Wednesday, January 28, 2009

workin.

Well, finally been getting back in the shop a little bit.

Made up this custom disc-brake retrofit to a co-motion tandem using a therapy brake adaptor. Had to machine a custom hub spacer, then machine the seatstay clamp for the torqu arm. The mount had to be modified as well and the chainstay needed to be coersed a little to clear the big 203mm rotor! seems to work well though.



Did a coupler retrofit on a Voodoo as well. All set for paint, just need to make a little time for that. These are really nice frames for the money, I recommend 'em if you're looking for a budget steel 29'er.





And finally, mitered up and tacked the tandem frame. This one was a lot of tricky mitering as all the tubes except the seat tubes are shaped! The rear BB has two ovalized tubes meeting and intersecting a round tube and the BB shell. Lots of work, but I think it'll be a really cool frame in the end. A bit of a departure from my usual direct lateral tandems, but I wanted extra standover on this one. This will be all fillet brazed as well, due to all the non-round tubes.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

only one left

The inventory reduction has been a huge success! Thanks to all who bought stuff.
I've just got one bike left that I wouldn't mind moving, the green 29'er.
I'd be happy to sell this one as a frame and fork for $1400. It's S & S coupled, 23.75" effective top-tube, 21" seat-tube, but fairly low standover thanks to the low BB drop of 70mm. Marozocchi Marathon SL 29 fork painted to match. Paint is brand new, beautiful sparkly britich racing green, with painted in lettering. It's truly stunning in the sunlight. Has Surly horizontal dropouts with deraileur hanger, so it can be run with gears or as a singlespeed. I'd be happy to sell it as a complete bike as well if you want, email me for options!

Otherwise as soon as I get time to take the parts off, I'll ebay the frame and fork. Make me an offer if you like!

I've been trying to get back to it in the shop, got a few misc machinging projects done this week and I'm getting ready to start on the next frame.

Sent in my entry to Leadville again this year too, I need a good goal to get back in shape and Leadville always seems to do the trick. Who knows if I'll get in though...

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Tuesday, January 06, 2009

U need this

Yeah, that's right you do need this. Awesome X-C racing suit from back in the day. If you were anyone in 1992 you had one of these of the equally ugly Fischer neon racing suits. Don't be fooled by the photo, it's not blue, it's electric purple with neon pink and green accents. Hot, hot, hot.

And best of all, it's like new, I bet I wore it in 10 races total. Fits a tall skinny racer. If you wear a pair of cycling shorts under it, you could have the hottest skinsuit around, nobody will mistake you for "their" team mate by accident.

Get it before it's gone!!!!!


If that's not your style, how about a vintage Leadville 100 race jersey. Got this one the first year I did the race, but really never wore it. It's pretty much brand new, but sat in a drawer for 10 or so years. Voler club cut size large jersey. $35 for this one of a kind item!
























Here's a brand new World Cycling world championship jersey. Won it at 24 hours of Afton some years back, never wore it (I haven't won the world championships yet). Pace brand jersey, size meduim, racing cut. fits like a typical med. $25









Size 44 Diadora Jalapeno shoes. Used, but not abused, great all around comfy shoe. I've got too many shoes around though. $15 takes 'em home.











Brand new Tecktro RSS6 Brakes, in the package. These are super-long reach brakes, 55-73mm. Really nicely polished, they look great. $40/set




Truvativ 48t track chainring. Brand spankin' new, 144 bcd, 1/8" width. really nice. $20


Salsa Bell Lap handlebars. Used, but good shape. 46cm width. I love the shape of these, but this pair is a touch wide for me. $20

Monday, January 05, 2009

new year

well, it's finally 2009. I'm looking forward to getting back to the shop more and out on the bike more.

I'm pretty excited to have found a new Maverick DUC 32 for my soon-to-be-built 29'er off-road tandem. I sold off my old off-road tandem last year and I've had the tubing sitting around the shop for 3 years waiting to be built into a new tandem.

I'm going lighter weight this time for sure, the last one was kind of a tank. While it took all the abuse I could throw at it, I don't think I need something that hefty anymore. So this one will be a hard tail 29'er with the above mentioned Maverick fork. I'm going to try the Avid cable discs on it this time, but I've still got the hope enduro's from the old bike for back-up if I don't think the cable brakes are as strong as I like on tandem (I suspect they'll be fine though, espcially with 203mm rotors). 36 hole King hubs with Dt rims will be lighter than my old 40 hole king-DeepV wheelset. I'm pretty convinced I don't need wheels quite that strong anymore.
I've still got my Ritchey tandem cranks that I think I'll use on the new bike, it's just hard to improve on those. I've been debating doing a belt drive for the timing chain, but that would require new cranks, so I suspect that will wait. Or if I got that route, I might go all the way, belt for timing and main drive and do a Rohloff hub. Although the roholff kind of defeats any weight savings from the belt drives...

The frame will be all fillet brazed, which is a departure from my usual lugs. But almost all the tubing is shaped, so lugs would be pretty difficult, and I'm just too lazy to make them all up for this kind of bike right now.

I've still got some stuff for sale, but I did pretty good at cleaning things out. The remaining items have been going on ebay over the last few weeks. I still need to get rid of those Reynolds wheels though if anyone is interested. Make me an offer!

In other musings, I have an extra spot belt drive set-up for a bike for me down in the shop and I'm just torn on what to put it on. I was thinking about my singlespeed 29'er, but what I really want is a 953 singlespeed with couplers and the belt drive. Just don't have the time to build it... That would make a pretty slick travel bike though, no chain to mess with during packing, really light. I might need one.

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