starting to look like a bike!
a close-up of some nice tight miters. tight fits = straight frame.
random cyphering from the sit ski build...
polished and oiled the alignment table......
cleaned & organised all the work stations....
the front triangle was SPOT-ON.
that miter is dead center!
found this while doing QC on frame tubing - it's a builder's duty to inspect every single component. thanks for reading, see you all in 2009! Steve.
making sure to get some anti-freeze in the system while skiing.
out on the trails at the Flagstaff Nordic center on our 1st. sunny day in awhile with Denise. my first exercise in weeks!
carving a turn on a well-earned downhill.
the snow wall where our front porch was.........we basically have a little catwalk around the house. it looks like we will have a break from the snow, we got about four feet here in mt. dell - flat roofed buildings in town have been collapsing - but our lows are below zero F. at night and around freezing during the day.
testing the rig for fit - sweet!
Doug Hall was indispensable to the build. he made the bending equipment, did the bending, helped with design, and sewed all the softgoods. he's taking over sit-ski construction, as i'm just too busy with bicycles. if you want one, contact me for details until he gets up and running.
here is the main raw chassis. over 30' of tubing and 30+ brazes! still, it's incredibly lightweight thanks to very thinwall 4130 tubing. high stress areas like the feet are .049, the bend are mostly .035, and all the straight structural members are .028. all the tubing diameters are either 1/2" or 5/8".
got these pics from George & ted in Yuma - they met and found out that they both have Coconinos and hooked up for riding! 
custom frames for two different individuals - quite different!
George ripping his 29er! his review: Dear Steve, I finally hooked up with Ted. We met by total chance at a Christmas party. Ted and I went out to Sugarloaf for our premium desert singletrack. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy the bike. It climbs like a billy goat and so balanced and stable. Ted and I had a great time riding together. Here are some photos. Merry Christmas. George. Thanks, George!
and lastly, a photo from Jeff of his Coconino, it was one of the first 10, i'm not exactly sure which one, back then i stamped most of them with the date they were completed - rock on, Jeff!
some wrapping-up shots of Brian's bike.......one damn smooth braze shot, straight outta the dunk tank.
ditto here - sorry for the weird angle.
polishing & sculpting in process. i hear allot about how people dread polishing fillets, but i'm gonna go ahead and say it - it's my favourite part! i don't use power tools much - just for really tight spots - preferring to do it all with files, my two hands, and some 80 grit Emory paper. i actually find it quite soothing and zen-like. it does make your thumbs sore, though!
after shot of the above junction. sweet. results like this are very rewarding to me.
ditto here. this finish is actually just obtained with files.
checking out all the braze-ons to make sure that i got them all on, in the right place. the holes above the windows in the dropouts are tapped for racks. a spacer will be needed to clear the disc, but no big deal, it's tapped to use a metric 6x1 bolt, more then up to the task......
running some old housing to make sure that the stops are all in the correct places and that the routing is smooth and kink-free. ready for paint!
and, got allot of work done on my Nordic x-country sit ski! man, it's light & stiff too. i'm going to keep working on it until it's done. i really can't do anything outdoors with all the snow so there's a pretty big carrot dangling in front of me to complete it. i have to go on a hardware store run today to get an assortment of bolts, nuts and doo-dads to complete the mounting interface for the dual skate skis. a big shout out and thanks to Doug Hall, i could not have done the bending without him - he made the benders out of benders we had around that were not up to the task. quite the 4130 steel bending learning curve on this unit........Doug is gonna take up the torch and start building these for sale!
a top shot to show all the compound bends and angles. lots of brazes, too!
plenty of snow - we are slowly being walled in with snow in the forecast all week. i often wonder about the when large cities are paralysed but several inches of snow, but it will dump three feet at a shot here and life just goes on.............Steve.
got some of these babies on the way from paragon machine works! chainstay disc mount dropouts with integral rack mounts and replaceable 7005 derailleur hangers. if you have a travel bike on order with me let me know you want a pair and i'll pull them out of the stack. there will be a $60.00 upgrade on these items. i doubt they are at all light, but they look like material has been removed in all the right places to make them resonable, and if you are getting a touring bike then weight is a pretty moot point anyway......cool stuff! steve.
Mary's bike all done up in a fine metallic grey - looks nice! almost like a raw metal.
Brian's frame all tacked. i like this angle as it shows the cool swoopy stays i finally pulled off.
and here, all freshly brazed. it's in the dunk tank getting an overnight de-fluxing before i start polishing it up tomorrow. it should be off to paint in a couple of days!
detail shot of a still hot head tube/top tube/ down tube braze - finally getting my entirely re-gutted oxy-acetylene setup dialed in.
Mark W., this is your bike! a single speed curved top tube 29er with slider dropouts. nice! i get to use one of the sweeet prestige seat tubes i still have stashed from 94' because it fits jussstt right. a fine mix - true temper, prestige, dedacciai, 4130 and paragon. this baby will be going to southwestern Utah.
absolutely the final ride of the Flagstaff 08' riding season, as you shall see from the following pictures......
it sure was a good year for riding!
my soon-to-be new cross country Nordic sit ski. Doug Hall has been indispensable in helping me out with this. i'm doing all i can to help get it going and then Doug is going to take on producing these for sale. man! there's some HARD work building these straight with all the bending and compound angles.
the current conditions - snow, snow & more snow, and it's still snowing!
got this e-mail from Ted down in Yuma, Arizona down on the Mexican border, home to a couple of Coconinos. here's his reveiw, sounds like he's digging it. ted was in need for a true custom bike, he needed a really long toptube and generous standover - looks like it's riding just fine! here's his review: thanks, Ted! Hey Steve-
Mary - your frame is back! i though i'd post it and let you choose the sticker color - black, silver, yellow, or red?
Brian's frame is coming along. quite the problem solving exercise, not allot if info out there for this kind of bike - a road/cross/disc/campy bike. it's going to be way cool. i know some other frame builders were tracking this to see what i would come up with. sooo - here's my final tubing list selection - head tube, 36mm tange prestige {from 1994! vintage!} top tube and down tube = 32mm x .8/.5/.8 true temper verus heat treated, seat tube = .9/.6 TT verus with seat tube sleeve, dedacciai zero-tre round/oval/round chain stays, paragon bottom bracket and dropouts. i'm still figuring out the seat stays. i'm going to come up with something nice......overall, this has been a very challenging build {as have the last two} but, you never get better at anything by just hanging out in your comfort zone. that said, i'm sorta looking forward to a *fairly* easy build!
checking the disc clearance with the 130mm rear disc hub with a 160mm rotor installed. OK!
check out this tired soldier! it's my 1987 yeti FRO! i raced the shit out of this thing, had it as my only form of transportation, and rode it across New Zealand for over three months in 89'-90'. then it was stolen in 91' and i didn't see it for TEN YEARS until i found it in a pile of junk outside of a gutted house with everything missing except for the Phil Wood BB! i put it right back into commuter service until i started building bikes in 03' and it's parts got stripped for one of my 1st frames, and it's been sitting around in the shed since then. when Scotty and Tracy just passed through town to pick up her new road frame i sent it with him to live in Salida, Colorado's absolute bikes bike museum. check it out if you are there. Shawn Gillis, the shop's owner used to race with me in the 80's when i was still on it! 
front triangle all tacked up - clean!
after much agonising and drafting i have chosen the dedacciai zerotre round/oval/round chainstays over the nova s-bends. man, clearances on this bike run tight having to fit in the disc, the tire and the campy chainrings.........
some damn clean brazing on the dropouts. zero clean up!
130mm spacing phil wood disc hubs - mmmmm..........
went out a few days ago with denise, troy and mckenna. hard to tell it's december! it was 57*, short sleeve weather for us mountain folk. of course, this morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow, 30+ MPH winds, and a high around freezing.......still, might try to go for a ride up here tomorrow.
denise said that my arms were starting to look like logs...
here's wee little mckenna! i think she's about four months old.
the starkness of the lack of foliage and the shadows from the low winter sun really looked cool.
an off the map trail......
