Progress and Regress

The mountain bike frame just went out for paint this morning. Good old Les over at Powder Coat Specialists said he could get it to me by tomorrow. You don't get that kind of turnaround anywhere else. (I should note that I don't get a deal through him, nor am I affiliated with him. He's just a good guy who works for a living.) All in all, I think it turned out pretty well. And I did *solve* the alignment issue from being too hasty before. I brazed a small bit inside the dropout, filed a bit, and now the wheel is held where it should be. I think the solution worked out pretty well, and unless I said anything, nobody would have known. But of course it would be much better to have gone through the steps ahead of time, and not had to 'fix' anything. Again, yet another lesson learned, and why I'm not taking orders quite yet.

I also put out a big order to build this baby up. And I will say that this will probably be the lightest, and pricey(est), mountain bike (possibly any bike) I've owned yet. (more posts and pics to come) I just figured I've been putting together dream bikes for enough friends and customers that I wouldn't mind sharing the fun. Now for the next couple months, I've got to flog this thing over every dip, burm, rock, rut, and mile that I can to get ready for the 12 hr "Burnin' at the Bluff" race.

On the negative side, I noticed while doing the last steps, that my welding hoses are leaking. I don't know how long that they've been going, but it's another $58 before I get going again. Luckily, I'll have time to get things situated before I'm ready to start any torch work on the next one on the list. A lugged road bike for my Florida buddy Mike. (I still need those fit details man!)


More pictures here: