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.