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!