when i'm this busy something has to give - blogging in this case.

Sorry readers & clients, but i've been so throttling-ly busy that I have not had the energy to update this site, but here you go! 1st, Jo-Mo's frame at the get-go. full build 26" wheeled MTB with a SID fork & a rear rack, all Deore XT with wheels built by Moi.

checking the straightness of the frame's "spine".

completed seat tube sub-assembly.

My segmented seat stays at the get-go - oily, greasy dirty aircraft 4130 chromium-molybdenum steel, baby!

fast forward through several proprietary steps and here you go.

.......and a few more and you have some swoopy seat stays ready for mitering.

......and then tacked to the frame.

fully tacked, ready for brazing.

a pretty nice one, there.

ditto.

view from the shop: 2010 sunflower crop. we must have 10,000+ of them this year.

as My friend & fellow OZ builder & fellow framebuilder's collective member says "hard yakka"

Jo-Mo's in process hanging next to Auger's, which is waiting for parts. all I'm waiting for now are the Phil hubs & BB & the King headset + spacers..

and as if that's not enough, we are building a bike for my neighbor while he is here on the weekends, he let me snag his rock crew for our patio last summer.

Auger's parts. seven, yes seven vendors = seven separate orders. that eats up allot of time, folks. it will be really awesome, however! building the wheels for this one, too.

I also got out on a couple rides in the wood & suggest that you all do the same as well. That's right - step away from the haunted fishtank, throw you electronic gizmos as far as you can & go for a ride in the woods. Stop and actually look at all the wonders it holds while you are there, too. Flagstaff Penstemmon here.

I never tire of Sego Lilies.

Sally turned 14 and she is sadly winding down on hand cycling. heck, she's 100! she will get out more as it cools & we are going to take the pooches fishing on Mon.

Steve's eye view.

taking the turns pretty hot - great conditions!

Yep. I told you she was getting tired.

Friend Meg checking out a very nice Deer's Ears.

Golden Columbine.

Wild Oregano.

A tricky bit.

P. Barbatus.

Potentilla Hippiana.

Denise & Meg.

little horny toad buddy.

now that's allright right there.......

Denise drove the rig down from the mtn. while I took the trail.

well there we go. with everyone's moving schedules here are the builds in current order coming up: Jeff C., Bammy, Gitty, Katie B., Lainie & Mike G., Barry W. - I'll check back in ASAP - Garro.

current projects/build queue questions..

Jesse is really, rally stoked on this new scoot - it looks mighty smooth & swoopy.......

I've been kicking out Annie's garage vs. bike repair - it will be as new. one of the bonuses of steel, you can do really bad things to it & for a fraction of the price of a new ride fix it right back to perfect. just watch those roof racks, huh, folks? - not covered under warranty........

Jude sent me this pic of his 650B from Nor-Cal. kinda blurry, but if you squint you get the idea. nice bike!

Gus-Gus hunkering down during yesterday's monsoon deluge. We got back from a ride just as everyone was going out {a little after noon} and I'd say allot of folks got their primal jerseys a little browner then when they were leaving. there were a bunch of people shuttling schultz {?????} which i just don't get. a freeekin' cripple can pedal up that with their arms, folks. burn ass, not gas..........

Denise's new setup for Sally - she gets gimpy on the long downhills now. she seems to think it's "princess" enough to be OK + Denise gets some weight training in, too.

Penstemmon Nudifloris? pretty sure. I also have one with similar flowers but scrubbier foliage in my yard which i believe to be P. Jamesii. - Gotta ask Planteo.

as soon as it rained the Sego Lilies popped. there are going to be thousands soon. I love these guys.

Penstemmon Barbatus.

A big fat bumblebee sucking on a Lupine. see the orange on it's leg? bee pollen.

Steve's eye view of the trail. it was sweet.

Sometimes you just can't beat Flag. Sometimes it kinda sucks.........

This was not one of the "sucky" days. no moon dust, not on fire, not another rider......

man, the downhill was craaaazy. I was just nailing the drifts & hooking up hard.

Not ferns - bracken, actually.

That's about it for now. busy, busy. I got a question recently about estimated wait times & why the build queue shuffles. Well, it's really hard to nail something down 10-11 months out. try it with your own life. I'm pretty proud not to be more then a month or so off either way. Also, people come and go, get married, have kids, move, have changes in living conditions, break limbs, need some extra time paying, just disappear sometimes {not often} all kinds of things. hell, I got smashed by a truck and still only lagged a couple of months behind on delivery. Also, things like frame repairs, material & component availability {although, I go far out on a limb tying up liquid $$$ assets to insure I have tubing on hand} custom paint and just unforeseeable "acts of god" {like my painter's air compressor failing} just add up. I'm definitely trying to get you your bike ASAP. What can you do to help? Well, please know what components you are going to use. If you need guidance, ask me. I'll know - it's my job. If you have "dedicated" components - I'll need those *here* to fit them up. Get me your measurements, please!! - thank you. Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough - DO NOT wait 10-11 months and not know what color you want!! please, please, please. I have 20+ people on the build queue right now, so if we all work together to keep the flow well, flowing then everybody gets their bike/frame faster. If it makes anyone feel better, I've had a bike in the shed {a BRAND NEW One-Off} that i have not gotten to build, and I've had it *over a year and a half!*, my ride able One-Off is held together with zip-ties {it really is} and my wheelchair is missing two spokes - I'm just too tired at the end of the day to fix them - don't even get me started on the boats! - Rock On, off to sign off on Annie's repair & start Jo-Mo's bike - thanks for all you collective Patience!!! - Steve.

When your friend shows up all the way from Venezuela and wants to go fishing, you take him!

Damn - beautiful weekend! Barin {Mimbres Man} came into town & it was Barry's B-day so we took off to the ferry for a few days. sweet!

Little kayaker, big canyon.

Denise firing up some lunch - trout burritos with guacamole.

one of the little buddies scurrying about.

Mimbres Man!

High stress situation.........

nice one, Barin!

I love trout. every one is different. back you go!

Barry slammed it out of the park with this one - nice fish!!!! that's a great B-day present......

Denise too - She just keeps getting better at fishing.

I wonder what it's impression of this experience was once released?

It's a wonder they were biting at all - the cicadas were out & there was NO shortage of food. the fish were really fat.

We got rained on every day just a bit. Every night, too.

Rogues' gallery!

This one was my favourite of the trip - just awesome spots. back you go!

Another one for Denise - nice trout!

Ditto.

Barin setting up for 8-mile riffle.

"finger rock"

Just another day on the Rio.

Well, I went right back at it. Marzoff's frameset goes to paint today, I built Jesse's up yesterday, and I'm going to start Annie's garage v. bike repair today, too.

Next up on the build queue: Gitty, Manzo, Bammy, Jeff C, Jody M, Katie B, Lanie J, Mike G, Barry W, Kenny C, ect, ect out to April - Steve.