Recent Paint Work

Alright,  I've had this frame hanging around in the shop for quite a while now and just never had time to get it painted.  Well, finally got it done.  This is the frame that I was building for myself when I was planning to ride my bicycle around the world.  "What? Ride around the world.  HA!  You can't even make it around the block."  Ok,  I'm kidding.  I never planned on riding around the world, never really wanted to, and don't have the time to, but, if I did decide to ride around the world this would probably be a good frame to do it on.  Steel main frame with  a Dedacciai tapered head tube, Paragon disc-brake dropouts, and an Enve carbon disc fork with tapered steerer of course.  This frame is like a big truck.  Its a little heavier than my average racing cross frame but the added weight is pretty balanced out.  Whenever you have a steel frame with a carbon fork the rear of the frame is gonna always be heavier, however in this case, there is added weight in both the steel, tapered-head tube and the carbon fork with disc tabs.  "How heavy is it?"  Well, this is a size 58cm frame (just happens to fit me) and it weighs 5.75 lbs as is, frame, uncut fork, and headset. It already has all the water-bottle bolts and seat pin in it also if you really want to get serious with your gram counting.  To put all weight worries aside, with the right components I believe you can still build this thing up into a sub-20 lb. cross bike.  

I painted this thing Hot-Lime Green, similar to the Kawasaki KX motocross bikes just for the heck of it.  I have also seen some photos of a Cannondale cross bike that was painted in similar colors.  I wasn't really trying to copy anything in particular, I just had this color laying around and I decided to use it on something.  For some reason in these photos it doesn't look as 'hot-lime' as it really does.  I don't know what gives but I imagine it has to do with my photography skills.  After about 2 full days of rain, my yard and all the trees are so freakin green it looks like a rain forest, but even the grass is the photo doesn't look that green.  Anyway, trust me, its green.  Actually the paint job went really well for me.  No problems peeling the stencils off, the lines are all pretty well in tact, and overall I was really pleased as this was one of the harder paint schemes that I've done on my own.  Lets move on.

Here is a little front view for you.  The frame isn't sitting perfectly level here as you can see but we're gonna have to live with it.

For some reason I always am tilting the camera to one side.  If I don't pay close attention all my photos will end up leaning like this.  Even when I see a photo of myself I'm usually leaning my head to one side.  Oh well, I put this photo up because I was really happy with the way this two-color star turned out.  It will look even better with a custom head badge sitting right in the middle.

This was the only place that I was dissappointed with the paint job.  I tried to tape off the aluminum bearing cup and after the paint and clear had dried it became very hard to get off.  Anyway, some of the paint peeled off down to the primer and so I had to do a little touch up work.  Its not really noticed unless you look for it.  I tried everything to make it look better but the more I did the worse it looked so I finally just had to let it be.  A couple of years ago there was a video made about Richard Sachs.  I believe the title was "Imperfection is Perfection."  I'm not sure if that makes any sense but I like the sound of it now that I screwed up the paint on the bottom of this head tube.  There is another saying about "imperfection" that I found online apparently by Marilyn Monroe and it says:

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.  

I'm liking her more and more.

Little handmade carbon fiber chain stay protector compliments the frame nicely.

This is my favorite picture out of all of them.

Look at Louis Maxximus "Soul-Katt" Jackson making a rare appearance.  The other night both Anne and I, as well as the neighbors, woke up to some awful racket outside like I've never heard.  It didn't sound like your typical catfight.  So I went outside about 4 a.m. and all I could see was a couple of raccoons walking across my neighbors backyard.  I couldn't find Louis and I thought that maybe he ended up on the wrong end of a bad fight.  Luckily he showed up a little later unscathed.  Only thing I can think of was maybe the raccoons were fighting, unless, is it possible that Louis whipped two raccoons hineys? Louis is smarter than I give him credit for.  There has been many times when i didn't think I would see him again only to have him just appear out of nowhere like a ghost.  Louis reminds me of the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider, I think thats the name of it.  I worry about my animals too much.

Thanks for checking things out. 

MEECH Custom Bicycles

handmade in 

Mountain Home, Arkansas

Ryan Dungey—The Way Up, Presented By Target

Cool clip about Ryan Dungey.  Its not cycling related but its MEECH related.

A Helmet That I Actually Like

Just caught a quick product review on velonews.com of the new Bell Super helmet.  Helmets rarely get my attention and I'm bad about not wearing one on the road.  Basically the only time I wear one is when I race (not often) and when I ride with a group that doesn't permit/like when people don't have one on.  I've ridden without one for a long time and I'm just really comfortable without it and thats when i enjoy riding the most.  When I go ride, I'm only thinking about the ride and I don't think about crashing, of course thats no excuse, as crashes happen when you least expect it.  If someone would've told me that I would run into the back of a parked car that was sitting on an uphill overpass and put my head through the rear window while riding by myself I would've laughed in their face and said, "Pffff."  It happened so quick I couldn't believe it.  I must've been riding with my eyes closed.  I sometimes like to pretend I'm  blind and/or deaf.  I'm not trying to offend anyone here but sometimes I'm sure that I do.  The other day I was walking my dog Dizzy and we were on a long straight stretch that is pretty quite and i wondered how far I could go with my eyes closed just letting him pull me along.  We went about 20 yards before I ended up in someone's front yard.  I did it a couple more times because its kind of refreshing.  As far as pretending to be deaf, I'm pretty good at that because I can't hear good anyway.  I ignore most everything my boss says to me, I do what he says but I just don't acknowledge it, and I've got a really bad habit of saying "what" even though I probably heard what you said to me.  When I was a kid, my mother took me to get a hearing test because I said "what" so much to her.  My tests came back fine, so now she tells people that I only hear things that I want to hear.  I think it may be true.  Anyway back to this Super helmet.

Even though i feel much more comfortable not wearing a helmet, don't think that I don't know that I could bump my head in a split second.  I've hit my head a handful of times in races and i was glad that I had a helmet on.  The other day while watching Paris-Roubaix I saw one of the riders crash and he bumped his head real hard, and yes, i cringed at the sight of it and thought, "Maybe I should start wearing a helmet."  I'm gonna be open and honest about why I don't where a helmet:

Reason #1   I'm much more comfortable without one and I think (in my head) that I can ride better when I'm the most comfortable.   Simple as that. You can say that its BS all you want but thats my reason.

Reason #2   I hate the way they look!  I hate the way they look!  I hate the way they look!  I hate the way they look!  I hate the way they look!  I hate the way they look, and feel!

Thats it in a nutshell.

This helmet actually looks cool.  The first thing I thought about this helmet when I saw it was, "I might wear that on the road if you can remove the visor."  Well...

....KAPOWWW!.  I love it, and I'm thinking about getting one.  Its not as cool as a cycling cap or a hair-net but its pretty darn cool....

....and looks like it would be a comfortable and well fitting lid.  They said in the review that is felt like it would stay on your head even if it wasn't locked.  It also comes with a Go-Pro camera attachment so the next time you see Bigfoot or a UFO you'll have some proof, you might even get on TV.  Whats not to like about that?

Of course this is my all-time favorite.  Now this helmet I would wear, and I'm thinking about getting a Bell Super and then custom painting it myself since I've recently been into painting stuff.  Custom bicycles with custom helmets, yeah, now we're rollin.

Just wanted to add that I always hope that we don't crash, but should we, I think we're safer with a helmet on.  I don't think they work in every situation but the handful of times that I hit my head on the pavement I was glad I had one on.  In regards to the incident where my head went through the rear glass of that Ford Taurus, I think my hard head punched right through it with a quick impact, kinda like a karate-man punching through a bunch of boards. I honestly don't think the helmet would have gone through, leaving me more vulnerable to a neck injury so I'm actually glad that I only had a cycling cap on for that one.  

I've always wondered why so many people, especially motorcyclists, want to go helmetless.  Most people just say, "...because they're stupid and have a deathwish.", but I'm certain thats not the reason.  I know that some of them may actually be stupid but I'm pretty certain theres more to it than just stupidity.  So many types of people ride motorcycles all over the world and you can't tell me that every one of them that does not wear a helmet cannot be  intelligent.  It also amazes me that Arkansas used to have a helmet law for motorcyclists not too many years ago and that they did away with it.  How did that happen?  It was give or take around the same time that wearing seat belts became a law.  Both seat belts and helmets can save lifes so what gives.  I've actually thought (more like fretted) about what if they make wearing a helmet a law for cyclists.  Are they gonna make motorcyclists start wearing them again?  Who knows? I don't know if it has to do with comfort, freedom, personal tastes,  wanting to have the wind in your hair, or whatever, but lots of people don't like helmets.  Occassionally I'm reminded of my childhood.  Back then we just went outside and got on our bikes and did as many dangerous things as we could think of.  We rode trails, wheelies, jumped ramps, jumped ramps over each other, and any other crazy thing that we could think of.  We would put a ramp of plywood and a cinder block at the bottom of a hill, walk our bikes up the hill, rest for a couple of seconds, and then pedal back down as fast as we could go and hit the ramp.  We used to mark lines on the street with chalk so that we knew who jumped the furthest.  Good times, no helmet.  Back then those things didn't seem dangerous, they just seemed fun, and I think thats probably the way I still view this whole topic today.

Check back for some new bike frame pics real soon.  Chao.

Giro Update

Vincenzo Nibali did much better in the time trial than I anticipated and ended up with the pink jersey.  Bradley Wiggins did a pretty good ride however ended up second to Alex Dowsett of Moviestar and only managed to put 11 seconds into Nibali.  Cadel Evans is still in good position but Ryder Hesjedal had a bad ride and ended up like 17th overall.  Not quite sure what the GC looks like at this moment but it should be pretty tight. I think its Nibali, Evans, Gesink, and then Wiggins all within about a minute and a handful of seconds of each other. 

This is Alex Dowsett and I had never even heard the name before but that shows what I know.  Anyway, I wanted to put a photo of the stage winner up out of respect for the excellent ride he did.  If I had just beat all the best in the world in a time trial i would definitely like having my picture up.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Perhaps Wiggins put it best when he said, succinctly, “It’s going to be a hell of a race for the next two weeks.”

Giro de Italia Stage 8 Time Trial

Today marks the end of the first week of the Giro de Italia and its already been pretty exciting.  Most all of the GC contenders are together and this individual tt could separate things a bit and make for a little more aggressive race in the coming days.  Hesjedal, Nibali, and Cadel Evans are all sitting pretty well right now I believe and Brad Wiggins slid out yesterday and lost about a minute in a pretty hot finish.  Today's time trial is a 54.8 kilometer from Gabicce-Mare Saltara.  I'm sure everyone is like me and knows right where that is.  Its approximately somewhere in Italy.

I imagine all the smart money would be on Bradley Wiggins to win today's race since he is such a good time trialist and also that he has to make up some time, however don't forget about Cadel.  He can lay down some fast times and I've never seen him show up to a race for anything other than winning.  He's smart, seasoned, and probably one of the best bicycle racers of our time even though there isn't much talk about him.  Simply put, he's badass and you can never count him out.  I'm still thinking Nibali for the overall but for today I think he's just gonna have to limit the losses until the mountains come.  I'm sure it will be a good race.  You can check it out now over on steephill.com.  I have the link posted on the last post and I'll try to get it up here shortly.  Have a good weekend.

Try this:

http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/#live

Giro de Italia Time

Its May already and that means its Giro time.  I can't believe its already here.  A cold front just moved into northwest Arkansas last night and its been cold, raining, and even a little freezing rain. Will somebody turn the Global Warming switch back on again, I'm freezing my arse.  The only time I've ever seen snow in May was actually coming back from the Yamaguchi frame building class.  I caught a ride with Judd, one of the other students, and his dog Rosco, who were both from Winter Park.  So anyway, that night we're driving into Winter Park and the snow is just coming down.  Judd, being much more accustomed to driving in those conditions, was cruising down those winding mountain passes much faster than this Arkansan was comfortable with. It wasn't just the fact that he was doing 55-60 mph down a snow-covered mountain, it was also his passing other cars on the way down, in the dark mind you.  He never missed a beat though so my hat is off to him. When we finally pulled into Winter Park the whole place was lit up with Christmas lights and covered in snow.  I felt like I had drifted back in time or something.  When the van finally stopped and I put my foot on solid ground (it was snowy and icey but felt solid enough) I breathed a sigh of relief.  I would much rather bust my arse on a slick parking lot versus driving off the edge of a mountain pass.  Ever seen the Tour stage where one of the racers goes over the side of the road and lands in a tree?  Actually it happened a couple of times within a year or two.  Nothing quite like riding your bike over the edge of a mountain, landing in the tree tops 30 down, climbing 30 feet back up onto the road, only to find your team car waiting there with another bicycle.  Judging by the look on the rider's face I imagine the conversation went something like:

Team Manager:  "You ok?"

Racer:  "Uhhh."

Team Manager:  "What were you thinking?"

Racer:  "Uhhh."

Team Manager:  "Here drink some water."

Racer:   "Uhhh. " (While choking and coughing)

Manager:  "Now hurry up, they're getting away."

Still want to be a pro bicycle racer? I think one year it may have been Johan Bruyneel.  Wonder what he's up to these days?  Pfff, who cares.  Anyway back to the bike race thing in Italy.  Apparently its some sort of big deal or something.  They usually have some real good coverage here.  I enjoy listening to them babble on in Italian even though I can't understand it. http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/

This is last year's champion,  uhhhh whoops, let's see here, wait just a second while I double check my notes....

...ok now, this is last year's champion, Ryder Hesjedal.  He was pretty solid last year but I'm gonna have to go with Vincenzo Nibali from the Cannondale squad.  I read that he's been working pretty hard for this year.  Whoa, I just had a mind lapse.  Nibali races for Astana now. Bet he's missing that Cannondale EVO. He'd never admit it but I know he does. Is Nibali even racing this year's Giro? Yeah, he is but i had to go check to make sure.  Thought for a moment he may just be waiting on the Tour.  I don't know if Roman Kreuziger is racing in it this year or not?  If so, I'd like to see him do well.  He always rides good when nobody has any expectations for him.  Some guys are like that.  Jan Ullrich was kind of like that.  That is one kooooooooool trophy that Hesjedal is holding.  Wish I had one of those sitting next to my Punt, Pass, and Kick trophy.  Yep, first place in the 12-13 yr. old class.  I was in the 6th grade and even beat out all the 7th graders as well.  I remember one of them called me a "weenie arm" during the sign up.  After it was over and they handed him his 2nd place trophy, I told him he could suck my "weenie arm."  I'm just kidding, I didn't say that. I was too shy to say anything like that, so I just took my gold and held it up with one hand and flipped everyone off with the other.  Talk about sweet revenge. ;)

Uuummm, what? Huh? There is a bike race or something going on? Huh?  What are you babbling about? A giro?  I don't care.  Man, why didn't we have trophy girls like this in the Punt, Pass, and Kick.  I just got some spode from the Ford dealership that gave me my trophy along with some McDonald's coupons. He wasn't even wearing pink. I think I got ripped off.

Here are a couple of pics of some of Friday's work.  I put a little custom chainring clearance in this chain stay.  I decided to go with the rectangle cutout instead of the oval on this one.  It takes a little less meat out.

I got a nice little internal fillet on the inside of this piece.  Extra strength!

Perfect fit.  Campy Ultra-Torque cranks provide the least amount of clearance with these chain stays so if I can make them fit then I know most other brands will also.  This is actually a 53/39 tooth chainring setup, so thats why it is as tight as it is.  This is actually built for a cyclocross crankset and that will provide even more room.  

Thanks for checking things out.  I just finished painting a frame the other day and am gonna throw some pictures up just as soon as I can.  There were a couple of spots on the clear that needed to be cleaned up and I haven't gotten it done yet.  It shouldn't be long.  Check back.

Ciao.  

Note:  LC Creative Productions got a second gallery page up on my website.  Its got some frames that I didn't get on the first page and its got some of my latest frames as well, along with a couple of MEECH riders/racers.  If you get a chance go check it out.  

Thanks to Linda and Hal of LC Creative Productions for taking care of me.  There is a link to my website on the blog's main page and here is another:

http://meechcustombicycles.com

Here is a quick clip of a young, skinny, Johan Bruyneel in the Tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YCuQsGVV20

UK Subs - Down on the farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw-MH5C7PqQ&feature=share

R1 Go Kart Passes a Cop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apd1KBjLV8k
Check this Sunday afternoon ride out!

In-N-Out X-Ray

Whats up?  I just got back from a quick trip up to the hospital.  No problems for me, I only had to take Anne's badge up to her as she forgets it on occasion.  "You mean a pharmacist gets to wear a badge?"  Yep, you know it.  Actually I think everyone that works in the hospital has to have one, its a proof of identity sort of thing.   Anyway, while I was in the parking lot I was thinking (wishing) that I could just walk in there and get a quick x-ray of my left hip.  Its been bothering me quite a bit here lately and it stems from an old motocross accident about 12 years ago.  Both of my hips got broken, one of them was pretty bad and they operated on it and basically put a little titanium hand in there to put it back together, thats what it looked like on x-ray anyway. Its been excellent and gives me no problems at all.  The left hip wasn't broken as badly, there was only a crack in the ball of the femur and I think another crack in the hip socket itself.  The surgeon thought that two surgeries would be a lot to handle and so since it wasn't that bad he decided to let it heal on its on.  For the most part it healed pretty good, however the ball of the femur doesn't sit perfectly aligned in the socket and it causes some pain from time to time.  Usually it only hurts after i do something like run on it.  "So don't run on it."  I don't, but occasionally I forget about it and I'll run a bit with the dog or something like that and then the next day the pain kicks in.  It can hurt pretty bad and causes some problems walking for a day or two but then it usually just disappears.  Something happened this past week in Jonesboro that has it hurting again, and I'm not sure what I did but the pain is not going away like it usually does and I think its time to get it checked out.  It makes me not feel like getting on the bike, but oddly enough when I'm on the bike it doesn't bother me.

The pain isn't the worst part for me, its the not knowing what is wrong and the wondering of what its gonna entail to fix it.  Is it bad?  Is it gonna need operating on?  How long is that gonna take?  How much is it gonna cost?  I start planning the whole thing out before I've even gone to see the doctor.  "Slow down Dimitri, the first step is to get an x-ray so you know whats wrong."  Oh great!  Now I have to make an appointment and probably wait two weeks, it'll probably be healed by then.  And then the thought hit me.  Why not have a quick stop for x-rays, you know, like the In-N-Out Burger.  Instead of specializing in burgers and shakes it would be x-rays.  You could drive in, get a quick x-ray, pay 'em and be on your way.  And it would be way cheaper also.  No waiting, less money, save the doctors some time, and get on with the important stuff.  I'm always imagining starting a business for every little dilemma I found myself it.  Why not?  Take a little misfortune and turn it into something profitable that could benefit everyone.  I can't remember the last one that I thought about, theres been too many, but its basically what I did with bicycle frame building.  Take something thats important to you or that you love and find a way to make it your work.  If I actually tried to open a business for every idea that I had...well, I'd probably be broke, but some people actually do it.  I think its just a natural thought process for me.  Its the business man in me, I get it from my father.  Only thing that separates my father and me is that he knew how to make money, it seems I only know how to spend it.  When I was a kid my dad use to say to me, "Pee-wee, you can't rub two quarters together."  I didn't even know what it meant then.  So anyway, I don't imagine hip surgery is gonna be cheap if thats what it comes to but luckily Anne's hospital provides us with insurance so thats a good thing.  Medical costs are crazy expensive but then so is everything else.  Something that always amazes me is the number of people that go to the ER for no reason at all.  I always thought the ER was for car wrecks and people with broken bones.  Its like, "I had a fever of 101 and couldn't sleep last night so I went to the ER to see the doctor."  What? Really?  I remember being a kid, laying in bed with a 103 degree temp. and my mother would just put a cold wash cloth on it, give me a cup of sprite, and tell me to sleep the fever off.  Sometimes I would have 5 blankets on top of me and other times I would be sweating my arse off but I never went to the ER.  Whats the bill on that little visit, five hundred bucks?  Did it get paid?  Maybe thats why medical cost are so high.  Who knows?  I was watching a few minutes of a Chris Rock comedy act last night and he was talking about insurance.  He was calling insurance, "In case shit happens."  "I'm giving them money every month just in case some shit happens.  But if shit doesn't ever happen, shouldn't I get some of that money back?"  Theres an idea right there for an insurance company.  One of the other ideas I had before the In-N-Out X-Ray came to me was just being able to take my own x-ray with my cell phone.  Just take your I-phone, place it over your hip area or wherever your pain is and give it a quick scan.  It might not be sufficient for the doctor but at least you could have an idea if something was wrong or not.  How much is that phone gonna cost?

The In-N-Out X-Ray could have a menu board similar to this only instead of burger, shake, fries, it would say Foot X-ray-$25, Spinal Column-$49.99, so-on, so-on, then you could also have a Value X-Ray, or Combo Platter where you get your whole lower/upper body done for "X" amount of dollars and you would get a lollipop with that one.

Ok, one last million dollar idea that I had about a year ago that I haven't had time to pursue and I'm gonna just throw it out there for anyone to run with and I hope you remember me when you get rich and famous.  Ready?

A dog that is trained to walk on, and or, scratch people's back.  Think about it.  One night about a year or so ago I was on the floor playing with Pinky, our little chunky 15 lb. Shih-tzu, and for some crazy reason he got up on my back and started walking all around.  Dude, it felt so good.  Did any of your dad's ever have you walk on his back when you were little?  Mine did.  Granted, I know a dog scratching someone's back is not as noble as leading the blind or sniffing out drugs or bombs but it would definitely command a price.  Imagine if you went to the local Humane Society Adoption Day and they showed you a dog that would walk all over your back and scratch it on command.  How long do you think that dog is gonna be there?  Hey National Humane Society, you want to find homes for all those dogs, teach 'em to scratch people's backs.  I'm out.  Chao.

Steve's Road Frame

Alright, I finally got Steve's road frame all finished.  It turned out beautiful in the end but I was having some serious painting issues in the beginning and I was beginning to wonder if I was gonna be able to pull this paint job off.  I'm still not exactly sure what was going on but I think it had something to do with the primer.  The first time I tried to paint this thing I was buying a little booth time from a guy who has a auto/hotrod restorage facility.  Everything from milling machines, tube benders, welders, and a full blown paint booth.  he's let me use it a couple of times and its an excellent setup except i never know how long I have to work.  Anyway, i shot the red and started taping it off to shoot the black and red paint started coming off with the tape.  Not good!  So we checked the temperature of his booth and it was a little chilly in there so I wrote that off as the culprit.  I never even noticed it was chilly in there as I was working.  So I bring everything home and sand it down and shot some more red on the fork the following day, which was much warmer by the way, and the same scenario, paint is coming up with the tape.  How many times did I do this you might ask?  Don't ask.  I eventually took it to the paint store and talked with all the local experts and i began to get a little worried when they told me they didn't know what it was.  However after a little closer inspection they noticed that not only paint was coming up on the tape but also a little primer as well.  I have been using the same primer from the very beginning.  Its SprayMax epoxy primer in an aerosol can but its a two-part aerosol as you have to break the catalyst inside and the two parts mix together when you shake it up.  I had never had a problem before but after about 4 attempts at painting the fork you have to try something different.  So I bought some new epxoy primer for a spray gun and stopped by Lowe's and picked up a decent sized compressor, which I've been needing for a long time, and just went to work.  At this point I was a little gun shy.  Paint had been peeling off in every imaginable way and I was trying every type of tape there was.  Finally, luck at last.  With the new primer on the frame cured and sanded I shot the red and about cried when no paint came off.  When you take a close look at this frame you can see all that was taped off, not to mention a MEECH stencil that has about 100 parts to it, and I was sweating bullets every time I started to peel a new piece of tape or stencil off.  Big sigh of relief when I pulled the final stencil off, and then I did start crying.  Just kidding.  Anyway, I'm very pleased with how it finally turned out.  All that hard work was worth it and I'm constantly reminded that nothing good comes easy.  The amount of painting experience I got with this one frame is unimaginable and now I'm gonna start using it on about 5 more frames that are waiting on paint.  Any framebuilders out there that have a good painter you better give him a big hug and a kiss because you have no idea how much he's worth to you.  Painting is a tough bit but i truly enjoy it and want to get better at it.  Paul was on standby just in case I needed bailing out but i really wanted to solve this myself.  Mission accomplished.  I'm running a bit late for work so I'm gonna bail on this post for now and do a little finish work on it later.  I have to go to my hometown of Jonesboro for a couple of days to get some work done there and then I'll be back.  Thanks for all the patience as I know I haven't been here but finishing this frame took precedence over talking about it.  I wanted to post pictures of all the problems I was having but didn't feel like taking the time because I was so eager to solve the problem.  Anyway, all is well that ends well.  I'll see you guys in a couple of days.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm gonna shut up now and let the pictures do the talking. 

Oh yeah, love the color choices by Steve.  Black and red seems so simple and I've often wondered about what it would look like but the way it looks live is better than I imagined.  The red is Torch Red and i love it. This paint job has me reassured about another similar paint scheme that I've been wanting to try.  There are just so many possibilities with paint, its endless.  I'll do as many as I can.  How bout those lake shots?  Caught you off guard with that didn't I?  Don't worry, I threw in a couple of backyard photos for those hardcore MEECH followers. Hasta luego.

Love the shape of these tubes.

I tried every possible angle to get that shadow off the seat tube but had no luck.  There didn't seem to be any sun at all but I guess there was just enough to make the seat stay cast a shadow.

"Did you try the backyard?"

In the end it all turned out nice and I was very pleased with it.  

Here is a pic of a lone fisherman out on the lake.  As I was shooting the photos there was fish about 40 ft. away that kept swirling on the topwater.  He's lucky I didn't have my custom fly-rod and a MEECH Custom topwater popper or he would've been sleeping long-side down in the skillet.  I seldom go fishing and seldom keep 'em when I catch 'em but its hard to beat fresh fish out of these lakes here.  They're crystal clear.

Thanks for checking things out and thanks Steve for the opportunity.  Build it up and send us some photos.  Enjoy the ride!