29er nearing completion

Here are the latest pics. of Margie's 29er. I made some changes to it since the last pic. I had posted. I did not like the way the seat stays had come out so I cut them off and mounted some new ones. Then I added the small brace between the seat tube and the top tube. The seat stays are brazed to both the seat tube and that small brace. This bike should be rock solid on the trail!

In the background of the pics. you can see part of my shop. A homemade sandblast cabinet, my lathe and my mill/drill machine. I love this shop. It's small, so it's easy to heat and when I mis-place my tools it doesn't take too long to find them.

Soon I will be getting back to Erin's track bike. I just got some new parts for that build as well.
Talk with you soon.

FOR SALE: 57CM BOWEN CLASSIC

Hey All, This is my first spec. bike. It's a 57cm Bowen Classic. I intend to make a limited run of 6 of these in various sizes. It is set-up as follows:
10 Speed Ultegra Drivetrain
105 Shifters
Mavic CXP 22 rims w/Formula hubs
Ritchey Classic Handlebars/stem, 100mm/seat post
Brooks Saddle
Cane Creek Headset
Continental tires
Currently the handlebars are level with the saddle but they can be lowered to rider preference.
Contact me at bowenbicycles@sbcglobal.net or call me at 860-836-9765

Hey All,
This was my days work today. cleaning up my brazing and assembling the rear triangle. It's not quite finished but it's darn close. I built this 29er for Margie and I'm hoping she'll want to race it this next season. To the right in the picture is the 57cm road bike I just completed. I'll show some pics. in the next blog of that bike.

Bye for now.

db

Running late

Sorry this is a bit late. I've been busy building up another bike and just haven't had the chance to post. At any rate this is the beginning of brazing Margie's 29er. (Look out Fabian) The front triangle is spot on and I'm looking forward to continuing it this Friday.

Also this weekend I will be working on Erin's track bike and will get some photos on this blog.

Talk with you later!

Photo Shoot

Well, here I am. My friend Alan Grant from Digital Creations came over and brought all of his gear. (It may not have been all but it was a heck of a lot!) He puts into his photography what I put into my bikes. We spent about 5 hours taking pictures of me doing different things so you all could see me and what I do. In the picture above I am mitering a tube. I know some of you are thinking wait....I thought your bikes were handcrafted? To that I say, they are. A machine is nothing more than a tool. I could be doing this with a file but the miter may not be as precise. So what I have done is mixed a wee bit of technology with old world craftsmanship. (I bet you didn't know I spoke Irish) I should mention that almost all the tooling and jigs that I use I built. I milled, ground, bored and turned almost everything.

In this next picture I'm starting to braze Erin's track frame. I'm using a lugged bottom bracket and brazing in the seat tube using silver braze. To me this is where it all comes together. As you join the tubes it starts looking like a bike. It's always a great feeling when a plan comes together! Well, that's enough for now. I don't want to get you too excited! Come back tomorrow. I should have some more pics of Margie's 29er.

Noeleens beauty!

Finally got around to getting some pictures of a bike I had built for a wonderful woman named Noeleen. One of the things that drives me as I build a bike is to think about how the new owner will use their bike. Noeleen was no exception. Her husband had told me that he would love for Noeleen to ride with him. So I pictured the two of them off on adventures. Noeleen also has some girlfriends that she enjoys to ride with and has already put quite a few miles on her steed.

Noeleen had gone to Benidorm bikes for a comprehensive fit by non other than Jan Tanner. After Jan was done she gave me all of her information and I was able to build a frame that fits Noeleen like a glove. Benidorm did a great job outfitting the rest of the bike with an Ultegra drivetrain and Bontrager stem, seatpost and handlebars.

This bike is outfitted with White Industries hubs laced to open pro rims by Mavic which were all professionally built by Bruce Miller of Berlin Bicycles.

Do you think Noeleen likes pink?

.

Sweet

How sweet is this? I picked this up a couple of weeks ago. It's an old Atlas metal working lathe. It's perfect for what I need. It came with all kinds of tooling that I need go through and organize. I used it today on Erin's new Track Bike that I mentioned in the last blog.

Speaking of Erin's track bike ...today I brazed the seatpost to the bottom bracket and mitered most of the tubes as seen below.

I also fitted most of the lugs. Doesn't sound or look like much but it is all very time consuming.

Also this morning I had a photographer come by and he did a photo shoot of what goes on in my shop. I will be posting those pics on my website as well as here. You will actually see some quality photos instead of just my snapshots.

Well that's it for now, see you later!