Alright, I finally got Carlos Garcia's frame all finished up. It seems like I've been working on it forever but these days it seems like that with every frame but you can't put a time frame on custom quality. Since I started painting frames a little over a year ago the number of frames that I build has dropped however the few that I build are getting better and I really enjoy the satisfaction I'm getting with painting my own work. Its something that I always wanted to try from the very beginning and now that its a reality I would just like to improve on it. While I'm all sure that I have my limits as a painter at this moment, the endless paint color and scheme possibilities leave the future wide open. Its such a bonus for a customer to be able to select any color that they like and to have their frame painted to their individual taste. Im sure thats probably one of the reasons there are so many custom frame builders today. I have to be honest with you all, since I've been building frames I've painted 3-4 frames in orange just because its what the customer asked for. I was always kinda like, "Oh well, if thats what you want then I'll do it." Orange never really appealed to me until I got done with this frame. I don't know what it is, maybe its the Tangerine Pearl paint or maybe its the fact that i painted it, or maybe its the strong contrast of colors on this frame that really gave me a kick in the arse and said, "Orange is where its at!" I'll always be a black and yellow man at the core because of my Suzuki RM roots, however there was a time when I decided to try something totally different and go a different direction, so I went out and bought a KTM 250 SX. It was orange, charcoal, and black. It looked sweet and it ripped up dirt like a bulldozer. It almost killed me once. I said, "Watch this yall!" and the next thing I said was to the ambulance driver, "Stop driving so fast over these damn whoopdee doos, you're killing me back here." If only momma could see me now. This reminds me of a story that my old buddy Patrick Daniel told me once. When he was a kid, not sure how old, but anyway he was involved in some type of accident involving a tractor, perhaps a farming accident of sort. He was pretty badly broken at the hips, which is exactly what happened to me on that KTM. So his dad and his brother make some sort of makeshift stretcher out of a folding lawnchair and they tied him into it and then tied it down in the back of their pickup truck to get him to the hospital. He told me his dad was doing about 75 mph down a dirt road and flying over railroad tracks all the way to the emergency room. Patrick said he was bouncing all over the place in the bed of the truck and the whole ride he never stopped screaming, " Daddy slow down, you're killing me!" Anyway, Patrick lived through it and we became good friends during our 20's and we're still friends today. He's one of the most interesting people I've ever known, always a blast to hang out with but he can't run worth a damn. Love ya Patrick.
I don't normally put tubing decals on my frames however Carlos was into it.
This is what you're gonna see when Carlos opens up his sprint.
I love this picture.
Just wanted to say thanks for the opportunity Carlos. I really enjoyed working with you on this and I love the color selection. Ride on!
MEECH Custom Bicycles
handmade in
Mountain Home, Arkansas
No comments:
Post a Comment