Lugs and Repairs.

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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Working with Lugs

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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Repairing, Restoring and Repainting.

It’s been about a year since we began powder coating all our frames in house. When we first got the powder coating setup operational we dived in headfirst attempting panels, fades and flames. You name it, we probably tried it. And we more than likely ended up stripping it and redoing it. One year and lots of practice later we think we’re getting pretty adept at the process. Dave had his 29er in to have a disc brake mount welded on and went for a wild WW2 Flying Ace inspired theme.

Mari also converted her bike to disc brakes and went with the Queen of Hearts theme. What we like about powder coat is how durable it is; it makes so much sense for mountain and touring bikes.

Check out some of the more detailed shots. No decals or wet paint, all powder on powder.

Being that winter has hit Guelph in a big way, we are getting a fair amount of repaints and repairs coming through the doors. Here is a Marinoni cyclo-cross bike that has been converted to winter bike duty. It had its brake bosses cut off and disc brake tabs welded on. We painted the Ambrosio Keba rims and Velo-Orange front rack to match.

We also did a repaint on a 25 year old Raleigh city bike. If your bike has lasted 25 years, chances are it might be in need a new paint job and I can say with confidence that the paint on this bike is far superior to the original paint.

Here are a couple of detailed shots of the down tubes. You can click on them to expand them to full size.

All the repaint, repair and restoration work going on doesn’t preclude the fact that there are new frames to be built and we are hard at work as always. Sean has been mitering tubes as quick as Hugh can weld them.

Pictured above is a freshly brazed brake bridge. This road frame contains a mix of Columbus and True Temper tubing.

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The Christmas Rush.

We had four S and S coupling equipped bikes leave the shop on the 24th. Two were the bikes from last weeks post and two were these beautiful His and Her’s Ti touring bikes. Needless to say it was a busy day.

Anne’s bike turned out awesome, equipped with Ultegra and XT components, hand built wheels featuring DT components and Old Man Mountain racks front and rear.

The subtle blue accents really look great on this bike. Check out more photos on our flickr page.

David’s bike turned out just as amazing as Anne’s and more photos can be viewed on our flickr page.

You really have to see one of these bikes in person to appreciate all the nice little touches that goes into building them. The Eriksen seat post, Chris King Headset, S and S couplings and Hugh’s amazing welds all equal up to a bike that is really special and will last a lifetime.

Another bike that went out the door last week was this Brodie Brute. This bike was dropped off a week before Christmas with instructions to freshen it up in time to get it under the Christmas tree.

Brandon’s bike turned out amazing with a new paint job, tires and tune-up.

Now that the holidays are almost over we can get back to work; which means more welding, more designing and more wheelbuilding. A lot of wheels get built here at True North and if 2009 was any indication, a lot more will be built in 2010.

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