Friday, July 30, 2010

Work and Fun

Since Melissae has come home from Germany, I haven't really posted much. But I have started picking up the work pace. It's kind of odd that I seem to get more done with her around than when she's gone. Between picking up the extra slack at home, and not having my moral boosting buddy, I haven't really got much to say for the three months that she's been gone.

But Matt's frame is coming right along. And lately, some good progress has been made. But that also didn't stop me from being dragged by the good guys of Team Seagal out to the Thursday night dirt crit series at Castlewood State Park. Man was that a blast. That was despite half of the B's crashing each other (or themselves) out in an adrenaline powered orgy, clawing at dirt and grass, on their ultimate quest for a slightly lower place number in their second tier class standings of local notoriety. I managed to keep the rubber side down in my personal quest for checking out and having as much fun as possible in the local scene. And it really was a great scene. A ton of people out to have a good time, mixed with free food, beer, riders of young and old, bikes ranging from mtn tandems, kids bikes, and bmx's, to full carbon race machines, finely tuned for local dominance. It really was great to get out, ride, and see people of all sorts sharing what it is to ride a bike through the woods.



But enough fun, back to work:

Main frame is all mitered and ready to rock.


Seat stays shaped, and with caps brazed on top.


Second section of seat stays brazed and cleaned.


Showing how the segmented seat stays will come together with the wishbone. This is the idea that Matt helped me come up with. I really like this look, and may have to re-visit it in the future.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Chris,
Glad to see that you are back at it. I have followed you for a while and check all the time to see what you have going on. I like your style. This wishbone rear is pretty sweet. What is the intent of the bike?

Keep it up, Wil

FelletBrazing said...

Thanks Wil. Kind words like that go a long way to keep up at the hard work.

This bike will be a sort of cross commuter, rack and fenders, with clearance for cross tires. We've got some rough roads, and a hard packed gravel rail-trail around here, and this guy commutes and generally rides a ton... everywhere.

Unknown said...

looks like its going to be nice. keep us posted with the progress. what are you using for chain stays and drops? did you just start from scratch with 4130? im working on a similar bike soon with carbon tubes. a sort of "all road" type bike with internal gear hub. thanks, Wil

Casey Ryback said...

I'm going to tape enlarged photos of those seatstays above my bed each night until the day that I get to bring that sexy beast home. Damn! Ashley will just have to get used to it.

This thing will have plenty of lateral compliance and vertical stiffness, right? Cool.

FelletBrazing said...

Wil, the chain stays are heat treated OX from True Temper, and the seat stays are non-heat treated True Temper seat stays. The non-heat treated (thin walled) tubes handle the bending better than thin heat treated tubes would. I like the taper of the actual seat stays. But otherwise, straight 4130 would have done a fine job. Dropouts are Cinelli semi-horizontal (for extra tire clearance when needed), and I'll have pics of them as soon as they're a part of something bigger. Good luck with the bike you're putting together.

Casey, just don't get the pic messy with your... uhh... yea, just don't get it messy. And I'm glad you wanted it to have the compliance in the lateral direction instead of the vertical one... I thought I was getting mixed up with that whole thing. Maybe I'll get the next issue of "Bicyclist" or "Road Bike" magazine to sort that one out. :P

Hit Counters
REI Coupon