Tuesday, May 24, 2011

UCI Approved

I paid the toll and my frames are now approved to be used in UCI categorized races and all National Championship events. Sweet.


Monday, May 23, 2011

Little Boy

Airgas arrived today with a #5 acetylene bottle. I stepped up from my previous #4 bottle. The thing is a monster. I kind of tip toe around it. And I need a new chain to contain its girth. Anyway, now I can get back to brazing.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Another big cross bike

While I'm waiting for acetylene to finish up Dave's cross frame, I started working the lugs, BB, and dropouts for Josh's cross frame. It's another frame over 60 cm. These big bikes are getting to be the norm around here! Pretty cool.

When I say "working the lugs", basically what that means is grinding and filing the lugs to get all of the fits just right so as to promote proper alignment, have the appropriate brazing clearances, and have the look I'm after. If there are tight spots between the tubes and lugs, you may get an area where the silver doesn't flow into it. On the flip side, you don't want an area where the gap is too large because the silver doesn't fill gaps well and you really don't want it to serve that purpose. The first thing I do is focus on working my lug and BB sockets. I want everything to sit nicely in the jig with no force or stress. That usually means bending the lugs a bit to set the angles. Then I start grinding and filing the lug ID so that the tubes slip in without any extra movement. That's where I'm at with this frame. Next steps will be to finish the shorelines of the lugs and filing the outer surface of the lugs to make them look the way I want. And then we'll see a mean cross racing machine start coming together.






Monday, May 16, 2011

Zanconato goes mainstream in Men's Journal magazine

Humbled, honored, and flattered. Those are the three words that immediately come to mind. If you are walking by your favorite book store, head over to the periodicals section and have a look at the June issue of Men's Journal. There is an article on pages 38 and 39 about the master of our craft, Richard Sachs. They also included  four other builders in the article, including me. I am beyond honored and flattered. What a way to start the week!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

I'm not sure I want to let this one go

I hate it when they would fit me. And pearl white and red is my all time favorite combo. Thanks, Joe!





NH-bound road bike

Two boxes showed up from Mr. Anderson this week. Up first is a Silver Pine Metallic road bike with stenciled blood-red logos. We have a nice 7800 group and some sweet Nemesis rimmed wheels going on. It's going to be a sweet road machine. Many thanks, Vince!



Keith's skills are amazing.


Nice sparkle.



Thursday, May 05, 2011

The preseason

Funny what can spark some fervor. I got a few emails last night from guys who are already on pins and needles as they wait for cross season. Pictures of Dave's cross bike build gave them a little shot in the arm. Cool. It's funny how more and more riders consider from now until September as the preseason.

Happy preseason to you!