February 24th, 2010 scottk
8 days to go until the big show and as is the case every year, production is in full swing. Leo just took possession of his powder blue S and S coupling equipped road bike. Leo has been gracious enough to lend his bike back to us so that we may put it on display at the show.
I’ve included a couple of close up shots of the coupling and the head tube. Leo’s bike is equipped with a full compliment of Campy components, hand built wheels and topped off with a Chris King headset and Eriksen Ti post.
We have received our first Campagnolo Athena gruppo into the shop and it sure is nice. Athena is Campy’s attempt to bring 11 speeds to a more manageable price point. 11 speed drive trains allow for an almost seamless feeling between gears which is sure to please the more performance minded cyclists amongst us.
Hugh decided to sneak in one final bike before the show and is putting the finishing touches on a Porteur style frame which will come complete with a really nice front rack. Shimano stepped up to the plate and has supplied us with a set of Alfine wheels to complete this awesome bike.
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February 9th, 2010 scottk
Last year, the final push before the annual Toronto Bike show was a tough one. No matter how much you plan and how hard you work, it seems like the final week before a big show is always full of 12 hour days. This year we have started a few weeks earlier with the hope that the week leading up will be easier, leaving us more refreshed going into the show. That’s the hope at least.
Richard has been hard at work painting Jennie’s new do-it all, S and S coupling, disc equipped cross frame. I’m hesitant to call it a cyclo-cross bike, but I’m also hesitant to call it a touring bike. Really it does just about everything well and if you had to have just one bike, this may be it. Jennie’s frame is getting a pretty amazing paint job complete with faux-chromed lugs. In the photos the lugs look like they’ve been chromed but that’s actually powder coat (pretty cool eh?). This series of photos should also give you a good idea of the amount of prep time that goes into painting a frame, especially a powder coated frame. Powder coat by it’s very nature sticks to everything, and if you don’t take your time, it can lead to mistakes down the road.
Jeff also took some time to send in some photos of his completed 29er. It’s done up in what he calls “Winter Mode” at the moment with studded tires and a rigid fork. He had Hugh braze in a boss for a pulley wheel so that he could run a Dura-Ace Front Derailleur with his 2×9 drive train. The early word is that is shifts much better than his previous XT Front derailleur.
I’ll leave you with a parting shot of a new long reach brake equipped road bike we’re building up for the Toronto Bike Show. Again, that’s a powder on powder logo on the down tube. It’s going to look pretty awesome when it’s all finished.
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January 27th, 2010 scottk
One of my favorite websites is Crazyguyonabike. The sum total of my touring in recent memory was a ride from Burlington, Vermont to Burlington, Ontario. I had 4 days before i had to be back to work so i really had to motor. That’s not the way to do it, touring should be about riding at your own pace and slowing down to see the world. That’s why i really admire people who can get away from life for a couple months and ride across the country. I was checking out Crazyguyonbike over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see that the featured journal starred a True North. Steve rode 7000km across country this summer and I’m extremely jealous. If you want a good read, be sure to check it out.
For us non-bike touring souls, the shop has been busy. Richard’s frame is coming along quite nicely. I can’t wait to see this bike when it’s finished. It’s really going to be something.
Suzanne picked up her new road bike last week. This bike features S and S couplers and Long reach brakes and as such is ready to travel to wherever Suzanne may want to go. We really like the paint on this bike as depending on where you stand and how the sun hits it, it can look several different colours.
Speaking of paint. Jeff just got his 29er repainted. I’ll include a sneak peek for now. Knowing Jeff, this bike will be re-assembled in no time and i should receive a collection of really nice photos in my in box quite shortly thereafter. I’ll post those as soon as i get them.
Hugh found some time to repair a vintage Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt. I use the term repair loosely as it wasn’t really broken, the current owner just wanted the dropouts switched from single speed back to geared. Switching a bike over to a Single speed is something we do a fair amount, but switching it back isn’t a request we see to often. Hugh had to craft some plugs for the stays in order to accomplish this and the end product turned out great.
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January 13th, 2010 scottk
Working with Lugs is painstaking, tedious work; there’s really no way around it. To get a set of lugs to the point where you can think about brazing them into a frame can take days.
First one must conceptualize what they want the lugs to look like and sketch it on the lugs so that they have an outline to work from. One must then cut away at the lugs to give them a rough shape and only then can one proceed with using a file to give them shape.
Crafting an intricate lugged frame really is a labor of love, but i think the end product more than justifies the means.
These lugs still have some work left to be done to them, but one can begin to see the form they are taking. I’ll be sure to post more photos as this frame approaches completion.
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