Bike building and bike riding, brazed with a little filler of daily life.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Good Weather and Hard Work
Lately, things have warmed up here in St. Louis, bringing in the flocks to the shop as well as low electric bills. The bike trails are hitting critical mass, and street lanes are getting flooded with both cyclists and people on bicycles. So in the spirit of last year and commuters dusting off their bikes everywhere, I'm posting the sequel to the original "Do The Test" video. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but share the video with a friend or family member, and maybe raise some awareness. I wouldn't mind hearing a few less honks or choice words on the way to work, but I definitely would like to at least make it to work.
But in other goings on... The weather really is awesome. We were sitting outside a couple evenings ago, and just decided to stay there. So we busted out the tent and some sleeping pads, and camped on our back lawn. Working in my workshop is always more cheerful when I can open some doors and get some fresh breeze in. Justin's frame is coming right along. I even have some H2O bosses on the *correct* side of the seat tube! The fork is done, the tubes are mitered and set to go. Just need to spend a good day prepping and brazing this baby! Then it's some smoothing of the welds, making some chainstays, and a few last details, and she'll be ready for paint. Maybe a couple weeks to go? We'll see how long those last details actually take...
Smoothed out fork crown
Smoothed out seat tube collar. This took a lot of careful filing to get the edges rounded off like this. Trying to keep the lugged crown and seat tube collar matching with the overall smooth filler brazing feel this bike will have.
Loved video on not seeing what you are not looking for as I use to bike around Los Angeles in the '70s. I'd comment on the brazing but this is the first I've seen of making a bicycle from scratch. Keep posting.
I noticed the bear being replaced by the later 15th century Italian export suit... Ummm... That distracted me. I mean it had been a bear just a minute ago.
Hi! My name is Chris Fellet and I like bicycles!. I used to live and hand build bicycles in St. Louis, Missouri, but if you've kept up with me, you know I've taken a year off in Santa Cruz CA. If not, check my history or flickr site to see frames that I have made. This blog was about hand building the nicest steel bicycle frames I could, but now I'll use it and my better part of a decade in the bike industry to speak about trends, direction, component or frame design... who knows. That, and let you know what I'm keeping myself busy with in our little place in the redwoods.
Once this year is over, and we get settled down again, I'll be back to building
6 comments:
Loved video on not seeing what you are not looking for as I use to bike around Los Angeles in the '70s. I'd comment on the brazing but this is the first I've seen of making a bicycle from scratch. Keep posting.
damnit! even when I'm LOOKING for shit, I don't see it! I may have noticed the dead guy's leg change positions, but that's it.
Could I have you put the disc brake frame tabs on the chainstay?
DUDE, I just had a revelation - can you make me a Big Wheel?! oh mama!
Thanks for checking me out Sam ;) Do you still do any biking?
I'll make just about anything you want Casy... you're the one paying for it.
I noticed the bear being replaced by the later 15th century Italian export suit... Ummm... That distracted me. I mean it had been a bear just a minute ago.
I missed the rest.
your progress looks great, as usual.
Thank you sir!
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