Progress

Yesterday I got an early start in the shop on Matt's BMX project and for the first time in a while I was kind of in the frame building zone.  The music was blaring and the neighbors were screaming and I don't think I really heard any of it.  My peripheral vision was widened, I was seeing two and three steps down the road, and I was on the gas.  The temp outside was around 65, the breeze was blowing, and I could barely keep up with myself.  I can't remember a time when I was moving so fast except for maybe the time when I was about 13 years old and we grabbed a big Halloween pumpkin off this guys front porch and he came out and chased us down the road.  The pumpkin was big and heavy and the guy was gaining rapidly so we had to drop it in order to get away.  All I remember was seeing the candle come flying out as the pumpkin separated from itself while bouncing down the road and the distant sound of a man yelling, " You SOBs!", as we kicked it in overdrive.  Man that was a close one.  Anyway, no danger here, just some good clean fun.  This is a quick pic of the inside of the tubes before I braze them.  I always clean a little of the tube coating off so that the brass has a good surface to adhere to on both the inside and outside.  Yamaguchi showed us how to do internal fillets for a little added strength.  To be honest, I'm not sure if the brass will adhere to the coating on the tube or not.  I imagine if its cleaned good and roughly sanded it probably will but I feel safer having a clean rim around the inside.

I got most all the frame in place and tacked.  Just trying to dial in the seat stay situation.  Now I know this is a BMX frame however I'm seeing a little funky time trial station from this angle.  Little longer chain stays and some bull-horn bars and I'd be off to the races.  Wonder what it would handle like?  Hmmm,  I'm thinking.

Here is the head tube portion of the frame with the re-ovalized down and top tubes.  I also widened the seat tube at the bottom bracket, much more noticeable.

Maybe there is some danger in this build.  "What are those, silver arrows?"  Yeah, the same kind that Tonto use to carry when he was running with the Lone Ranger.  "No, no, you're all wrong.  It was the Lone Ranger who carried silver bullets."  Oh yeah, thats right.  Man, what was with that guy.  A cowboy running around in a sky-blue suade jumpsuit and wearing a mask.  Thats a little weird if you ask me.  The word "tonto" in spanish translates into "silly" or "fool".  I'm thinking the Lone Ranger was more of a tonto than Tonto was, although you'd have to be a real tonto to ride around with a cowboy who dressed like that.  I'm guessing Tonto dropped out of school at an early age and had trouble finding a job, then this super-cowboy shows up one day and says, "You can come ride with me and we'll make the world a better place together."  What kind of young, vulnerable, indian dropout wouldn't jump at that opportunity?  I wonder if it feels any different to be shot with a silver bullet?  I wonder how much a box of silver bullets cost?  Sounds like such a waste when you're just shooting a bunch vagabonds, I mean they're not vampires or anything, just a bunch of drunken half-ass cowboys.  I would just use a slingshot and a rock.  Now if you were shooting someone important I can see using a silver bullet.  Imagine how good it would have sounded if they would have shot Osama Bin Laden with a silver bullet.  Talk about some added impact.  Maybe silver is lighter than lead, I imagine so.  I'll have to look that up.

If Tonto would've carried arrows like these he could've rode alone and started his own world-saving business.  You see kids, thats why you should stay in school and get a degree.  You don't want to end up riding around the west with some weird cowboy named Kemosabe or whatever Tonto called him.  I never was big on the Lone Ranger, I didn't care for Star Trek either but I had to watch them sometimes because back then we only had like three channels.  Now we have like 103 and it still sucks. 

This was the seat stay design that I had planned on using however Matt is thinking he wants something more like the original Sting so these may get axed.  I like the look of these.  What has transpired is I have kinda gotten really into this frame build and I'm starting to see this frame the way I want it to be.  I even have a paint scheme in mind that'll knock boots off.  I may have to do another just for my personal collection.  It would make a great show bike.  Oh well, you can check back to see what we decide on.  Thanks for stopping by.  Chao, and stay away from Tontos.