Winter Bicycles

Hold onto your hats, Bristol- Winter is coming.

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since the last blog update.

Things here at Winter have been moving along at a steady clip. With NAHBS looming in the near future it’s the seasonal rush to get customer bikes wrapped up and ready to show, as well as to keep the normal flow of small parts and repairs moving through.

In addition to the work, January has also been a busy time with shop visitors. I’ve had several local clients come through picking up and dropping off work, done a few consultations and fittings and met with several of my local industry friends. Just yesterday Ian and Andy (from Rouleur and Privateer respectively) popped in as part of their US visit.

Ian wrote a few words about the visit, and Andy busied himself taking photos:

It was a pleasure to chat about their visit, what I’m up to with Winter, and some of my thoughts on the current state of frame building and being an active bike designer/ manufacturer in the US.

My mouth hasn’t been the only thing working- I’ve also been keeping my hand quite busy. I have been predominantly working on a bike for a German customer, but have also begun picking away at a few other projects in the down times.

Here are a few select images from the process:

That’s enough from me for the moment- back to it. Thanks for reading- I’ll get more up soon.

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the New Year and the new winter to Toronto, Dandyhorse (blog) is running a “Winter cycling with Winter Bicycles” double feature.

First up is a Q&A revolving around some of what I consider when building an all weather urban bike, and some functional features that can be incorporated when setting your existing bike.

How to choose a winter bike with Winter Bicycles
by: Dana Lacey

Thanks to Winter supporter and forum friend “Fixednwinter”- Fixed turned me on to Dandyhorse, a great local advocacy and lifestyle magazine for the YYZ rider.

Happy holidays! Thanks for making this a great 2011.

While we still have a week left in the year, I’ll be shipping out the last made in 2011 product Tuesday (finished just in time for the holiday).

I’ll be back in the shop and updating this week, but for now I’m off to grab a warm drink to fight off the seasons chill and enjoy some family time. Happy holidays!

Mark contacted me about a bike I showed at last years NAHBS- Brian’s “Pay Back” road frame. He wanted something with a similar laminate treatment and paint job, but with a bit more subtle feel. Mark was looking for a good weather sport road frame that blended the fit, comfort and handling features of a couple of his other bikes for an all day performer.

Here is the result-a bike I call the “Flecha” (Spanish for “arrow”) after the visual theme and go-fast nature.

Mark chose a nice metallic grey for the head tube and a white pearl for the main body-quite the striking color combo that keep the subtlety he was shooting for:

Keith did a fantastic job with the paint layering the colors for a really crisp look:

Great edges- I really like how Keith can touch off the metal work details:

Check out the drop shadow- a painted effect under my normal dry transfer decals. Sweet:

Take a peek at the full frame set gallery here, and all the build details over here.

Mark is going to work with his local shop to build this up with a nice 10sp Record/ Chorus mix and a Ritchey Classic silver trip set. I can’t wait to see photos of it built up!

Look out, Nashville!

Hekang’s San Ume track frame was a fun project, and one I was excited about before even starting it. Knowing that it was going to be a cool bike I decided to run a shadow of it; a second bike cut and built while it was going through. With a few minor tweaks I changed the design over from a track/ road training frame to super tight and quick 80′s style crit bike, dubbed the “Shadow Road” for this project.

Here are the lugs- mostly the same set with the same treatment I gave Hekang’s.

Ready to tack in the jig:

In keeping with the 80′s Japanese theme I decided to braze the lugs in brass (save the top head lug, brazed in silver to maintain the cosmetic brass fillet). Big, soft flame, and off to the races!

Here are a few shots-

Lower head tube lug:

Seat tube lug with a very delicate point:

Inside and outside the BB shell- full penetration and crisp edges:

I opted for horizontal drop outs for this bike, partially for the look, but also for chain stay length adjustment (these are very short rear stays). Brazing and cleaned up- a Franco open scallop with a pointed end, semi reminiscent of Nagasawa dropouts, cast to look like these.

Brazed and finished:

For the seat stay attachment I used a Eisentraut-ish fast back the reminded me of the Cinelli inspired San Rensho look. That’s a lot of references for a little ol’ seat stay attachment, but there your go:

Braze ons, bridges and some finish work, and the frame was finished. I also decided to use a fun low pro fork crown- here is a quick shot mid process:

The frame set is done and hanging on a peg. I’m out of town this week visiting my folks for holiday, but I’ll snap some shots when I get back in.

A huge thanks to my customers, supporters and industry friends!

Now- go get off the internet and hang out with your family and friends, we can get back to this stiff tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At the last installment I had the front triangle brazed up and was just about ready to put on the stays.

Here is a shot once the chain stays were in. To use the vernacular- dead nuts center.

Prepping the seat stays. Red means go!

Hekang wants to run this on the street, so I added a rear brake bridge…

… and a little nudge room for some meaty rubber with a tight rear end:

From there it was details

…details…

…details.

Tomorrow, off to paint!

For people interested in the full unpainted construction and detail heavy set, you can check it out here.

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

I was asked to build a bike in the style of a 3Resho (San Rensho, or “Three Victories”)

I have started in on the San Ume (“three plum”, after my Winter blossoms). I began with the fork. I am using a fork crown similar to those used on the earlier track models, but with more refinement to the point shapes and tapering, and the later window cut outs.

This fork is fully brass brazed. This photo shows the crown during the clean up and thinning stage. You can see the this brass shore line where the crown meets the fork blade:

And the fork tips brazed and refined:

I choose a lug set with a similar feel to the earlie Cinelli lugs Konno used. The head lug had a more angular feel then the original bulge formed lugs- I added a fillet and buffed it out to better match the other two lugs on the frame in addition to refining the shape and squaring the edges for nice clean transitions.

Once the tubes were cut and checked I brazed the front end up- silver for the main lugs and bras for the bb shell.

Here is a still warm head tube lug:

And a tacked, then brazed, BB shell:

With the flux soaked off you can see a nice and crisp shore line:

That become even crisper with a little bit of clean up and some subtle surace shaping of the lug:

Working of the track ends:

And finally a mock up with the stays just placed in the shell:

I have a bit more lug thinning, as well as adding on the rear end and some final detailing. We’re still deciding on final colors and parts- I’ll keep you updated as it moves along!

Patrick Brady at Peloton contacted me recently about participating in their “Artisans” Q&A column. I have met Patrick at a few of the shows, and it was fun to continue the conversation. Thanks to Mr. Brady and Peloton.

Peloton “Artisans” Q&A- Winter Bicycles, Winter Bicycles, Part 1

Now also linked from my “Media” section.