First up was a stem for an older Sachs. The rider decided he wanted to bring up his bars some, and wanted a stem that matched the general look of his lugged 25th anniversary frame.

Sorting bits:

Tight fillet:

And a view from the front with a point detail picking up on the lugs:

Next was a stem for a Winter. This one incorporates a pierced quill, pointed tip to echo the thin lugs, and integrated light mount/ wire routing.

Pierced will and domed back:

A look at that talon of a point:

Third we have a stem for a Pegoretti. This customer wanted something that maintained their position but finished off their build with a bit of distinction and flowed better with the tube diameters then an alloy stem.

Fresh fillet with integrated binder boss:

A small stainless badge:

Next, a rise stem to work with flat carbon bars for an urban fixed gear. This client sent a drawing to match their current bar position.

Brass valley (notice the micron thick flash in the texture of the steel- that’s “wet out”!):

Last up for the group, a stem for a Tournesol. After spending a long time on his new ride, this client decided to ditch the spacers and go for a fixed position custom stem to finish off his bicycle.

Filed fillet:

Stainless badge:

Pre-plating full:

Here is a group shot (just to prove I’m not recycling macro fillet photos):

Phew! If you are still with me, and you want EVEN MORE PHOTOS, check out these links:
Sachs
Winter
Pegoretti
Fixed gear
Tournesol

It’s back to bikes for a bit- keep your eyes peeled and I’ll be back with updates!

Josh at The Bicycle Story is putting together a series he calls “My First Bike”. The articles are a Q&A with builders about their first build and their entry into frame building. For extra fun he encouraged me to crawl up to the rafters and bring down Numero Uno to take a few shots.

After hanging it up and not looking at it for a long time it was fun to be reminded of how that frame taught me so much about what I didn’t know. Being proud of the effort but dissatisfied was a great motivator (and still is). The “finish work” that took forever is more rough then my raw bikes now, but all in all not to shabby for the first go. I rode it until I needed to pull the parts for another step along the way.

You can read thefull story here.

After roughly 17 hours of travel I arrived in the Bristol airport- a small affair that reminded me of the local airport near where I grew up. That certainly wasn’t the last similarity between Bristol and my NH roots. As I bussed into the city center we rolled along through farm land, rolled past stone shops and homes, and generally solidified the connection between Old and New Englands.

The bus drops at Temple Meads- one of the worlds oldest train stations. The show was held in one of Brunel’s older buildings that has recently been renovated as a show space. I quickly busied myself with setting up my modest travel booth for Winter and the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association- a track bike, all roads frame set, some posters and literature. Here is a view into the hall as the other exhibitors organize their displays:

I was gathered up by my new friends and taken home for a much appreciated Bontrager-base curry and a few hours of sleep. On my walk back to the venue the next day I was taken in by a lovely spring morning walk. If I had any bucolic ideals of England, Bristol lived up to them.

I was a very last minute entry, and the organizers were kind enough to fit me in at the main entry into the hall. This gave me both fantastic natural light, and a captive audience that had no choice but to see the bikes at least twice.

Not a bad back drop, eh?

Always one to try to shake hands and talk shop until the doors closed, I missed a very fun announcement: after seeing the bikes the judges decided to add a category for “Best Randonee/ Touring”. The integrated all roads frame I brought not only helped push another category, but also took home the award. That was a wonderful (and humbling) surprise. A big thanks to the judges and Brooks for sponsoring the category.
(better pictures to follow)

On Sunday I joined Scottish builder Steve Shand to discuss both of our entries into frame building, and to compare some of the similarities and differences between building in the UK and the US. We spoke about recent history, my work with the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association and how similar organization on either a formal or informal level may help the development of the UK scene. (photo borrowed from the Brooks blog coverage of the event)

In addition to the great days on the floor I spend some great nights with a rotating cast of characters at my hosts home. I was welcomed in, and spent some great time with a selection of new friends. We also went out across from the pub that helped launch Robinson Crusoe and inspire a tavern in Treasure Island. Alas, I was as much a pirate as anyone there that night.

I had a fantastic trip, and would like to say thank you to my hosts and new friends, Phil and Tessa for another fantastic show, the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association, the judging panel, and everyone of the 4000 or so visitors that came out for a memorable weekend.

Where NAHBS is a custom bicycle show catering to the specific niche, the Seattle Bike Expo is a large consumer show that features large bike companies, local businesses and non profits, discount/ old stock sales, BMX stunts and a selection of small builders. Both shows had roughly 8000(+) visitors.

I firmly believe that handmade and custom bicycles should exist as part of a customers full range of options and it was great to showcase my product with other more commercially available products. Winter custom bicycles are not only fun because they are different, but also because they truly stack up against the other choices.

I was also there with Dave Levy of Ti Cycles to support the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show (this October 13-14 in Portland).

We gave out hundreds of last years show guides and “save the date” fliers, and I look forward to the Seattle contingent coming down for another fantastic Oregon bicycle experience.

I had a great time, and can’t wait to head back up next year!

David Rangel also has a great gallery .

Be sure to click through their stuff, they have some really nice photos.

The internet came alive- it was a real pleasure to shake the hands of so many forum and internet contacts. I had a great time.

If you are in Seattle this weekend be sure to say hello at the Seattle Bike Expo, and if you are in Bristol at then end of the month be sure to swing by the Bespoked show.

This years weather was a bit dodgy, so I hit the road around 4:30am. In typical Oregon fashion it was nice and wet (and snowy) for the first 4 hours. Much to my surprise and pleasure I pulled right behind a plow and de-icer on the say up the longest and snowiest pass. I was retty fortunate to miss the meat of the storm and the mandatory chain ups an hour later.

Coming down into California the weather started to break immediately. It was still wet through Shasta, but opened right up and made for a fairly easy second half of the trip.

Once I pulled in the show volunteers were fantastic with helping my unload. Between helpful folks and a pared down booth, this years set up went together in record time.

In this years booth I had:
- An in process stainless Di2 bike that had just been brazed up Wednesday.
- My single speed commuter I had not planned on showing (but which was a sleeper smash)
- A fully internally wired 650b gravel masher with custom stem, rack, and a killer box lined paint job
- A purpose built sprint machine
- A really clean example of my Mix-N-MAX fendered road set up

I have some really nice shots that some friends put together- I’ll get those up shortly!

Here on the blog I detailed the construction and raw frame. After the frame was built I sent the bike down to Keith Anderson to work his magic. I asked for “something similar to the TA photo, but with more pop”, and shared some of the clients choices and a little tribute art idea I had.

What came back is simply stunning.

A classic track bike designed to be at home on the velodrome or to wear it’s casual set up for regular street riding. I am excited to hand it over and see it on the road. Please see the full gallery here.

First up was a frame repair for a local rider. After an unfortunate run in with a motorcycle in Thailand, this poor bike needed some love.

Both the top and down tube were crumpled-something we see a lot of from forceful front end impacts. This bike was coupled, so the first step was to reclaim the old coupler ends:

The original factory install was a little heavy handed. I cleaned out the silver, squared up the edges and reprofiled the points. Then it was back on to the new tubes.

Next it was time to stitch the new front end together with a nice figure-8 fillet:

And after a little clean up…

I added the new bottle bosses, cable stops and down tube posts. After a little more clean up it was ready for powder and more adventure!

We opted for all internal routing and cabling, which is always a fun challenge. The shift and brake cables are fairly straight forward.

Running light wiring is fun, especially when dealing with different bottom bracket standards and a desire to mount the light sans fenders (and in a position the rear rack doesn’t obscure it). Building bikes is essentially doing puzzles with floating variables- which is part of the appeal. I came up with some fairly straight forward solutions that should be as easy as possible for the owner to maintain.

Between the rear rack, custom light mounts, center pull hangers and custom stem this week has been full of lots of tiny parts!

Rack tabs

Light mount

Stem bits

Drop hanger

In the end- it’s all about bringing the details together for something functional, unique, and beautiful:

I’m off to grab some lunch with my wife- then back to the detail juggling before getting this one to Keith! The plan is to show you the whole package at NAHBS, and then possibly take it over to Bespoked in Bristol!

Oh- and a huge thanks to my customers who allow me to really have fun with these bicycles. It’s a great feeling to be able to go to a national or international show with one of my everyday builds and feel like I have a “show bike”. I’m a lucky man.