Wednesday, July 29, 2015

26"



 Ended up making more clearance for the cranks and a bigger sprocket with a yoke. This was the first of its kind, having a bend down the center. The objective was to make the thing as laterally stiff as possible. This frame has good clearance for a huge round profile tire and a 32t sprocket (even at 14.5" CS)

Little short stack 98mm head tube for a tapered steerer and an 83mm Spanish BB. 

The 135mm rear end is the best way to get clearance for tires and a sprocket on one of these street 26"s. They have at least 7mm more wiggle room than the 110mm rear ends. The optimal design for pegs would be a 14X135mm but those hubs don't appear to exist anymore.



Monday, July 27, 2015



This is a hairy line when you're unaware that your tire has a slow leak. Yesterday we were trying to get some new photo angles of the shark fin jump and I folded my tire over on the way out. Luckily, I just bent a pedal when I hit the back of the landing. These old stock Profile "DJ" cranks are the best. I'll take bent pedal spindles over bent cranks anytime.


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

 I made this gusset to counter the stress that likely caused the cracks on this older (random belt drive SS) frame. Apparently when the seat post is long enough, and there isn't sufficient insertion depth, there are stresses in odd places on the seat tube. All of the frames that I see (on the internet) that have had this failure lack any kind of ST-TT gusset.
 Once the list is going a little slower I'll shoot for a batch of my 4" risers. This is my first week on a frame with a short chainstay coupled with a taller bar and it has made manualing a 26" similar to the 24". I used to be on a 2" riser on my DJ bikes and I'll never go back.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

25.4 clamp, 4" rise, 3 up 7 back



These are going on one of my steel DJ bikes that I got some new parts for. (for which I ordered new parts)

Friday, July 10, 2015

Almost there on a 450mm fork. Just gotta round up an aluminum tube for an insert. The steerer is  2.4mm thick, but the longer legs create more stress.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Tire clearance looks tight in this picture, but its .25" all the way around with the big Geax (same size as the Maxxis 2.4 Hookworm). Slammed at 14.9".

Mammoth bars

Got to talking about steel 31.8 bars. Here is one way to do them: 4" rise, 7 back 3 up. The much lighter way to go is to just lathe down an AL adapter shim, but people have been asking for an all steel bar.

Monday, July 6, 2015

them bones

Those be Mammoth bones. I spotted ten or more vertebra sticking out of a creek wall in Austin. They're a bit too decomposed to remove unfortunately.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

the 4th

I was asked to do this bar design with the 25.4mm clamp. My hand knurler did a good job on the larger size. Lots of welding for a handlebar.

Friday, July 3, 2015


 New flat white color, looks like egg shell up close.
 I've amassed about 60 powder colors. Just ask for a hue and I've probably got it.
 Re-coated Jackson's T1 frame with a Maroon/fine flake and a clear coat. Should be much tougher than the clear that had been on it.
 Been a while since a DJ frame has gone out. This one has a 44mm inset headtube (for a tapered steerer) and a 1.75" downtube.
I will take some time to make some "stock" DJ frames with some Stout stay braces. Those will have my geometry: 69 HA, 74 SA, 15" CS, 25mm BB drop. I'll also have some 3" and 4" rise bars going (3* up and 7* back four piece bars).

We got just enough rain to ruin the weekend. I've been skunked the last three times that I tried to ride dirt or skateparks by ill timed showers. I'm going sand riding or taking a trip to Austin as soon as possible.