MEECH Custom Bicycles: Christian's Cross Racer

Been working on Christian's cyclocross frame for a while now. With Little Jack nothing gets done as fast as it used to. "Dimitri, you were slow to start with." Yeah, well, now I'm even slower. But, the frames are even better. Its just like the professor of motocross Gary Bailey used to say, "You have to slow down to go fast." Think about it. To make matters even worse, winter has now shown up. Cold weather just about paralyzes me. Ok, not really, but it does mess with my mind a little bit. I get cold easy. I'm always on the Weather Channel's website looking at the 10-Day forecast to see if its gonna warm up anytime soon. It just so happens that in about 5 days it is gonna be back up in the 50's. Halleluja! I had to google that in order to spell it correctly. I still make myself get out on the bike for an hour 3-4 times a week to keep my head right. For some reason, when I ride in cold weather I prefer it to be cloudy and overcast. Somehow I manage to feel warmer then. I would rather ride in 35 degree cloudy weather than 40 degrees and sunny. Luckily, in Mountain Home we have plenty of hills to warm you up real quick, and while you get some wind on occasion its very seldom a hard blowing direct wind. It kind of swirls around in all the hills.

So anyway, back to Christian's frame. It's a cyclocross racer with a tapered headtube and disc brakes. You can see it all right there in the first photo before I ever cut the first miter. I'm tired so I'm not gonna talk much.

Solid, level foundation.

Louis Maxximus 'Soul Katt' Jackson is overseeing this process as you can see. "How is his last name Jackson when your last name is Harris ?" Because, Louis Maxximus 'Soul Katt' Jackson is his first name. I didn't say Harris because I just assumed you would know that. Now try not to complicate things. Did I not just say that I'm tired and don't want to talk much.

Ooh la la! Talk about your curviosas. Tapered head tube,

with integrated bearing cups brazed in.

I actually started tacking the frame before taking pictures of the miters. You've seen it all before though. I remembered right before I started brazing this one. Its hard to tell but I put a little shape into the tubes. The down tube is bi-oval and its about to be married to a tapered head tube. This miter was a bit tougher than the usual but I finally got it like I wanted, air-tight.

I got nothing to say about this photo except, it is what it is.

Frame cut and fit before tacking.

I always make sure the chain stays are level. And as usual the camera never is.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this may be my best brazing ever. No, really, I think it is. Seriously y'all. Ok, don't believe me. You'll see when its finished.

This brazing shot makes me think of outer space or weather patterns for some reason. Check out the different ways the heat effects the flux. "D, have you been inhaling too many fumes?" Its a possibility. Hey, I already gave up cigarettes and alcohol, don't take this from me too.

Next.

Next. Wait! Can you see the oval seat tube? You'll have to have really good eyes. If you don't eat alot of carrots then you probably can't see it. I hate carrots, but I love carrot cake. How can that be?

Here are a couple of pieces that are somewhat unique to this frame. These are the chain and seat stay bridges. They weren't bent with a tubing bender, as I don't have a tubing bender. They were bent by using my torch and carefully heating them up and slowly bending them into shape. Don't ask me how i got the bends almost identical. I didn't use any type of dye, only my eyes. Must be all that carrot cake. Paragon was out of the triple stops that allow one brake line to pass through, so I just drilled this one out.

Room for 38c, maybe a '40'.

Louie sitting at his desk during his lunchbreak. Let's see, he's got a drawing board, bicycle pump, baby powder, a jam system, and a pair of Oakleys. What more could you need? Actually that desk top lifts up. No telling what he has inside there, probably an issue of Playcat. A few weeks ago Louie's big brother Smokey went missing. Smokey was getting old and was kinda sick and we think he may have gone off to die. If I know ol' Smoke he's sitting on higher ground.