About Me

My photo
Back in my hometown of Jonesboro., Arkansas, United States
My name is Dimitri Harris and I have been building frames for over 9 years now. I learned the basics after spending two weeks with Koichi Yamaguchi. He is one of the most interesting people I have ever met and I am thankful to have worked with him. Since then I have just been building one frame after another and learning as much as possible along the way. I build steel fillet-brazed frames that go by the name of MEECH, which is an old nickname that I have had since I was a kid. I build mostly cyclocross frames because I love their versatility however I also do road,single-speed, and mountain bikes as well. Custom frames start around $1400. All the frames are handmade by me here in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I am insured and guarantee all of my work so if you are in the market for a custom steel frame I would be glad to build it for you. I am also building frames from carbon fiber so if you would like to ride a prototype frame give me a shout. Thanks for stopping by. You can email me at meech151@hotmail.com or call (870)897-6703 or visit www.meechcustombicycles.com Thanks.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Round Two

Couple of shots of the down tube replacement on Yancey's race bike.  This was the first time I had to replace a down tube but it went smoother than expected, not much to talk about.  It does feel good to repair one of my earlier frames and put it back out on the starting line.  A couple of years ago I probably would've just started over with a whole new frame but with a little careful attention this frame is as good as new, soon as it gets some fresh paint of course.  The worst part of the whole deal was stripping the paint.  I have stripped 3 or 4 completely and thats for the birds.  You just can't drop off an S3 frame at your local sand blaster unless you want holes all shot in it, and the last time I did take one to a sand blaster he was so careful that he couldn't get any paint to come off.  When Paul and Wayne paint a frame its not gonna come off easy. Starting on a new frame is actually a lot easier and I can probably have a frame built in about as much time.  I threw a couple of extra photos in for fun.  One is of the dropout alignment tools.  I seldom use these and am not an expert with them at all, but anyway, Yancey's dropouts needed a little tweaking so with both tools still in the dropouts I put a good grip on the handle with one hand and the other hand I wrapped around the black adjusting dial between the dropouts and put a good push on it.  So I pushed it in about a quarter inch past the other because its clearly gonna spring back and when it did come back it grabbed that big web of skin between your thumb and index finger squeezing it between both tools. "Don't panic, breathe!"  I was so busy thinking about how to get my hand out I forgot to scream. I only had one hand to solve a problem that it took both of them to get into.  Ever zipped  your wanger up in your corduroys?  You're just not quite sure which way to move. It was a similar feeling just not as embarrassing, or scary. The other picture was lunch.  Angus burger, carmelized onions, cheddar cheese, with a fried egg on top. It looked so good and the camera was sitting right there so I had to shoot it. Perfect sandwich for a frame builder in the winter time.  No shortage of calories here.  As soon as I get Phil's 650B tourer back from paint Yancey's will be going.  Chow.  Chao. 










No comments:

Post a Comment