GETTING CLOSER..

Home for the week from the shop. Starting to look like bicycles..

Welded up..

Seatstays mitered and ready to be tacked..

Little DT/HT tack..

So these were a long time coming. Phil Wasson over at SUPER RAT MACHINE put the pedal to the metal with the nails on these puppies and machined them up from my cad files. STOKED. They came out beautifully, and I just can't wait to build up the more refined version of the 29er I've been working on. Actually it will be how i originally intended it to be, but given the time frame and funds I had at the time, some exceptions had to be made. But with some patience and time, (which i have..) things will come together nicely. These allow you to run gears or singlespeed setup without any extra parts or sliding bits. I really like the simplicity of traditional horizontal dropouts, and the ability to switch back and forth sometimes can be a challenge, especially when the switch often involves specialty parts, or other add-ons. The main goal was to design something that used existing parts in a traditional fashion. The pretty cool part for me as a designer is not only doing the design work, but getting to build from start to finish what i design. Can't describe how rewarding this can be. The best part is that first ride when you throw a leg over and start to put the bike through its paces. A lot of information and feedback is gained from this experience. Not only are you getting to realize your design, you're also getting vital feedback on each and every ride on how the design is handling different terrain, conditions and circumstances first hand and comparing that with how you intended the platform to ride and perform in these circumstances. This feedback is taken directly back to the drawing board and put into action. Another aspect that I love is during the production process; actually figuring out how to build the frame. So not only is the design beign informed from the eventual ride feedback, but the design is also influenced by the methods put into practice as I fabricate the ride as well. The ride is now fully realized when it is being influenced by all aspects of the design and fabrication process.

Stoked on these next two builds: 29er dirt road ramblers. Basically mountain bikes.. but setup to do primarily dirt roads. There's just so mach dirt around here that these make a lot of sense. That and i prefer dirt to pavement, so its that much better.

THIS JUST IN...

These should be here later this week..

JULY 4th 2008

A ride for the books..

THE BEAST

I have the very fortunate opportunity to build bikes once a week beside Ted Wojcik. This is the Cincinnati Horizontal milling machine that does all the maintube mitering. It is a beast of a machine. The story goes that Ted won it at auction for next to nothing many years ago. If it didn't sell, they were going to make it into a boat anchor.. The one thing wrong with it apparently was something to do with the feed for the table i believe. Ted opened her up to check inside and found the problem. Gave Cincinnati a call and identified the part that needed to be replaced, but the gentleman on the other side asked "now are you sure you want this?" "Yes, i do." replied Ted. Again "you're sure now.." Ted: "YES" The other end went silent for a bit "...because its about 1200 bucks." That about ended that conversation as being a fabricator and knowing how to braze, Ted dug back into the machine, found the other half of the part and brazed it back together. That was about 17 years ago and she's still making chips like no other. They don't make them like they used to..

TEST RIDE

TEST RIDES from BLACKCAPstudio on Vimeo.

The best part of building them means you get to ride them...
I ride solo most of the time, hence the odd angles.

DIRT ROADS AND ALIGNMENT

This ones on the alignment table and lookin' pretty good with minimal cold setting to be done.

In the process of making myself a new dirt road rambler. We've got a HUGE network of dirt roads in our neck of the woods, and being that I absolutely love to have dirt between me and the hoops i ride, this makes for a super fun backwoods road bike. No skinny tires here-we're talkin' 2.3 Exi-Wolves. In other words a 29er. But set up with drop bars and singlespeed aplenty. This ones going to be pretty nice with Paragon Sliders. Can't wait to finish her up and paint the town red..

MORE TIG WELDING ACTION...

44 TIG Welding Action from BLACKCAPstudio on Vimeo.

Chainstay / Bottom Bracket Weldment. Need to get the good camera to the shop...

TIG WELDING ACTION

44 TIG Welding Action from BLACKCAPstudio on Vimeo.

Chainstay Sub-Assembly Welding...