8-27-08 megapost!

from dirty benches come wonderful things!
doesn't it make your fingers hurt just looking at it?
money shot - all i had to do after brazing for finish work was touch up the faces. these are stainless steel dropouts, and they must be affixed with silver. anytime you are filing silver onto the floor you are loosing money.
this braze could be run as-is, but a little love & it will really shine!
ditto here.......the result of thousands of brazes i've done over the years. even the most critical craftsman deserves to give themselves a pat on the back every so often.

good and straight.
i love building wheels! i've probably laced thousands in the 23 years i've been doing it and i still like the feel of lacing some new hoops.
john's wheels are ready to roll!

just airing up my tires is a contortion act!
all the tiny micro horny toads are out. check out the pine needles next to it - this little fella must be fresh out of the egg.
getting dropped uphill by a 12 year old dog. sally sure is doing great. i hope our critters can get out with us for years to come.
sliding turns on sunset - man, this is one wild ride!
all the fungi are coming out in bumper crop quantities and lot of variety. you see lots with bites taken out where the critters are gorging on them in preparation for winter.

been super bust lately, so sorry for no updates, i've been busier then a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest! hey, wait a minute.........anyhoo, i have about six projects going on now, so as it's hard for me to see any one getting done, they are all coming to fruition. i'm going to go out and finish mark's frame today and get it off to spectrum for some custom gravy. tomorrow, i'll start cutting tubes on kerry's bike with ivan's to follow as soon as i get his fork from walt. also, been building ALLOT of wheels, i was up late last night lacing some custom red phil wood hubs to red velocity 29er rims and i can't believe i let them get out the door without a picture - they were sweet! i think i have john & ivan's parts all here, so soon those will go out too. i even got in a ride, and i'm glad i did! i really needed to loosen up and trail conditions are as good as they get. more later, ya'll, steve.

a nice fishing trip!

high stress moment...........
joe & denise overlooking the rim.
cody poking aroung woods canyon.
best fish of the trip! almost 23" !!

hurry, it's heavy!
hey, denise - look what i caught!

a selene. i wish we had these around here! warming up - must be beer:30.
bald eagle on the look out.

had denise's brother joe out for a four day fishing tour of the mogollon rim lakes. good fun, great scenery and excellent company! we went to blue ridge {solitude, great fishing} knoll lake {beautiful, clear lake, eagle watching, good fishing} and woods canyon { lush forest, total zoo!} it went by waaay too fast, and it's back to work tomorrow.......... steve.

build status as of 8/18/08

mark's bike. i'll get it brazed tomorrow.
keenan's bike, all unfiled fillets.
nice rack!

i'll be out of the office from the 20th until the 26th for my first real break this summer, so i thought i'd post an update on some of the current projects! George came and picked up his gorgeous yellow 29er. keenan, your bike should show up at web cyclery any day......mark, i'm brazing up your bike tomorrow and will finish it by the 28th/29th. we gotta figure out a paint scheme.........john, your bike is done & will go to paint when i get the fork & i will ship all your parts to you when i get the hubs {shipped today} and lace your wheels.........kerry, i will start your build after i finish mark's bike, and then i will start ivan's frame as your fork should arrive about then, AND your parts box is filling & will ship with frame. after kerry & ivan i show roabie, jim m., deanne and scot b. got seriously slowed down this week as my body took a crap on me........to say i blew out my back would be an understatement! i blew out everything inbetween my C4/C5 fusion and my T11/T12 fusion/rods including my neck, shoulders, back, right arm socket and the seven broken ribs i got.............couldn't move my neck, and it slowed me down quite allot, still working at about 50% capacity, but steaming along nonetheless. also, i am currently backed out until june on builds according to my build list, AND prices will be going up $100.00 per frame when i return. i will rain check frames at the current list price if you e-mail/call me before i return on the 25th. thanks, all! steve.

george - your bike is ready!

that's one good lookin' 29er, ya'll!

and what a bike it is..........color: RAL #1000 "banana". i'll get better pics in the sun as it is dumping out right now. looks like one fun scoot! steve.

cool sighting out fishing.

saw this black bear coming back from fishing yesterday! he was standing in the middle of the cattle guard in the pic when i first saw it. the pics are a little blurry but i was lucky to snap these real quick! caught ten trout & had a good day on the water. steve.

two part post: mormon mountain ride & mark v.'s frame.

isn't this just beautiful?
aki is visiting from osaka, japan and this was his rest day from mountainbiking. most of the trail is really steep..........
allot of it is pretty rocky.........
and many parts are really, really nice! some great blue spruce up there, too.

you don't see trail conditions this nice every day.
rippin' it up!
mark's bike, square one.
the easy part all done.
#70 back for some love - i sure have learned allot in the 90 frames i have made since this one!

got allot going on around here - lots of visitors and lots of work make for a very tired steve! at least i get a break this morning as i wait for the garage repair guys to show up and fix the garage door which unexpectedly exploded last night, falling off it's runners and requiring neighbors to help and close it. wonder what that will cost............oh well. got in a grueling ride up mormon mountain a few days ago - one tough climb and one hairball descent. it's steep enough that mtn. bikers won't ride up it. {hell, hardly ANYONE rides it, and it makes a sweet loop with some arizona trail thrown in} it climbs 1500ft. in three miles, a 1/10 grade, right? anyway, every time i ride this it kicks my ass, and it did this time too. but, one never improves at anything if you choose to never push your comfort level. the rain held off, only sprinkling enough to crank the humidity to 11, but the resulting spectacular cloud display was WELL worth it! next part: metal fab. mark's bike is coming right along, i was gonna get the chainstays and dropouts on it yesterday but a big flock of cool visitors from here, japan, las vegas and prescott all showed up at once, no kidding! looking good - it's going to live in california. lastly, frame # 70 back for some lovin'. it's going to get a disc brake mount added and a new powdercoat and go back out for more. it's cool to see how many different ways my frames have evolved over the years! sometimes i get insights like this that make me say "damn! my stuff is pretty nice!" later, gotta make some breakfast, steve.

rockin' out a sweet frame for keenan.

the next wave of builders?
i really get into my work........
i super dig this picture - keenan had a good eye for great pics, he took all of the ones that he's not in.

plenty of verbal support............
that's one stoked dude - you would be too! we sized it so it should be a trusty steed for years to come.
some of the best brazing i've done to date.
nice pic!

super good buddies yod & keenan came down for a whirlwind tour of just a couple of days so we could build keenan a new race bike for the upcoming MTB season. keenan takes after yod in the rippin' it up department and was schooling others on his hardrock up in bend, oregon. yod was best man at my wedding and i at his, and i've know keenan since he was born 15 years ago, so obviously this would not do - he needed a coconino! so, after two long days with the boys and various local helpers and a few solo hours doing braze-ons the result was a mighty fine frame. it came out so smooth that the brazes will see no file. it sure was fun/exhausting! keep your eyes out for an orange blur up in the deschutes national forest! try doing something for pure personal emotional gain and satisfaction for someone you care about, it will enrich both your lives for years to come. steve.

sam's bike out in the woods.

looks sweet! steve.

a purty slog on great trails!

indian paintbrush. it too, is partially parasitic on the roots of a "host" plant. there's allot of parasites out there if you look. i just saw a new one for me today that looks like it only grows on doug firs.
harebell. nice!

a whole field of cutleaf coneflowers.

bombing down meadow.
denise said i better not delete this or else.
fly agaric - don't put this on your pizza or think it will take you on a trip you would like!
one of the many faces of schultz creek trail.

this pollinator is a species of nectar loving fly.

trails were perfect today! we were almost the only trail users and actually only saw folks from afar once we started after saying "hi" to cameron and wendy at our start. trails were tacky and traction was perfect. i looped aroung from the bottom of meadow trail where i went up schultz, rusty pipe trail, orion, and then down meadow. it beat me down! my arms, shoulders, hands, and fingers hurt! all the flowers are changing...........the lupines are really winding down and the penstemmons are starting to fall off, but all the sunflowers, mexican hats and coneflowers are just coming out. the super trail conditions sure are cutting into productivity, but the long, dark purgatory of framebuilding known as winter is not far off, ya'll........... steve.