Homemade vs. Store Bought

I just finished making this second pair of stays which is more along the lines of the traditional Sting.  They truly are hand made as the stays on the bottom are just seat stay caps that are brazed in, however I do like the way they look as they lay tighter against the frame and don't stick out as far.    Good news is, they are both dangerous.  The ones on the bottom have a sharp tip whereas the top pair are a bit edgy around the sides. Its all just personal preference from here.  The homemade stays are way lighter though and lighter translates into speed.  These new stays should be in place shortly and then its on to the fork.  I'm gonna save the "silver arrows" for my own personal BMX frame that I'm gonna build and jump it over a bus.  Ok, maybe a Hot Wheels bus.  Once I was thinking of doing a publicity stunt for MEECH Bicycles.  On many of my road rides I ride across the Lake Norfork bridge and I'm always thinking, " Man, I would so like to jump my bike off that bridge."  Of course I would be landing in water right?  Well, depending on the lake level the drop could be anywhere from 40-80 feet.  Thats a long way down, and since I haven't jumped a bicycle in like 20 years or so I imagine I wouldn't exactly execute the perfect form and hitting the water on your back or side from like 50-60 feet up could hurt, it could hurt bad.  So anyway, like always I've given in to common sense and pussed out again on my comeback. Man, I miss the old Meech who would just do things and think about it later at the doctor's office.  Guess I'll just keep making frames and let you guys do all the stunts.

Some of these ads that they're putting up on my blog are annoying me.  Most are ok, like the bike or motorcycle ads, but there is one that they've been running lately that says, "Putting on your pretties", and its a bunch of pink girls clothes.  All sure I'm not liking that but luckily right next to it there is a Can-Am ad that helps keep the machismo in the room. Later.

Progress

Yesterday I got an early start in the shop on Matt's BMX project and for the first time in a while I was kind of in the frame building zone.  The music was blaring and the neighbors were screaming and I don't think I really heard any of it.  My peripheral vision was widened, I was seeing two and three steps down the road, and I was on the gas.  The temp outside was around 65, the breeze was blowing, and I could barely keep up with myself.  I can't remember a time when I was moving so fast except for maybe the time when I was about 13 years old and we grabbed a big Halloween pumpkin off this guys front porch and he came out and chased us down the road.  The pumpkin was big and heavy and the guy was gaining rapidly so we had to drop it in order to get away.  All I remember was seeing the candle come flying out as the pumpkin separated from itself while bouncing down the road and the distant sound of a man yelling, " You SOBs!", as we kicked it in overdrive.  Man that was a close one.  Anyway, no danger here, just some good clean fun.  This is a quick pic of the inside of the tubes before I braze them.  I always clean a little of the tube coating off so that the brass has a good surface to adhere to on both the inside and outside.  Yamaguchi showed us how to do internal fillets for a little added strength.  To be honest, I'm not sure if the brass will adhere to the coating on the tube or not.  I imagine if its cleaned good and roughly sanded it probably will but I feel safer having a clean rim around the inside.

I got most all the frame in place and tacked.  Just trying to dial in the seat stay situation.  Now I know this is a BMX frame however I'm seeing a little funky time trial station from this angle.  Little longer chain stays and some bull-horn bars and I'd be off to the races.  Wonder what it would handle like?  Hmmm,  I'm thinking.

Here is the head tube portion of the frame with the re-ovalized down and top tubes.  I also widened the seat tube at the bottom bracket, much more noticeable.

Maybe there is some danger in this build.  "What are those, silver arrows?"  Yeah, the same kind that Tonto use to carry when he was running with the Lone Ranger.  "No, no, you're all wrong.  It was the Lone Ranger who carried silver bullets."  Oh yeah, thats right.  Man, what was with that guy.  A cowboy running around in a sky-blue suade jumpsuit and wearing a mask.  Thats a little weird if you ask me.  The word "tonto" in spanish translates into "silly" or "fool".  I'm thinking the Lone Ranger was more of a tonto than Tonto was, although you'd have to be a real tonto to ride around with a cowboy who dressed like that.  I'm guessing Tonto dropped out of school at an early age and had trouble finding a job, then this super-cowboy shows up one day and says, "You can come ride with me and we'll make the world a better place together."  What kind of young, vulnerable, indian dropout wouldn't jump at that opportunity?  I wonder if it feels any different to be shot with a silver bullet?  I wonder how much a box of silver bullets cost?  Sounds like such a waste when you're just shooting a bunch vagabonds, I mean they're not vampires or anything, just a bunch of drunken half-ass cowboys.  I would just use a slingshot and a rock.  Now if you were shooting someone important I can see using a silver bullet.  Imagine how good it would have sounded if they would have shot Osama Bin Laden with a silver bullet.  Talk about some added impact.  Maybe silver is lighter than lead, I imagine so.  I'll have to look that up.

If Tonto would've carried arrows like these he could've rode alone and started his own world-saving business.  You see kids, thats why you should stay in school and get a degree.  You don't want to end up riding around the west with some weird cowboy named Kemosabe or whatever Tonto called him.  I never was big on the Lone Ranger, I didn't care for Star Trek either but I had to watch them sometimes because back then we only had like three channels.  Now we have like 103 and it still sucks. 

This was the seat stay design that I had planned on using however Matt is thinking he wants something more like the original Sting so these may get axed.  I like the look of these.  What has transpired is I have kinda gotten really into this frame build and I'm starting to see this frame the way I want it to be.  I even have a paint scheme in mind that'll knock boots off.  I may have to do another just for my personal collection.  It would make a great show bike.  Oh well, you can check back to see what we decide on.  Thanks for stopping by.  Chao, and stay away from Tontos.

Ready for Worlds

Here is a quick shot of Yancey with both of his bikes prepped and ready for the 2013 Master's World Cyclocross Championships.  This will be the second year in a row for him to be hanging it out in Louisville mud.  If the weather forecast goes as planned its gonna be a cold, muddy race but he's gonna be going too fast to see or feel any of it.  This year he has two bikes to attack with along with a new MEECH team kit.  The boys in the factory are pretty stoked about this gig.  We're well represented again, even moreso than last year.  I hate it that I can't be there because this is a once in a lifetime thing but I'm wishing him all the best in this race.  I know for a fact that he's been training for this race every since last year's race ended and I can assure you that Larry doesn't take his training lightly.  It hurts me just thinking about trying to keep up with him.   I've had alot of good moments in my life and to see this photo with Larry on two bikes that I built going to a race as big as the World Cross Championships ranks right up there with the best of them. Yellow and black never looked so good.  Go get 'em Yancey and have fun doing it.  Thanks partner.

I decided to include a couple of pictures from last year's World Championship to get him all fired up.

He has trained a lot harder this year so when you running this year he'll probably be smiling and laughing during sections like this.  Out of all the racers that I've met, Larry is the racing'est hombre I've ever known.  He truly loves it.  Rock 'n' Ride!

Be cool,

Be fast,

and

Stand on the gas!

Famous words written and lived by none other than Larry Yancey.

Custom Stuff

First of all, I would like to say that I know I've been lagging a bit in posting on my blog.  I'm not happy about it as I really do enjoy posting new things and getting to talk about them.  Blogging is therapeutic for me.  You get to talk about how things are going, what you're working on, and hopefully you have an audience that is listening to you and is able to share in the moment, they can even comment if they like.  I don't get a ton of comments on this blog but there are a few.  I imagine most people are just checking out the photos and seeing whats new and I can relate.  Thats the main reason i started the blog.  I just wanted to show off the bike frames I was making and hope that someone noticed.  I never expected any comments but they're always welcome if you got something on your mind.  I love to talk bicycles or just whatever.  Anyway, this BMX frameset that I've been working on is most definitely the slowest that I've ever built a frame.  I've probably already given enough excuses so I'm just gonna spare you all that as I know you guys are probably taking care of alot of the same stuff.  MEECH Custom Bicycles is always leaning more toward quality over quantity so time is really no issue.  I have read here lately in a couple of books by people who basically say there is no such thing as time, that its all been created by us, is a figment of our imagination, and that it has no relevance on our life at all, but who has time to waste talking about that crap.  Try that one on your boss in the morning after you stroll in an hour late.  "But boss, time isn't real, its created in our minds."  I imagine his response will be.  "Oh yeah, well so is money."    I am slowly making progress with this build and it will be finished before too long.  "When?"  Mind your own business Virginia.  It'll get done when it gets done and its gonna be one sweet ride.  "What is this even a picture of?  It doesn't look like much to me."  Sweetheart, thats because you know nothing.  This is a picture of the inside of a steerer tube manufactured by Standard Bykes.  The threaded sleeve is machined into the steerer according to Jess who works for Standard.  That would mean its made of steel, however my good friend Bob Davis says that it appears to be an aluminum sleeve that has been glued into place, truthfully I'm not sure as its really hard to see down in there good enough to tell.  So don't get me to lying about how its made when all I know is its a very nicely made fork.  The crown race is actually machined onto the steerer tube so maybe this is as well.  One thing I know for sure is how mine was made and if you'll follow me down to the next photo we'll check it out.

This is the sleeve that Bob made me and this is your average BMX lock-down cap.  The sleeve is cut out of steel and I'm gonna slide it down into the steerer and then silver braze it in place. It would have been much easier to cut this sleeve out of aluminum and then glue it in place however i was worried about it possibly coming loose over time and I didn't want that on my conscience.  Is that how you spell "conscience?"  Who knows.  The stem lock-down cap is readily available from most any bike shop in a variety of colors.  Follow.

Now these are new.  These are some custom dropouts Bob made me for the fork.  He does really nice work and I'd be up a creek without a paddle if it wasn't for him.  If only you could see his shop.  He doesn't use any CNC machinery.  Its all older equipment and I think he has some things in there that are over 100 years old.  The other day he was rebuilding a motor that was a few years over a century old.  This guy is a trip and can do anything.  BMW motorcycle riders call him up from all over the world wanting him to make parts for their old bikes that they can no longer get parts for.  Once again, an incredible guy and I'm lucky to know him much less have him 10 minutes away.  Thanks Bob and I hope Virginia gets well soon.  Bob's wife's name really is Virginia, but she's not the Virginia that I'm always referring to.  Bob's Virginia is super-sweet, my Virginia, well, theres still time for her to come around.  

Anyway, thats all I have for you today.  I actually took the top tube and down tube and ovalized them a little more than in the previous post and the ovalization is much more visible.  I have to go sling some hash tomorrow but come Tuesday morning I'll be out in the shop trying to get this thing closer to done so hopefully I'll have some new stuff to show you. I really do want to finish it up so that we all can see it.  I hope I haven't forgotten how to fillet braze.  Not a chance.  I'm really enjoying this build and have been learning quite a bit from it.  I'm hoping that all this time that I've been spending on other work outside of frame building will translate into more frame building for me down the road.  I have just had to slow the frame building down a little in order to take care of some other business and I'm hoping that eventually I'll get everything streamlined a little more and that will allow me to get back into the shop and get back to some more frame building.  I've actually had to turn some orders away because I haven't been able to get everything done as efficiently as i like, and I really didn't like doing that but if I can't get things done for people in a timely manner then I'm just gonna do a little at a time until I can. The days are gradually getting longer and thats gonna help out a lot, mentally and physically.  Thanks for bearing with me and don't hesitate to give me a shout. I'm always ready to build a frame just a soon as a get these next few done.  See you in a couple of days.

Sting

Got a little work done on Matt's Sting this weekend and thought I'd update the blog a little.  From the pictures this probably just looks like any other build but its a bit unique for me as this is the first time I've ever had anything to do with a BMX frame.  I never owned a BMXer and have never been on one of the tracks, but as a kid I did try to ride my Schwinn Scrambler like a motocross bike, that was as close as I got for a long time.  Building this frame is not much different than building other frames except that I'm just unaccustomed to the geometry and when I step back and look at this thing in the jig, I'm like, "Is that right?"  But its coming together pretty well and I think I'm on par with everything.  Its hard to tell in the pictures but the down tube and top tube are ovalized a bit just like old Stings.  This is something that Matt wanted to incorporate into this frame.

This is the "other side."  Other Side is one of my favorite Chili Peppers songs along with Scar Tissue.  Now that sounds like a BMX song.

In order to get a photo of the top tube mounted I actually had to use some small pieces of duct tape to hold it in place as my Bringheli was not designed with BMX frames in mind.  Its worked pretty well so far with some minor upgrades.

The seat tube is ovalized at the bb shell as well.  Still a little hard to tell but if you look close you can see it.

I think its even harder to tell here but don't worry its oval.  Maybe I should have taken a photo from the side.  Think Dimitri, think.

I love using integrated head tubes, I just like the way they look.  Look at it like this, if you are sitting at the drive-thru window and you're placing your order and the girl says, "Would you like to have that integrated?", you'd say, "But of course."  I'm probably gonna raise that head tube a bit before tacking it and take up some of that space.  I guess I didn't tape it in the right place.

BB shot.  I can tell its oval but that may be just because I know it already.

All I need to do are the seat stays and then I should be able to have this thing together.  Oh yeah, and the fork also.  I'm waiting on a couple of machined parts for that.  I talked to Bob the other day and they should be finished shortly.  Can't wait.

These are just a couple of random photos that one of my hard racing customers sent me yesterday.  You may remember this frame that I built for Jonathan Ruiz this past summer.  Anyway he's been wearing it out on all sorts of terrain and has't avoided any dirt roads as far as I can tell.  I may need to try and get him on one of my cross frames.  I love seeing photos like these because I know that the bike is being ridden in everything and that really excites me.  Do me a favor and never baby your MEECH.  Maybe take the seat post and bottom bracket out every now and again and spray the inside with some WD-40 and let it air out.  Other than that you should be good for a long time.

This is a good looking bike.  One of the handful that I've painted myself.  There will be more. Thanks for the photos Jonathan and thanks to everyone for stopping by and checking things out.  Now stop reading this and go ride.  Chao.

Snow Day

Wanted to do a quick check to make sure I have plenty of chainring clearance before I stuck the seat stays on.  I didn't anticipate a problem but am unfamiliar with BMX cranksets.  I've been putting Campy Ultra Torque cranksets on and off for so long that I needed a crash course in order to get these dialed in.  They're super-easy and the Profile website even has a quick video showing you the installation but I couldn't figure out how to get them off.  They include a tool for putting them on and I thought the same tool was somehow used to extract the crank arm like an ordinary crank pulling tool but after trying to use that tool in every imaginable way I could think of I layed it down and called Profile. After talking to Termite (theres a name you don't hear everyday, I'm guessing with a name like that he is a pretty hardcore BMXer) it turns out you just screw the bolt into one side of the crank spindle and tap it out with a hammer, but it takes more than a tap, lets just say an aggressive tap.  Who woulda thunk it?  A hammer.  I normally just use those to throw through the window when I get pissed off.  Just kidding.  Sometimes I think it would feel nice to just let a hammer fly out of my shop window but windows are kind of expensive and its too cold out there as it is.  My shop this morning was a balmy 30 something degrees.  Work a little, go in and stand by the fire a little.

Plenty of chainring clearance and the tire clearance is about as tight as this also but BMXers don't worry about mud issues like cyclocrossers.  The courses are usually dry, hardpack, and probably nicely groomed, which is the same way I prefer my cyclocross courses and motocross courses as well.  Its sounds weird but i prefer cloudy and rainy days on the road bike. 

I know this is a pretty boring post but i just needed something new as its been a few days. But look at it this way, by posting a picture of every little step I take out in the shop its almost just like you're in the shop building this frame with me, and if you're here with me then I can blame that broken window on you.  One time when I was a kid in school i pretended to be sick so that I wouldn't have to go that day.  There was snow on the ground and I didn't think we should have to go and I was pretty disappointed to find that they didn't cancel.  Anyway, so I faked being sick and I'm sure my dad knew, as he always knew everything, but somehow I managed to get the house all to myself.  After a couple of hours of TV boredom starts to set in and I noticed a lot of birds outside on the snow so I went to my closet and grabbed my trusty Crossman 760 pellet gun and very slowly opened the window, picked out the biggest bird I could find, and yes I did it, I shot that bird.  Only thing was it didn't kill it, it was just running all over the yard leaving a big bloody trail all over the snow.  I was like, "Oh crap, i gotta do something fast before my mom gets home."  So I grabbed my house robe and house shoes and am outside chasing this bleeding bird around in the snow with my pellet gun when my dad pulls up in the driveway.  Turns out he decided to check in on me to make sure I wasn't dying since I did such a good of job acting like I was so severly sick.  So there I am standing in the snowy backyard  in my house shoes with my robe half open and pumping up my Crossman to try and finish this bird off.  Talk about being caught red-handed. Where do you even start to explain a situation like this one.  "Well dad, I was laying in bed and feeling really, really sick and this bird kept pecking on the side of the house.  I was afraid he was gonna peck a big hole in it so I figured I would just shoot real close to him and scare him real bad so he would quit destroying the house that you and mom work so hard for.  Well dad, the pellet must've ricocheted and hit the bird and I was just trying to put it out of its misery.  The bird wasn't even a woodpecker, probably like a robin or something and it managed to escape while I was explaining what happened to my dad. All the other birds were probably up in a tree going, "Man, can you believe the story that little punk is telling?"  Well, the next day I really was sick, I guess from running around in the snow half naked and bare footed, but do you think I even dared ask to stay home?  

Hopefully tomorrow I can make some real progress. Its supposed to be about 10 degrees warmer and that'll help out a bit.   So now if you'll excuse me I have to go walk my dog out in the snow and look for that hammer.  No ride today, cross my fingers for tomorrow.  Chao amigos.

Good to See Ya, Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya

 Stole this pic off Facebook and I believe it came off of Cyclocross Magazine's web page.  I think this is from the Nationals that is going on this weekend.  I'm sure he wasn't alone.  Thanks to whomever for sharing the pic.

The Rolling Stones - Sweet Virginia [HQ]

What the Funk!

I've been experimenting with the idea of painting a frame in black velvet.  "Really?"  Ok, not really.  This is what happened when I was getting ready to tack the chain stays in place.  Everything was fluxed up and in place and I was waving my torch flame around the bottom bracket like a magic wand, you know, heating everything up to temp while pretending to be some frame building wizard or something of sort when I bumped the oxygen knob on one of the stays.  It pretty much shut the O2 off completely and pure acetylene leaves this neat little black powder finish.  "WHAT THE $@#%!"  Yeah, thats what I said.  I don't mince words when I screw up.  Oh well, it wasn't that bad.  Take it apart and wash everything in a little soapy water and reflux everything and put it back into place.  I've done this before but its been a while and not quite to this extent. It happens quicker than you might think.  Minor inconvenience right when I was starting to find my groove.  My frame building has been slow here lately for various reasons.  Work at the bistro, cold weather, less daylight, and mainly just me not being able to get everything done as efficiently as I normally do, or imagine I do.  For some reason this winter I've been dragging a little more than normal.  It hasn't been that cold but the short days are really annoying me this year for some reason.  I can't seem to get anything done after its dark.  Anyway, the last couple of days I've been out in the shop trying to get some things done and I'm starting to feel like a frame builder again.  I think that is what has been bothering me more than anything.  I haven't been building as much lately and I don't feel like myself.  "You know how to fix that D?"  How Virginey?  "Suck up the cold and get out in the shop and build some frames."  Thanks Virginia.  I can always count on you to give it to me straight.

Well, here we are back with everything cleaned up and back in place.  Well, almost.  That right stay looks to be about a half millimeter further over than the left one.  Yamaguchi always told us, "You have to have a good eye to be a frame builder, so eat lots of carrots." Ok, I added the 'carrots' part.  I bet I haven't eaten one whole carrot in my lifetime.  I never liked them.  I never ate cabbage, broccoli, or about a hundred other vegetables either.  Don't like turnips, don't like greens, don't like turnip-greens.  I do like spinach though and especially hot dogs.  Whoops.  Whoa that was really close.  I accidently typed an "N" in hot dog.  Glad I caught that mistake.  You might never have looked at me the same way again.  That coulda hurt business.  So who eats all those carrots?  I think horses like carrots.  No, thats apples.  Nothing likes carrots.  Oh yeah, Bugs Bunny does.  Elmer Fudd makes me think of Ted Nugent.  Always running his mouth while carrying a gun.  Give it a rest man. Nobody wants your guns so stop waving 'em around.  And if I hear anybody play Cat Scratch Fever one more time will somebody please shoot me in the face.

I think I officially drifted off the subject of framebuilding so let me try to get back on track, track dropouts that is.  These are going on Matt's BMX frame and I have no idea why I spent all that time cleaning them all up when I'm fixing to flux them all up again when I braze the seat stays on.  I was just gonna mess around and try something and then i couldn't stop with just one side, so then I had to do the other side.  And then I couldn't just stop with one stay could I, so I had to do the other stay.  Who cares, I would've had to do it eventually, now its done, besides I'm not rushing anything with this frame.  Actually I don't rush with any frame, its just that I've been going really slow with this one because its a bit different than what I'm used to.  This is kind of a prototype build but I still want everything to be right the first time around so I'm taking extra caution.  I have to be back at work tomorrow so I may not get the rest of the rear end built until this weekend.  I'm on it though so feel free to check back when you like.  Thanks.

Beefy Forks

I spent a couple hours out the shop this weekend playing around with the fork for Matt's BMX project.  When I received these fork legs from Standard Bykes I was like, "Whoa, those are a little fatter than what I was expecting."  Apparently they don't believe in flex.  So anyway, this is an actual Standard fork on the right that I'm using as a model and we're making a few changes to ours but for the most part it should look pretty close.  I'm having my good friend Bob Davis cut me some dropouts and I'm hoping they'll be done in a day or two so that I can put this thing in the jig.  I may actually have to build a jig for this fork as the old Bringheli may not work for this application.  We'll see.  The forks made by Standard are very nicely done.  The inside of the steerer tube is threaded to house the compression cap that you see screwed in.  No sleeves in this thing, they machine it in, and, they machine the bearing race onto the fork steerer as well.  Check it out.  I'm not gonna be able to pull anything like that off but Bob will machine a threaded bushing for the compression cap and I'll just braze it in and for the bearing race I'll just braze on a race ring and cut it like I do all my fork crowns.  This build is pretty interesting as its totally new to me.  Ever heard The Pixies song "U Mass?"  I still have to miter these fork legs a bit as they are still a little wide and the length will be taken down a little also.  This fork is gonna be all fillet-brazed, no tig-welding here.  Check back.

Here are some nice looking fork blades as well that I picked up from Nova Cycles the other day.  I believe they may be Columbus Max but I forget.  They have a nice shape to them and  a fork crown to match.  It comes as a kit and makes it very easy.  Its gonna make a very nice straight-blade fork.  Don't know what I'm gonna use it on but I imagine I'll use this style quite a bit in the future so long as I can get my hands on them.  I love 'em.  New products keep things interesting.  I doubt MEECH Custom Bicycles will ever get so big that I decide to start fabricating motocross bikes like Cannondale did.  Remember that?  Back then I wasn't a big fan of Cannondale because all their frames were those big, fat-tubed aluminum

 jack- hammers. But apprently they sold enough of those jack-hammers to fund a motocross project.  They worked at it for quite a few years and probably made a respectable motorcycle however it couldn't quite compete with the "big-4."  I don't know what happened exactly to the Moto-Project but they came back with a vengence with their carbon fiber bicycle frame design and now they are one of my favorite frames.  If I didn't make my own frames I would probably be riding a Cannondale EVO.  Very nice stuff and they look very racey.

Here is a quick pic of one of Cannondale's old motocross bikes.  Its not bad looking and I think they had some ideas that were a little ahead of their time however after reading an old Motocross Action review they didn't get much right with it and that was the start of the end of the "Dale" as I believe they called it. A motocross bike is probably not gonna go too far with a name like Dale. You need to name it something like Super Jizz.  Motocross Action roosted all over Cannondale's design in a motocross bike shootout and apparently Cannondale blamed the failure of their bike on MXA.  I don't know how much of that story is true but the motorized Cannondale's are history, at least for now anyway.  The EVO bicycle frames are bad to the bone though.

Peter Sagan's "Toyminator" from last year.

Here is a shot of the unique design of these fork parts.  Its very A-row.  I like things that are a-row.

Well, my Redskin dream didn't last long.  They played a good first quarter and i was stoked like a wood-burning stove but then things just started going south real quick.  RG3 reinjured his leg and eventually got knocked out of the game.  He's a pretty tough dude and I expect he'll get that knee fixed in a few days and be psyched to come back next year and give it another dig.  I hope so cause he's fun to watch.  Oh well, thanks for stopping by and I'll try to keep the posts coming.  Later.

BMXer

Got a start on Matt's frame yesterday and I'm fixing to get back to it as soon as I absorb this cup of coffee.  I know I've posted a hundred of these bottom bracket photos but its how I start out on a frame, actually it starts with the drawing but this is the first actual building that I do.  I just like to start out with a perfectly tight miter and the level lets you know you're vertical, although the level doesn't prevent me from taking a crooked picture.  If you look close you can tell I don't have the camera perfectly straight.  Thats ok though, I'm not a photographer, I'm a frame builder.  This foundation is true.  Onward!

This is the stock dummy axle slider from Bringheli and it has a neat little measuring stick attached in order to measure your bottom bracket drop but since BMX frames have a bb height instead of drop I had to have an attachment to my jig made, it was shown in some earlier posts a while back.  Without having a way to know where the bottom bracket was sitting in correlation to the axle center I had to figure out a way to measure it. And the next picture shows you how I did it.

At first I was just gonna measure up from the floor but thats not really an accurate method for something that needs to be precise so I just mounted this level to the jig and measured down to the bottom bracket center and the rear axle center to get the difference.  The bottom bracket is gonna sit 1 7/8" higher than the axle center and when I'm eyeballing the jig the axle center looks much lower than that, its not, 1 7/8" on the nose.  I think I measured it about a hundred times.

Paragon stainless track dropouts.  Top shelf components.  Alright back to work.  Chao amigos.

Happy New Year

Ok, its not much but its a start and it feels good to get the New Year started with a little frame building.  This is the head tube for Matt's BMX frame that I've been talking about forever.  We're starting out with a little integration on this project.  I've never had any problems out of a standard press-in headset but I've always liked the looks of an integrated head tube much better.  I've used this setup on a handful of frames and its always turned out nicely.  Anyway, I know its not much to talk about but I just needed something to post in order to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  I'm off work today so I decided to start the New Year with some frame building and hopefully a little ride later this afternoon.  Actually I built this head tube a couple of days ago but I just now cleaned it up and am fixing to miter the seat tube.  Tomorrow I should be in full swing mode (fingers crossed).

I mentioned in the last post that Anne and I and the dogs were headed to Nashville to visit my mom and sister for Christmas.  We made it and had a great time as it was good to see everyone with the exception of  my other sister Tina and her family, but I'll catch up with her down the road.  This is my nephew Ethan sporting his Team MEECH factory kit.  You gotta start 'em out young you know.  Along side of Ethan is his new dog Cooper.  Missy and family adopted him about a month ago and if only you could've seen him and Dizzy cuttin the rug.  It was non stop and I think they were both a little bummed when we had to leave.  You remember when you were a kid on vacation and you never wanted it to end, I imagine they felt something like that so we're gonna have to get them together again sometime.  I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

I just realized the other day that the soles are separating from my old, trusty DMT shoes.  I thought it felt like I wasn't getting full-power transfer into my digs up the hills around here.;)

Maybe I'm in better shape than I thought.  No, I'm not.  I don't think this makes much difference in my power transfer but it is a good reason to get some new shoes.  I've had these shoes for so long, probably close to 6-7 years, and I was actually happy to see them breaking down so that I could buy some new ones.  I already have some picked out but who knows when I'll actually get them.  They're gonna be a surprise but I'll give you the review when I get them.  Anyway, it feels good to get back in the swing of things so let me get back out in the shop and do a little more work and then maybe I can put in a short ride. 

Hey hey, RG3 and the Redskins pulled off a stellar win over the Dallas Cowboys and are going to the playoffs.  I never thought I'd see it happen again. I'm so glad the Redskins finally got something exciting going on, they were dull for the longest time.  RG3 and Alfred Morris have spiced things up this season.  It was a good game and got pretty crazy at the end.  I had a bad vibe about it but everything worked out in the end.  Even though I dislike the Cowboys as much as I do,( I wanted to say, "hate the Cowboys" but I'm trying to steer clear of hate these days) I really did feel bad for Tony Romo.  I like him as a quarterback and I don't think he deserves all the criticism for their losses although this loss probably goes on his shoulders more than anyone elses.  He's gonna have a long off-season and I want to wish him good luck. Afterall, how many of us have actually made it to the pros, much less walk out onto a field as a starting QB. Keep your head up Tony, there are better days ahead.  

Happy New Year everyone!