Matthews Custom Cycles

Bad pictures of cool stuff

2012-01-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

A stainless rack sized to fit a custom bag and mount on the brake studs.

A bag mount that attaches to the stem with a bolt and the bag with a pin. It's really called a decaleur, but I don't like to use that term... like most French words, it sounds fruity when you say it right and then you want to smoke and be rude to people.

Finally a classic (1985 I think) Stumpjumper frame getting a new lease on life with new brake mounts, cable guides, powdercoat, and fork. I especially like this color. Called "Misty Purple", it looks black almost everywhere but in direct sunlight. It has a touch of metallic to it too, which all bike paint jobs should have, imho.
Another Adventure Tourer coming up next!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

The 5" of snow we had on Friday is still here, giving us one of the rarest NM events ever...a white Christmas! Here's hoping you and yours are having a great holiday- get off the computer already!

For those of you on the email list (you are if you have a frame or we've been talking frames), watch for a cool offer next week.
Stay Warm.

A slip here just might void your warranty

2011-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

See if you can watch without leaning to the left:

Let's catch up a bit

2011-12-18T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some belated pictures of a touring mtb inspired/based on the blue 29er from the San Diego show last April. Built for the long haul with True Temper and aircraft grade 4130 tubes. Full attachment points for rack, fenders, etc. along with three water bottle mounts and internal routing for all cables allowing the use of full length cable housing. Look close and you can see how the rear derailleur cable goes in the left side of the top tube, out the right side, then into the top of the seatstay and out right above the dropout.

The rear wishbone crown matches the fork.

Powdercoated a nice gloss black, totally decal free, the only Matthews logo a black stainless steel "M" on the headtube. The subtle look is terrible advertising for me...but it's custom baby, and a custom bike should look just the way you want it to.

A fork for a classic mtb up next.

Good Words

2011-10-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

Whew, another month has flown by in a blur of bike building, baseball, and one more health scare in the family. But, the good word is that the problem looks to be solved and a few more custom bikes will hit the streets soon.....pics to follow, hopefully before Thanksgiving! Speaking of good words, here's Pete's review a a few pics of his road-worthy fixed (nice build by the way!):

" I was finally able to take the bike out for a long ride today with the friends, and I must say, it is everything I could ever ask for. It is much more responsive and nimble than my last frame, but it is still super stable. Makes riding with no hands with a slight crosswind a breeze; no pun intended. The slacker seattube really made pedaling so much easier for me; I just got to work on my strokes and get my cadence up. The longer headtube gives me more room to extended/shorten my stem. I no longer have the lower back pains I use to get. I have received nothing but compliments about it; especially about your craftsmanship. I will always be spreading the word about the great work you're doing over there and will hopefully be back when I am in the market for another bike."

Thanks Pete!

Two....was that a Niner in there?

2011-08-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Trying to stick to my resolution to post every build this year hasn't worked really well this month. A whole lotta work (never a bad thing!) and an emergency surgery (we don't need no stinking gall bladders!) have kept new posts from getting...erm, posted.

Got a Retro/MCClung style 29er done (no pre-paint pics for that) and this Coconino style 29er heading out this week:

The original plan was for straight seat stays, but when it became evident the caliper bolt/seatstay area was a bit too tight for my tastes, I went ahead and curved the stay for clearance and to continue the curve of the top tube.

Chainstay mounted disc brakes are great except for the way you have to route the cables....ever notice how most builders don't give you brake side pics of a finished bike with low mount brakes? Well, I'm not going to be any different! ;)

Seatstay bridge with a curve.

Shiny "M".

Till next time...

Personalized

2011-07-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I found a pic of the headbadge. It's a family symbol/character. I have no idea if it's legible but I hope it is as it's not easy to take brush strokes and translate them into stainless steel with a jewler's saw and files. One thing is for sure, there isn't another one like it!

Painted

2011-07-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

Three colors+ mucho masking+ four days =done!

I just realized I didn't get a pic with the headbadge on (it had to go on last because it would have interfered with the masking/pinstriping) but I wasn't the only one taking pictures... expect a quick update if/when I find one.

Pre-paint

2011-07-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Some bare metalwork for ya before the paint goes on.

Classic seat cluster with "half wrap" seatstay caps and requested symbol.

Drops with stainless faces.

Back end showing the chevron shaped bridge I love to use. I first saw it 8 or 9 years ago on a fixed frame built by Whitney Moyer. Moyer had a great eye when it came to lugged fixed gears, nobody did them better. Ufortunately, he doesn't build anymore, but the bridge lives on!

Front showing the nifty Sachs lugs.

The low trail fork gives this bike a classic British path racer look to go along with it's snappy handling and smooth ride...perfect for a road going fixed gear.

Hey baby, nice lugs!

2011-06-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

As it has been requested, I'm going to post more build pics of the next frame- Peter's lugged fixed gear.

The blueprint and checking positioning of the butts on the down tube.

Sub assemblies are built first. Here the seatstays get a rough cut.

Then a miter with an old piece of tubing brazed in.

After an attack with the angle grinder and some filing we have seatstay caps!

Pacenti track drops set at the proper angle for the slot to be horizontal when the bike is sitting level.

A nice lug in need of a little hacksaw surgery.

Surgery complete!

First frame miter, nice and tight and at the right angle, these have to be perfect for proper alignment and strength.

Downtube/head tube joint all brazed up. It passed the pug inspection!

650b Painted!

2011-06-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Between the clouds and the smoke from the AZ fires, this has been one gloomy day for picture taking. You'll just have to take my word that the orange is brighter than this and it has some gold pearl in it that really pops in the sun. Thanks to Conor at Vendetta Cycles for the paint code, this is what the cool kids call "Vendetta Orange":

Mike's 650b

2011-05-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Whats the "b" for? Bitchin of course. Well, that, and 650b is a wheel size that falls right in between 26" and 700c. It's an old standard that is seeing a resurgence lately. Building this frame has made me want to do a 650b of my own.....maybe the next show bike?

Speaking of show bikes, Mike's frame bears a close resemblance to the road frame I took the San Diego show. Once the frame was 3/4 done it was time to draw in the bilaminate reinforcements:

Then things took a turn. I don't even know if I should be talking about this. But when I went back to the shop to start cutting, I put a cd in the player....a Simon and Garfunkel cd. I know, I know, I can't believe it myself....but that's what I did. "The Boxer" came on, I started feeling all groovy and things were a blur from there. By the time "Bridge over troubled water" ended, I snapped out of all that sensitivity and had this:

Not too bad, eh?

Once that was out of the way, Social Distortion went back into the player and all was right with the world again. All the little pieces were fabbed up and after a flurry of brazing we have this:

Painted pics to come along with some of a retro 29er and a couple of fixed gears.

IMG_1278

2011-04-29T19:15:00.001-07:00

IMG_1278, a photo by JamesPatrickValiensi on Flickr.

This just in...another cool shot of the blued fixed gear from the show.

Details

2011-04-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

A few close up pics of the 29er from the show. I built this one to replace last year's Tour Divide bike that got a bit crunched (along with my leg) by a big ass SUV. Here's the disc mount with a Fastboy inspired brace...I love how it follows to radius of the disc.

Back in the early 90's I saw a Dekerf MTB with the coolest wishbone seatstays...and now I finally have them on a bike! I made this one the look just like the fork crown to bring the whole bike together. If you look closely you can see where the brake cable exits the top tube- it then goes into the seastay and comes out by the brake. The same goes for the other cables too. I'll post a complete pic when I get my parts out of insurance company limbo.

A better shot of the front and back crowns together...gotta love the curved top tube, huh?

A ton of tire clearance in the back, it should keep rolling through all kinds of mud!

Lots of fab time in this puppy...but so worth it..

Unpacking

2011-04-19T19:43:00.001-07:00

IMG_0076, a photo by Blaze Bicycles on Flickr.

Just came across this pic of the blued bike taken by Pierre Chastain (Blaze Bikes). I like the perspective. Looks like it was during setup on Thurs night.

Well, I showed them!

2011-04-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

Made the trip to Cali to show a few frames at the San Diego Custom Bicycle show last week. This was my

first show so I really didn't know what to expect, and to tell you the truth, it was a bit nerve racking to

be showing my stuff along with some of the true masters of modern framebuilding. I guess I shouldn't have

worried because the reception was great and it was awesome to meet/make friends with the big guys.

Thanks to Greg Townsend, Mauricio Rebolledo, Chuck Hoeffer (Pacific Coast Cycles), and Eric Estlund (Winter Cycles) for making my show go a lot smoother that in would have otherwise.

Special thanks to Dave Porter for sharing the space and making this whole endeavor possible.

On to the bikes:

It was funny to see which bike caught the most attention. The internal routing on the blue 29er drew a lot of comments thanks to Chuck H. who gave me some housing to run through the frame for day 2.

The blued fixed gear got the lion's share of attention...and I just included it on a whim figuring I'd like to fill up more than two frames worth of space. Glad I took it!

I was very proud of the bilaminate all-road bike, and a lot of people looked right past it. Maybe it was the color?
Still, overall, it was a good show for me- I learned a lot about how to set up a display and I have some big ideas for the next one!

More detailed shots of the show frames to come, plus Mark's SS 29er and Mike's 650b rando.

Recipe for disaster?

2011-04-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

Step One- Take one perfectly good frame, hot off the torch. Draw some swoopy lines and think "hmmm?"

Step Two- Drill big holes in the headtube to fully commit...no turning back now!

Step 3- Attack the poor frame with the angle grinder, files, and torch.

Step 4- Viola!

Murphy's law for Framebuilders....

2011-03-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

...must state that the numbers of orders you'll get is inversly proportional to the amount of time you'll have to build your own bikes. In other words, I've got to get a couple of personal frames done in time for the San Diego Custom Bicycle Show and every time I think I'll have a few days free to get them finished up, you guessed it, another order comes in! No complaints though, but it has been busy as heck around here since January. Busy is good.
I'll have some build pics of the show bikes posted tonight or tomorrow.
Until then, here's a couple pics of a rack that went out last month. A nice little stainless number for Patrick's custom Rivendell...just enough to hold a couple of small panniers and still be unobtrusive without them on.

Forked and racked....but in a good way

2011-01-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

Finished this up last week, a nice custom fork and rack to complete a Santa Fe dude's homebuilt frame. Sach's crown, Columbus blades and dropouts, and good ol 4130 in the rack. I like the card suit cutouts on the blade stiffeners....style points there, baby.
I also made a new mandrel for bending fork blades, I can get a nice bend in just the right spot now- I think I'll keep it!

It's a new year baby!

2011-01-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

OK, resolution time. In the past, I've typically posted every 3rd or 4th bike here and it keeps coming back to bite me. Several times recently I've mentioned something I've built, the person asks me for a pic and all I can say is , "Ummm, didn't take any." Like the adjustable rake fork that just went to MA...doh!
So, the resolution? Try to overcome my dislike for self promotion and post everything!
Get ready, this is gonna be like a real blog!

Here's one that went to (cue Beastie Boys), Brooklyn....BROOKLYN over the holidays.

Not a mountain bike, a fixed gear specific 26"wheeled bulldozer!

Signature fork.

Handcut dropouts with stainless faces.

Oops, double pic for ya.....no charge!

I loved this bike, but just like the last few, it's too small for me to keep.

Bent, broken, and screwed back together

2010-09-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

So, what have you been doing for the past five weeks? Me? Not a thing, just sitting, sitting sitting. You see, I was smacked by an SUV last month and besides crunching my Tour Divide bike, I ended up with a broken tibia and surgery to get my first titanium upgrade!

I guess these repairs are pretty fragile at first because the doc says no weight on that leg for 6-8 weeks. We're coming up on week 6 now...fingers crossed that I finally get to walk again.

Some pics for ya- the first one is after getting stiches in my knee on the day of the accident, maybe a little swollen? I had to wait a week before surgery because it was so puffed up. Second pic shows the screws. For what these cost you'd think he could've installed these a little straighter.

I guess surgeons aren't used to working to the tight tolerances we framebuilders are!

Rando

2010-08-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

A few pics of my take on a classic rando bike ie, a touring-type of bike built with speed and agility in mind. In other words, a bike that handles/feels like a racer that can also carry a load, fit fenders, AND go anywhere tires (45c's in this case). It's the only kind of road bike that makes sense....in my opinion.
Classic lines, lugs, and lightwieght oversize True Temper OXPLAT tubes used on this one. There's a whole lot of little things going on with this frame that really added to the fabrication time, but I'm really happy with the result.
Custom front rack with a high rake/low trail fork to keep the handling snappy when loaded. Pacenti crown and Paragon brake studs.

Note the integrated fender support and light mount.
Painted in "Park Tool" blue and cream.

Modified Paragon dropouts. A blurry pic, but I included it because I like the lines so much.

You need a cable hanger, so I made one in the classic rando style...just because.

It got away from me before I could get pics with the decals and custom rear rack. Hopefully I'll get some pics of it built up soon.

TD Pics

2010-07-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

I had ben wishing I'd taken more pics in Canada, but lately I've been coming across a bunch that were taken by other folks. These are from Kent Peterson's (Mountain Turtle) Picasweb album.

Here's a good shot of my bike in race mode minus water bottles....it felt as light as it looks, by far the best mtb I've ever ridden (how's that for egotistical)! I've had a lot of emails about my setup, so here ya go:

Here we are minutes before the start. It looks like Kent caught me staring dramatically into the distance while Jeff cries (you can tell because his mascera is running) at the thought of having to leave the Banff YWCA.

Jeff's custom Matthews TD racer ready to rock!

Current build pics soon- I promise!

A Tour Divide (sigh) DNF

2010-06-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back, actually I've been back for five days limping round the house. My race ended way too soon!

Only 3 days and 310miles...it went something like this:

For some reason, I felt crappy the first day and fell short of my mileage goal with only 110. Holed up with three other racers in the Elkford Hotel and listened to the house band in the bar until the wee hours of the morning. No, I wasn't in the bar, you could hear the band throughout the entire building!

Day 2 was better, spent the entire time with wet feet from the many river crossings, but the riding went fine until I was at the bottom of Cabin Pass ready to camp and I looked down to see my GPS SPOT tracker was gone. CRAP! I had to turn around, ride back up the pass hoping I would find it and ended up camping on the side of the road when it was too dark to go on.

Day3 woke up covered in frost and got going early to find the tracker. Found it after another 3-4 miles, flew down the pass and spent the next 20 miles looking for the right turn to get back into the race. The cue sheets we had did a very poor job of describing the turn and coupled with the fact that my mileage was off from the extra searching meant I did almost 50 miles of extra riding....oh well. Finally back on track around noon and feeling my legs were really starting to come around when I felt/heard my ankle pop as I twisted it trying to hike a wall of mud and tree roots while dragging along the bike. It hurt quite a bit when I was able to start riding again, but I think I did the real damage on the next pass where we had to do two miles of on/off postholing through snow. I one-legged it across the border and into Eureka, MT.

Day 4- I couldn't put any real pressure on the pedals with my left foot.....race over. Luckily, my riding partner Jeff Kerby had had enough of divide racing (he's done a total of 31 days) and along with Jim from Phoenix, we were able to put together a good exit strategy and we were all in AZ by that night. Jeff and I spent the night in the PHX airport and got back to Albuquerque the next day.

X rays confirmed nothing was broken, Doc said it's just a good sprain of the deltoid ligament, so it's just resting/recovering for me for awhile.

Trip Highlights:

-Meeting all the cool racers.

-Finding out Canadians really do say "eh" all the time.

-Rooming with Jeff Boatman of Carousel Design Works http://carouseldesignworks.com/ I made racks for my bike, but his bags are the better way to go for sure.

-Racing a moose for 100 yards down the back of Cabin pass.

-Sleeping at the top of said pass with just a bag, tarp, and an inquisitive squirrel.

-Scaring the scat out of a grizzly with my howling, snow covered brakes.

-Trying to figure out how to ship out the bike and running into fellow framebuilder Chris Boedecker of Bodie Cycles http://boediecycles.com/ thanks for the help Chris!

-The bike working perfectly along with all the endurance tweaks I made to the design meant my hands, feet, knees, and butt felt great the whole time.

Lowlights:

-The injury, of course.

-Losing the flippin tracker!

-And....nothing else- it's the greatest race there is!

Will I do it again? I think everyone that gets forced out of the race from an injury wants to finish the thing. I do too, but I think I might have to put that idea on hold for awhile. Doing the race is a monumental thing, but it also requires you to be monmentally selfish about your time bacause of all the effort you have to devote to the Tour Divide. This was really driven home to me by my 7 year old son who asked "Why can't you wait until I'm big enough to go with you?" If you're a dad, you know how much hearing something like that hurts. It stayed with me the whole time I was out there and I promised myself I wouldn't take time aways from my boys like that again.

Finally, I would like to think my wonderful wife Kaua and our friends/family for all their great support. Sorry I didn't put up a better result, but it was amazing while it lasted!

Lets get back to building bikes....

Time to Race

2010-06-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

The race bike and a few last second pics before it goes into the box to make the trip to Banff.

Wow, the Tour Divide is finally here. All the research, the equipment prep, all the 3am training rides....al of it comes together this Friday at 9am in Banff, Canada. I'm leaving today, so there won't be any more posts until I (hopefully) get back. Assuming I don't get eaten by a bear, I'll have lots to share then. Follow the carnage at TourDivide.org

One more week till the "Grand Departe"

2010-06-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yup, one more week until the Tour Divide starts. I've been insanely busy trying to get everything built before I'm gone for a month's worth of racing. I've built five bikes in the last month and I'll try to get them all posted before I go.
Let's start with these two, the "Wonder Twins". They are for a cool local shop- Fixed and Free( http://fixedandfree.com/)- and are a unique offering for the fixed gear world. Basically, they are designed to ride like a quality road bike, handle like a fixie should, AND still be able to do those crazy tricks (like barspins) the kids like to do these days. And oh yeah, they have to look cool too! They will be displyed unpainted giving the rider the final choices for braze-ons, brake configuration, and color.
I liked these two so much it's a good thing they are both 54's and are way too small for me! Smooth bottom bracket fillets-

Fastback seat cluster with a glimpse of the shop logo.

More fillets-

Still more fillets!

Dropouts that perform all the essential functions.

Next up- the Tour Divide race bike.

Miles: 316 Ride Time: 23hrs 16min

2010-03-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Just back in from TX with the big ride report. Verdict? Overall, I ran better than I hoped and I'm feeling that my race training is on the right track.
Sorry, no pictures to show as my camera is too bulky and I didn't want any extra weight to carry. But the ride went something like this:

Day 1- Belen to Ft Sumner 164 miles in 12 hrs (including the stops)
This part of the route is rolling the entire way, very few flat roads. Slow start due to 30 degree weather and some extended climbimg, but one I was free of Mountainair (first town at 42 miles) and all the recent snowfall, things warmed up nicely. Picked up a bit of a tailwind for the last 50 miles which was nice as there were big rollers the entire way. Didn't get my tarp tent in time so I stayed at a motel. Slept like a rock!

Day 2- Ft Sumner to Levelland, TX 152miles 11hrs 16min
Getting going again in the morning was probably to best Tour Divide prep I've had so far as it was very, VERY HARD to drag myself out of bed to face another 150+ miles. Despite the aches and pains though, once I got on the bike, all was great. The day started with a steady 2 mile climb out of Ft Sumner and, to my suprise, I rode it like I was going downhill! A steady cruise for 40 miles to Melrose NM, and breakfast and I locked into a nice rythm for the rest of the trip. Most of the going was pretty flat...it is West TX afterall. The only downside was that I had a headwind most of the day and that slowed me down a bit.
Still, I finished strong with the highlight of the trip coming at about 3 miles to go- all my nieces and nephews were standing by the road to cheer me to the finish! Very cool.

That many miles in that short of a time has given me a few things to work on for the race. While the legs were fine, my hands and feet were really feeling it by the end. Fixes for the race will include gloves with padding, higher bars with more hand positions, and new shoes.
Going to try try to get 100 in tomorrow with the early am/late pm rides.....and oh yeah, maybe some real framebuilding!

Let's do the time warp again...

2010-03-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

....and get back to January! I can't believe how fast the time goes when you're spread between kids, the day job, coaching, training for the biggest race ever, and-of course- building bikes. The blog definitely suffers this time of year. But still, 3 months have gone by with no update...sorry about that , Chief.
A few builds have gone out the door and one cool Rando bike is in progress- pics to come soon.

So, what's "the biggest race ever?, the Tour Divide, baby! http://tourdivide.org/2010_start_list 2700 miles of mountainbike racing from Canada to Mexico. This has been one of those things I've always wanted to do and I figured the sooner the better. I'm really looking forward to this, but damn, it's a lot of prep! I'll have to average at least 125 miles a day to get a decent finish of 22 days, and there is a lot that has to go right for me to even be in a position to make it happen. Towards that end, I'll be leaving on a training ride tomorrow morning- from here to Levelland TX, about 315 miles. This will be a good gear shakedown and test of the body. The goal is to finish in two days, weather and hobo encounters permitting.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Turkey Day from The Group W bench!

2009-11-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

No pictures for ya, but a lot has been going on. Deep in the process of my first rando frame and I've been making up the forms to do the bending for the custom racks. I remember saying to someone last year that I doubted I would ever be making racks.... and now it's looks like the next three frames will have them!
So, while we're at home trying to figure out how we're going deal with a sick kid, travel to Texas, and cook two turkeys by tomorrow- I'll leave you with your required holiday viewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M

Ready for the road

2009-11-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

Izzy has his bike all built up and decked out with some pretty nice parts. He sent these pics and I must say it's looking good and ready to rock!

In his words:

As for the frame, I love it! It's responsive, light, and extremely fast. I have been and will continue to sing your praises to anyone interested in getting a new bike and the guys at Fixed and Free love it almost as much as I do. Thank you for building me the perfect bike frame!

Gotta love that.

Ding! Ding! Frame's done!

2009-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Israel's frame all buttoned up and ready to go out the door. It's basically a British Racing Green with a metallic added to it. A very cool color that I somehow failed to capture until the last pic. Oh well, someday I'll get the lighting thing figured out. Experimenting with new a logo design. I like this one- an "almost script" style while still being easy to read from a distance. I'm planning on having more made that will be a little smaller and have a contrasting outline to the letters.

Another headbadge I blame John for! ;) This time it's the Greek letter sigma. I'd better tell Israel to not park it near any of the frats on campus.

The semi-wrap seatstays- a first for me. I usually make a scalloped end. I think these are a nice classic touch for a lugged frame.

Here is what it really looks like in the sun. If you look close, you can see another feature that personalizes this frame.

What you can't see are the ports for the internal brake cable guide inside the top tube- I put them low on the tube to keep them out of sight, plus the color hides them well.

Next up, a different kind of frame...one I'll have to do some research for to be able to pull it off. Let's just say I hope Velocio will be proud!*

*If you get that reference you're as big of a bike geek as I am!

Not much left to go...

2009-09-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

A few shots for ya as the frame gets done.
Loving the drops, but not as much as...

The seat cluster!

All those points come together quite nicely. I'm diggin the semi-wrapped seatstays points- a first for me!

The beauty of a lugged frame.

This was my favorite shot. The lighting is perfect, the angle, the transitions between hard and soft outlines...the freakin fly on the top tube! I was all set to make this my new header picture for this blog too!

Nature can be a real...you know.

Tune in for the dropouts

2009-09-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll admit it...I'm a bit obsessed with rear ends.
Of bike frames! Get your mind out of the gutter already.
Anyway, rear ends, or rear forks, or as most people call them- dropouts. The dropouts are key to completing the whole look of a frame- especially on a fixed gear bike. Way too often you see a great custom frame ruined with cheesy premade drops that don't match the angles of the frame. This isn't to say there aren't some pretty nice drops out there, but if you want it done right.....

Towards that end, here's where Israel's drops begin- in a sheet of 3/16" 4130 steel. Much stronger than the 1010 steel most drops are made from. Three hourse of grinding, drilling, and filing nets us these (this is usually where I cut myself and today was no exception- a little blood in every frame, free of charge!)

How it looks about 30 seconds after the torch is shut off. I leave the seatstay tab a little wide so it can be shaped to the perfect angle later.

Stage one complete. Notice how the line from the top edge of the drop flows perfectly into the line from the chainstay scallop. When painted you won't be able to tell where the chainstay ends and the dropout begins.....that's money baby!

The Quality Control inspector agrees!

A new bike is born

2009-09-20T19:20:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but for once it wasn't my fault- we've been waiting for a new modem since ours decided to self destruct (one month out of warranty of course) and that's kept me off line.
Didn't keep me out of the shop though!
Here we have Israel's new fixed gear just waiting to be cut and welded- all True Temper tubes. The first step is tube inspection- they are cleaned thouroughly inside and out and inspected for defects. Then the butted sections are marked and the bows (all tubes are a tiny bit bowed from the factory) are placed in the right orientation so they won't affect frame alighment down the line. Were talking less than a millimeter here- but it all adds up.
Here are the tubes laying on the frame drwaing so I can mark the cut lines on them- making sure all the butted areas are in the right place for maximum strength.

The first miter! 59.5 degrees to be exact.

Fork crown time. The points have been shaped to better match the lugs and a little design is drawn on per Israel's request.

A little lightning carved in and the crown brazed on. This will be a very subtle detail, one of those things you wouldn't see at first, but still pretty cool.

Fork's done!

Next up, custom dropouts for a custom bike.

What would Dave do?

2009-08-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

As in Dave Elliot an offroad/ultra marathon running tough guy I know.http://runningmandave.blogspot.com/ You see, Dave has all the time constraints (and probably more) that I do and they always seem to keep me off the bike...or at least cut rides short. Between our day jobs, kids, and framebuilding (that's for me, not Dave) it just doesn't leave much time for our chosen forms of self-inflicted punishment. Now, the problem is compounded by the fact that I have to train for a big event, and even though it's not till next June, I can't afford to be cutting miles in September.
So what would Dave do? He'd put the kids to be, go to some trail, meet some other crazies...errr, I mean runners, and run till sunup!
So here was the scene this morning at 4:30 before I headed out for 55 miles of dirt road riding. I hope Dave would be proud.

So what's your excuse? ;)

Like Granpa's ol shotgun

2009-08-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with some alternative finishing ideas and decided to start with bluing- the same finish most firearms have. After seeing a bike from Ezra Caldwell of Fastboy Cycles with a similar finish I knew this was the way to go. Check out the Thunderf****r here: http://fastboycycles.com/ (By the way this is reason #742 from the list of "Why Ezra Rules")
I started small with the stem and after a couple of adjustments to the application process this is the result:

Pretty flippin cool, don't ya think? I came out even better than I'd hoped. The bluing will discolor the brass in the joints, but it doesn't really stick to it and can be buffed out pretty easy. I'll leave the brass mostly discolored because I think it really adds to the overall look.
Gotta do the rest of the bike now- this should be more of a challenge as you only have a 30 second window to neutralize the acids in order to make the finish work....no pressure there!

Fork this!

2009-08-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

I think a custom frame really needs a custom fork. The right fork ties the look of the whole bike together, and more importantly, it can be designed to give just the right handling for a specific rider.
Here are three forks from current builds- they are all about 75% done still needing final finishing and brake mounts. Three different routes to the same destination: From left to right 1. a 26" Fat tire fixed gear fork (getting a disc mount) 2. a much narrower 700c road fork (also getting a disc mount), and 3. a burly 26" BMX fork.

The rake in fork 1 is achieved by putting a 6 degree offset angle in the crown...really keeps you focused when hand filing it. I think this is the right look for the oddball fixed gear frame it will be going on. It has lugged leg sockets for strength and the shape will reflect to seat tube lug on the frame..it's the little things.

I went for a more traditional look for #2- the rake is in the blades and the narrower crown lets the top of the fork legs be flat (you'll notice the wider crown have angled leg tops to make sure they clear the down tube when the wheel is turned) giving it a nice old school profile.

#3 is one is a beefy bastard. It's going on a BMX/dirt jump bike so niceties like tapered legs for a springy ride aren't really a consideration. It's all about strength and stiffness here. Rake is acheived by rolling the crown peices forward and by the offset in the drop outs.

Up close on the crowns.

Next, frames to go with the forks!

Two posts in one day!

2009-08-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

More of Cara's bike:

Seat tube sleeve cut to mirror the fork crown and bring the bike together.

I have John N. to thank/blame for this. The spade headtube badge on his bike ( http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=509497&highlight=Matthews) makes everybody want a version of their own. I don't blame them, it is a nice way to further personalize your dream bike. So much so that I'm thinking of making this standard for all my frames.

This one is a "om" a buddist symbol for bliss/enlightenment/a comatose state, I don't know for sure, but Cara wanted it, so there it is.

Thanks John...I think. ;)

A girly touch for a girly bike!

I love the bottom bracket shots on fillet brazed bikes.

Cool chevron shaped stay bridge that I love to do, but seems to be getting a little too common these days, right Drew?

Until my next show and tell...

Look! A new post!

2009-08-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, I know, same story... lot's of building and no posting. Found it hard to get motivated to post because it started to feel too much like showing off, and that's just not me. I mean, who really wants to see that I made a pair of seatstay caps today? Turns out, quite a few people do and they've let me know about it!

So, in the words of my 5 year old son, "Look at me! See what I can do!"

First up, Cara's little "Touring/rough road/no toe overlap/it has to handle like a road bike" bike.

It has an eclectic selection of mtb and road parts that work well together....with a little effort.

Like the mtb shifters on road bars. This is the third bike I've set up like this and it works great- plus, it gives you more options for different brake levers.

Psychedelic safety

2009-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, now I'm getting all kinds of video links sent to me. Most are a bit goofy -like my last one- but this one is so out there, I had to share (thanks Ray)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODewfD7hf5k freaky on many levels.
Maintain your bikes kids....and stay off the LSD!

Because I care

2009-05-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

Bike safety for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibDFCncmDM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsirenbicycles%2Ewordpress%2Ecom%2F2009%2F05%2F07%2Fbike%2Dsafety%2Dpsa%2F&feature=player_embedded

Regular blogging to resume when the summer begins and I am freed!

Getting there

2009-04-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

This is the frame that will be getting the bluing treatment. It will be a fixed gear with (gasp) brakes! None of those girly road calipers though, this will have manly man discs.
Here's a shot of a test fit for the seatstay. Once the stay is fitted up perfectly, I'll take it off and finish the internal brake line routing through it....should be pretty cool. Because all the joints will be visible through the bluing, I've had to really focus on getting nice even lines in the fillets.....it's good practice! Hmm, looks like I still have to do a little cleanup on the front entry for the cable tunnel.

Out of town for the weekend, so this will have to get finished next week.

Happy Easter folks!

Even better in the daylight

2009-04-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Lots of cool little touches going on at this seat cluster- including the last frame from me to incorporate a lightning bolt.

Swervy Curvy

2009-03-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Jeff's freshly painted 29er hanging in the hot box, getting all cured up and ready to assemble. I like how the angle of this shot shows all the curves. Because the seat tube was too short to have the seat stays follow the curve of the top tube, I went the other way and made them to match the curve of the chainstays....I'm glad I did!

I think I need to stop using the flash on the digital camera- the bike looks blue in the pic, the color is actually "plum" so it's much more purple. Plus, the weird flash effect makes it look like there's a dark stripe on the head tube, that isn't there either. Oh well, my picture taking abilities aside, it's all about the curves baby!

Worm Hole Post- Tool Pic

2009-03-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

edit: I sent this post off late Fri, and it finally showed today, and no, I don't know where it went in that time. I am worried as it now smells vaguely of cigarettes and.....monkeys. I didn't ask questions though, I don't want to be that kind of blogger, I'm just happy it's back!

I saw a picture of this on someone's blog and thought it was too good to not make one.

OK, unless you build frames this will probably mean nothing to you. To me, however, it is a beautiful thing- a nifty little doo dad that will do an awesome job of holding on all those oddly shaped bits so they can be brazed to the frame.

Friday Pic o' the Week

2009-03-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a new tradition, something to force me to update here at least once a week, and to focus on some singular (but very cool) aspect of the latest project...no full frame shots, just parts.

The before primer shot:

Next: fixed gear frame and new paint.

First one

2009-03-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

First post under the new name calls for another first-my first stem!

I decided it's about time I made one.

This next bike I'm doing will be a fixed gear with a blued finish. The finish will allow you to see the brass fillets in the joints, so I thought a matching stem would look appropriately bitchin.

I still need to narrow the bar clamp a bit, but it's done otherwise.

Now to go see if I can bring all the old posts over here....this may take awhile.

Late edit: so far, so bad...can't bring in the old posts yet. In the meantime, I've added a link to them on the sidebar. http://livewirebikes.blogspot.com/