I've been waiting on some bottom bracket shells to get engraved so that I can start brazing on a customer's frame, but while I'm waiting I always try to get a few things done on the side. A frame that I built for my wife quite a while back, the mixte, is still waiting to be painted. I actually just bought the paint yesterday. Anyway, she's been telling me that she wants a bike to ride and to build up her old frame, which happens to be the very first frame that I built after returning from Yamaguchi's school. I had most of the components I needed to build it up except for a rear derailleur and a couple of other things so I swiped the rest of what I needed off of my bike, the carbon frame that I've been riding since the first of the year. The carbon frame has been thoroughly tested and its held up quite well and I still can't believe I haven't built more carbon frames, even one more, but I just haven't gotten to it. Customers come first. So anyway, now my wife has a bike that probably won't get ridden much (don't tell her I said that) and I didn't even have a bike to ride. You might think that as a frame builder and avid cycling enthusiast that I have a plethora of bikes and parts just laying around and that I can ride a different bike every day of the week, nope, not true. I normally only have one bike built up and if I get ready to switch I just swap out my components as I don't have a lot of excess parts laying around. I do have about 2 1/2 groupsets that I interchange on occasion. So I went about a week without riding and decided I needed to ride. I started to build up the old S3 frame for a quick comparison between steel and carbon but then I saw this cross frame thats been laying around our spare bedroom every since it got painted over a year ago. MOTO-BICI was one of my excess ideas/intentions for a separate brand apart from MEECH and it basically just boiled down to I had an idea for a cool new logo and I was looking for a way to use it, but in reality MEECH is the brand I need to be pushing so this whole MOTO-BICI thing has been put to the side indefinitely, but there is one MOTO-BICI bike out there and its mine. Here are a few pics of my new bike....
...but first, here is a pic of my wife's bike. This is the first frame that I ever built with the exception of the one I built with Yamaguchi helping me. The rear triangle is not perfectly straight but its not bad, it rolls pretty good. Check out how many times my name is on it, think I wasn't proud.
You'll probably never see another photo like this one in your life. Campy Record cranks with Wal-Mart pedals. Go figure.
Since I had these old Ksyrium wheels laying around, with the one red spoke, I decided to throw my red Avocet O2 saddle on. Then I decided to paint my Ritchey stem red. I started to paint the tires red but I held myself back. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a motocross head, so I kinda went for the whole Factory Suzuki motocross look with this bike.
I just threw some old cross tires on that I had laying around. They're cheap but I like them because they are really skinny for cross tires. I'll spend most of my time on the road anyway so I just pump them up to about 80 psi and roll. They are 30c tires but are really only about 28mm wide with knobs on them. Ready for anything. Dirt criterium anyone?
This is the view I prefer to show people when I'm riding however these days I'm usually treated to a view of about a hundred arses. One of the greatest quotes in cycling was from Laurent Jalabert. After a horrendous crash at the Tour in '94' I believe,(remember when the police officer was taking a picture and caused that mass pileup in the finish line sprint and Jalabert was shown laying there in a pile of blood and a broken LOOK frame), anyway, Jalabert had rehabbed and started racing again. In an interview, the commentator asked him how the racing comeback was going and he replied, "I've been looking at the arses of people that I've never seen the faces of." Now thats a good line.
Check out that handmade carbon chain stay protector. Chain slap that!
"Oh my gaaawwsh! Did he put a hot-pink "MOTO" on that frame?" You know he did.
My butt has been sitting on Avocet O2 saddle for 22 years now. Its the best saddle ever made bar none, the newer ones don't feel the same. Back when I was having a little problem with epididymitis I thought I might have to change saddles, luckily it has passed for the most part. I would almost have rather quit riding than change saddles. Not really, I'm exaggerating now. I would probably do whatever it took to go riding.
Just as soon as I tell everyone that I don't have excess parts laying around.... I'm serious when I tell you this is my favorite saddle. I normally don't collect stuff but I've stocked up on enough of them to last me my entire life. That grey one in the middle has about 40,000 miles on it. I will sell most anything that I have but don't even try to buy one of these from me because I won't do it. All I can say is keep a look out on Ebay.
This is the only MOTO-BICI cross bike that I know of. Its a take on the old Yamaha MOTO-BIKE that my friend Kevin Jones had when we were kids. He's the guy that ran his dad's Hodaka up into his house, literally up into his house. Crashed it through the door and it landed up on top of the bar with the throttle stuck wide open. I wrote a story about it on the blog. Its one of the very first posts that I did, way back. Ah, those childhood memories. Bottle rockets and jumping garbage cans. Those were the days.
Handmade in beautiful Mountain Home, Arkansas.
I plan on riding this bike quite a lot. The reason I like this bike so much is that it looks like the kind of bike that would catch my attention if I walked into a bike shop. I think I would have to have it. Gotta go and give it a test ride later today. The temperature has been crazy hot. The Tour has started. Hope its a good one. My favorite guys aren't even racing in it but I'll pick a favorite out before long. I'm guessing Peter Sagan to win the prologue, Wiggins should be up there as well and also in the overall. I think Cadel and Wiggo have the most solid teams, at the start anyway, but I hope someone comes out of nowhere to surprise everyone. Ryder Hesjedal has absolutely no pressure on him at all and thats not a good thing for his competitors. I want a surprise. Thanks for checking things out. Enjoy the tour.
MEECH Custom Bicycles
Handmade in
Mountain Home, Arkansas
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