A Little Progress

Whats up?  I know, I've been a absentee blogger.  It couldn't be helped, or at least it felt like it couldn't.  Yesterday was the first opportunity I've had to get something done on my carbon frame.  I'm beginning to wonder how long its actually gonna take.  It'll have to be soon because I've got some orders that I need to get started on.  Actually I've already started on them and I'm trying to get this done on the side.  My goal is to be test riding this thing in the spring time.  There have been some extremely cold days here in northern Arkansas.  I'm handling them about as good as can be expected (not good at all).  I move slower, get less done, not to mention that during the winter I feel old.  My face seems more tense, my body aches more, and my legs don't want to spin on the bike, and thats if I manage to make myself get on it at all.  How do you folks from the North do it?  I'm in admiration.  I really wouldn't mind moving to Florida, although I don't think the salty air is good for steel frames.  Thats ok, we're talking carbon right now.  I laid a cosmetic layer down on the head tube and it turned out pretty good.  This 12K weave is a bit difficult to make look good but overall this wasn't too bad.  Here are a couple of shots taken right out of the bag and a couple more after it was sanded.

It turned out a little better than anticipated although it did have a couple of small wrinkles that needed to be smoothed out.

Here is the seam up close. Instead of trying to cut release film to fit around each tube I just took one big piece and folded it over the complete area just like I do the breather cloth and bagged it and waited to see how it came out.  I'm curious to see how some clear coat will make this appear.  It won't hide anything I'm sure, and if its anything like paint it will only make it stand out more.  I'm honestly not too worried with that at this time.  This frame is all about developing a technique and becoming comfortable with it.  The aesthetics will have to come from practice.

This is vacuum-bag art.  Don't kid yourself, this is valuable stuff.  If you would like to own a piece of art like this you can search Ebay and hope that you're the winning bidder, or should you choose to buy a MEECH Custom Carbon frameset I will just give it to you.  I spent a couple of hours last night staring into this thing trying to find something interesting like a constellation or Jesus riding a bicycle however I gave up after the thought came to me that it only looks like a wet diaper, but it is still for sell.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll get back as quick as possible.  Enjoy the weekend!  Road race season has officially begun.