New Amigo Jerseys

Here are a few of my buddies. We spend every Sunday together and a week during the summer. We've have gotten to know each other quite well and have a great time together. This was only about half the riders for the day. We finally had a perfect spring day that was perfect for cycling. We came back to Dennis' place where we enjoyed some great food and enjoyed each others company. I love these people!

Gary's Sport Touring Machine

I always like to show completed bicycles. You've seen this one at various times in the blog. Finally here is the finished product with what appears to be the happy owner. Gary was alot of fun to work with on this project. He was interested in all the details and enjoyed researching everything from the components to the paint.
It was fun when Gary would stop by the shop and take some pics of the build as it went along and we would shoot the %&*# for a while.
He chose a Sram drive chain with a lot of Nitto parts thrown in. Mavic Open Pro's with Ultegra hubs.
Thanks Gary and I'm sure you will have many years of enjoyment.

5/7/11

This isn't the best picture but it shows the seat stays are done. Now it's on to the little bits and pieces next week and a bit of clean-up than it's off to my friends at Circle A Cycles!

5/1/11

This is a close-up of Jan's fork blade. It's a nice little detail.

This is Jan's bike as of 5/1/11. Looks more like a bike all the time. We're expecting to get it to paint by the end of the month.

Getting very busy

Hey All, I was so busy at the shop this past weekend I just about forgot to take pictures. At the end of the day I took this pic of Jan's front triangle that just went into the jig.

a> I always get very excited when the plan starts coming together and the tubes start taking the shape of a bicycle. I thought as long as I was here I would introduce you to some of my Amigos.

The Amigos are a local bike group that was started by 3 guys that lived in Unionville. They would meet at one guys house every Sunday morning and go for a ride together. Well the group has grown to more than 60 people. On a good day we have about 2 dozen riders. I hooked up with the group about 5 years ago and have not looked back. We ride every Sunday, socialize together and for the last 4 years have gone on cycling vacations together. We have gone as far away as Ireland and as close as New Hampshire.

We went out as usual this past Sunday and I brought a camera with me. Due to the weather only about a half dozen people showed up but we still had a good time. Here are a couple of pics.

The picture above was taken blind over my shoulder. I was amazed that I got them in the frame.

Great weekend in the shop

Hey Groovers

My friend Jan and I had a great weekend in the shop. I have been working on Leslie's bike and Jan has been making himself a randonneuring bike with a little assistance from me. Here are a few pics.

This is Leslie's frame and fork. They need some clean up which I will be doing this coming weekend. I have a clear picture of this in my mind and am excited to get it to the point when I can take a picture of the finished bike for you. <
This is Jan. See Jan file. This is my fork jig that I made a couple of years ago. I had just finished brazing Jan's fork and he is cleaning up my mess. Way to go Jan! And finally this is another pic of Jan's fork mounted to his 650b wheel which he got through me from Velo Orange. Jan was my first customer to purchase great Velo Orange products through me. If you haven't been to their site yet go now! www.Velo-Orange.com

Velo Orange Dealer

Hey All,
I'm proud to announce that I am now a Velo Orange dealer. Check out their web site at www.velo-orange.com They carry some unique items for your bike and you can now get them through me and I can install it on your ride. If you have any questions you can contact me at 860-836-9765.

Talk with you soon,

Dwight

Leslie's mock up

At the end of the day I took a little bit of time and assembled a few bit's and pieces onto Leslie's frame to see how it looks. Here are the results! What do you think?

I'm still planning on brazing one more set of seat stays that will run from the top tube back around the rear dropouts.

By the way. Look at those front forks! They are the first pair made on my new fork bender. Are they beautiful or what? They give the bike a real classic look. Don't you think?

Stay tuned for more of the saga.

Great time in the shop

This week sure has flown by. You look back and wonder where has the time gone?

Well I've continued on with my sub assemblies. So here are a few pics.

I started assembling everything in the jig last weekend and doing a little tacking.



Quite a bit of time this past week has been used to set up a new fork bender that a friend made for me in his wood shop. He made the wooden part of it and I made the steel part that holds it and the arm that pulls the blade. Here it is in action!

Starting an all new bike!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I started a new bike 3 weeks ago.

It all started when a gentleman called me a while back and wanted to have a bike built for his wife as an anniversary gift. So we chatted for a while and it all sounded pretty straight forward until he mentioned that he thought she would like a girls bike. A "Girls" bike? Are you sure? He was.

Now I have never built a girls bike before but I would do some research and should be able to come up with some lugs somewhere. Well...No such luck. Then it got exciting. I knew I would have to make my own lugs and it would would be a whole new experience. So I ordered some chromoly tubing and started by turning it on my new "old" lathe.

I started cutting tubes and brazing my sub assemblies. First the seat tube to the bottom bracket.

Next I brazed the down tube to the head tube.

This was pretty much a days work. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Dwight

Erin's Forks

In the picture above I'm starting out by knotching a fork blade that the dropout will insert into. The slot needs to be a few thousandths larger than the dropout.

Next I sandblast the forks inside and out to prep them for brazing.

Here I've brazed the dropout in with silver braze.

Next I spend some time cleaning it up. Sanding and filing.

And finally I assemble it into the fixture to braze the fork blades to the crown.

I've been busy at the shop most of this week. The above picture shoes the stainless steel rear drop outs that I'm using on Erin's track bike. They are silver brazed onto the chain stays but not yet to the seat stays. I will give them a high polish when finished and leave them unpainted.
Looking like a bike. The front triangle is complete and I just finished brazing up the chain stays. I've formed the seat stays and slotted them to fit the rear drop outs.
Another view.
This is Maarten (Mar-teen). He is staying with us for a few days. Great buddy!

Vacation!!!!

While most people look forward to vacation so they can relax I look forward to spending more time in my shop. Since this is still a part time venture for me I look forward to the occasions when I can put a block of time into bike building. This is Erin's Track bike. I had ordered parts a while ago and designed the bike but was not happy with the way the parts were fitting. So I ordered some more parts and started over again.

The track dropouts (above) are stainless steel and I'll put a nice polish on them. The pictures you see here are of the work I did today. The bike is going to come out real nice and I'm looking forward to Erin racing it. I will keep the blog up this week and keep everyone apprised of the build.

Above is the seat post lug. I used this type of lug once before. Makes for a very pretty bike.

Stay tuned!

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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!