Good Words

I've been reading a book called The Custom Bicycle that was written in 1979. The authors go to Europe and talk to a number of frame builders like Cinelli, Pogliaghi, Harry Quinn, Bob Jackson, Mercian (I'll own one of these one day, I swear...) amongst others. They debate the advantages of pressed lugs vs. cast lugs, wrap around stays vs. fast back stays, sloping crowns vs. flat crowns, manganese vs. molybdenum etc. (without any empirical evidence to support their arguments, I might add, just firm opinions founded in isolated experiences with one or the other, which is neat enough in its own right) but the most telling description of evaluating a frame was as follows:

"There is one foolproof test of a frame-give it 10 years of hard use."
- Michael J Kolin, Denise M. de la Rosa, The Custom Bicycle

How beautiful is that?

Oh yeah, WE'RE NOW OPEN!!!!!

Guess I should point out that we've got all the i's dotted and t's crossed, though we could do with some more inventory (it's coming, more every day) but we're OPEN.

Speaking of things showing up, this arrived today. (more pictures to come...)

closer and closer

This isn't the first shop I've opened but it's the most exciting. It's getting to be a very exciting place, things are falling into place and the reality is slowly matching up to the vision. Since these pictures were taken I've begun putting product up on the walls and working on the mechanic's area. The spoke cutter is mounted and in place and I think I have most every tool my heart could desire (which is a lot more than a lot of shops have...) so I can't think of a good reason as to why we won't be open a week early. The grand opening is/was slated for March 1 but there's a good chance I'll be here for regular hours as early as next Tuesday, possibly sooner. For my friends back in Calgary, these pictures are proof that the sun exists on the west side of the mountains as well.

Cinelli bikes should be here by the weekend including a pretty amazing Cinelli Super Corsa Pista. I can hardly wait.

As promised, Dekerf

Here it is, Dekerf's latest titanium frameset. This one is a custom cross single speed. There's a pretty interesting detail at the seat cluster where an internally routed rear brake cable disappears into the top tube and comes out of a tidy little hole in the center of the back of the seat tube. This means some careful custom machining of the seatpost (read: drilling a tiny hole in it at just the right height) which will result in a really clean and even cable routing. The stem and the bar are painted to match too.

Bike Love on Valentine's Day

This arrived today. It's Blue's top of the line all carbon bike. It's a pretty nice piece with a full carbon fork including dropouts and a very nice lugged carbon frame. For a relatively new builder they really seem to have their act together. The paint is very nice, very smooth, and the frames are clean, well designed, and nicely put together at a reasonable price.




And there's also this, an adjustable crank from Purely Custom. I've worked with a number of fit bikes before but the weak points in figuring out fit has usually been in the crank area where an easily adjustable setup hasn't really been available. These guys have it figured out nicely with a quick adjustment system and a full range of adjustment from 155mms to 185mms. These will find a home on a fully adjustable Argon fit bike some time over the next couple of weeks making mocking up a custom bike or simulating fit on a stock frame very easy.

Micheal from Dekerf stopped by yesterday to show off a couple of frames. I'll have pictures of one of them up here tomorrow or the day after.

One more note, there have been inquiries about the availability of the frames I weld. At the moment there are none available and there are no plans to make any more in the near future. Setting up the shop and getting it running is going to be a full time affair and I currently don't have manufacturing shop space anyway. Perhaps one day I'll get around to making more but in the mean time there won't be any available for purchase.

It's Valentine's Day, go hug your bike.

No time like the present...

Well, hell, there's no time like the present to announce that I'm also a frame builder. I was spraying the graphics onto my latest frame this evening when I got to thinking about these pics I took of the last bike I built. I'll post some of the next one too, or if you come by the store in the near future you'll likely see it there. The beer can shim? My client brought me the wrong size of seatpost but he was determined to ride it home so we drank a couple of beers to make sure we had sufficient "shim" material and then he rode it home. I wish I could find the picture of Lemond crossing the line with some Budweiser "shim" showing on his Tour bike. The flame dropouts? One offs, thank you, and not without some time and energy and a couple of Dremel wheels commited to the cause.

I'm painting the shop this week, and then building some pretty neat bikes for display, including the latest Satan Cycle. If you knock on the door I might just let you in, make you a coffee, and talk about bike stuff. Deal?

Another day and it's looking great.

The Dave Burger from Vera's didn't help but Blue is dog tired after today. I'm pretty excited about how it's all coming together. Nice clean lines and a light airy feel should make for a pretty decent work environment. Bikes start arriving next week.

It's starting to take shape. Still lots of paint to find the walls but with the cabinets in place and a sink that almost works it's easier to imagine how it will all come together. And yes, there's beer in the fridge.

It's always good to have a "before" picture

We're finally in the space...sort of. Yes, lots to do, something like 10 gallons of paint to start, then some shelves and racks, and then bikes. It seems such a daunting task right now but things are falling into place. If you squint real hard at the second picture you'll see we've already got the coffee machine set up and dialed in on the small counter at the back. The beans are from Italy and the coffee is incredible. Good coffee should go a long way towards making the long nights ahead a little bit shorter.