Working on John's Frame

Cut

Ouch, managed to slice myself open real nice with a mitered tube end while filing, guess I missed and bam. I was in awe about how much it cut me open, could see all the ligiments and tendons moving around. Wife carted me off to the ER for 7 stitches. Compaired to the collar bone this was a walk in the park.

Alright, Back to Business

Got my broken bone almost healed up and finished up John's Prototype. Needless to say it was a whacky Prototype as I inverted the dimensions on the Bottom Bracket Drop. I ordered the Bicycle Forest Bike Cad Program to assit me in dialing in the rider fit Process. Now back to the shop to start mitering tubes and getting things done.

Broken

On my way home from work on Christmas Eve I managed to crash and blew up my shoulder. Broke clean through the clavicle (Collar Bone) and fractured some other stuff in and around the tip of my right shoulder. I was coming down Hawthorne Bridge headed home in South East and I had a green  light coming down off the ramp, 16-18 mph and yes there was ice. I thought the intersection was slush and I pulled the front wheel up just a tad in case it wasn't slush. It was a rut of solid ice and it bucked me into an endo position and when the front wheel made contact it was too late, it slid out under neath me and I hit my right elbow and slid across the intersection of Grand or MLK. I got up and tried to pick up my bike with my right arm but massive electrical like shock and weird nerve damage made me stop. I moved my arm around and it seed like I was somewhat alright , but I knew I needed an x-ray. I tried to think about where the nearest Clinic was and decided to ride down 12th towards one. I made it about 1.5 miles and could not go any further. I stopped at the fire station on Powell and they called 911 and off I went in the ambulance high on 100mg of IV pain meds. Sat around for several hours in the emerg room getting shots of Morphine. Got the results of the x-ray and it was broke. I got a sling and some pain killers and sent home. My friend Matt helped me find a ride home with his nephew Chuck. I have been pacing around the house sucking on pain pills and enduring a lot of pain. I go see the ortho doc sometime next week. So another delay in production and man I'm sorry folks who are waiting for their frames.

The Jig is here

The Jig arrived. It is a little late but better late than never. The UPS guys were a little rough with it and part of the wooden box was cracked open. I called Joe to let him know and then put together to make sure all is there and square. Looks good. So this weekend I will start knocking out some frames.

The Shop

The shop is coming along. The tools have arrived, The Miter Drill is setup and working. I have my 400 lb flat stone work surface. The drafting table and work area are setup. Still debating on moving some stuff around and waitng for a bridgeport mill to show up on Craigslist for under $2 grand. Things are starting to take shape and it's kind of exciting.

Uggggg

So I ordered a frame jig but I don't get it until November, Damn, that throws some slownwss on my projects... I order a jig from Joe Bringelli  and Joe is great but like many of us he is a one man shop and sometimes things just take time.

Bike 006

Bike 006 is going to be built for Martin B and I'm not sure exactly what he wants. I assume it will be a Cyclocross or Single Speed Trainer bike for the early wet season, fenders and bottle bosses and all that good stuff.

Got an e-mail from Martin "Yeah - I'm thinking traditional 'cross geometry but with horizontal dropouts so I can go SS or fixed. I want to be able to race the occasional SS 'cross race but mainly fender it up for some fixie fun."

Bike 005

Bike 005 is going to be built for Rich C and it will be a Cyclocross Frame built that will be able to accept 29er hubs and wheels. Not sure if I can get super fatties to fit in there but we are going to try.

Bike 004

Bike 004 will be a Single Speed Cyclocross built for John M. More details as it is built. The fitting will be next week sometime.

John has been fitted and wanted a lugged frame. I finished up the drawing and due to the larger head tube to accomadate a 1 1/8" fork and not having any 73 degrees lugs for seat and top tube we decided to fillet braze this bike. This will allow me to widen the rear tire clearence and create a more clean look on the bike. I'm planning on getting this bike done fast so John might be able to race it at least once for a cyclocross race this year. We are going to run Henry James Dropouts plug style.