When life gives you backorders.....

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

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....

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

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

Gravy and Fame

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

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.