Jess Parker rockin his MEECH up the stairs.
Thanks for flying with MEECH!
Photo by Brooks Parker. Great Shot Brooks!
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
Dedacciai Carbone
Got a little present in the mail today from Bringheli. A box full of sweet Dedacciai carbon tubes. I've been planning a carbon frame for quite a while but I'm just now getting into a position in order to work on it. Actually I have a touring frame I need to get painted and I wanted to build a mountain bike frame myself in order to have something new to ride this winter. The way things are going now I'll probably pick up a used motocrosser before I get the mountain bike done. I wasn't kidding when I said I had the itch to ride. I just have to wait till the timing is right. I actually found a friend who is interested in sharing a bike. How smooth is that? Since it probably won't get ridden that much might as well split the cost with someone else, huh? We only have one rule. Whoever breaks it fixes it. Simple enough, all sure, no? All we have to do is sign in blood. What I think we're gonna do is shake hands in blood, kinda like Josey Wales and chief Ten Bears did at the end of the movie.
"Don't cut your throttle hand D!"
Don't worry. How stupid do you think I am?
"I reckon so."
What were we just talking about?
Ah yeah, carbonification. All of these tubes have some shape to them. I've done the round tube bit before and while these tubes definitely cost more, they'll make a much nicer frame. The down tube is massive. It's really bigger than what I wanted. I'm not really into these carbon frames that have huge crazy-shaped tubes but premade carbon tubesets are hard to come by unless you get your own made. I like the more traditional looking carbon frames like the Time frames, the Scott Addict, and the Cannondale EVO. Also love the Look 595 frameset. That was one frame I always wanted to ride. It was next on the list before I started building. I prefer modern frames that have some traditional characterisitcs. But it is what it is and we'll just see how it comes out.
The seat tube is pretty sweet. Has a wheel-cutout integrated into it as well as a flat wall for the derailleur mount. Don't forget the widened bottom bracket end. I asked for a matte-black finish but for some reason the seat tube showed up with a gloss coating on it. Who knows but I already have plans for it. I actually got a secret plan for the finish on this frame. When you see it finished there won't be any doubt that it's a MEECH.
One head tube is the Dedacciai and the other is my homemade one from a while back. I'm not even gonna ask if you can tell which is which. Mine is the one that weighs twice as much. I was actually surprised that the Dedacciai head tube was as light as it is. It almost felt like I could squeeze it in my hand. Mine on the other hand is overkill because it was my first one. It's also a bit larger diameter because the bearing cups are made by Cane Creek, but for the most part it appears as if they were made on the same type mandrel. I could make mine smaller but I need access to the bearing cups. Dedacciai probably wins this battle, unless we were building a mountain bike, then I think I'd feel better about mine. If it was a sword fight..., well then, it'd be like a triathlete fighting Evel Knievel. Evel would just take his walking cane and knock their head off and tell them to put on some real clothes, and ones that fit.
"Where did all this animosity come from D?"
I'm sorry. I don't really know. I think I've just been so pent-up lately. I've got so much energy that I can't get rid of. I may have some issues that crazy paint schemes can't cure. Bare with me or bear with me.
Mine is roughly twice as thick as the Dedacciai. I also used some fiberglass on mine to keep the cost down while experimenting, which it appears like they may have used one layer of glass as well. Glass is a little heavier than carbon. The next one I make I'll shave some grams off.
Well, this concludes my Monday night post. I think I'm gonna go out in the shop and punch on the heavy bag and try to curb some of this aggression, but first I'm gonna go eat a Nutty Buddy.
Thanks for stopping by. Buenos noches!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Paint Work on MX Helmet
I've had the itch to play around with some painting ideas and so I got out the old motocross helmet, sanded and primed it, and then gave it the old college try. Believe it or not, there was actually a Troy Lee Designs paint scheme on this helmet before I painted it. Yep, you heard me correctly, I sanded down and painted over Troy Lee's work. While the original paint scheme that he had done was pretty nice, for some reason it never really felt right to me. He kinda missed what I was trying to achieve. But that's ok. I wore the helmet many years and was tired of looking at that old paint job and decided to give it a MEECH makeover. In some ways it turned out better than I expected but the whole Toxic Orange bit on the front kinda disappointed me. I should've just went with the free hand over the entire helmet instead of trying to mix it up. I can always repaint it again but for now this is it. I don't have a motorcycle to ride at the moment but I've had a real bad itch here lately. I have a MX track so close to my house that I can hear them riding on the weekends. I've been over there about once a week since moving back to Jonesboro. I even bought a pair of boots the other day off of Ebay. I think I've officially entered my mid-life crisis. Not sure how this is gonna play out over the next few months but the MEECH Custom Bicycles blog could turn into the MEECH Bicycles and Motocross Bikes blog.
You can see where I peeled the Troy Lee sticker off the visor.
Not a very good picture here because of the flash. I had no plan at all as to how I was gonna paint it other than I wanted a yellow base. The rest is just picking a color and a brush and having at it. I did all this paint work with 3 different brushes and I didn't reduce the paint because I thought it might dilute the colors, so there is a little bit of texture created where the paint was a bit thicker. Normally I believe everyone uses an airbursh for jobs like this but I prefer the raw look of bristles. For the most part it's pretty smooth. Next time I may reduce it a little and see what happens. Like my friend Bob Davis always says, "At 100mph no one will ever notice.
I had intended to have the MEECH logo painted across the back in black but I was short on time and ready to finish it up. I'm ready to let go of my hands on a bike frame. Shouldn't be long. I've got a touring frame sitting in the shop that is awaiting a fork and then I'm gonna have at it. I got some new epoxy primer to try out as well. Supposedly it's some hot stuff. We'll see. Thanks for stopping by.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
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