mid-november happenings.

well, trying to get denise's new bike going, and it's rather frustrating! i've changed my dropout choice four times, even brazing one pair onto stays, only to set them aside for a later project. i haven't recived the front dropouts yet, which got sent out from australia, who knows where they are. the spokes were waiting for othere tools to get shipped out, haven't seen them yet, so i can't lace the wheels to see if all the clearances are correct. arrrgggghhhh!!!! it has to be done by the end of the month to go to paint for the bike show, so something's gotta give and choices will have to be made. here, however, is the front triangle, which is tight'n'right, and most of the fork all dummied up. i hand bent the blades and brazed the steertube to the crown, but that's as far as i got, as i said, i was hoping the front dropouts with rack eyelets would show. i'm pretty stoked on the crown, it's a new fat-tire design from kirk pacenti at bikelugs.com. it will fit a BIG tire, and uses a 1 1/8" steer tube. soooo....., i know what you are thinking. yes, i'm taking fork orders, BUT, at this time, ONLY for my frames. no fork only orders. and, only lugged silver brazed, and only for axle-to-crown lengths of less then 425mm-ish, and canti brake mounts. yep, traditional, good'ole forks. 1" or 1/18", straight or curved blades, cross or mountain/touring. and, squeezed in a good five hour ride a couple of days ago, tried to link connector trails that nobody uses to keep out of the dust. did a great loop, and had a totally clean run down orion springs. saw lots of critter tracks, including this big wild turkey track, and a great view of the peaks. hopefully brown santa will still show today with some goods.......steve.