Jim's Ride the Rockies Ride

Just got Jim's road frame back from the powder coater a couple of days ago and here is the finished product.  We went with a Pearl White powder coat and a coat of clear on top of that to give it a little deeper look.  Since the frames are handmade here in America we decided to wave the flag on this one with some good old red, white, and blue decals.  Jim hasn't seen them yet so I hope he likes 'em.  Cool thing about decals on top of the clear is that they are easily changeable to a different style should you so choose.  I love the look of the beefy Life chainstays and the Pear-Penta shaped down tube.  This is the frame Jim is building up for the upcoming Ride the Rockies ride this summer.  We got some SRAM components on the way and hopefully this thing will be on the road by next weekend for some solid training. Check out the trademark Pegasus head badge by Revolution Cycle Jewelry, definitely worth the  extra weight. Thanks Jim and enjoy the ride.  

First Carbon Build

I finally got caught up on the orders I had and was happy to have some time to experiment so I started on my first all carbon frame that I have been planning to build.  If things had gone as planned it would already be done but you know how that goes.  Anyway, I haven't done enough to get excited about anything yet although I clearly am.  Whenever you're doing something you are unfamiliar with it always seems more interesting.  All I have done so far is set the dropouts and miter and glue the rear chain stay to the bb shell. This rear end is the Dedacciai Firebox that I bought from Nova.  It was one of the cheaper rear ends and I thought it would be good for the first attempt, who knows how this thing is gonna end up. I haven't decided if I am gonna overbuild this frame for security reasons or see what I can get away with, probably gonna shoot for the middle of the road on this one since I'm the guinea pig. (How do you spell guinea pig?) There are better ways of doing the bb but with this frame I wanted to start at ground zero so I just took an old steel shell that had various cuts in it and wrapped it with a couple layers of carbon.  It seemed pretty solid and with a little sanding was close to perfectly round.  I think most of the big hitters in custom carbon frames use a titanium bb shell and epoxy it inside of a carbon tube of the correct diameter.  It looked a little cleaner than mine however after looking into it it looks as though the ti shell is as heavy or heavier than the steel, not sure why, maybe thicker walls are needed with ti.  I never jumped on the titanium bandwagon because I never saw any advantages to it.  I know there are some beautiful titanium frames and many people say the ride is unbelievable but it never seemed to me that titanium was the best at anything.  It tries to mimick the ride of steel but from what I gather its not near as stiff.  Its lightweight but not near as light as carbon, then when you throw in the cost factor it leaves me wondering if it can be the best choice.  Finally, you don't see it in the pro peloton, it came and went pretty quick.  These are merely my opinions and I have very little knowledge of titanium so I am open to being schooled.  With that said, it just doesn't interest me.   Back to carbon, who cares about titanium.  I haven't ridden a carbon bicycle since I started building frames.  I used to love LOOK frames and my last carbon frame was the Scott CR1 but after I built my first frame I had to support the MEECH brand, afterall its me.  I always wanted to ride the LOOK 595 but never got a chance to, and now there are a handful of other frames I would like to test ride as well like a TIME, Cannondale, and Cyfac and then I would also like to ride a custom Nick Crumpton frame just to see how a custom handmade carbon frame feels compared to a factory frame.  My buddy Yancey has an Orbea Orca that is a couple of years old an although I have only ridden it for less than a mile it seems to have some pretty advanced steering, it would be nice to test ride one of those in my size as well.  But anyway it looks like the next carbon frame I will be riding will be the one I am working on.  I don't believe anything will  ride quite as nice as a steel frame with a steel fork but I just wanted to build a carbon frame to see, go for the sub 16 pounder you know.  Building just one won't be sufficient but it will be a start.  I just got another order for a steel touring frame so I guess the carbon build is going back to the back burner for a while longer.  I have a couple of frames that should be coming back from the painter shortly so keep a look out.  Chao.

J. Holsted's Frame

Finished Jim's frame up last week and everything turned out sweet. Here are a few photos showing the work.  We are going with a Pearl White powder coat on this one and we decided to go with a Ritchey Pro Carbon fork instead of steel in order to shave some more weight off.  I couldn't believe it when I hung it on the scale and it weighed in at under 4 lbs., mind you this is a size 61cm steel frame with tubes that only big boys are allowed to play with. Don't want to bore you with more photos of fillet-brazing because I know most of you have seen tons of fillet-brazed joints but I continue to post them so that the customers or any new comers to the site can see the work that is under the paint.  Enjoy and check back in a few days for the finished product. Chao amigos.

Big Jim's Frame

Here are a couple of photos from the early stages of Jim's frame.  At 61cm its one of the larger frames that I have built.  Jim is a pretty fair-sized guy at 6'4 and 225 lbs. so I am putting a little meat on this frame while at the same time trying to keep it light.  This frame has a mix of tubes, from True Temper OX Platinum on the main triangle to Columbus Life chain stays. I love the beefy look of these stays and I have been wanting to use them on a frame for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity.  The down tube is a multi-shaped 8/5/8 double-butted tube from Nova called Pear to Penta.  It reminds me of the S3 bi-oval tube with a little more meat on it and without the rider weight limit.  I love the way it looks and will probably use it some more in the near future.  It would make a sweet down tube on a custom 29er.  We are going with a 1 1/8" steel fork on this frame so this thing is gonna scream muscle on the road and should hold a line like its on rails.  Jim is headed to the Tour of the Rockies this summer so this frame will get it proper style which is the way I hope all my frames get it.  Everything is all tacked up and I will be brazing it up tomorrow.  Check back for the finished product.

Training Balboa-Style

If you have yourself a nice steel fillet-brazed frameset thats a good start, but how many of you have a custom fillet-brazed pull-up bar?  I told yall a while back that I was training Rocky-style.  I have been wanting a pull-up bar for quite a while now.  Years ago when I actually went to a gym I would do lots of pull-ups and I thought by starting again might help my back a bit.  Well, turns out I've lost a little of that pull-up steam I had 12-14 yrs. ago.  I used to knock out 4-5 sets of 10-15, now its like 3 sets of almost 3 1/2.  Geez, I knew I wasn't in race shape but I had no idea it was this bad.  I'm not in as bad as shape as that tree though.  I missed the mark a couple of times trying to get the height of my bar right.  I don't like for my feet to touch the ground when I do pull-ups, and I hate those things you put over the door frame.  Anyway, now its almost too high, hence the bricks on the ground, but my feet don't touch.  This project should've taken roughly an hour or so at best but I think I spent the better part of a Sunday on it.  I forgot to mention the other tree I was butchering in front of this one.  Turns out it was over the property line.  Sorry neighbor, but that tree was dying already. He's lucky I don't send him a bill for building him a birdhouse.  Pardon me while I finish my workout.  Gotta go punch some chickens and chase some big slabs of meat around.

Other Pistol

This frame here is a backup rig for factory backed racer Larry Yancey.  A couple of years ago we decided to experiment with the S3 Superlight steel tubing on a cross frame for him and after 2 years of beating the molasses out of a sub-17 lb. cross machine its still going strong and we're both pretty happy with it. However, Yancey rides his bike like Josey Wales uses his pistol and if I remember correctly ol' Josey carried a couple pistols in his belt.  I am not anticipating any problems with the S3 frame but Larry is training for the World Masters 'Cross Championships that will be coming to the states shortly and we have to be prepared.  Anybody that has watched Larry race a bike would recommend he has at least 2 bikes built up if not 4.  This frame is not quite as light as the S3 model but the OX Platinum tubing makes for a pretty light frameset, I think this one weighed out roughly a quarter pound heavier but that just translates into a better everyday training machine to beat up on and he can save the superlight for the important days.  Cool thing about this frame is that I only used spare parts that were laying around the shop to make it. Tubes that were cut too short on larger frames can still be used on smaller frames. I hate wasting things. Look at that custom carbon fiber chain stay protector, no imitations on the factory bikes here.  Neither Larry nor I are a big fan of these style of seat caps that I put on this frame, we prefer to braze things on, but like I said, I was clearing out some spare parts and this cap just happened to fit the bill. I am trying to get Larry good and fired up before the Worlds race.  Not many people are brave enough to piss Yancey off, and since I'm not stupid I am gonna have the UPS man give it to him, they have worker's comp. You probably can't see it but I did a little experimental paint job on that Easton CX fork and painted the MEECH logo in a different shade of black on it, but unless the sun is beaming down on it its a little hard to tell, call it subtle if you will.  I am definitely not a painter and trying to lay those stencils down in perfect alignment is not as easy as Paul makes it look.  Thank goodness for Ace's Wild Custom.  Check out Louis Maxximus making this an action photo shoot. You think this frame is gonna see some fancy racing action this coming CX season? As Josey would say, "I reckon so."

Let's Paint It

Finally got Mark's 'cross frame all finished up and will be taking it over to Ace's this week.  I've been working on a couple different things here lately so it took me a while to finish it up but I think it was well worth the wait.  Check out that mini S3 bi-oval monostay, where do you get those? Its called handmade and I like it and  may use it again in the future.  Mark wanted a little stainless shine on some of the braze-ons so we went with dropouts, front derailleur, and seat cap.  This was the first time I have done any stainless polishing for anyone so I still have a lot to learn but I am already looking for the necessary tools to get that mirror-shine.  Mark saw the custom brake cable stop that I put on one of my past frames and decided he wanted one for this frame as well so I plugged a couple of nickels into my machine and wallah, no more brake shudder.  In the near future I want to make one out of carbon fiber or at the least wrap one with some carbon.  All and all this frame turned out nicely and hopefully here in a couple of weeks you will see the color choices Mark chose for this beast.  Actually I don't even know exactly how we're gonna paint this one yet but judging from the engraving on that BB shell we should have a little idea. All this steel that you see in these photos and it only weighs 3.88 lbs. in a size 57.  We put as many braze-ons on it as we could and its steel lightweight because its lightweight steel.  Check back for the finished product.

Mark's CX Frame

Got Mark's frame all tacked together yesterday.  Hopefully Monday I will get the fillets and the braze-ons done. The custom mono-seat stay turned out nice.  I had to bend 3 pairs of stays to get it the way I wanted, but hey, when its custom you do what it takes.