Zanconato Custom Cycles - Tailored Steel Bicycle Frames and Forks

Back in the swing of things

2012-01-26T15:53:00.000-05:00

Well, there has been a big life change since my last post. We had a baby boy in November! It has been an absolute joy getting to know this little fella. I haven't been online a whole lot because I've been trying to make the most of my time at the shop and get some bikes done. It broke my heart leaving the little guy at home a couple of weeks after he arrived to get back to work, but c'est la vi. Sleep deprivation be damned, it's time to make bikes.

Here's a quick photo recap of some recent projects.

I'll be doing my best to update the blog more often. I'm in full-on Max and Sax Max mode right now.

Thanks for the visit!
Mike

Recent bikes, chainrings, and tires

2011-10-10T12:44:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
It's been awhile. I've had my head down and building a ton of stuff. I've also started getting chainrings in house. I am getting everything sorted and shipped as quickly as I can. I am packing a big bunch today that will be going out tomorrow. I am expecting a second big run to arrive Wednesday from the vendor. The ones I'll be shipping this week at 110 and 130 bcd. He sent the Campy rings to the anodizer and we are hoping to get the back very soon. Thank you all for your patience. We had some kinks in this first run, but it's getting smoother now. Also, the FMB Super Muds are starting to trickle in too. Francois had some delays in the tread delivery on his end. I'll ship those as soon as I get them.

Here are a few bikes that recently arrived from paint.

Cross bike for Dave B. More here.

Cross bike for Trent. More here.

Cross bike for Ian. More here.

Cross frameset for Kevin. More here.

Cross frameset for Oliver. More here.

Thanks a million, fellas!

Cross and MAX

2011-08-18T17:04:00.000-04:00

Cyclocross is right around the corner and I've been working on Max bikes this week. Two of my favorite things! For those that ordered FMB tubulars, the first part of the shipment arrived. Francois finished up the Gripo XLs, Grifos, SSCs, and SSC Sprints. He's still waiting on the new SSC Super Mud tread bands from his supplier. He said that he will get them done as soon as he has bands. I'll start getting these out to you all ASAP.

I did a bunch of work prepping material for the MAX bikes. Lots of cutting, grinding, and filing ahead of me this weekend.

No fenders on these bikes.

A tale of three brakes (and bikes)

2011-08-11T22:49:00.000-04:00

James wanted a bike that would feel great on the road, rock the dirt roads, and keep him dry during the spring melt. He also wanted simplicity. Shimano BR-650. Room for a Michelin Jet or 25s with Honjo 35 mm fenders.

Lyen wanted a bike that would spend a lot of time on dry fire roads with big tires, keep the mud off of him with slightly smaller tires on wet dirt road days, and would still feel great in a paceline. Pauls Racer. Room for something massive without fenders and easily 30s with Honjo 43 mm fenders.

Justin wanted a bike that he could mount up some 23s on for some fast road riding on up to some fat knobbies if he was in the mood for some trails. Pauls Medium Racer. Tons of room and good looks.

Gentlemen, thank you very much to each of you for the opportunity to build these bikes!

Clean. For now.

2011-07-14T16:40:00.000-04:00

Thank you, Matt! This was a fun build.

Z Chainrings and FMB Tubulars

2011-07-06T16:48:00.001-04:00

Hi folks,
After a long prototype phase and numerous iterations, I am very excited to offer my new Zanconato chainrings! I've got about 1500 mixed-terrain miles on a set of version 0.99 in 36/42. The shifting is fantastic and the ones I've been testing don't even have the slippery coating that the production models will have. We really fine-tuned the spacing between the rings to prevent any drop between the rings, which is so common on tight ratio rings. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the specifications or options. You can reach me at the shop at 508-858-5468 or by email at mikez at zanconato dot com. Here are a few technical highlights:

CNC machined in Utah from 7075-T6 Aluminum
Hard anodized and PTFE coated for ultra-long wear
Designed as close to OEM specifications as possible for incredible ease of assembly
Outers are pinned and ramped for smooth shifting under load
Shift areas on outer are spread out for more pick-up points

BCD and tooth count options:
130: 38/44, 38/46
110: 36/42, 36/44, 38/44, 38/46
Campagnolo ST: 39/44, 39/46
Campagnolo CT: 36/42, 36/44, 38/44, 38/46

I will be submitting the first order to the machine shop on July 15 so that they will be ready before September 1. The easiest way to place an order will be to drop me an email with your shipping address and phone number along with the items you'd like to purchase. I'll send over an invoice for your review. Payment by check is preferred. As an incentive to pre-order, I will be offering a 10% discount for orders placed and paid by the July 15 cut-off.

Outer ring - $110
Inner ring - $95
Inner ring threaded with bolt kit - $115

The threaded inner kits will include 5 bolts for 110 and 130 bcd rings and 4 bolts for Campagnolo CT and Campagnolo ST (you will use the stock Campagnolo bolt behind the crankarm). You can see the custom Torx bolts in one of the pictures below. They match the look of the outer ring exactly and make for very smooth assembly.

Thank you very much to everyone for your interest! I've received a ton of email so far and I'm so excited these are now a reality. It took a lot of work in the design and testing phases, but now we'll have some great gearing options that shift superbly and will last and last for many seasons to come!

110 BCD

Campy CT

130 BCD with threaded inner and custom Torx bolts to match!

I'm also putting together an order for FMB cross tubulars that will be submitted to FMB on July 15. Again, it would be easiest to contact me at the email address above with your contact information and items you would like and I can send over an invoice. The current lead time is 6-8 weeks.
Pricing will be as follows:
$115 each for SSC, SSC Sprint, Grifo, Fango.
$125 each for SSC Super Mud, Gripo XL (old style Racing Ralph tread), Grifo Sprint Blanc (Grifo XS tread)
Sizes 30, 32, or 34. Please note that 34 are no longer allowed in UCI Elite categories or National Jersey event categories.

Here is a look at the new SSC Super Mud tread pattern. It looks like it will be a fantastic alternative to the Rhino. Please note that the actual tread will be black. This is a plastic rapid prototype model.

Many thanks, everyone! I really appreciate your business. Now, back to building bikes.
Mike

Ready for some serious miles

2011-07-06T07:02:00.000-04:00

Joe rolled this out of the shop last week, and it's probably got a thousand miles on it already! You may have spotted it around the Finger Lakes over the July 4th weekend. It built up quite light for a 62-ish cm frame. Thanks again, Joe, and many happy miles!

And a dirt road bike for Justin R

catching up on the blog

2011-06-20T16:03:00.000-04:00

Catching up here. Been cranking on fat tire bikes and haven't been keeping up here. Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks.

Cross for Dave B.

Cross for Josh S

Road for Thierry C

Fat tire road bike for Lyen H

Thanks for looking!

zanc'n atmo

2011-05-27T10:59:00.002-04:00

Our Men's Journal article is now online!

2011-05-26T18:30:00.001-04:00

http://www.mensjournal.com/the-rebel-king-of-custom-bikes

We even made their home page!

The interface

2011-05-25T15:04:00.001-04:00

UCI Approved

2011-05-24T09:58:00.000-04:00

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

Little Boy

2011-05-23T17:45:00.001-04:00

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.

Another big cross bike

2011-05-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

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.

Zanconato goes mainstream in Men's Journal magazine

2011-05-16T10:43:00.002-04:00

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!

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

2011-05-12T14:32:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-12T12:21:00.000-04:00

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.

The preseason

2011-05-05T16:34:00.001-04:00

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!

It was a Van Halen kind of day

2011-05-04T16:11:00.001-04:00

Mostly David. A little Sammy after lunch.

geez...paint me already.

2011-05-03T18:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday!

2011-04-29T16:29:00.001-04:00

Closing out the week with another road bike.

Have a great weekend!

Shiny

2011-04-28T16:09:00.001-04:00

Just have the fork to finish up the fork tonight and then off to paint tomorrow. Thanks, Joe!

All of my DT lugs for the dirt road and cross bikes will be back from the engraver tomorrow. Then it will be dirty bike central around here.

I love it when a plan comes together

2011-04-27T15:55:00.001-04:00

Hannibal was right.

Back to big bikes

2011-04-26T17:52:00.001-04:00

For a tall fella.

S&S Road

2011-04-26T15:42:00.001-04:00

This was a fun one to build after doing 5 straight 60+cm frames! Since the S&S couplers add quite a bit of stiffness to the frame, we went with standard diameter tubing and a nice light set of stays. We also set up the bike with maximum clearance on the brakes and fender mounts for the spring mess.

Many thanks, Chris and Mike!

Day 3: Lincoln Electric's GTAW (TIG) welding class

2011-04-23T16:14:00.002-04:00

Day 3 kicked off with a lecture on AC welding on aluminum and magnesium. We only practiced on aluminum, but the techniques and machine setup are similar between the two materials. Both materials form oxides on their surface that melt at much higher temperatures than the parent metal underneath. These oxides need to be removed while welding, and the electrode positive half-cycle of the alternating current is what breaks them up. We discussed the AC balance on the machine and the pros and cons of more cleaning action (balance towards more electrode positive) and more penetration (balance towards more electrode negative). We also discussed the frequency of the AC cycle, and how a higher running frequency results in a tighter arc and deeper penetration. It's amazing all of the technology that goes into AC welding and the resulting flexibility the adjustments provide. I made quite a mess of some nice coupons of 6061, but I was having fun doing it. I also did a few more tubing samples towards the end of the day.

Butt weld

Added a T joint

Lap welds

Started getting out of hand. See that big puff of black? Yeah, I hit the tungsten with the filler rod.

Edge weld

Outside corner

Trying to get into a tight spot. Well, maybe a tight spot for a beginner. Note the TIG Finger Heat Shield in the background. Very handy.

Tubing attempt #4

Tubing attempt #5

Tubing attempt #6

Tubing attempt #8

That's about it for day 3. I've been adding more photos to the Photobucket gallery HERE. Thanks for reading!

Day 2: Lincoln Electric's GTAW (TIG) welding class

2011-04-20T20:10:00.001-04:00

Day 2 was all about stainless. We began the day at 8am with approximately 90 minutes of lecture. We started with some basic metallurgy and went over the different families of stainless. We then talked about some of its physical characteristics and really focused on its thermal conductivity and why stainless wraps the way it does. Then we went into machine settings and techniques. Pulse was introduced and we were encouraged to experiment with high frequency pulse to reduce heat input and (hopefully) warpage. A little Q&A and then we were off and running. Bob cruised around all of the booths and did some demos for us. But really, it's been all about booth time. I've been skipping lunch and staying late. The six straight hours of uninterrupted practice has been fantastic. Here are some photos. Please be kind. With only a tiny bit (maybe an hour total) of previous experience, these are some of my first attempts at welding of any kind. The entire album can be seen HERE.

The booth.

Lincoln InvertecV205-T

16 gauge carbon steel butt welds

16 gauge carbon steel T joint

16 gauge stainless butt weld

stainless T joint

my first tubing sample attempt

There's a lot of photos showing a ton of nasty welds in that gallery link I posted above. Fun stuff.

Thanks for reading!

Day 1: Lincoln Electric's GTAW (TIG) welding class

2011-04-18T18:25:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone,
As part of my long-term plan for Zanconato Custom Cycles, I am attending Lincoln Electric's 1-week TIG welding class this week. I love lugs. Let me get that right out there. I want to build lugged bicycles for the rest of my career. They are uniquely beautiful, and that beauty was one of primary motivators that drove me to build my first frame back in 1998. But I've wanted to learn to TIG weld for a long long time. Welding opens up so many options. From being able to build frames in different materials to having a more cost-efficient steel option, welding is an extraordinary process for building sweet bikes. And when I look at my mission statement, the focus is putting great fitting, great handling, and great riding bikes in the hands of as many people as possible. This is the next step in accomplishing that mission.

Lincoln Electric has a world renowned welding school on their monstrous Cleveland, OH campus. The company was founded in 1895. At the time, they were building electric motors. They introduced their first welding set in 1909 and they began training welders in 1917. The welding school grew from there and now they have offerings that range from a basic 1-week intro to welding class to a 16-week comprehensive course that offers the student intensive training in all common forms of welding. Other interesting courses include two different motorsports TIG courses that focuses on some of the more exotic materials such as titanium, magnesium, and inconel. I'm taking the 1-week Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (TIG) class. The focus of the course will be welding carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.

Day 1 began at 8am with a class introduction and a quick safety discussion. Our instructor, Bob Gardner, gave a bit of his background. He's been associated with Lincoln for nearly 40 years and has been a teacher for 28. Talk about experience. He did a fantastic job all day explaining concepts and techniques at a level everyone could understand. Great stuff. The class has 11 students. We went around the horn introducing ourselves. There are eight of us that are here for career reasons and three doing it more for recreation/hobby reasons. Seven have zero TIG experience. So it is a good mix and nobody should feel tentative about coming to the class due to lack of welding experience.

After the intros, we spent about an hour going over some basic concepts and the differences between DC and AC welding. We also had a high level discussion on AC frequency, balance, and waveform, AC and DC pulse, and purging/backpurging techniques. That all took about 2 hours and we were out on the floor doing some demos by 10am.

The setup out on the floor is pretty sweet. There are huge bins of pre-cut coupons in various sizes and thicknesses ready to go. And there are rows of separate booths for each student. There's plenty of room in the booth. They have a variety of machines that they use depending on what the students will be using after the class. I got set up on an Invertec V205 because I plan on using an inverter machine for building bicycle frames. The machine had a 9 series torch. The guys who are going to be using transformer machines got set up on Precision TIG 275 machines. Very nice all around.

I'll bring my camera with me tomorrow to get some photos. We started on some 12 gauge carbon steel coupons and did some butt, lap, and T joints. Bob was cruising around and was looking over each of our shoulders, gave out tips and advice, and did some demos in each of our booths. I also focused a bit on 16 gauge material because I wanted to start getting some time with some thinner material. I also have some tube samples that I brought with me, but I want to get some booth time in me before attempting those. We had a 30 minute break for lunch in the middle of the day. I stayed until about 3:45, even though the class officially ended at 2:30. Nobody was kicking me out, so I took advantage of the time.

So that's a wrap for day one. The rest of my updates will be more photo heavy and have less text, but I wanted to get this info out there. It covers a lot of the questions I had in my mind going into it. There isn't a ton of info on their website, so I figure this might help you in your decision making process if you are considering attending the class.

Thanks for reading!

Fluxed

2011-04-11T11:39:00.001-04:00

Gooey

2011-04-07T18:55:00.001-04:00

Which leads to crackly.

114 braze-ons

2011-04-01T17:54:00.001-04:00

in the past 2 days.

Time to build some frames.

Prep

2011-03-31T19:25:00.001-04:00

Shrapnel

2011-03-29T06:22:00.002-04:00

I've been putting in lots of OT since getting back from NAHBS. I just did a big upload of photos to customer galleries to the left. It's spring, and I know folks are anxious for new bikes. I'm anxious and excited to get them out. I'll have my nose to the grindstone to make it happen. Hopefully, I won't give Keith a heart attack with the barrage of boxes that will be showing up at his door.

zank

Article on NAHBS blog

2011-02-28T17:41:00.002-05:00

A little love from Matt Shields, one of the official NAHBS blog editors. Thanks, Matt.

Zanconato Custom Cycles

zank

First report from NAHBS

2011-02-26T08:52:00.001-05:00

Greetings from Austin, TX. What an incredible city; it's the perfect venue to host this show. It's got a fantastic bicycle culture, incredibly warm and welcoming residents, and amazing food and drinks. I'd come back here in a heartbeat.

I didn't get much of a chance to walk around the show yesterday. In years past, Friday was usually a slightly slower paced day and then Saturday was insane, but yesterday was pretty busy and there was a constant stream of folks coming through the booth. I did take a quick stroll and all I can say is "WOW!" What an incredible time to be in the market for a new bike. All of the booths and bikes look incredible. I'll get more pictures today and gather some more thoughts.

Here are some pictures of my booth. My theme, as it's always been with everything I do, is clean and simple. I wanted a lot of room for people to be able to move around and not feel cramped or pressured to move on. I'm happy with how it came out and I've received some positive feedback. I'm banking on my choice to pay off today, because the powers that be at NAHBS are predicting an incredible attendee turnout.

Thank you to everyone for all of the well-wishes by phone, email, forum posts and PMs, Facebook, and Twitter. You all are the best. I feel so fortunate to have such great supporters.

More from the show later. Have a great day.
zank

NAHBS show bike #3

2011-02-19T17:40:00.001-05:00

This one was a blast. Combining some old school pipes with new-age shifting may raise some eyebrows, but I say why the heck not? Who says you can't cross generations?

I carved up this set of Max lugs to look a little different than the last set. The goal here was a slim profile and a little less glitz. I've also learned that the seat stay attachment is a little stronger and cleaner looking if I add a skirt to the back of the seat tube. That way, I get a nice full miter of the seat stays to the seat tube. I made a few other changes outlined in some previous blog posts. I've enjoyed refining my techniques with this set. It's too bad they are disappearing so quickly.

Integrating the full internal Di2 wiring kit cleaned up the look of the bike even further. Word to the wise. Test all of the Di2 stuff before installing everything. I had to a bad Junction B and had to pull everything apart. Chad and the guys at Shimano came through for me though. Lesson learned.

Keith pulled off a stunner of a paint job. All of the bands and lettering are painted on and there isn't a bump or ripple anywhere. It will glow under the show lights.

Thank you, Bryan! What a pleasure this whole process was. I can't wait to get your feedback on the ride.

NAHBS show bike #2

2011-02-18T21:30:00.002-05:00

A bike hasn't affected me in this way in a long time. Crazy emotions ran through me as I put it together. Memories started coming back. I started with the parts laid out on the bench and all of that polished aluminum simply gleamed. And as each part went on and the bike started coming together, I got a little giddier. Now look, I'm usually not one to hark back to days gone by pining for what was. Technology and fashion move on. I tend to adapt. I try not to get wrapped up in trying to control things that are out of my control. But I found myself thinking about this bike a lot starting from when Paul and I started talking about the build. And every thought would bring me back to memories of rides and bikes gone by. I guess today is one of those days when I wished all bikes looked like they did a generation ago. Alas, time moves on. But it's nice to know there are still a few companies that allow us to indulge these thoughts and desires.

There are more photos here.

Thank you, Paul.

NAHBS show bike #1

2011-02-17T21:36:00.002-05:00

We are one week away from the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show in Austin, TX. It's getting a little crazy around here as the time winds down. I'll have three bikes with me and here is the cyclocross machine. I love it when big bikes don't look particularly big. This one will be tearing up the Mid-Atlantic this fall. Many thanks, Bill! I can't wait to see photos of it all dirty.

There are more photos here.

Bikerumor gave me some love

2011-01-31T09:01:00.004-05:00

Bikerumor.com is doing a build up to NAHBS with a series of mini interviews. They just posted mine up. Thank you to Thom P and the gang over at Bikerumor!

Race To NAHBS! ADHD Interview – 11 NAHBS-Related Questions For Mike Zanconato

Fresh from paint

2011-01-28T18:26:00.005-05:00

Keith laid down a stunning paint job on this frameset. A straight up road machine for a good pal.. Thanks, Steve! More photos of the build HERE.

Customer Queue added to left column

2011-01-25T11:24:00.001-05:00

Hi Folks,
I brought back my customer queue update section to the blog. It's on the left under the "Smoked Out" link list. I just dumped the initials in there for the moment, but I will be adding details and creating links to each customer's frame gallery on Photobucket. At the moment, I'm working on a bunch of frame specifications and working hard to get framesets off to Keith for paint. I just wanted to get this up since I haven't posted here in a few weeks. Drop me a line if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Mike

Busy week

2010-12-23T14:17:00.001-05:00

The new shop is finally feeling good. Made lots of metal chips, melted lots of silver, and burnt lots of acetylene this week.

S&S Coupled road frame.

Fillet brazed cyclocross frame.

Another road frame headed to New Hampshire hills.

A road frame destined for some serious dirt road riding.

More to do...

Final torch work for the week

2010-12-17T17:07:00.001-05:00

Off to a party here at the mill.

Chainring fetish

2010-12-17T17:00:00.001-05:00

And these are feeding my addiction. Time to test.

38/44 Campy CT

36/42 SRAM

Methodology

2010-12-09T17:24:00.004-05:00

I dig working in batches. That's not to be confused with doing production runs where everything is the same size. These are still all unique to their future owners. But it drives me crazy doing every single step once. It completely offends my sensibilities. It also runs counter to all of the training I have received through school and my time in industry. Granted, this is not a production environment per se the way an injection molding shop is. But still, something just feels wrong going to my tool box, getting a drill bit, getting my drill, chucking it up, drilling two holes, taking out the bit, putting it away, and then putting away the drill. Why not drill 6 more holes and then not have to drill holes for a while? You save yourself a lot of time. Yeah, it takes some planning in terms of materials and having designs lined up and ready. But it's nice knowing I've reduced the footsteps around the shop overall. And I do love getting into a groove brazing a bunch at one time. It feels fantastic when things are flowing and each successive brazing operation feels better than the one previous to it. I love having a day when I have 3 or 4 frames that are tacked, aligned, and ready for final brazing and then I just braze and braze. Glorious. Anyway, what's with the rant, right? I guess I'm grumpy because Rebecca's been away for two weeks. And I wish I was in Bend at Natz. Sounds like it is going to be a great race week. But we have Ice Weasels to look forward to here in New England, so that will be sweet. And the wifey gets back from India tomorrow. I guess I'll just watch Manning throw three more interceptions again tonight. Zing! I just lost some sales in Indy.

Here's the start of four bikes.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Ready for some Florida cyclocross action

2010-12-08T09:02:00.001-05:00

Yes, they have cyclocross in Florida, and it's growing. I love seeing regions develop across the country. Maybe now that Nationals is in January, somebody in South Beach will submit a proposal to host! No offense, Madison.

Anyway, this machine is Florida bound to tackle some racing.

Thanks, Rafael!

Cyclocross chainring project moving along

2010-12-08T08:42:00.000-05:00

Just got a couple of photos of a sample SRAM/Shimano 110 bcd 42 tooth outer after the hard anodizing and I am very excited with how they look. This is before the shifting pins and chain drop pin are added. With the hard ano on the 7075, these are going to be to tough as nails. I won't get many repeat customers because they won't wear out! We're on schedule to have real production ready for NAHBS at the end of February.

Di2 meet Max...bridging the generation gap

2010-11-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

Picture it. A very attractive young woman dressed to the nines walking with a somewhat grizzled and tough looking older fella. A few heads might turn. Some just won't get it. But hey, ain't love strange?

All right...enough of that. This is the first Di2 bike I've had the opportunity to build. Let me say that Shimano has knocked it out of the park with the full internal wiring kit. I've still got a lot of work left to do on the frame, but I wanted to mock everything up and make sure that all is copacetic with the wiring before I finished up the BB area and seat stays.

The goal for this bike was simple. Make a clean layout for the wiring and make it easy on the eyes. That meant tuck the battery away out of plain view. I also wanted to drill the holes for the wiring in as many thicker cast pieces as possible rather than just the tubing. For the spots on the seat tube and down tube where this wasn't possible, I made some reinforcements for the holes. I also had to make a front derailleur braze-on. Here's the problem. A Max seat tube is very wide (approximately 36.5 mm) where the braze-on is placed. Putting a standard FD braze-on, which are meant to go on a 28.6 mm seat tube, on the tube positions the derailleur further away from the centerline of the bike compared to usual. This hasn't been a problem for standard front derailleurs. There's plenty of throw. Looking at the Di2 derailleur though, you can see right away that the cage does not go as far inboard as a standard derailleur. So what I did was make a tab and reinforcement and position it exactly to Shimano spec. This meant that the derailleur itself is very close to the seat tube but it is where it needs to be in relation to the crankset.

Have a great weekend!

Knee deep in Max

2010-11-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

Columbus Max. For me, it conjures up images of the nastiest, meanest, and toughest riders in the peleton from 20 years ago and the bikes they used duking it out on the bergs and cobbles of northern Europe during my second most favorite time of the year...the spring classics. These guys put down the power and corner really hard, and Columbus came up with a set of pipes that was unlike anything else at the time to maximize what the riders were laying down. The bikes weren't glamorous. They looked raw. They looked massive. They looked like the perfect tool for the job.

The tubeset came and went, but there's a group of riders who love these special bikes. It's about so much more than just how the frame rides, it's everything else associated with frame and the tubes. The history, the riders, the wins, the pain, the glory. It's just so unique.

Columbus listened to requests and has brought the tubes back as a catalog item. The lugs, however, are becoming increasingly rare. I built my first Max bike a couple of years ago and I documented the build on this thread on vsalon. It's still one of the most viewed threads on the forum, and that speaks to how many people are interested in these bikes.

I've been knee deep in building more of these bikes over the past couple of weeks and I've been having a ball. Here are some photos. Enjoy!

Did I ever tell you I love pearl paint?

2010-10-07T14:09:00.000-04:00

I love pearls. Growing up, I went to a ton of car and motorcycle shows. My dad is in that biz and we spent quite a few Sundays walking around looking at some incredible machines. I love seeing perfect paint jobs on big car panels. Orange peal (a type of surface roughness) and ripples pop out like a giant pimples. But perfectly flat finishes with super high gloss are just amazing. I think pearls compliment the efforts of the finisher in the same way that they can put a giant beacon on sins; they simply expose everything. If the underlying metal or paint work is less than perfect, the tiny pearl platelets pool up and/or don't reflect the light back in a uniform fashion. It kind of looks like swirls. Your eye immediately picks up on this. If the clear coat has orange peal or fish eyes or just ripples, the reflected light is distorted and it makes the color look almost yellow. But when the metal work is smooth, the primer is sanded out like glass, the base coats are smooth, the pearl coat is uniform, and the clear coat is flat, smooth, and buffed, look out.

That was a long-winded intro to this machine. Platinum White pearl with Bittersweet pearl panels. I love it. It really shows off how Keith strives for a perfectly smooth surface even over the decals. Again, any ripple in the surface screams out "look at me" when dealing with pearls. To do this when dealing with decals, Keith has to build up the clear and then wet sand it so that the decals are buried in clear. Then he does a few finish coats of clear for incredible gloss. Stunning.

Craig wanted a road bike with the option to run 25s or maybe even 27s for the occasional dirt road ride. I maxed out the fork length and brake bridge so that the pads are at the bottom of the slots on the brakes. Plenty of room in there now. Also added fender mounts for the nasty months in Buffalo. I love these multi-use bikes. It's the way of the future. many thanks, Craig!

On a different topic, Embrocation Cycling Journal republished my cross tubular gluing article from a year ago. Time flies. Hope it might help a few of you. I'm in the midst of another big round of gluing myself. The smell of Mastik is lingering in the shop. I love cross season.

Vegas baby, Vegas!

2010-09-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

Kerry hit it out of the park and shipped the prototype chainrings to my hotel here in Vegas. I tore into that box in a heartbeat. My first impression was that they looked very prototype-ish, which was cool. The rings were raw and were not coated (the production rings will be hard anodized and gray, similar to Campy 11 speed rings) due to time constraints, so they had the natural patina of raw 7075 sheet. I was also really impressed by the machining around the mounting locations. They looked just like OE Campy rings (I'll come back to this when talking about installation). The ramps and steel shifting pins on the back side of the big ring looked like they will provide great shifting. And, of course, I was psyched with the tasteful Z treatment.

Installation went really easy. Everything lined up perfectly and the added machining meant the rings ran perfectly straight and true. I only shifted the bike on my makeshift stand in the hotel room, but the chain transitioned very smoothly. I can't wait to get them out in the dirt and test them under load.

These are the Campy CT 38/44 combo. Kerry finished the Mastercam files for the Campy CT 36 and 42 and now he is working on the 46 and the 110 bcd files. We're hoping to get a batch to the anodizer over the next couple of weeks and then real testing begins.

Walking around the show has been fun. The bike is front and center in the TRP booth and is getting some looks. It's a great feeling seeing it there. I really appreciate Lance saving a spot for me.

More Interbike impressions later...

Thanks for reading!

Chainring prototypes are done, just in time for Interbike!

2010-09-17T08:14:00.001-04:00

One step closer to lots of chainring options for Campy CT. I'm so excited!

A zank for Interbike!

2010-09-16T15:25:00.000-04:00

It's that feeling ya get as a kid when you can't sit still because you're so excited. Lance at TRP was incredibly gracious and offered me an opportunity to put a bike in their booth in Vegas. A mad scramble and here it is, ready for the big show. I'm so excited to be heading out there on Monday. But first we have the Verge opener this weekend up in Vermont! And on top of that, a shipment of FMBs arrived from France arrived yesterday. I'm bouncing all over the walls of the shop. Mostly because I'm working like a madman, but also because I can barely contain myself. The best time of year is upon us. Hope to see some of you in VT and then out at Interbike.

It's pretty black and white...

2010-09-03T06:43:00.002-04:00

You either love cyclocross or you've never heard of it.

10K+ views of my Smoked Out thread at vsalon. Woot!

2010-08-31T14:27:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched. I started my Smoked Out thread at Velocipedesalon back in April, and 10,000 views later it's still going strong. It's been a great conversation so far. Please join in!

In other news, here's the Mastercam image of the 44 tooth outer Campagnolo CT chainring. Pinned and ramped for your pleasure. Kerry is machining up some of the first 38 tooth rings and these will be next on the CNC. With any luck, these will be on the bike I am displaying in the TRP Brakes booth at Interbike in Vegas three weeks from now. Exciting stuff!

Finally, I'm working feverishly on the lugs and BBs for the round of 4 Max bikes I have coming up next. I'll be hustling to get photos of the castings up by the end of the week. Hey, thanks for reading.

Hey crossers, you wanted options? You're about to get options.

2010-08-27T06:49:00.000-04:00

Remember the good old days when you could actually pick and choose chainrings at will? You'll soon be able to relive those days. I'll be starting with a line of Campy CT compatible and standard 110 bcd. More details to come. Here's a sneak peak at the 38 inner for Campy CT.

Road machine ready for take off

2010-08-17T07:42:00.002-04:00

Mr. Anderson took Brian's vision of creating a tribute to his Grandfather's flying career and executed a stunning paint job. My lackluster photo skills don't do it justice. It's getting built up with Force and some sweet hand-built wheels. Complete build photos coming...

Thank you, Brian!

Full picture galleries now posted on sidebar

2010-07-12T07:09:00.002-04:00

Hi all,
I now have links to the full galleries of frame builds over on the left side of the page. I'll be adding to the list with the most recent frameset on top.
Thanks for looking!
zank

Smoked Out on Velocipede Salon continues to grow

2010-07-02T11:56:00.002-04:00

Smoked Out's got everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite frame builders. And hey...if it isn't there, just ask! As more and more frame builders are put under the microscope on Smoked Out over on Velocipede Salon, we see builders that are as diverse in their business philosophies as they are in the materials and techniques they use to construct their bicycles. The best part is you can (and should) be part of the conversation. I bet an MBA candidate could do a project based on the information presented. So go over and join in. Sign up on Vsalon and check out the other boards too. There's a ton of great discussion going on.
Hey, thanks for reading!
zank

FMB Cyclocross and Road Tubular pre-order going in

2010-06-29T07:15:00.005-04:00

Hi Folks,
I am putting in my annual FMB tubular order next week. I am going to be doing cyclocross and road tubulars this time around. I highly suggest pre-ordering so that you can get exactly what you need and my stock always runs out fast. Francois Marie makes his tubulars by hand in the tradition of the great tire makers of old. Everything except for the tread and the tube is made in his shop on the Brittany coast of France.

He has a wide range of cyclocross treads available. He has two treads of his own design: the SSC and the SSC Sprint. The SSC is a good all-around tread that excels on dry hard-park. The SSC Sprint is a fantastic file tread. It has bulkier side knobs than most file treads which allow it to be used more in a wider range of conditions. He also has the Racing Ralph tread (the FMB Gripo XL), which is a more aggressive tread. He also has the Challenge treads at his disposal (the Grifo, Grifo XS, and Fango). The Fango is the only tread that may be in limited quantities. He is in the process of trying to get more. I might suggest the Grifo as an alternative. While the Fango was originally touted as a tread for muddy conditions, it never really met those expectations though it is a great all-arounder. The Challenge treads are only available on 32 and 34 mm casings. The SSC, SSC Sprint and Gripo XL are available on 30, 32, and 34 mm casings.

On the road side, I will be doing the Competition CX 22, the Paris-Roubaix 25 and Paris-Roubaix 27. The construction of the three is similar, but the larger Paris-Roubaix tubulars get a slightly different tread that comes a bit further down the sidewall of the casing.

The deadline for order and payment is July 6. Please contact me through my website at the link below and I will email you an order form. Francois said delivery would be 6-7 weeks, so they'll be in with plenty of time before the first big races.

Contact Page

Thanks, everyone. Cross is right around the corner!
zank

A happy fella

2010-06-10T10:44:00.002-04:00

David came by to pick up his new bike today. The paint is Baffin blue with a blue pearl coat. Hammered Honjo fenders, Ultegra, and a smart pick on the rest of the components equals an ultra versatile and dependable bike. We'll see him on it at D2R2 in August.

Thanks, David! It's been a blast working with you on this bike.

Hello world

2010-06-03T13:52:00.002-04:00

Taking shape...

Braze-ons first

2010-05-19T17:05:00.002-04:00

I try to do as many braze-ons as possible before the frame goes together. It's a minor detail, but I think the heating and cooling associated with adding them after the frame is complete could lead to stresses being built into the frame. Or maybe that's just an excuse for how my techniques have evolved.

Headed for the hills

2010-05-18T17:31:00.005-04:00

This bike is destined for the hill country in New Hampshire. Brian wanted a no-nonsense road bike that could handle long, hilly rides and nasty winters. More coming tomorrow.

PegoRichie tubing and Z treated lugs.

Tubing mitered.

Prepping the brass tube for the internal rear brake routing.

Brass tube snaked through the top tube.

And brazed.

The complete album is here. Thanks for looking!

Smoked Out

2010-05-11T09:09:00.004-04:00

Cycling forums come in many shapes and sizes, each with a different purpose, mission statement, and/or viewership. The Velocipede Salon has been in existence now for almost a couple of years. It's my go-to for intelligent cycling chat. Richard Sachs and Josh Simonds have created a new sub-forum called "Smoked Out", where "Framebuilders tell their stories in the first person and hold a conversation with Vsalonistas". The Smoked Out forum is getting quite a bit of online attention. Bicyling's Bill Strickland and The Washing Machine Post have each written a piece about new forum and both found it an enjoyable read.

I was lucky enough to be the builder to kick things off. The thread has been a lot of fun and the questions have ranged from tough to lighthearted. Check it out and I encourage you to participate!

Zanconato Custom Cycles gets Smoked Out

Have a great day!
zank

Off to paint...

2010-05-11T08:14:00.003-04:00

This was a really fun bike to build. Honjo fenders are the absolute best. This bike has room for some bigger tires and 36 mm fenders, but it's designed to be a road bike first and foremost. Thank you, David!

What's old is new again

2010-05-11T07:01:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,
Well, I never could get the hang of the new blog format and software. It's pretty to look at, but it's a pain to post images to. This will be the blog of choice and I will be adding new photos here all along the way.
Thanks!
Mike

new site and blog

2009-08-19T08:05:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone.

Well, the new website and blog are being uploaded over the next few days. This blog will remain as an archive, but will not be further updated. The new blog has many new features that just aren't available here. Stop by the new pages and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

New website
New blog

More MAX

2009-01-12T09:03:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-10T17:46:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-02T10:20:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-02T09:46:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-06-11T19:16:00.003-04:00

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...

2008-03-10T11:15:00.009-04:00

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

2008-03-07T07:37:00.004-05:00

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

2008-02-18T13:35:00.002-05:00

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

2008-01-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-21T00:33:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-21T00:07:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-19T07:29:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

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

The real deal

2007-09-10T14:11:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-09-08T21:58:00.000-04:00

Frames are in paint

2007-09-04T08:30:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-28T10:07:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-14T15:21:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-08-13T17:43:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-16T19:37:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-07-12T15:07:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-05T08:29:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-03T03:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-01T02:06:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-15T06:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-31T15:35:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-05-18T17:11:00.001-04:00

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?"

2007-05-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-05-03T15:31:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-05-02T23:55:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-04-30T09:52:00.000-04:00

Little bike....

Bigger bike...