Mathew Molewyk's Custom CX Frame

This is a frame I just finished up for Matt Molewyk. It has a super-cool paint job done by Ace's Wild Custom here in Mountain Home. Combined with the Ritchey WCS Carbon fork this frame almost looks carbon itself. Matt decided to go with some Paragon Breezer-style dropouts as well as their 3-piece cantilever brake bosses. This is a really sweet cross bike, size 58cm, thats just about right for me, hmmm, no I will wait and let Matt be the first rider but man its tempting. Matt has been laid up in the hospital with the flu for a few days now and I am trying to get him motivated to get out, I know he is ready to start training again and get back out on the cross circuit. Thanks Matt and I hope you are feeling better.

650B Belt Drive

Here is the finished 650B belt-driven mountain bike I have been working on for Ian Hope. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Ace's Wild Custom here in Mountain Home did the paint job this time and we just went with a solid black pearl paint that looks unbelievable in the sunlight. As usual, photos don't do it any justice because I am a miserable photographer, cameras and computers are just not my thing. I liked this frame so much that I am gonna build another frame similar to this just as soon as i am caught up. It would be nice to have an endless supply of bike parts so that I could build up some of these frames. I would like to test ride every one of them but there is just not enough time to build up every one of them so that's where I rely on you guys to build'em up and give me the low down. So far its gone pretty smooth, thanks!

Customized BB Shell

Mainline Awards has been customizing my bottom bracket shells for me. This is going on Matt Molewyk's custom CX frame. Stay tuned for the finished product.

Belt Driven 650B Mountain Bike

Here is the frame I have been working on for Ian Hope, an Orbea bike shop owner in Little Rock and a local on the Arkansas race scene. The frame is for a 650B mountain bike and contains a belt-driven drive train. This frame looks more like a drag bike than a mountain bike because the wheel in this photo is a 26er and left a big gap between the seat tube. Once a 27.5" wheel with a big, fat knobby tire is dropped in it should be dialed in. I told myself when I started building frames that I was just gonna stick to cyclocross and road frames however this was a challenge that I wanted to take. I didn't even know what a 650B mountain bike was when he asked me about it, nor did I know anything about Carbon Drive Systems so this was an interesting build that I have learned alot from and am glad I built it. I am gonna build another one just as soon as I get caught up with the frames I am working on now. Man, I just wanna take this thing for a spin to see what it feels like. Maybe Ian will let me take his for a spin when he gets it built up, I can't wait.

MEECH Track Frameset

Here is a track frameset that I started on quite a while back and just recently got the finish on it. I kept this one as simple as I could. All straight tubes left raw with the fillet-brazing showing. It has a super-strong powder coat finish done by Industrial Powdercoating of Mountain Home, AR. The owner was beating two pieces of tubing together and failed to even scratch it. This frame has the name that I was gonna use on my frames in the very beginning, OneFiftyOne, but then I just decided to go with my nickname, MEECH. This was the first time I actually put it on a frame and I might still use it from time to time. Honestly I don't know much, if anything, about track racing so I just used a standard geometry and tried to keep it simple and comfortable for everyday street riding, but oh-man would I love to see someone race the molasses out of this thing on a velodrome. I was gonna take it to the Texas Handmade Bicycle Show in Austin but I can't go this year, maybe next. Hope you like it. I have a 650B mountain bike with a belt-drive I am working on now and will be posting some photos when its done so stay tuned. Chao.

Custom Tire Clearance

This was my resolve for cyclocross tire clearance issues. Indentations work fine but don't look near as good. Since this was the first time I had tried this I had to put it to the test so I took it over to a friend's house and we stuck it in the vice and each took a turn trying to break it, it never did. I did manage to collapse the other side of the stay eventually but we both decided it was plenty strong. This is warrantied just the same as my other stuff. Check out that high-tech gadgetry phone holding the stay in place, oh-yeah, $14 at Wal-Mart. The Blackberry cost too much so I opted for the Mulberry. I bought an expensive phone once and it fell out of my jersey pocket and before I knew it was gone it had been run over about 600 times. My friend Larry Yancey said, "Its still good", there was no screen left in it and it looked like someone had held it to a grinder. I have tried to lose the Mulberry but it keeps following me home. Sometimes when I go into the store I will just leave it on the hood of my car to see if someone will steal it, I still have it, in fact, one time I came out of the store and there was another one just like it sitting there next to mine. Go figure.

3fana's 151

This is the frame I built for my amigo in Spain. Super chulo is how he described it, sounds cool to me. Mohammed Afana is the first friend I had when I arrived in Spain and we have stayed in touch all these years. He is spreading the MEECH name in Europe for me. Gracias amigo! Saludos a todos en Andalucia. Os quiero!Venga.

Dereck & Elizabeth's CX frames

Here are a couple of 'cross frames that I just finished up for Dereck and his wife. Dereck Treadwell is the cross country & triathlon coach at Hartwick College in Laurens, NY as well as a professional triathlete.

Josh Colvey painted these frames with a creamy butter and did the panel in a whipped cream white, no joke, these frames are painted with creamy butter and whipped cream. The greatest thing about these frames is that after almost killing yourself in a cyclocross race you can eat the frame afterward, the downside is that dogs are constantly chasing you on your training rides. Check out those extended seat tubes, I can't wait to see these frames built up, send photos. Thanks. Later.

Ever Onward

I have been getting in a ride about 5 days a week here lately and while that is a good thing about 4 out of those 5 rides I feel like I am dragging bricks, stuck in 3rd gear. It would be nice if there was a coaching hotline to call in times like these. Yeah I know there are coaches out there with readily available numbers to call but how much is it gonna cost after that first call. Its not worth it to me, I don't race any more and I have probably gone as fast as I am ever gonna go. Its not that I am pessimistic, I just know that if I am not putting in the miles, going to the races, and having ambitions of going faster like I use to how could I get faster, not to mention the added years. Besides, for the last couple of years I have been intrigued with building bicycle frames, I guess so I can get away from the pain and hopefully sell some of it to someone else. No matter how much it hurts I always go back for more, its a love-hate relationship. When you are out training and it just hurts and you think you are sick of it just remember it really is much better to be on the bike suffering than to be stuck at work wishing you were riding, so just keep pushing, get everything out of yourself that you deserve, those good legs are coming. Keep pushing ever onward!

"For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto the mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Mark 11:23

Stay tuned, more frames coming.

Arkansas State TT Champ

This is my good friend and local Cat 3 Jonesboro native Larry Yancey. We just call him el Hombre Peligroso (a bad man). He has been a part of R&D at MEECH Custom Bikes since we began. Sometimes when I was watching him ride the bike I would cringe thinking he was gonna break the frame for sure but after close to a year of beating the molasses out of it I am happy to say that it is still in one piece and even has a couple of state championships on it. Last year Larry won the Tennessee CX Championships on a MEECH and it felt good to take a first place, however in all fairness it was probably more Larry's legs than my frame but when I heard that he threw some 23c tubulars and a pair of clip-ons on it and won the Arkansas State TT I was totally stoked, I have always loved the versatility of 'cross bikes but this takes it to a whole new level. Good job! I would also like to mention that the Jonesboro boys cleaned up this year at the event, Trent Talley, Mike Suminski, and a host of others posted some fast times and brought home the swag. They love racing in Jonesboro, Arkansas so if you are ever there let 'em take you out for a spin but I am giving you fair warning, they will attack you faster than you can say cowboys and indians. Send me some more photos. Chao.