More MAX

The MAX frame is ready for the seat stays. But I wanted to show some pictures of the MAX tubeset beside an OS tubeset. The set on the right is the MAX set and the set on the left is a PegoRichie (Spirit for Lugs) set. Pay particular note to the ends of the tubes which shows the ovalization and also compare the chainstays. The MAX chainstays are a monster 6 mm taller on the long axis of the oval compared to the 16x30 mm oval chainstay in the Sprit set.

And here is the fork for this bike. The fork blades dwarf a standard fork blade. The crown is a sweet Walter straight blade crown for MAX blades.

More later...

The MAX Project

One of the projects I am really excited about finishing is the MAX bike I am doing for Stephen. We were lucky enough to get our hands on a Columbus MAX tube and lug set complete with the original fork blades and seat stays. We used a nice Walter MAX fork crown and Long Shen dropouts to round out the build.
The first step was to give the lugs and BB a little personality. As you can see, the stock lugs are pretty chunky. But hey, this tube set was all about building a race machine for big, strong dudes. Aesthetics were likely not too high on the old priority list.
There wasn't much real estate to work with on these lugs. They were short and stubby. But there was one particular feature I liked. The top tube and down tube are ovalized where they meet the head tube. With the long axis of each tube on the vertical plane, it created a broad, flat area that could be carved. I also knew I wanted to remove as much meat from the BB shell as I could.
Here are the lugs and BB out of the box....

Now for a little "Z" treatment....

And now the fun begins. I wanted the design to be simple. This is a race bike. Clean and nothing over the top was the order of the day. After a lot of drawing on the lugs to figure out what I liked, this simple design came to me and I ran with it.

And I added some cable guides to the bottom of the BB.

More tomorrow....thanks for looking!

FMB and Zanconato

Francois at FMB makes the nicest tubulars in the world by hand in France. I am deeply honored that he chose to include a Zanconato on his gallery page. I will be doing another order next spring. Please get in touch if there is something you are interested in.

http://www.fm-boyaux.fr/galerie.htm

Happy New Year

It's chilly here in WI. I'm excited to be headed back to MA for the month of January to finish up all of the remaining frames. They are all in process with at least the tubesets mitered and ready to be tacked. But they will all be done and ready for paint by January 23rd. Then back to WI for my spring semester at UWM.

We will be moving back to MA at the end of July and I will be building full time in 2010. A new website is in the works. But for now the main focus is getting the last 10 or so frames off to the incredibly patient folks listed to my left. I am going to do a bunch of photos while I am in MA, so stay tuned for next week.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Movin' on up...

I truly believe things happen for a reason. Faith, religion, call it what you will. But it took an act of God to push my landlord to make a move. Well, not quite an act of God. More like "It took God making the roof leak for us to start looking for a new place". Most of you know that I have been sharing space with Toby at Hot Tubes for the past five years. The old shop on Webster St in Worcester had its "charm" in an old building kind of way. Well, after 17 years, Toby decided it was time for a change. Say good bye "old-world-charm" and say hello to a modern manufacturing facility. And for all of you who visited the old shop, rest well knowinig that we now have incredibly well-kept bathrooms!

Here are some pictures of the space. We are now in Shirley, MA at Phoenix Park, an office and manufacturing park just off of Rt 2. The space has just been renovated. We now have beautiful brick walls and a nice diamond plate steel floor. We started our move a couple of weeks ago and things are coming along nicely. Toby just bought a new paint booth and we will be installing it this week. The electrician is wiring us up for 220V this week and with that we will also get our air compressor running. So air and power by the end of the week! I anticipate being back at my bench next week building frames again. The new space has really inspired me to design a great work station that will be ultra-efficient. I can't wait to get going!

The outside of the building is very nice brick. And it has 2 large bay doors with tons of parking.

Our new entry brings you into the center of the room. The frame building area and alignment table will be the the left of the door from this angle. The back corner to the right will be where we place the bead-blaster and paint-prep area.

The frame building area will be on the right near the windows and lots of natural light. We are going to build an office on the left side of this wall.

The new paint booth will be in the center of this wall. The lathe and Bridgeport will be to the right of the booth.

Our first trailorload of stuff arrives!

I will post more photos as we go. But more importantly, I will begin posting more updates on customer bikes as I get up and going again next week. Till then, happy riding. And thanks for reading!

Someone is psyched for Dwars...

It's Classics time. Bill wanted a special paint job for his new cobble gobbling monster to coincide with this special time of year. Thank you for your order, Bill. It was fantastic working with you!

Say hello to Monster

Bill came to me looking for a machine that could tackle roads, dirt roads, cobbles, pot holes, and almost anything else that crossed his path. He wanted to use 28 mm tires with short reach Record calipers. The fork length and seat stay bridge height were set to their maximum so the pads were at the near-bottom of the slots. Chainstay length was stretched a bit and the seat tube angle was shallowed out a bit. Neutral handling would help in the 9th hour of the Deerfield Dirt massacre. And the final request was a full compliment of Mr. Sachs' castings and forged frame ends. This was a very enjoyable frameset to build and I thank Bill for his order. Wait until you see the paintjob. You will certainly understand the inspiration for this bike. And it comes at just the right time of year...

New blog feature

I have added a new feature to the side bar of my blog. I have added all current customer orders and I will be updating these with progress and timing. The updates will be labeled as:

Specification development - currently working with customer on final frameset and position specs
Specifications complete - specs complete and frameset is ready for fabrication
Tube set in process - tubes are being machined and prepped
Tube set complete - all tubes have been machined and are ready for tacking. Braze-ons have been added wherever possible. I typically do these in batches of 3 - 10.
Fork in process - fork is being fabricated
Fork complete - fork is fabricated, aligned and ready for paint. I typically do these in batches of 3-10.
Frame tacked - frame has been tacked and aligned
Frame fully brazed - frame has been fully brazed and aligned again
Brazing complete - all brazing is complete including all braze-ons
Frame machined - all threads have been tapped, head tube and seat tube have been machined and alignment has been checked one final time
Ready for paint - frameset is complete has been handed off to Toby at Hot Tubes for paint
Paint complete - back to me for final prep and photos
Ship date - xx/xx/xxxx - ship date added

As deliveries are confirmed, the frames will come off the list and everything moves up one. There will be dates on each step so that you can keep track of the last activity. Hopefully, this will help everyone keep track of progress. As always, please contact me with any questions.
Thank you!

How I build a bike, part 3

Yikes, It's been awhile. We left off in the last installment with all of the tubes coped and mocked up in the fixture. There is still some work to do before we tack the frame though. One thing I try to do before tacking the frame is braze on as many..errr...braze-ons as possible. Why? Well, when you heat things, they expand. Now, picture a nicely made frame. It's all aligned and happy. Then, you go in with a torch and heat up small, localized sections of the tubes with abandon. Things will get squirely on you. If you add the braze-ons beforehand, the tubes have done their thing and you can move on to tacking and brazing the frame straight without worry of undoing all of your hard work later. That was a run on sentence, wasn't it?

First up are the brake bosses. The frame is in the jig and my handy Henry James jig has an integrate bridge and boss jig. The bosses have been machined to fit the stay very tightly.

Next, the parts are cleaned and placed back in the jig. Flux is then added (the grey stuff). Flux is an acid that becomes reactive at around 900 degrees F. It gobbles up all of the oxides on the surface of the steel and promotes the silver to "wet out" on the surface of the steel. This is a special flux I get from Fred Parr. It resists burning very well and is very easy to rinse off after the joint has cooled.

The joint is heated, the water in the flux boils off and the flux becomes powdery. Hotter yet and the flux liquifies and begins to work its magic. At about 1150F, the silver filler rod is added to the joint. If all goes well, you will be left with a joint that appears to be covered in ice. Good heat control = no burnt flux.

Next come the two cable guides on the seat stays. This is a cross bike with top tube cable routing, so the rear deraileur cable runs along the right seat stay.

Fluxed...

Brazed...

The front derailleur cable is run down the backside of the seat tube, around a pulley and back up to the derailleur. This is the boss for the pulley.

Fluxed...

Brazed...

Next up are the triple stops on the top tube. A witness line is used to be sure the stops are on the top dead center of the top tube.

Fluxed...

Well, you get the idea...





So, if all has gone well in your brazing and you haven't gurnt your flux, a quick dunk in hot water is all that is needed to remove the flux.

Notice the areas of clean steel where the flux was and the discolored areas just outside. If the flux had not been there, the silver would not have adheared to the steel.

Next up, final tube prep and tacking...

A few more pictures

Two more bikes that didn't get posted after paint. My token moutain bike for the year for Donny and a Steelhead for Scott. Steelhead is a company out of St. Louis that I have built a few lugged framesets for. They do the design work and a few different builders do their fabrication. Thanks, guys!

Another cross bike

The pictures don't do this color justice. It is going to look awesome on the race course. Thank you for your order, Don!

I also forgot to thank Francis, Scott, Eric, Jim, Matt, Kenny, and Steve for their orders on the bikes below. It was an absolute pleasure working with each of you. Next out of the paint booth will be bikes for Kerry C, Diane E, Rebecca Z, Kevin-Scott, and Jeff U. Then next on the jig are bikes for Mark A (our RBR raffle winner!), Mike H, Bill S, Ryan R, John, C and Matt M.

Recent bikes

Here are some of the shots from my studio visit with Ken Scott. Following those are some of my hack shots of other recent frames. Ken also came by the shop to take some action photos. I took the opportunity to ham it up for the camera.

Major update coming!

I have lots of bikes to show. I just need some time to get the photos together. Stay tuned!

The real deal

Now I know the value of a real photographer. I had a great day in the studio with my pal Ken on Saturday. We rented a studio and brought in some bikes. I was amazed seeing the whole setup. I didn't realize how much goes into getting shots like this. I am THRILLED with the low-rez proofs and I just can't wait to see the finished photographs. I took this from off-stage. I wish I had a better shot. There were so many lights and computers and all kinds of other stuff. Certainly a day I won't forget.

Frames are in paint

I am jetting out to Cleveland today, but there are frames being painted this week. If I get back in time on Friday to ship them, they will go. Otherwise, it will be Monday. Have a good week!

Paint delays and Part 2 of How I build a bike

Folks, due to the extreme humidity and heat this past week, we have had some paint delays. The decals tend to bubble and the clear has issues of its own in this kind of weather. The weather is going to be more mild this week and painting will be complete on Jim's and Francis's framesets.

Last time, we left off with a completely machined tubeset, except for the seat stays. Next, we set up the jig and mock up the tubes to check all of the fits. Here is the frame in the jig with lugs installed.

What's goinig on under the lugs? Well, have a look...

Nice, tight mitres. Again, quality machining leads to a straight bicycle frame.

Here are some pictures of the joints with the lugs and the dropouts.

Here you can see what I mean by the "hollowed out" BB shell. No extra material hanging around.

I still do the seat stay miter by hand with a file. It's roughed in on a grinding wheel and finished with the file.

And here is the fit up in the lug.

Next time, I'll show the braze ons and tacking.

How I build a frame

I started this blog with the intent to show my readers how I fabricate frames and forks. The blog has morphed a bit to become a place to update customers on progress. I will keep the progress reports coming, but I want to get back to my original plan. I have taken a lot of photos of the build process of Nathan's bike, and I will lay them out in installments. This first installment shows the first steps of machining the tubes and prepping some of the castings.

First step is to give the new frame an identity. And not just some cold number, but a name to go with it.




Here are the materials all laid out. Tubing from left are seat stays, chain stays, down tube, seat tube, top tube, head tube. Note the markings on the main tubes. Those indicate the butt transitions where the tubes go from thick on the ends to thin in the middle. The rear dropouts and seat stay bridge are shown on the left. The lugs and BB are on the right.

I begin with rough cutting the chainstays to length.

The chain stays are then set up in our tube mitering fixture.

The next tube to be worked is the seat tube. This tube has a double cut. The first cut gives the shape of the inside of the BB shell.


The next cut makes room for where the down tube and seat tube overlap. This cut is at 90 degrees to the first cut and approximately 60 degrees to the down tube. The rotory table sets the ST/DT angle and the upright peg sets the tube perpendicular to the first cut.

The next tube is the top tube. The first cut is made at approximately 73 degrees.


Next, the cut length is set on the fixture. You can see here that the tube needs to be rough cut to length.

The cut length is set on the leading edge of the block. This is a 58.1 cm top tube.

This precision turned dowel is set on the fixture and the tube is butted against it. This dowel is parallel to the cutter. This keeps the miters in perfect plane with each other and helps create a straight frame.



Next is the down tube. There are 3 cuts on the down tube. One where the tube butts against the head tube, one to give it the shape of the inside of the BB shell, and a third where the seat tube and down tube overlap. What's that you say? Didn't we take care of that with the second cut on the seat tube? Yes, but I hate looking into the shell and seeing a piece of tubing just hanging there not doing anything. So I cut it off. And then when you look into the BB shell, all you see is a nice, clean interior.

The first cut is the BB end of the down tube. A simple 90 degree cut.

The down tube cut length is set and the peg sets the tube perpendicular to the first cut.



Next is the third cut. A pivoting dowel is again used that is parallel to the cutter.

And then the third cut is made.


Here is the completed main triangle and chain stays. The rest of the braze-ons are also laid out.

In the next installment, we will mock the frame up in the jig and maybe do some tacking.

Lots of good stuff going on at the shop. It's been full bore. These three are in process at paint, with six others close behind. I will have pictures of bikes for Nathan and Francis this week.

This one is headed to PDX. Jim's new cross bike has Slant Six lugs and Columbus Niobium tubing. I am building the fleet out there on the west coast. I know Jim will race it really hard.

Good luck this season, Jim, and thank you for your order!

Here is Scott's new Steelhead. Slant Six lugs, fastback seat stays, straight blade fork...very racey looking.

Thank you, Scott!

I always want to build at least one mountain bike a year. Well, here is the one for 2007.

Thanks, Donny!

Here is the updated schedule. Due to be complete in August are the three frames above and framesets for Nathan B, Francis B, Don F, Eric G, Steve P and Dianne E. In September, the order is Ryan R, John C, Matt M, Kerry C, Mike H, Kenny A, Mark A (RBR Charity Bike), and Jeff U.

Have a great week!

FMB Tubulars

I am very excited to have FMB Tubulars available soon for sale in North America. My first shipment coming in will include 10 of the SSC Cyclocross Tubular in 34 mm width, which will be available for $110 each plus shipping and/or MA sales tax. I will also be bringing in SSC Sprints, SP SSCs and SP SSC Sprints in this shipment, but they are already pre-sold. I will be able to take pictures of these tubulars before they ship though.

My next shipment will include SSCs in 32 and 34 and SSC Sprints in 32 and 34. I will likely bring in at least 10 of each. If you are interested in a special order item such as SP, PRO, or road tubulars, please contact me through my website, http://www.zanconato.com/. All special order items will be pay in advance through PayPal.

I will put up more information regarding the different tubulars, information on FMB, pricing and pictures when the first shipment arrives late next week. Until then, if you are interested in the 10 SSC 34s I will have in stock, please get in touch with me.

No tubular may be returned that has been glued.

Blast from the past.

Whoa! Has it been that long? A pal forwarded this link to me. Collegiate cycling rules almost as much as cross rules.

A bit of trivia. The blue and white bike shown in the article was one of the first two bikes I actaully painted. The other was painted the same, but built for my future (and current) wife. Her bike has been retired for something new and fresh, but her first one is still built up with the original parts. Mine was sacrificed to the R&D gods when I cut it apart 5 years after it was built. Much to my happiness and dismay, it looked just fine inside. I was happy the fabrication was in good order, but if I had known that ahead of time, I wouldn't have cut it up!

Sachs by Zanconato...

So a fella came through the shop when I was building this frameset. At first, he thought I was repairing a Sachs because he saw the dropouts, lugs, crown and BB shell. I explained to him that the customer wanted the Sachs castings, dropouts, and all of the fixins'. He said I should get a sticker that said "Sachs by Zanconato". That's certainly not my style, but maybe Richard should just make a generic one that says "Sachs by fill-in-the-blank-here".

Anyway, thanks for the order, Justin!

On deck for paint are bikes for Donny, Scott, Nathan, Francis and Don. Pre-paint and post-paint pictures will be added as they come out of the paint booth. Soon to be completed framesets for Eric, Steve, Diane and Jim will be ready for paint by July 31. August production includes bikes for Mike, Mark, Ryan, Matt, Kerry, John and my lovely bride.

The Purple People Eater

I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. But this bike looks menacing. Like it will leave bodies strewn across the race course in its wake. Moveitfred's new cross bike is ready to go. Another very smart parts pick that will do the job reliably for many cross seasons to come.

This color is out of PPG's Radiance line and it really pops in the sun. PPG, House of Kolor and Dupont are really putting out some beautiful paint. With the explosion in the custom chopper and hot rod markets, these paint companies have really delivered some new ultra-vibrant paints. It is only going to get better as the pigment technology improves. Great choice, John!

This bike was a lot of fun to build because there were some interesting challenges due to the size. It is a 66 cm frame, but I wanted to be sure it still looked "right" when it was built up. I am very pleased with the results.

Thank you for your order, John!

New kit is in!

I don't think I have ever been so excited to see the FedEx guy. The Champion Systems gear came out fantastic. I really like the chamois in the bibs, the fabrics are really, really nice, and all of the construction seems very sturdy.

If you missed out on the original order, fear not. I will be doing a reorder in about 3 weeks. Just drop me an email at bikes at zanconato dot com.

My new favorite color

House of Kolor never ceases to amaze me. This frameset is is painted in Bittersweet II Pearl with a Cortez Blue Pearl head tube and seat tube panel. These pearls are just so vibrant, and they really come to life in the sun. Just awesome.

Mike put together a really nice kit for this bike. Mostly Centaur with the Chorus upgrade at the Ergopower. Sweet wheels courtesy of ergott. The white Fizik sadle and tape just look so PRO it makes me giggle.

Thank you for your order, Mike!

Delay on clothing

Well, my clothing order got pushed back a week. I will be getting it the week of the 25th. I will let everyone know when it arrives.

Zanconato kit will be here on June 14

For everyone who ordered jerseys, shorts, bibs, and/or t-shirts, I got word from my supplier that everything is being shipped to me on June 11 via 3-day air. I will be sorting and packing everything over the weekend and will be shipping it all out on June 18th. Thank you for your orders!

My vision...

Nearly 14 years ago to the day, I took delivery of a bike that simply blew me away in terms of its aesthetics. It was a Carrera Cassiopeia. Yellow pearl with red letters. The seat tube lug had ports in the back for fastback style seat stays and had the Carrera logo engraved on each side. The head tube lugs had short points and were minimalist. The lugs were not thinned; they had a crisp, defined edge. But they were not thick and chunky either. The BB shell had a cool, cast-in chainstay bridge. All of the lines were clean and just worked. Everything about it was functional. It was a race bike, meant to be pushed hard. It begged to be ridden in the rain, the snow, the grit of spring, everything. But it had a few subtle touches that showed class. It was by all accounts Italian, but a bit more subtle than its peers at the time. It was a finely crafted and presented tool.

I have been building framesets for 9 years now and that bike has been a benchmark of sorts for function and aesthetics in my bikes. My tastes are simple. I'm not a big fan of overly ornate lug shorelines. I don't really like the look of lugs that are thinned to the point where they nearly blend in with the tube. I like simple paint jobs; 3 colors are plenty and one of them should be an accent color at most. And the bike had better look "right". It's not just how the frameset looks, but how the overall bicycle looks when fit to the rider. The saddle should be clamped on the center of the rails. The stem should be the correct length and should not be angled up to the sky. There should not be a mile long stack of spacers under the stem. It should look like a racing bike.

I suppose the frame presented below has been 14 years in the making. These are the same Walter lugs that were used on the Carrera. I gave them some of the "Z" treatment. The is my vision of the perfect racing bicycle frame.

"What's the biggest bike you have ever built?"

This one....

Care to guess? One hint. It's a cross bike, so the head tube is a couple of cm shorter than it would be on a road bike of this size.

The thing I love about this lugset is it makes a lugged bike with a horizontal top tube a reality for larger, more powerful riders. It uses 1.25" top tube and seat tubes and a cool down tube that starts at 1.25" at the head tube and swells to 1.375" at the down tube. It is a nice long taper and very subtle. The seat tube lug is my favorite part. Just like on my engraved "Z" seat tube lug, this lug has fastback style seat stay ports. Very sleek and speedy looking. The larger diameter tubes give the frame more rigidity, especially noticable on bikes over 62 cm. Are you a big fella who wants a classic looking bike with a tubeset more appropriate to you and your style of riding? This may be your answer.

The best tip...EVER!

There are all kinds of different gratuities, but none are better than this...

Thank you for your business, Bill! It was a pleasure working with you.

One of my new decal options. Yellow with black outline. I love this blue. It is House of Kolor's So-Blue. The lighting in the pictures makes it look darker than it really is. And the pictures can not begin to show off the depth and luster.

Little bike....


Bigger bike...

Lot's of frame pictures will be coming this week. But here is one to tide you over.

Another teaser of things coming soon

someone asked for another teaser or two

Is it cross season yet?

The raffle was mentioned on Cyclingnews!

Just after the "Ride with Armstrong in RAGBRAI" headline!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/mar07/mar25news

We were mentioned on PEZ!

Check it out! Scroll to bottom...
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4750&status=True

Support a fantastic cause, maybe win a zank

A few months ago, I mentioned that we have a raffle in the works to raise money for the Young Survival Coalition. Well, the online registration is now online. Please check out the link below.

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=4427

Here is mission statement pulled directly from the YSC website.

YSC Mission Statement
The Young Survival Coalition (YSC) is the only international, non-profit network of breast cancer survivors and supporters dedicated to the concerns and issues that are unique to young women and breast cancer. Through action, advocacy and awareness, the YSC seeks to educate the medical, research, breast cancer and legislative communities and to persuade them to address breast cancer in women 40 and under. The YSC also serves as a point of contact for young women living with breast cancer.

One of the coolest things about this project is all of the parts were donated by members of Road Bike Review. Many, many people pitched in to help. We have enough parts to do either a road or a cross bike. Cool, huh?

The registration closes on March 31 and the drawing will be on April 5. Best of luck and please donate!

The clothing order form was sent out. Order deadline is 2/28. If I missed you in the initial email, please send me an email and I will forward the order form and design templates.

I have lots of updates to post. Bike pictures coming soon.

deja vu

Here are some photos of Rafael's new road bike. It might look a little familiar...

I updated my New Belgium flag logo. I had been searching for the official Flag of Flanders with the black Lion with red claws. Thanks to my pals ZD and JS, I found it. I mxed the colors up using the official colors of the Belgian flag, retained a few of the elements of the New England flag, and here is the result.

Stickers, anyone?

The goodies are starting to roll in. Specialized 24 oz. Big Mouth bottles in clear, blue or yellow are available for $4 each. Knit skull caps in black are available for $15 each. Logo is stitched in silver thread. Black and pink baseball caps are available for $15 each. Logo is stitched in silver thread on both colors. My wierdo buddies bought up all of my pink ones before I could take a picture. I will be getting more the week after Thanksgiving. I guess pink is the new black or something.

If you would like to place an order, I accept PayPal to bikes@zanconato.com. Please include $10 for shipping and handling. Please contact me directly for other payment options. Who wouldn't want a cap with the coolest letter in the alphabet?

Final pictures of Rafael's bike before it goes to paint.

Here are some pictures of Rafael's frame so far. The fork pictures are in an earlier post.




Current production order is Karen, John, Scott (Steelhead), Deb, Bill, Don, Mike, Francis.

I am thrilled to be taking part in a fund-raising effort for The Young Survival Coalition.
http://www.youngsurvival.org

We will be raffling off a custom bike to raise money for the the only international nonprofit dedicated solely to helping women 40 and under and their families affected by breast cancer. Young Survival was recently named one of the most efficient breast cancer charities in the U.S. by Charity Navigator.

RBR members are going to be a part of this by donating parts. Please check this thread for details.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=76898

More details to follow, but I hope the zank-o-philes will turn out to donate to this cause. Just think, you could get a brandy-spankin new zank for $25!!

I can't wait to get some dark blue candy and ice blue pearl on this baby.

I am sending two bikes off to paint this week. Bruce's bike is a very cool single speed cross bike. I took a set of Pacenti lugs and really slimmed them down. The BB shell is a Phil Wood Eccentric shell that has been fillet brazed. It allows the use of vertical dropouts (stainless in this case) because the eccentric sets the chain tension. No need for horizontal frame ends. So the frame has a unique combination of lug and fillet construction. The frame has a full compliment of braze-ons in case Bruce wants to run gears in the future. I think EBBs are incredibly versatile and should be considered for your next singlespeed/fixed project.

Rafael's bike is a go-fast road bike that he will use for training and power-meter purposes. Pure function delivered in a classy package. Richie-Issimo lugs, Pacenti shell, stainless dropouts...nice.

Here are pictures of the two forks. The top is Bruce's cross fork. The bottom is Rafael's road fork. More tomorrow. I need to massage the fillets on Bruce's bike a bit more. I hate lumpy fillets more than I hate lumpy mashed potatos. Yeah, it's 4 AM. And yeah, I really hate lumpy mashed potatos. Good night...or morning I guess. I'm going to bed.

Here are the pictures of Rob's bike. It is getting decked out with Chorus and some sweet wheels from ergoTT. Record hubs, Sapim CX-Ray spokes, Velocity Aerohead rims. More photos coming...

Well, Rob's frame just came out of the oven. It still needs a final inspection and buff, but I was too excited to wait on the pictures. I will take some better pictures tomorrow on the white back drop, but here are a few teasers. The lugs are hand cut from Pacenti's Artisan set. BB is also Pacenti. Henry James frame and fork ends are all polished up. More tomorrow...I'm off to bed!

After a bit of a hiatus, I am back.

I will be building up Rob's bike this week. Here are a few pre-paint pictures. Paint pictures and complete bike pictures coming in the next couple of days.

"What is that thing on the jersey, shorts and hat?"

It's the New Belgium flag. What did you think it was?

Take the New England flag, trade blue for black, and add the Lion of Flanders.

Introducing Rebecca's sweet new road rig. 07 Centaur, Proton wheels. It should help her get her average speeds up over 17 mph!! Have fun, Becky.

Here are some pictrues of Terry's new cross bike. He said red, so Toby made it red.






Have a happy and safe holiday, everyone!
zank

Terry's cross bike is in the paint booth. Here are some bare frame pictures. Deda Zero tubing, Richie-Issimo lugs, stainless dropouts. Look for it at cross races in the Pacific Northwest. Paint pictures tomorrow.

I am working on some Zanconato gear. For the first set, I am looking at two options.

1. Zanconato riding kit (jerseys - $60, bibs - $65, shorts - $60)
2. Zanconato accessory kit (socks - $8, cycling caps - $9, water bottles - $4)

What would you like to see happen first? Option 1 or Option 2?

Mike's completed road bike. I love the color he chose. A gorgeous sunset pearl with a cream head tube. The lettering is also stenciled on in cream. Those aren't decals. This bike is one of my favorites. I hated shipping it because it is almost my size and I wanted to take it for a ride! Thank you for your order, Mike!














Toby at Hot Tubes is back from vacation. The paint schedule is Terry, Rob. I will have bare frame pictures up soon. The fabrication schedule is Rafael, Bruce, Karen, Bud, John, and a Steelhead for Paul.

I have a full pictorial coming from Rob's frame build. I mean everything. Well, everything except brazing the steerer into the crown. Those will be coming soon in installments.

Here is Mike's road frame and fork. Henry James lugs, a PCD BB shell, Deda tubing. The main triangle tubing is speced with a 1" top tube, 1.125" seat tube and a cool down tube that tapers from 1.25" at the BB to 1.125" at the head tube. He wanted the ride of a standard tube bike with just a little more stiffness at the BB. Chainstays are Deda 22.2 mm round-oval-round and seat stays are Prestige dual-taper 14 mm stays. Fork blades are also Prestige. Paint will be done this week.

Here is Deb's new 45 cm road bike. This bike was a blast to build. 650C wheels, Henry James lugs, Deda tubing and a hot metallic blue and silver paint job. The pictures don't do this color justice. It looks awesome in the sun. Thank you for your order, Deb!

























































On deck are Mike's road bike, Rob's cross bike, Terry's cross bike and Rafael's road bike.

Here is Andy's 65.2 cm Sport Touring bike. He came up with a sweet paint design that Hot Tubes executed perfectly. The checkerboard design on the seat tube and down tube is aligned dead-on with my panel bands. And Toby nailed the colors. The frame is built with Richie-Issimo lugs, Deda tubing and has lots of braze-ons. Dropout faces and eyelets are polished to keep the paint in perfect shape. Enjoy the pictures!


















Next up are Deb's, Mike's, Rob's and Terry's bikes.

Andy's 65.2 cm sport touring bike. The coolest part? The custom stainless kick stand and fender mount. Pics of the painted frame coming soon.









From one extreme to the other...the next bike you will see is Deb's 45.4 cm road bike. Hold tight!

A couple of new bikes.

First up is Ryan's new road bike. Henry James lugs, a rich creamy white with stenciled logos in metallic brown. Polished Henry James dropouts and a cool straight-blade fork round out the package.









Next up is Robert's road bike decked out with Richie-Issimo lugs, a deep green paint job with a lighter green head tube and fork crown.







Next bikes due in the paint booth are Andy's, Deb's, Mike's and Rob's.

A couple of new bikes. First Erik's patriotic road bike.















And, William's "Effin Cross Bike".

I just got a new shipment of engraved brake bridges. Which one has your name on it?

Thinking about a new Zank cross bike? It's a great time to get your order going. With the first races coming up in around 18 weeks, it can't hurt to be ahead of the game!

MP built up his new ride. He did a fine job kitting it out. The frame is black with a bit of gold pearl mixed in. The lugs are outlined in gold. Decals are gold as well. He tricked it out with Record, some unbelievable wheels from ergottWheels, and some other nice gold trim. More pictures coming soon.

Here are some more fabrication galleries of MP's road bike. The bike is painted, and I will be posting pictures soon...

Machining
Brazing

Some of the more interesting pictures...

The new website is up!!!

The new website is now live!

Zanconato Custom Cycles

The images are still being worked-on and will be larger soon. But, let me know what you think...

I am really diggin' polished stuff lately.

Drops before...



Drops after...



The faces will be masked of course. The skewers won't kill the paint.



This Nitto stem looks really nice, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted it to match the ultra-sweet finish of the Phil Wood hubs that are going on a classic fixed gear.

Stem before...



Stem after...




I still have some more work to do on the stem, but I like the way it is coming out. What say you?

Put up 3 new galleries last night. Check them out!

SR's new road frameset

RZ's new road frameset

Custom Steelhead I build some lugged-steel framesets for Steelhead Bicycles.

Sorry, it's been awhile.

The new website should be up by the end of the week. Keep an eye out!

Zanconato Custom Cycles

Also, here are some pictures of another bike I am working on.

WS Cross Bike

After the dropouts are brazed in and the flux is soaked off, you are left with this. I have built up a little extra bronze on the top and bottom to sculpt.



Here you can see the dropout and blade after filing. I have removed a lot of material from the dropout itself, as well as smooth the transition blade to drop.



Here you can see the progression. I try to make the dropout as svelte-looking as possible.





Here, I am beginning to sculpt the top of the dropout. I remove as much material as possible and also work on the point. I also square off the top and bottom for a more finished look.

The first step in preparing the blades is to bend them. I have a nice aluminum mandrel for this.



As you can see in the photo below, the tips of the blades are still straight. In order to provide a nice radius all the way to the tip, I bend the blades a little more than required and then cut them back to where the bend actually starts.



You can just barely see the bend start at the dropout in the photo below. I have slotted the blades for the dropouts. A nice tight fit is critical. These will be brazed in with bronze rod. I use bronze for this application rather than silver because it fills in the gaps better. You can see there is a large space to fill.

Getting started on the fork involves brazing the steerer into the crown. The steerer passes all the way through the Richie-Issimo crown. The parts are fluxed, the steerer is inserted, and the joint is heated. In the photo below, you can see that the silver has flowed all the way through the joint. I feed the silver from the crown race side. The bottom of the crown has been finish-filed and sanded smooth.



Next, the brake bolt holes are drilled. A 1/4" drill is used on the front of the crown.



A 5/16" drill is used on the back of the crown for the brake nut. I then use a 7/16" counterbore to sink the brake nut into the crown. The counterbore is pictured below.



Here are the results. 1/4" hole on the front of the crown and a 5/16" hole with a 7/16" counterbore on the backside. The counterbore is an often overlooked step, but I think it lends to the clean look. You can also see in the bottom picture that I have turned the crown race to 1.043". Perfect for a Chris King crown race.





Up next, bending the blades and preparing the tips for dropouts.

Lastly, here is the steel.

Seat Tube: Deda Zero 28.6 mm 0.8/0.45/0.65



Top Tube: Deda Zero 28.6 mm 0.65/0.4/0.65



Down Tube : Deda Zero 31.7 mm 0.65/0.45/0.56



Chain Stays : Deda Zero 30x17 mm oval 0.7/0.45



Seat Stays - Tange Prestige Conico 10/14 mm 0.6



I'll post the fork blades as I get started on the fork.

In keeping with the Richie-Issimo theme, here is the ST lug and crown. I have already brazed the steerer into the crown and finish-filed where the steerer passes through the bottom. Also shown is Richard's new FD braze-on, which looks sweet indeed.







Front and rear dropouts. These will be trimmed down and cleaned up quite a bit.



Bottle bosses with reinforcements.



Next up will be the tubing...

Let's get this party started

So, we begin with MP's 50.2 cm road frameset. Below is a picture of the tubes and the castings that will be used. Top left, you can see the tubing that will be used. All Deda Zero, except for the fork blades and seat stays, which are Prestige. Bottom left are the dropouts. Verticals for this race bike, please. Center stage is the crown with the steerer brazed in. Bottom right are all of the lugs, the BB shell, seat stay bridge and other small braze-ons.



Here is the BB shell. This is a Richie-Issimo shell from Richard Sachs. Cast-in cable guides, super good looks...how can you go wrong?



Top tube and down tube lugs are pictured below. Also Richie-Issimo. Great styling, excellant design. Just perfect.





Here is the seat stay bridge and reinforcements. I am particularly proud of this piece, as I think the Z looks really sharp.



More soon...

a few pics

Lots of cool stuff going on

So many fun projects....so little time.

I am putting together two fabrication pictorials. I have always wanted to put together a set of photos that show the entire build process for a frame and fork. I am psyched to do this with two different style bikes and two different fabrication techniques.

The first is MP's road bike. This will be a 50.2 cm lugged, road frameset built with castings from Richard Sachs. Richard's line of lugs, BB shells and fork crowns are the best in terms of function and style. Tube spec for MP's road racer is Deda Zero. High performance all the way. You can see the pictures of the raw materials and the fork build here...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mnzank/album?.dir=19e9&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mnzank/my_photos

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mnzank/album?.dir=b943&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mnzank/my_photos

After MP's frame and fork are complete, I will begin work on WS's frameset. This will be a 63.5 cm fillet-brazed, cyclocross frameset built with Columbus OOS (over-oversize) tubing provided by Pacenti Cycle Design. While the main frame joints will be fillet-brazed, I will be using a cast BB shell from PCD with 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" ports for the DT and ST, respectively. I think the cast BB shell yields the stiffest drivetrain possible, which will be important for this big, strong fella.

I am really excited about the pictorials. Please send some comments and/or questions!

off and running

Welcome! I will be updating my blog regularly with the happenings in the shop. Stay tuned!