Live Wire Custom Bicycles

Let's do this

2009-03-16T19:42:00.002-06:00

OK, finally a little time to sit down and mess with this computer stuff.
It's time to change the name, I created a new blog site so that this one can be around to point folks to the new address.
Head on over to http://matthewscustomcycles.blogspot.com/
See ya there!

Fine Fresh Fillets

2009-02-23T19:43:00.003-07:00

Still working on changing the name for this site, looks like I'll probably end up making a whole new one.

In the meantime, here's a couple shots of the ss and cs fillets from Jeff's new bike...still warm and on the way to the soaktank, erm, it's really the bathtub- don't tell my wife!

What's in a name?

2009-02-08T16:28:00.006-07:00

The idea has been dancing around in the back of my head for awhile, but the last couple of frames (and their owners) have spelled it out for me: it's time to drop the "Live Wire".

Why? It's not that I don't like the name, it's just that I don't think it conveys the right message for a made-to-order fully custom frame. As it's often been said when it comes to custom bikes, "You're not buying the frame, you're buying the builder". That's true when you consider that most every builder has the same access to the same materials, so what you're buying is that builder's knowledge and ability to assemble those materials into a form that is both functional and beautiful.

So, while using a brand might be fine for a big company, it feels a little impersonal to me. I put my heart and soul into every frame (usually a bit of blood too!) and it's only right that the bike should reflect that.

From now on, they will all be "Matthews" frames- thanks to John and Stephen for giving me the push I needed.

Now, while I try to figure out how to keep old Live Wire links active to a new blog address, I give you the latest shots from the shop:

A new 29" single speed commuter/trail/everything else bike for Jeff. Hand-curved top tubes, big 35mm down tube...this front triangle had to be perfect right off the torch. It's way too stiff to try to cold set it.

BB cluster still hot! I braze with the frame in a work stand for access, but I always like to pop the frame in back in the jig for a quick alignment check afterwards. It's not a matter if the frame has moved during brazing, it's a matter of did I control the movements so everything ended up in the right place...jig check says, "Yes!"

What are custom hand-bent, four piece seatstays good for if you can't swordfight with them?

Till next time...

Friday Night Blogdown

2009-01-30T22:00:00.002-07:00

The changes are coming, but I want to get a few things straight before I announce it here- in the meantime, here's a few more shots of Stephen's bike as it approaches the finish line.
Hmmm, can you tell who built the frame? ;) Drops looking slick- they still have the masking on the faces as the frame hasn't been clearcoated yet.

Tried to get a good shoreline shot, looks like I mostly managed to make the red look orange!

Curing in the hot box with the final clearcoat on, bet ya can tell what changes I'm talking about when you see this shot, huh?

Till next time...

Warts and all

2009-01-25T19:16:00.003-07:00

You've seen it before: Been neglecting the blog lately/Sorry, I haven't posted much/Things are busy here so....yada, yada, ya frickin da. Who cares? I'm busy building bikes and we are having the greatest January for riding ever! You think I'm gonna sit around and blog about it or get out and do it?

I thought so.

So, here's some pics from last week- this frame is now curing in the paint booth.
This is what it looked like in it's ugly duckling phase: not much finish work has been done, so it's looks pretty rough.

Lots of braze ons on this puppy. Check out the handmade brake cable hanger- it uses a threaded boss to make adjusting cable tension easy. This bike will have road brake levers, btw.

The drops have grown some stainless faces and eyelets since their last blog appearance.

Laying it down on the drawing.......spot on!

This frame also represents a bit of a paradigm shift for my framebuilding career- more on that later....it's time to go for a ride!

First frame of the year!

2009-01-04T17:26:00.004-07:00

Getting back into the groove after the usual holiday slowdown and trip to the in-laws. Stephen's cross bike is close to done...just a few braze ons, some finish work and a trip to the paint booth left to go.
Dropouts came out nice, here they are after cleanup...still have to get the stainless faces cut and brazed on.
Full frame shot. It looks kinda rough, huh? That's because it just came out of the dunk tank. Closer inspection of the lugs will show they won't need much work to be ready for paint.

The goal is to have this done by next weekend...stay tuned!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T08:11:00.003-07:00

Here' s my tribute to our lady of the blessed chromoly, patron saint of the framebuilder.

Hope you all have a great Christmas, I'm outta here for a few days- stay safe and stay warm.

-Chauncey

When life gives you backorders.....

2008-12-24T07:58:00.003-07:00

You make dropouts! A delay from a supplier gave me just the push I needed to make some custom dropouts for the Griego cross bike. Made out of .19" 4130 plate, drops like these are much stronger than the average mild steel most manufacturers use. The mild steel is usually strong enough, but if you're making your own, why use the cheap/weak stuff?
Here's the right drop about 70% done. It will get further shaping, a rack mount, the hanger drilled/tapped. possibly a window, and stainless faces.......whew, maybe it's more like 50% done!

The link

2008-12-16T17:09:00.001-07:00

Here's the video the local news shot- http://www.koat.com/video/18286182/index.html
And the answer to your next question is yes, I really do look that good in person.

This just in....

2008-12-15T16:11:00.004-07:00

My local news segment is (finally) going to air tonight at 6pm on KOAT CH7.
Gotta get ready for my 15 minutes!

For those of you outside the NM viewing area, here's a shot of the super slick cable routing on Jeff's 29er to tide you over until I can figure out a way to link the video to here.

I have angered the gods of the webmosphere

2008-12-15T15:55:00.002-07:00

I knew it had been awhile since the last post- the shorter days of winter always seem extra busy for me and the ol blog suffers as a result.
"No big deal", I thought, "I'll just take pictures of everything and do a couple of of massive picture posts".
Now, I know what you're thinking, I was asking for it- and you're right...I got it. Got it in the form of our second computer meltdown this year! All the pictures....gone!
So, while I get back up to blogging speed, here's a few words from John about his new fixed gear commuter (looks cool, dontchya think?):

Hey Chauncey,
I took the afternoon to finish building the bike. It looks fantastic. I debated the configuration of the handlebar -- drops OR more cruiser/city/urban. I decided that, since I already have a fast road bike with drops (a lugged aluminum ALAN) and an old Fuji touring, I decided to build the C. Matthews into a single-speed city bike. What resulted is a pretty aggressive city bike that maneuvers like a cheetah on crack. It's an awesome ride and everything about the bike just felt right. This will be my main get-around bike.
On the test ride, I received two compliments in a span of 10 minutes -- one from a neighbor and one from a roadie at an intersection. The roadie asked me where I bought the bike and I told him it's a custom frame and gave him your Live Wire blog site. He likes the the way the bike looks ("contemporary-retro" was his description), and he particularly appreciates the head badge.
Thanks,
John

All I can say is that John is lucky that frame didn't fit me.....I really like the way it turned out. Lugged fixed gears just speak to me. Many happy rides John!

No words. just a couple of pics

2008-10-26T07:33:00.001-06:00

Gravy and Fame

2008-09-21T14:57:00.004-06:00

A little interim lag in the build process and as we decided to do a stainless head badge on John's bike and I took my first steps towards fame. Fame? I'll get to that in a minute.

First, the bike:

Naked frame all prepped for paint w/the badge masked off.

Sitting in the "hot box" getting the paint cured after two coats of slate grey Imron.

This last pic does a good job of showing the color and the lug shorelines....nice and sharp! I love shooting metallic colors lke this- the paint looks like it's alive and moving when it first goes down. Well, I guess you had to be there to see what I mean, bur trust me, it's a cool effect.

I stupidly forgot to get any pictures, but I took my first step towards fame this week when I was interviewed by the local Channel 7 news for their "Made in New Mexico" segment. It was pretty weird having a camera man and a news anchor follow me around the shop asking questions about framebuilding, but I guess all of us famous folk have to get used to that, huh? ;)

It's supposed to air in October so I'll have to post up a link then. Of course, I might be so famous by that time that I'll have to have my people do the blog post for me........

Waiting for the gravy

2008-09-10T19:56:00.002-06:00

John's bike getting the final touches as I wait to get a full day to devote to painting: This is a brake bridge, regular, boring, and the same as every other bike out there.

How's about this bridge? I took a couple of stock factory bridges, and here's what I came up with after a bit of bending, brazing, and filing. I figured that because this bridge might never actually have a brake on it, it needed to look cool by itself. It will also double as a fender mount after I drill and tap a couple of holes in it.
You can also se the upper rack mounts in this shot.
Head shot. The surface rusting you see will all be gone in a phosphoric acid wash prior to the primer coat. Not only does the wash clean all the rust inside and out, it "etches" the metal and makes the primer adhere better.

A nice and off center full frame shot. Someday I'll learn to take a good picture....someday.

Chef says.............

2008-09-03T21:06:00.003-06:00

"Your fork is done!"

Can you tell Halloween comes early at our house?

B.T.O.

2008-08-31T07:41:00.002-06:00

Been busy with the day job and building frames at night so I've missed a few blog days! Good progress has been made though, John's frame is starting to resemble a Bicycle Type Object! A little extra miter work here: double compound miters on the seat tube and down tube. Why? No good reason other than it looks neat inside the BB shell. A lot of folks will just put the extra cut in the seat tube, and that's fine, it just won't look as cool later. Although, the only people who will ever see it are me and Jogn, but still.........
Seat tube brazed in here and getting one of the 40-50 alignment checks a frame gets through the build process. Nice and square here!
View from inside the BB after the downtube is brazed in- it's the little things......
Top tube mitered and fitted. I like to be able to rotate the frame for this braze, so the frame is clamped in a workstand that allows me to turn it whichever way I need.
A trip to the Morroni jig to get the chainstays fitted up. I love this huge chuck of machined steel, there's only one other jig like this in use today. But I do know where another one is sitting and can be had for a song!

Starting the front triangle

2008-08-26T20:40:00.004-06:00

Here's how I like to start the front triangle, the down tube to head tube connection. All the frame's geometry follows this angle, so it's important to get it right. A perfect fit, with no gaps in the miter is essential for maximum strength and alignment. For this frame, the angle has to be 58.5, a typical angle for a smallish frame and only half a degree off from the angle of the lug- just a tiny bit of tweaking and it will all go together perfectly. A light-tight fit done with only a hacksaw and a file.
All brazed up! It looks like hell with the flux still on it, but trust me, it's a nice braze!

Lining up the angle with the blue print- spot on! If it were off, I'd have to cold set it (read: bend) something I absolutely hate to do and something I haven't had to do since my first frame. If the miter is right and the proper brazing sequence is followed, it will be right every time.

You can also see the water bottle bosses have been brazed in too- this is another one of the little things you do to before the frame is together, it makes it easier to maintain alignment later on. Building frames comes down to the millimeter, so every little bit helps!

Saturday night blog down.....

2008-08-23T21:52:00.001-06:00

Time to personalize this a bit before the big brazing is underway: Drawn on.
Drilled out.
Excess cut away- only broke two blades!
Approximately 3,476 file strokes later and the Dark Knight approves!

Subs

2008-08-21T22:01:00.001-06:00

Getting the seat stays, chain stays, and fork blades sorted. The seatstays will have the traditional caps- made from scratch to give it the custom flair. Because, as you must know, every custom has to have the required amount of flair.

Here you see the initial cut out. It kinda makes the stay look like a big hypodermic needle, huh? A blurry pic of a scrap piece of seat stay brazed in place. I like to use this diameter because it gives the cap a more scalloped look.Excess tube cut away and a bit of file work later......and we have our cap!

Got to working and left the camera in the house for the chain stays and blades. Blades have been raked to 50mm, with a nice curve to them.

Also, you can see I've used two types of dropouts. The fronts are the plug-in type and the rears are attached by cutting a slot in the stay and then filling the gaps with brass. One thing I don't like is drops that don't match between the front and back, so I spent quite a bit of time blending in the rears to balance with the front. Once painted, thy will look like a matching set.

Next is lug prep, miters, and some real working shots of the greatest frame jig ever.

First Steps

2008-08-19T20:56:00.001-06:00

Ah, here we are, on the eve of a new frame build....gotta love it! This will be John's fixed gear commuter/long ride/fun bike. Since John can't be around to see the progress first hand, I though a little on-line build chronicle was in order.
After all the dimensions and geometry is hashed out, I draw up a full size blueprint for the frame- no computer needed.
Then, all the tubes have to be cleaned inside and out and inspected. I look for any imperfections, mark the butt lengths, check the tubes for straightness (by the way, no tubeset is perfectly straight), and orient the bows in the tubing so that when the frame is built the bows won't affect the alignment. I'm using a Dedacciai tubeset here, and as is typical for this brand, everything is very nice and within 1mm of being true.

Laying the tubes against the blue print to balance the butted sections and make the marks for the rough cuts....looks like there's a rogue spider on there too!Checking the downtube lug angle. This lug will have to be adjusted a bit as this frame has a taller fork (fender clearance) coupled with a higher BB (pedal clearance) that puts the lug about a half degree out of spec- well within adjustment (read: bending to fit) limits though.

This is my first time using a Pacenti fork crown too, it is super nice!

Drop out mods underway.

Next: sub-assembly fabrication.

Short, but is it stupid short?

2008-08-16T07:17:00.000-06:00

Here's the frame that didn't want to get built! Last year, I had some leftover tubing from making a curved TT that I thought might make a cool curved ST. So, I decided to make a "What if?" bike. As in "What if I built a frame with chainstays way shorter than most pro builders recommend"? I did the front triangle and then set it aside to build some other frame, then another frame, then another, until I had forgotten about this one. I unearthed it while attempting to clean the shop last month and figured it was about time to finish it.
So here it is:

Most agree the 370mm is too short for chainstays, this bike can run at 360. Head angle is 74 and the seat is an effective 73.

I also figured that since this is just a test frame, it should have some curved seatstays to see if they really help to smooth the ride.

The seatstay angle looked funny if they were to attach to the top of the seat tube, so I stuck them on the top tube in fine Hellenic fashion -named for 1920's bike builder Fred Hellens so, no, GT did not pioneer this design! They aren't attached to the seat tube at all in order to take full advantage of any compliance they might offer.
Bridge is a 16 tooth cog with requisite lightning bolt.

My favorite part of this bike is the segmented fork- my first one that narrows at the top. I expect that I'll be using this fork long after I'm done testing this frame.

Just have to pick a color now...I'm thinking bright green. What do you think?

Next up, a step by step build of John's fixed gear commuter.

"Riders on the gate......"

2008-08-09T19:44:00.000-06:00

Yeah, BMX time baby! FINALLY had a break in our daily rains that allowed the track to dry up enough to let the first ever Live Wire BMX tear it up! It's amazing how much faster a kid is on a quality mini-BMX compared to their old 16" dept store bike.

First practice run with one of the "big" boys.

Jammin' down the start ramp- the coolest 5 year old out there! ;)

Lined up and ready for moto 1.

Riding alone after a pretty good crash at the end of moto 2- turns out the new bike is so much faster he's catching air in places he was just barely rolling over before. Still ended up with a 2nd place trophy on the day, not bad for the first time out on the new bike!

Next up, the curved seat tube fixed gear I mentioned a while back.

Never say never.........

2008-07-01T14:26:00.000-06:00

I swore last year "No more kid's bikes, they are as much work as a big bike and the first thing they do is go run into Dad's truck"(true story, thankfully not my kid or truck!). So, what do I do a year later? Another kid's bike.
Couldn't help it though, my son started BMX racing (he's 5) and his too-small dept store bike wasn't cutting it.

It was a fun project- fitting a 5 year old to a 20" wheeled bike is like fitting a 5 foot adult to a 29er...you end up with a funky looking frame.
This one was done with all scrap tubing: the top tube is left over from Jeff's GDR bike (the kid was adamant about wanting a curved tube!), the down tube is a former top tube that was too short, seatstays are 4 pieces of cutoffs, chainstaye are Zona seatstays, dropouts were made from a plate I found in my Dad's shop, the only new parts were the front drops and BB shell.
Nice lines on this frame, but no room for the skull and bones brake bridge I was planning.
The kid also picked the color...nice, huh? Check out the headtube decal- had to get a skull on this bike somewhere!
Vacation time for the next week, I'll have to post up some action shots when we get back.

Is it wrong to hate a color?

2008-06-28T15:22:00.000-06:00

Well, here's Scott's new frame, all pretty, painted, and stickered. It's also my second and third paint jobs! The first color I chose was yellow, and I was told "Well, that's probably isn't the best choice for your second paint job." But do I listen to good advice? Of course not, I plow on ahead thinking "How hard can it be?" Well, it was plenty hard to get the yellow to cover, I got a couple of runs, and to top it off, the primer I used gave it a greenish tint when it dried! Damn you yellow.....damn you.

So, I let the yellow cure for a couple of days and then went back at it with sandpaper and a new color......much better the second time around. I didn't have the downtube decals on hand, but with the others on, I think that might be enough. I'm at odds with the clean look versus my child-like need for attention.

Anyway, here's a shot of the wishbone seat stay arrangement.

Head on shot showing off the curves and fork crown.
And my new requisite parting shot.
Next up...BMX!

Fork's Done!

2008-06-20T19:54:00.000-06:00

Big push the last couple days to finish up the fabrication on Scott's bike. Here's the fork needing a bit more finishing, but still pretty slick, wouldn't you say?
Classic segmented fork with .049" crown pieces and .058" "lugs", blades and steerer are Tru Temper offerings. So, what does this fork need to make it even sweeter?
Lightning baby! Check out the inside tangs of the lugs.....takes it all the way to 11! The three P's are next: polishing, primer, and paint!

A little bit better than I used to be.

2008-06-14T17:07:00.000-06:00

I'm off the day job for the summer-time to learn a new skill.
One thing that has always kinda bothered me was having to send my frames to someone else for painting/powder. Depending on another person for the appearance of my frames is kinda like having someone do my miters for me.....just doesn't feel right. So, time off+ access to a master framebuilder= I'm going to learn to paint!
So, here it is, my first paintjob. Done under the watchful eye of the one and only Dave Porter. Thanks to Dave's help it turned out pretty damn nice, huh?
It's a blood red metallic Imron over self-etching primer over a whole lot of fillet polishing.
In case you don't remember, this was to be Jeff's GDR race bike but a medical problem means Jeff will have to wait a year to go for it again. Like the previous GDR frame, this one is built for the long haul...I wonder if this one will see 12,000 miles in one year like the last one has.
Lot's of braze ons, huh? You can see the Garro seattube sleeve in full effect here too.

Ah, the beauty of fillets. Tig welding is okay, lugs are interesting, but nothing beats a nice fillet. The BB is the hardest part to finish so that's where I always look first on filleted frames...and where I leave you till next time.

Scott's bike and my second paint job coming up next!

Quick check-in

2008-05-23T16:10:00.000-06:00

Max's frame back from powdercoating getting chased and faced. The color is um, different. Reminds me of a stock color I used to offer customers in my shed building days,"seafoam green". Not the choice you'd expect for a bike, but it did come out pretty well with all the metalflake.
The lug shorelines get a little muted with powercoating so it's important to have sharp ones to start with. The top pic shows them pretty well.

Pics of a finished GDR racer coming up next......

One down....many to go......

2008-05-12T18:49:00.000-06:00

Well, it took a 16 hour day on Saturday, but the snafu was overcome and Max's frame delivered on time. It's a bitchin' (that's right, I said bitchin) little track bike using a mix of Columbus and Deda tubes, Cinelli lugs (thankas Dave!), Pacenti drops w/stainless faces and a nice flattop crown I picked up over at Coconino Cycles last year. Geometry and look is classic track: steep angles, short (283mm) chain stays, higher BB, and check out the fork in the pic- I just love a tight crown, don't you?

Here's the man with his new frame. Can't tell from the pic, but I think he was happy. ;)

He wanted it unfinished because he has a friend who is a powder coater....lucky!
Ok, now it's back to Scott's 29er. Fillets to polish, cable guides to be added, top caps for the fork and seatstays to made.........a framebuilder's work is never done!

S.N.A.F.U.

2008-05-06T20:40:00.000-06:00

Situation Normal: All F'd Up! A little WWII era acronym for ya to sum up how I'm feeling right now. Had to put Scott's bike on a brief hold to do a cool fixed gear for Max. I prepped the lugs and BB, mitered all the tubes, was all set to go and..........doh! The BB shell I got has Italian threading! I sure am glad I saw it before I brazed the tubes in. Got a call into Nova, getting a new shell expedited......nice way to put the pressure on to make the delivery date, huh?

In the meantime, here's a pic of the ht/dt braze after a good wire brushing- it's the only joint I don't need the bb to do.

You can't tell me....

2008-04-30T21:19:00.000-06:00

.......that this frame isn't coming together nicely. This is Scott's (dirt) road bike- it will run drop bars and have clearance for true mtb size tires. Scott asked for a curved TT and a wishbone seatstay arrangement, so how could I do all that and not curve the seatstays too? The seatstays are just sitting in place and haven't been cut to length yet, in case you were wondering.
Here's a shot of the fork crown and the wishbone. Cool how they match, huh? I have to thank Sabrosa Cycles for the inspiration for that setup.
Oops! I just looked a little closer at the pic and, no, I'm not flipping you off. The forks legs aren't brazed in yet so I was bracing against the other leg so the crown would stay at the right angle. Sorry about that!

Naked Curves

2008-04-23T20:29:00.000-06:00

A few of the recents builds in their various stages...rockin full on Coconino style, huh? The first one on the table is Jeff's "all done except for some polishing" GDR racer. Frames like this are a lot of fabrication work, but oh so much fun. If you count all the individual pieces of the handmade cable guides, this frame had 28 braze ons!
Here we have Scott's bike in the jig being prepped for chainstays and my own 30's stlye 29er frame getting fitted for top tubes.
Yeah, I know, I have a tiny little shop full of random junk. There's just enough room for me and my dog when I'm working in there.

Late breaking news: I hand filed both the chainstays for Scott's bike at the same time and they came out perfect the first time. No adjustments needed. I came up with a little trick that I'll post about if I can repeat that result on the next frame.

....and they said it couldn't be done.

2008-04-19T17:39:00.000-06:00

Well, I was in a bit of a quandry over the top tube on Scott's bike. You see, the design called for a single curved TT, but it really needed to be an 1.25" tube for stiffness and aesthetics. Problem? bending a tube that big in my normal fashion ends up in a kinked tube. I tried to find an alternate source (another builder), but he was too busy to make them for others. I looked at muffler and chopper shops, but they were scared to try or had no clue in how to do it. I didn't really want to do the cerrobend thing (metal that melts at a low temp) too many noxious ingredients to that stuff and who wants to die for a top tube?
Finally, I went back to square one to try again. I made a new mandrel, packed in sand extra tight, and viola! A perfect bend! I realized that if if move the tube in the mandrel after the first kink starts, the tube is supported a lot better and the bend is finished nicely. The only issue with this is that you have to sacrifice the first 8-10" of tube for scrap. For that reason, I recommend starting with a 5' tube so your leftover section will be more useful- I used a 4' section and the remainder was too short to make another top tube. Bend and learn!

Ain't Dead Yet!

2008-04-12T15:04:00.000-06:00

Just got an email that asked if I was dead or otherwise incapacitated....guess I've been neglecting the bog, huh? Same old story, the eternal struggle for free time. Between the family, the day job, and riding there's not much left over for the shop and the computer. But when it comes down to a choice between framebuilding and web surfing, the torch wins everytime!
Fortunately, the weather is getting much better, the days are longer, and summer is almost here- many updates are coming.
In the meantime, here's Joe's bike back from powdercoat:

Back on line.....finally!

2008-01-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Well, the ol' computer decided to self destruct around Christmas (an e-bay induced meltdown?) and I lost a whole series of build pics for this frame and a fork blade bender in the process. I hate modern technology- gimmie my files and a torch anyday, they never let me down.

So back on the net means I can at least post up the latest frame- it's Joe's single speed cross bike.

It's a sweet Prestige OS tubeset (the last one I could find), 7/4/7 and 8/5/8 walls, hand bent s-bend seatstays, lugged fork, custom ss bridge in the Coconino style, and big time tire clearance. Yahoo for work that doesn't require software!

"Talk" to you soon!

And I would ride 5000 miles.....................

2007-12-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's almost been a month since my last post...time is flying this time of year. I have three frames in the works right now and should have something to show this weekend. In the meantime, a bit of a Live Wire Cycles milestone was reached a few weeks ago- Jeff Kerby took his Live Wire 29er past the 5,000 mile mark, in less than 6 months! That's pretty impressive for any cyclist, but consider that 95% of the miles were off road, the bike was always loaded down with some kind of cargo, and it's a single speed. He's been throwing down 300 mile weeks lately as prep for the next GDR too!
It's pretty cool to see a Live Wire bike getting thrashed on a daily basis and keep coming back for more.

ps- I shouldn't have written the post title like that, I can't get that song out of my head now....damn those geeky Australian twins. And why would anybody want to get "heavered" to?

At the feet of the master......

2007-11-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I took a weekend trip to Flagstaff for some framebuilding fun at Coconino Cycles to hang out with Steve Garro and to watch the master at work. It was a great time! From a surreal 11pm visit from a horde of drunken cyclists (yo Big Johnny!), to trying to hang with Denise on the trail, to running the mill and using the Anvil fixtures- this was my kinda vacation!

I can't believe how much that short trip added to my building knowledge. Thanks Steve for the hospitality, the tubes, and most of all, the salsa!

Here's Steve perfecting the dt miter on a super burly bike that's going to be ridden across Mongolia! Mongolia!

Gotta love the curved tubes, eh?

Tacking it up.

Speaking of curves, here's a frame I brought to work on (it's gonna be Jeff's GDR Racer.2) as it sat in the HJ getting the chainstays fitted up. See? even though I haven't been posting, I've been building!

Getting bent!

2007-10-22T21:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of pics showing how I've been bending the tubes on bikes like the NAHBS (not) 29er and the GDR frame from last summer. Influenced by (ok, ripped off from) Steve Garro. It's about as low-tech as you can get, which suits me fine. First you get the right size piece of chromoloy, pack it full of fine sand, cap the ends with duct tape, and then pose for a pic while invoking your inner Dio. This part is most essential, if you can't contact your Dio, there's no hope for you.

Now strap that sucka onto a mandrel and heave! The bending in this pic (ignore the date, it was really last May) made both top tubes for the GDR bike as well as the seat tube for the fixie that's coming up. The key to bending like this is to make sure the radius is large enough- 24" in this case- and the tubing is the right diameter. Any thin wall tube larger than 1 1/8" really needs a pro tube bender to curve it without kinking. Smaller tubing like seatstays can be bent the same way on much smaller mandrels and you usually don't even need the sand.

Gonna be doing a lot more of this soon, seems everyone wants a sexy bike these days!

As close as it will ever get to Portland.....

2007-10-19T17:31:00.000-06:00

How small is too small? Well, as far as part time framebuilders are concerned, I got my answer today. It had been my plan to combine resources with Dab Cycles so we could have a booth at the North American Handbuilt Bucycle show in Portland this year. Turns out that you can't share a booth unless you get the big 10' x 20' space. We figured we could swing the 10' x 10' registration between the two of us, but that was about it. What can you do? Sell more frames and hope to have the extra scratch next time around, I guess. I sure am glad we didn't register before we found this out!

Well, with all the whining out of the way, here's a frame I'd hoped to debut at the show- might as well post it now. I tried all sorts of settings, lighting, etc and these are best pics I could get with this color. It's a curvy sexy SS 29er with a Sabrosa Cycles inspired "lugged" fork. The graphics are a dark "bass boat" blue- understated and glittery all at the same time! Hmmm, that description sounds like about half the population of Santa Fe. Not that there's anything wrong with that...........

In the close ups, you can see the pearl in the black base coat. Here you can just make out the lightning bolts that extend off of the inside of the fork lugs. The crown is 1 1/8" .049 chromoly and the sockets are .058 while the legs are beefy 1" round True Temper offerings from Henry James. I did build a prototype crown and tried to break it- holy shnikees is this configuration strong!

As always, a parting dropout shot. Paragon perfection, baby. I love the way these look right out of the box.

Green..........GO!

2007-09-25T19:04:00.000-06:00

Here's a few shots of Pete's bike after paint by the inimitable Mr. Porter. Here it is showing off the polished "PM" seat stay bridge. I wasn't sure about Pete's choice of color at first, but after seeing it on the frame, I'm loving it! So much that my next fixie will be the same.

In case you forgot where it was made, we put on one of Dave's very cool "made in NM" decals. Nice lugs, eh?

In this shot you can see the Porter touch on the silver tt protector- it had a turquiose stone inlaid and everything! It makes this frame very unique, and very NM.

Pete has ordered a full DA group for this bad boy, I'll be sure to get some pics of that too
Man, I learned so much building this frame, I can't thank Dave enough for opening up his shop to me.

A parting shot of the drops. Pretty bitchin, wouldn't you say?

One sweet ride

2007-09-23T21:24:00.000-06:00

That's right baby, check out this ultra compact(tm) geometry hot rod cruiser! It should be all the rage in pre-school this fall.......

Anyway, too much job/kids/life going on to build all I need to. Got some cool stuff coming up though. The SS 29er should get done this week and my Morroni CJE is ready to go and I'll use it to do a curved seat tube fixie frame. More posts and pics soon- I promise!

Leadville recap and recovery

2007-08-26T17:35:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? No blogging or any real building has gone on since the race- a cold, an in-law invasion, and a return to the day job saw to that.
Despite the fact that I pushed it up to the last minute on the bike build and only had a couple of miles on it, the bike performed flawlessly! Leadville marked the first time I had ridden a 29er more than 1/4 mile (test rides I've done on other builds) and it suited me perfectly. The fit was perfect (duh, it's a custom) and the 29" wheels did what everyone says they do- roll fast, smooth the bumps, and fly through the sand. And the MTB drop bars are quite possibly the greatest things ever! I think you would see a lot more of these on the trail if people would give them the chance.
Too bad the rider wasn't as good as the bike though. The race went great at first, I pushed it hard up to the 50 mile mark and was 45 min ahead of my time from two years ago. The downhills were kinda rough with no suspension and I had to stop to rest my arms a few times from the arm pump I got by squeezing those canti brakes with two fingers. I was feeling the fatigue on the way back, but it didn't really get me until the last big climb up the Powerline Trail at mile 75. Ninety percent of folks have to walk a good bit of this and it seemed like I bonked the second I got of the bike to push. I ended up 45 min SLOWER than my last time by the end! 11:35 was not the way I wanted to finish. But what can you do except go back the next time for a shot at redemption? We'll see..........

Here's a seat cluster shot of the Leadville bike. I really like how the cable hanger came out, just like it was planned ;) !

Time is up!

2007-08-09T11:15:00.000-06:00

Loaded the pics in reverse order today....oops. Anyway, here's how she sits, it's time to go- I have to be at the check-in Fri morning in Leadville, so I'll be packing the tools and finishing the final assembly in the hotel tomorrow. I really can't believe that I got this together in time. Of course it helps that I don't go back to work till next week and my painter is my neighbor who paints cars in his garage and will shoot my frames "whenever".

The rear brake cable hanger, just a little part that shows the custom touch or.....ummmm....shows that the builder kinda sorta forgot to braze a hanger on the frame- have I mentioned how this is the last time I'll ever do this? Mr. Sabrosa, you are right, I'm crazy.

Here's the bike as it looked yesterday morning with the first color on and masked for the second. I have new respect for anyone who masks lugs- it took me at least an hour to do the headtube and it still came out needing to be touched up.

The way it looks before I take it to the neighbor. I think the main reason he's happy to paint my frames is because I do all the prep and primering, all he does is mix paint, shoot, and get paid. I'm not complaining though.

Well I'm outta here (fingers crossed) a Leadville survivor story when I get back

14 hr days

2007-08-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

That's what I've done to get this bike ready in time. Note to self: never try to build a frame 1 week before a race. The main triangle brazed up nice and straight and I went to get the seatstays out of the box and instead of finding the manly mtb sized stays I thought I ordered, I got some wimpy looking roadbike stays. Damn! I should've checked them when I first got the parts. Now, of course, I have no time to order more. The fix? I cut the ultra skinny lowers off and added some thicker 4130 to the top. Now they match the rest of the bike better, plus the stays are stiffer for the brakes.

Here's the post braze ugly fluxiness of the rear triangle with the brake studs on. Brake studs and dropouts are brazed in with brass (stronger and cheaper) while the seatstay fillets are in 50n (lower temp than brass to keep the silver from melting out of the seatlug), can't tell in the pic, but that 50n makes some smooth fillets, not much to file on those!.

Seat lug after a soak, a wirebrushing, and an attack with the angle grinder.

It's 2am, do you know where your fork is? With everyone in the house asleep, I sneaked the fork into the kitchen for the de-fluxing. A couple of brazeons and a whole lot of finishing and it will be ready for paint. Man, I'm tired.

...and so begins the destruction

2007-08-06T20:46:00.000-06:00

Getting after the Leadville bike: it all begins with the headtube/down tube miter. This is how I start every frame, no real reason, just feels right. First, the tube is clamped in a wood block at the right angle (60 degrees in this case)- it makes it much easier to hit the right angle if all you have to worry about is holding the file horizontal. Ignore the date on the pics, btw, the camera does this every time I change batteries and I took a bunch of pics before I remembered to fix it.

Four minutes later (yes, I'm a geek and I timed myself) after a little hacksaw work and a few swipes with the b.a.f. (big ass file). You can see I drew what I thought the miter would look like for reference, I don't know why- it used to really help me to cut the miter, but now, I don't really even look at it.

Eleven minutes elapsed time, and the miter is done. More work with the b.a.f. ,followed by an emory cloth wrapped in the headtube, and a few checks with the protracter and we are light-tight baby!

A rarely seen- at least by me- funky compound miter in the seat tube. Notches to clear the downtube, bb shell, and both chainstay ports are visible here.

Next, fire to metal...the brazing begins!

A fluxed up mess!

2007-08-05T11:01:00.000-06:00

Here's my SS 29er, almost done. Just need to figure out how I want to place the brake cable brazeons and build the fork. But wait! Looks like time is running out fast to get this and my race bike done in time for Leadville. I was thinking I still had an extra week, doh! This one will have to sit like this while I build the other one, a lugged 29er set up to run dirt drop bars. I'll be posting the in-progress stuff next- gotta go cut some tubes!

Frame done...waiting for paint!

2007-07-25T21:14:00.000-06:00

Here it is, a little series of craptastic pics for ya. Man, I really have to get a better camera, the full frames shots are too blurry to post! Anyway, here we have the front drops- you can just make out the cool knife edge detail on top.

I wanted to come up with something for the frame that fit well and signified the Porter/Matthews collaberation on this project, so I came up with this design for a seatstay bridge. I really like how this came out- as an added bonus, it's also Pete's initials!

A dt/ht shot after a little cleanup. You can't really tell, but there's some damn fine shorelines there!

And finally the seat cluster. This was my first time using "top eyes"- they came out ok, especially after I filed them to a sharper point, but I think I prefer making them myself out of scrap tubing- let's the craftsmanship show a litle more dontchaknow.

Can't wait to see this bad boy painted up!

Next up, the SS 29er, and details on the coolest jig ever!

Building backwards

2007-07-13T21:46:00.000-06:00

Lots of good progress made today. As you can see I put fire to metal and brazed the rear end together. Normally, I'll build the entire front triangle before I attach the cs/ss, but at Mr. Porter's shop, we're using the CJE* (coolest jig ever) and it allows for a different approach. I could have still done it my old way, but this frame is about learning new things and I gotta say that it works well. It reminds me of Freddy Parr's method of "keel building" in which the cs/bb, bb/dt, and dt/ht are all assembled first. The idea being these pieces are the heart of the frame's stiffness and strength and if they are in alignment, the rest will just fall together as superstructure. It's working great so far!

To answer Steve's question about the last post- the geo numbers are as follows: 74 degree head angle, 73 seat, 42mm rake, and 40cm chainstays.

I'll get going on the front half tomorrow.

*much more on the CJE coming soon

Pete's Bike and contact info.

2007-07-12T21:07:00.000-06:00

Today we start Pete's bike, a road-going fixie with a geometry that will work well in the 'drome too.

When it comes to the fixed gear aesthetic, Pete and I see eye to eye. This frame will be classic all the way: lugged, standard tubes, with a horizontal TT-the way the fixed gear was meant to be. When built, this frame will look fast sitting still, a true hot rod baby.

This frame is gonna be really special because it represents a once in a lifetime chance for me to work with a master framebuilder, Dave Porter. I'll be building this frame in Dave's shop under his watchful eye- I'm REALLY looking forward to this. I should be able to seriously shorten my framebuilding learning curve. Being self taught is cool and all, but it's time for me to kick this framebuilding thing into high gear!

So, we start with a call to Lon at Nova Cycle Supply and he set us up with a great mix of Tange, Columbus, and Deda tubes along with a pair of Columbus track ends (second pic). As you can see, the work will start with "deuglifying" the track ends. I sketched out the shape I wanted and got out the angle grinder. Many sparks later, we have this (first pic)- much better, ya? I decided to forgo the window because it wouldn't leave enough meat and it would detract from the cool "knife" detail we carved around the outside. That detail should show up better in the pics once the ends are brazed in.....but that will have to wait till tomorrow.

Any questions about Livewire prices, styles, etc? Shoot me an email to koyconn(at)aol(dot)com.

And we're back

2007-07-06T12:34:00.000-06:00

Hey folks, lots of building, but not a lot of blogging going on this past month. Well, that changes today.

First, we have closure to Jeff Kerby's GDR saga. After getting his bike 3hrs after the race start, Jeff proceeded to tear up the GDR race route. Through snow, rain, hail, and a crazy moose or two, he was poised to make a serious shot at breaking the single speed record on his Livewire. Until he got to El Rito, NM that is. A little advice for ya: if you ever are unfortunate enough to find yourself in El Rito, don't eat or drink ANYTHING! Three of the GDR racers got food poisoning there. Jeff and Matt McFee were hit so hard they ended up in the hospital with near fatal cases of dehydration, thus ending their race. Even with the race ending like that for Jeff, you have to admit it's still an amazing accomplishment. Riding the hardest terrain in N.America, self supported, on a full rigid single speed for 19 days and over 2,000 miles is something very few people will ever have the cajones to try. So, congrats to Jeff! We're all proud of you!

(pictured is Jeff on a fully-loaded test ride the week before the race started)

Since this is a blog about Livewire frames, I guess we should start talking more about that. Jeff's frame was built around two main design elements:

1) To be comfortable. You can see the more upright position he has. The seat tube angle is laid back at 71.5 degrees to compliment the riding style dictated by a loaded down SS mtb. Chainstays are longer for better weight distribution.

2) To be strong. Jeff has broken 6 frames in the last few years- most of them on his commute to work! So this frame has a straight gauge 4130 main triangle, beefy Deda stays, and a sleeve reinforcement at the seat cluster. The double curved TT was more for style, but it does add to the strength of the frame.

This was my first 29er and I'm very pleased with the results.

I have lots to document in the next few weeks. Coming up is another 29" mtb, a street going trackie, a monster cross for the Leadville 100 race, and an in-depth look at some of the most unique frame building equipment ever made.

Live in 5...4...3...2......

2007-06-13T15:37:00.000-06:00

Good day and welcome to the Livewire Custom Bicycles blog. Livewire bikes is about to debut in a big way (atmo) with the start of the Great Divide Race on Fri, June 15 at noon. Keep your fingers crossed that our intrepid racer Jeff Kerby doesn't fall victim to the "bus people" as he Greyhound's his way to MT.
More frame detalis and race updates are coming up, but first, be patient with me while I figure out this blog thing.

If I can get the pic to post, that's me on the left, Jeff on the right.
Now, get out and ride!