February 12th, 2009 scottk
We are starting to run out of space in our front room as bikes reach completion and await the arrival of their new owners.
One such bike that we’ve just finished is a pretty sweet Ti Triathlon bike. This bike took a bit longer to finish as we had to wait for a bunch of the new Dura-Ace 7900 to show up, but it’s definitely been worth the wait.
Since there was already a bit of red on the fork, and a bit on the stem, and a bit on the saddle, we decided that we might as well just carry on the theme. The red King headset, Crank Brothers pedals, Salsa skewers and seat clamp round out the package nicely.
The best part about this bike might just be the fact that it comes with S and S couplers. These allow the owner to break the frame into two to allow for easy transport. Once it is packed into its case it is well within the limits for airline baggage, so it only takes a few flights to recoup the investment.
When I was building this bike, I took the chain out of it’s package and was pleasantly surprised at what I found; a quick link! I think Shimano may have been the last hold out, but fortunately they have seen the light and made the switch. Thus far it is only offered on the 7900 chain but if we all cross our fingers and repeat “Trickle down” three times fast, maybe we’ll see it on all their chains in the near future.
Along with the last of the new Dura Ace, we’ve also received a few forks we were waiting on. We have two Reba SL’s, a Fox F80 RlC and a DT Swiss XMC 80. These are your awesome, really awesome, and way past awesome options when it comes to 29er suspension.
So with that, it’s back to work, the next project is a Columbus Spirit Road frame
Posted in Custom Frames, New Bikes | 3 Comments »
January 28th, 2009 Hugh
It has been a whirlwind of activity here trying to master the art of powder coating as well as building frames and taking orders. The problem with contracting out the powder coating is that most of the existing businesses have only basic powder coating abilities. I wanted to be able to recreate finishes as well as Stefan has done for me in the past but with extra toughness. After many many hours of experimentation I feel that we are at that high level of quality and toughness.
This in the first customer bike powder coated here. It is single speed version of the geared mtb I built for Paul at the end of the summer. There is a previous post with a picture of that bike. This bike has a gloss black base powder, charcoal flames, and clear powder top coat. Pretty and very tough.
Pete’s touring frame has been built for a while and waiting for powder. This is the same powder the US military uses on their equipment. It is extremely tough. We tried chemically stripping a sample with no luck. This bike is being assembled with a Rohloff and mainly silver components.
Jay came and picked up his club bike last Friday. We packed up the bike for its flight home to Jordan. One of the concerns he had was the amount of sand blowing around in the wind. He will have to experiment with some different chain lubes.
I have also been working on Paul’s ti TT/road bike. The frame has the ti version of the S+S couplers. The lock nut is stainless and the couplers are made of titanium.
Paul’s frame is now ready for some finishing and cable guides. Most of the parts are here so it should be assembled shortly.
Posted in Custom Frames, New Bikes | No Comments »
November 28th, 2008 Hugh
Andrew’s fixy is finally together. It is built with sleek oversize lugs and True Temper Platinum tubing. The yellow pinstriping on the lugs turned out really well. This frame has an EBB to take care of the chain tensioning duties. I am sure this bike will turn a few heads. Once the fit is dialed in I will have a stem painted yellow to match the other yellow bits.
Posted in New Bikes | 5 Comments »
November 18th, 2008 Hugh
Mark picked up his shiny new ti/carbon cross bike on the weekend. Beautiful bike with a mix of Dura ace components, Scandium tubeless wheels, and a Eriksen sweetpost.
Not quite 24 hrs later …..
Posted in New Bikes | 1 Comment »
