Getting Excited

That's right! Even I get excited. When I start a bike and I have a box of tubes. I've always been good at being able to see things that aren't there. No, not like I'm hallucinating. I can build something and see in my mind what it will look like when I'm done. This is very handy when you're a fabricator. However, there is no replacement for the real thing.

So in the following pictures you see the real thing starting to take shape.

I spent the day today putting almost all of the bits and pieces on.It was a nice day outside and I kept staring out the window watching the world go by. However when I'm this close to the end of the build it makes me want to work longer to see the finished product.

I just love a classic bicycle. There is nothing quite like it to me.
Gary F stopped in for a few today and took some pics. of his soon to be bicycle. Here is one of them.

Marketing Marketing Marketing

Hey All,

I'm splitting my time today between my shop and here on my computer. A friend of mine from Circle A Cycle (Brian) sent me a link that he found with a partial picture of my booth at NAHBS in Richmond VA. Check it out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=126885724

Two more things. If you need your bike repainted, bring it to Circle A Cycle in Providence RI
They do a great job at a fair price.
If Circle A is not close enough for you, you can bring it to me and on my next trip I'll deliver it.

Also when you check out the pics at the above link and find a picture of one of my bikes. That's my good friend War'n. His actual name is Warren but we all call him War'n. (Try saying War'n. It's kind of folksy, don't ya think?) He came to Virginia with me and was a huge help. We had a great time together that weekend.

Well that's it for now. I'll be back tomorrow with some new pics of Gary's build.

Saturday 5/15/10 Six years and counting!

Hey All,

I had a great day in the shop today and even a better one in the evening. It started as usual at 8am. I needed to do all of the little things that make a frame a bike. Fitted and brazed on the brake bridge. As you can see there is a small boss which is threaded in the center for mounting a fender. Gary doesn't plan on using it right away but it will be there for the future.

Next I brazed on the shifter bosses. These will be used as cable guides because Gary is planning on using STI shifters at this point.

Next was the small braze-on that mounts to the bottom of the chain stay for the cable that runs to the rear derailleur. Sorry for the blurry picture. I also spent time on the rear drop outs making sure there is adequate room for the cassette.

So I bet you're wondering what do you mean by 6 years and counting? Simple. I've been married to my wife for 6 years. Without her support this endeavor never would have gotten off the ground. So...We went out for a nice dinner to celebrate at our favorite restaurant.

By the way....Today is Sunday. I had a great ride with my Amigos today. There were about 20 of us in all. It's so much fun being at the back of a pace line going through the winding roads of western CT. What a site!
db

PS Soon I'll be ordering a tube set to make my first MTB. It will be a 29er single speed. I'm pumped!

Friday 5/14/10

As usual I spent the afternoon in the shop today. It was tough because it is a perfect day for a ride. The one negative thing I have run into about building bikes is that it takes up a lot of my spare time and there is so much riding to do and so little time to do it in.

At any rate as you can see by the above pics I worked on the rear dropouts as well as the Seat cluster.

These dropouts are going to be beautiful because they are stainless steel and I will polish the face of them and they will not get painted. That way as the wheel is put on and taken off over the years the paint will not get chipped. This is a great feature and well worth the small extra expense.

Tomorrow I hope to braze on the seat stay bridge and perhaps the chain stay bridge.

Tomorrow is also my wedding anniversary. I'll most likely cut my work day a bit short.

Finally looking like a bike!

Well, Friday and Saturday have come and gone. I feel pretty accomplished with the frame this weekend. Friday I got the chainstays brazed in and cleaned up the inside of the bottom bracket.
Saturday I started work at 8. The first thing I did was chase the BB threads and faced the BB once again. Actually the first thing I did was pick up a cup of decaf. Then I reamed and faced both sides of the head tube. Next I moved on to the seat stays. Unfortunately even though I remembered to bring the camera to the shop I forgot to take pictures as I went. Hopefully I'll get better about this. I wish I could afford to hire a photographer to come in and follow me around and document everything. Boy, would he be bored! Gary stopped in today and was nice enough to take a few pics of his bike and email them to me.
In the pics above you see an almost completed bike. Next you see me brazing up one of the seatstays and the bottom pic shows how the seat stay was fit. I wanted the pics in a different order but they came out this way. Better luck next time. Fortunately I am better with a torch than I am with a computer.
Next week I will start finishing off some of the details. I'll be sure to get some close ups then.... I hope.

When it Rains it Pours II

When it rains it pours

So the parts coming from England appeared to be lost forever. April 21 I called Nova Framebuilders supply in CA. They now carry the same parts so I re-ordered them and asked them to over night them via the USPS. These parts also were lost in the mail. I tracked them for 4 days and there was no change. I called Nova again to re-order and they checked the tracking and they showed someone signed for them that morning who's name I didn't recognize. Well I came home from work this past Friday and the parts were at the door. I don't know who to thank. Later that same day the parts from England arrived. When it rains it pours. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday working on Gary's bike. You can see the progress through the pics.