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.