jeni c.'s bike taking shape

this bike seems to be going pretty smooth! looks nice, getting the couplers down, once you do some they seem much less stressfull. start thinking about colors, jeni! rock on, steve.

matty's bike / feeling better, thanks!

got a pic of matty's bike that's going out to ada, oklahoma. looks sweet! man, i really like the color! "curry" with gold nugget topcoat. also made some good progress on jeni c.'s frame, i'll post pics in a couple of days when it looks like a bike. also, thanks for all the good vibes, calls and e-mails, i am feeling alot better and promise to try to stay away from bees and bee products! thanks all, steve.

almost clocked out yesterday........

had a pretty scarey evening yesterday! worked on frames all day, and after working on jeni c.'s bike decided to close shop and do some chores, but i was a little bonky so i decided to blend up a smoothie. i've been really conjested from all the pine pollen, and someone told me local bee pollen would help out. no problem, they sell it at the farmer's market! soooo....i dumped a spoonful in the fruit and whipped it up - delicious! within an hour or so, however, i started to swell and itch. my throat, lips, and my face began swelling quick, and i looked like i had about 10,000 bug bites and i was all red. my hands swelled painfully, and i barely got my wedding ring off - that's when i snapped the pic - i called denise and asked her if she could come home and take care of me. i do not think i was entirely rational as aniphylactic shock was setting in fast. she told me to call 911, which i wasn't into, so she did. good thing, too, as i was crashing pretty fast. they got out the gurney and loaded me up in the meatwagon and my blood pressure droppped through the floor and my heart quit working and i flatlined for 8 seconds. they shot me uo with a bunch of stuff and i started coming back around by the time i got to the hospital, where i spent the evening, but i was demanding to split by 10pm as i hate those places [justifiably, i think}. soooo.....feeling pretty groggy today, sorry all....i'm trying to build bikes as fast as i can! steve.

whew! FINALLY got this frame done!

finally got jen d.'s frame done! this thing really tried to kick my ass - s&s couplers,two-piece hand made, hand bent seatstays, full touring braze-ons, whew, that's alot of hand work! price for one of these babies - no fork - about $1775. but, i really sweated the details on it, and, man, is it straight and tight. the two pieces go together just perfectly. check out the size taken apart: that's a 2' ruler in the picture! almost overhead stowaway! now, next, another bike just like it. it seems like all the recent builds have been really technical and time consuming, these two frames and the double toptube bike before them. i guess that's why they call it "custom". also, thanks to all you folks from around the world who chimed in on the last post, that got me pretty stoked! and, thanks from those of you who asked how my progress walking is coming along. it's getting better. i don't think i have any great neurological gains coming my way any more, maybe just really small ones, but my stamina walking and standing are getting better and better, and i can get up off the ground by myself and stand unassisted. i'll elaborate more when i get my cool new carbon fiber leg brace soon! thanks for reading, steve.

howdy, everybody!

hope this finds all doing well! i was going to go and kick out another grueling armbike ride today, but i'm getting "tennis elbow" from all my armbiking, fishing, boating and filing. decided to take it easy today, do some food shopping, try to finish jen's bike and just generally move in slo-mo. when you only have 2 limbs left that work "perfectly" and they start to go south, you better take it easy. almost done with jen's bike. henceforth, S&S couplers will be a $475.00 upgrade. the couplers alone cost me $240. they are not technically challenging, but they sure are one hell of a time sink, and the painter charges more, as they must mask them off twice, once for sand blasting, and once for painting. oh yeah, you have to polish them too. they sure do look cool. i have included the closeup of one so you can get a better look at one. they open with a spanner wrench, i'l post a pic of it taken apart when it's all polished. went for a great ride two days ago, felt really good! climbed up climb 3, down weinie walk, up little gnarly and over to second dry lake, where one of my steering braze-ons promptly blew out, leaving me with almost no steering. good thing it was *mostly* downhill. i was having to pedal with one arm while steering with the other. [gee, where did i get tennis elbow?} also check out this cat track. about 4"/100mm wide. there's some big kitties out there in the woods! sooooo......after polishing fillets for almost 5 hours yesterday, i did a marathon 4 hour armbike makeover. i took the front end off, put on burly new steering braze-ons, added 2 new water bottle mounts, gave it an awful-looking orange touch-up paint job, took the front two-speed bottom bracket off and replaced it with a non-shifting lx crankset {lighter and simpler, i don't use the entire lower gear range, so why tote it around.....} adjusted/replaced alot of the cables and housing, and tuned it up. as i write, new armor has just showed up for it. guess i'm not done yet! so, lots to do. and, a request, one you don't have to accept at all, but how about readers add a comment, maybe just a first name and where you live, just to satisfy my own curiosity. i know alot of people read this, and i just wonder how far my little chunk of the world travels! thanks for reading/looking. trying to keep it interesting here in flagstaff, arizona, usa. steve.

coupler bike all tacked up, visit from verry warped

got jen d.'s bike all tacked up, it will get brazed up tomorrow and probally go to paint in about four days after a bunch of polishing and a handful of brazeons - full tour package. also had a drive-by-smiling fron verry warped, he's had his coconino for a few years and brought er' by for some tunin', washin' and some new stickers. fresh! that's why i like external stickers, when they get gouged up you can just put on more, but if they are painted on or under the clearcoat and they get scratched you're screwed! steve.

juan's cruiser

army-man green looks pretty nice!

corral trail - one steep s.o.b.

went out yesterday for a little "spin" up corral trail. man, is it a groveler! it is steep, rocky, and unrelenting, as well as having great views of alot of the southern san francisco peaks range, including mormon mtn, bill williams, wing, a-1, wilson, mingus, and granite peaks. it's not on the map, it starts at a corral, and denise did more trail work on it then it's seen in a long while! a little locals' only gem. also, the wild roses smelled GREAT and the iris are still putting on a great show, better then most years, for some reason. off to prep juan's cruiser, it looks cool! steve.

jen d's bike coming together

been really sweating the details on this one! it's an s&s coupler bike, it's gonna break down into two pieces for shipping! neat, huh? not cheap, however, probally a $400.00 upgrade - but, with what they charge for taking a bike overseas, it will pay for itself REALLY quick! she's gonna go live in beautiful sun valley, idaho. more pics when i get the seatstays on and braze er' up, steve.

fun times in southern utah

just got back from a great trip to southern utah. we first went to the brian head area to meet smithers, vanessa, mark and amanda, but it was snowing sideways at navajo lake and brianhead had 4" of fresh snow and they were plowing the road! we all bailed to a spot i knew from years back in the desert near three peaks outside of cedar city with mountainbike trails and bouldering for a few days while it cleared up and thawed out in the high country. once it melted we headed back up to the high country for biking some of the 60 or so miles of the virgin river rim and navajo lake trails with great views of zion natl' park and the grand staircase.we also got in some great trout fishing in navajo lake, caught 8 nice rainbows and a brookie. must have had 20 hookups that day, the trout were supercharged and were doing spectacular jumps and runs! the water is gin clear so you can see it all. sure is a great area with alot to offer and not alot of trail users for how awesome it is! now back to work........steve.

cruiser done, some notes on framebuilding.

got juan's cruiser done, looks sweet! i'm always glad to be able to sit back and see the finished product on one of the double top tube numbers. been talking to alot of other framebuilders and it seems that they are all rocking as well. cool stuff! it seems that the cycling community has realised the value of a quality handbuilt bicycle! so, anyway, i've come to the point where i'm only commiting to 2 bikes a month, putting me out 10 months. with all the handmade details like 2-piece seatstays, seattube sleeves, and swoopy seatstay and chainstay braces and my commitment to coconino quality, as well as my on-going therapy and the need to do fun outdoor stuff and building complete bikes and custom wheelsets makes me realize that this is an obtainable goal, one that i will probally exceed. we are here for a few more days, then we will be going to southern utah for 5 days for a coconino powwow with the reno crew. rock on, thanks for reading! steve.

three nice days at lees ferry

just got back from 3 days paddling, fishing and floating on the colorado river at lees ferry, a relaxing time! days in the mid 90's, real nice a foot above the water where we sit in the kayak. i think we were the only people camping on the river, although there were some day trippers. paddling upriver against the flows is HARD but going back down is a freebie. went to 6 mile camp the 1st day, then to 9 mile camp the 2nd where we pitched our tent to save the spot and continued up to below the powerlines. did some walking around in the desert - hard work for me! man, i was sweating like a whore in church! check out this yucca bloom, just past prime, when it was covered with white blossoms. all those green pods are full of seeds. this is the agave's last big finale, it has lived 35-55 years or so, then goes all out and then dies. caught some great trout this trip! trout hour'dourves with cold beers at the end of the day. a really nice vacation, we were not ready to come home! steve.