet at 45mph in the blue ridge mtns! way to go, mike!

a living treasure has passed

just heard thet eric newby passed away at the age of 87. there were few who led such a full life, much less written about it in such an eloquent, funny, and thouroughly english way. he was always an insperation of mine. his books are some of the absolute best in travel literature.in "love and war in the appenines" he tells of being a p.o.w. on the lamb in the mountains of italy and living in a cave where he met his lifelong wife, wanda, who would bring him food. in "slowly down the ganges", one of my favorite books ever, he and wanda float the length of the ganges, a truly epic adventure, one that had me laughing aloud while trekking peru. in "a short walk in the hindu kush" he and a buddy decide to climb a peak in afghanistan with no prior experience - and they drive there from england! in "around ireland in low gear" he and his wife cycle tour ireland in their later years. this guy can make suffering so damn funny!! truly a must in traveling companions!

current wait list on frames.

just tallied the current waiting list for frames/bikes: 15 on order, early july for delivery. get on the list!

first snow on the trails

first snow on the drylake hills! went up climb 3 and down sunset with denise, darol and the critters.darol said it was really hard, which was a good reality check as to how hard the rides i'm doing are.we knocked it out in a little over 3.5 hours. ripped down sunset FAST!! had to flip myself upright twice by myself because i had dropped everyone. sure is great to be out in the woods with the crisp fall weather. very few leaves left in the trees. winter is a-comin'!! steve.

sweet braze fresh from the torch!

here's a pic of some unfinished brazing fresh from the torch,not even de-fluxed. this is how you want them to look, like a nice TIG weld. not a whole lotta cleanup here. this is denise's new bike for her b-day, a curved top tube mtb with disc brakes. she is stoked! steve.

stephen barnes keepin' it real on his coconino!

just got this great pic of the most widely sited coconino rider in the west, stephen barnes. shredding the red rocks of moab. sweet pic courtesy of pete c. thanks, man! steve.

arm biking weatherford/lookout trail with great fall colors.

went and did these trails the other day, it was way sweet, probally the hardest ride i've done yet! took about 3 hours 45 min., and i was totally cooked, went to sleep by 5pm. rode some really technical sections, everything except for 2 parts i had to get off and use trees for crutches and crawl over boulders. due to the frequent rain, trail conditions were perfect! i'll post more soon,probally the end of fall colors, though! steve.

My Guitar Gently Weeps on a Ukelele - mark mc daniel's sent me this - check it out! steve

Amazing Ukelele player plays George Harrison's 'My Guitar Gently Weeps' on the ukelele.

brian h.'s new 29er.

here's some fresh pics of the 29er back from paint, and the new headbadge design as well. check out the web braces on the stays, they are standard on every bike now. also standard seat tube sleeve, and i really dig the color, it totally matches the aspens that are going off right now! enjoy, garro.

fall colors/denise's biathalon

denise did the gaspin' in the aspen biathalon today and got 2nd! it was a 5 mile run/18 mile bike/5 mile run. she looked fine afterwords. fall colors are still going strong despite the storms of the last few days. hello to all, steve.

bill's x-bike, bruce's 29er and smither's tour cruiser

here's some pics of all the frame projects going on right now in the shop. the designs and the tube set is bill fry's cross bike that is going to switzerland. the BIG frame in the jig with the slider drop outs is bruce ledbetter's 29er. the tour bike is smither's, he came down from truckee to tie up some buissness and we cranked this out in 2 1/2 days. he still has to polish the brazes and put braze-ons on it. it should be pretty camo in the 3rd world, it looka like an old raliegh or a flying pidgeon that you see so much in mexico/bolivia. that sucker is 100% 4130 except for the chainstays,seat tube and head tube. weight? who cares! the dirt rag crew did a drive by smiling yesterday as well, maurice and thanita stopped by to swap t-shirts and sat "hi" and take the armbike for a driveway rip. set them straight on beer laws of the 4-corners region and sent them on their merry way. hopefully i'll get some shiny, pretty new bikes back from paint soon for ya'll. later, steve.

armbike ride to the inner basin

rode up to the inner basin with denise today, it was definately one of the peak aspen days we will have this year. started out at about 8000 ft. and rode up to 9800. it was quite a grind on the one off, but the down hill was super fast. smithers came down from truckee and we built hiw a double tt tour bike, i've got bikes in every stage right now, i'll post some bike pics tomorrow when i get a chance. pretty wiped out right now, hard for me to think/type. i'll post more later when i.m more together! steve.