Thursday, December 7, 2017

440mm fork





(holy shit!)These butted/segmented forks are stronger than you'd imagine. I wish that I had more of these Supertherm single butted tubes in stock but only 8-9 are left.



Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Bars

 Shunsuke's clamps will get welded tomorrow.
 Remy's heavy/light 8.25" bars and Alex's 3.5" bars are ready to coat
Dude is wiring a light in at least one of the junction holes. I made the junction holes thicker and slightly smaller diameter than the ones that I ride, as they're going on a skatepark bike.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Red headtube, fade into stripes, blue rear triangle with white stars or text?

Monday, November 20, 2017

Aaron's

"So bought the frame from Matt and built it up and he went way over the top in making it a super amazing quality frame and it handles like a dream frame should and it’s super reliable on the trails and jumps and the geometry is amazing !! Still smiling till this very day and love riding and get so many complements from a variety of people on the trails and on the street ! Thanks again Matt! Amazing work and keep it up! Still can’t think of a name to call this frame ! "





 ISCG and housing mounts tonight and tomorrow the first powdercoat layers.
I made Russ's bars too high and narrow (4.85") but I'll have the correct ones done (4.5") tomorrow as well. When the upsweep changes by a few degrees (from a stock/reference bar) it can be a little tricky to get them exactly the correct rise.

Friday, November 17, 2017

I ride the fat bike on four wheeler trails mostly, as there is more elevated/interesting terrain available. I found this old cable winch machine while plowing through the swampy woods, escaping the deeper tire track mud holes.

I never wash the thing because tomorrow's ride is going to be just as dirty.

This bike is for riding rocks, mud and sand. It sat out in the rain on a beach in Florida for a week. It has fallen off a twenty foot cliff at Bull Creek in Austin. The bottom bracket bearings creak from being washed out in three foot creek crossings. Hastily replaced dropper post aside, I pretty much neglect the thing and it doesn't fail. These cheaper Origin8 tires are heavier, require less air pressure and are more resistant to thorns and sidewall damage than my thinner, expensive tires.

Aesthetically, the seatstay bends are ugly but add a bit of elasticity/compliance. My next one will probably have the smaller diameter 16mm seat stays in the nromal "S" bend for a similar amount of compliance.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Prices

If you want a geared AM bike frame in any specified wheel size, my price is ~$1200.

Monday, November 13, 2017

DJ forks

It looks like Fox might be killing the Marzocchi brand, selling what is left of the inventory. They definitely thinned the product line out: removing long travel, single crown forks.

They do supposedly have options for a Fox 36 with 26, 27.5 and 29 in straight or tapered steerers. So hopefully there will be manufacturers support of three wheel size and steerer options in the future... and hopefully that 15mm axle just goes away at some point.

I picked up some Marzocchi DJ1 forks in case anyone wants one (there is a chance they'll be discontinued soon, along with the rest of the Marzocchi line). I consider them the best value dirt jump fork in terms of cost, longevity and ability to withstand neglect.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Lots of options. I'll put the completed frame into Photoshop to figure out a few possible designs for a "patriotic" paint scheme

Monday, October 30, 2017

Bert's 650 plus

The stainless dropouts solved the (powdercoat build-up) tolerance issues that I had with the last plus bike. 

Much of the riding in Texas consists of creek adjacent trails, as there isn't much public property and the acreage that is spared is usually in a flood plane.

 In east Texas this means that every few years the trails get washed out and replaced by sand dunes. Bigger tires and wider rims allow us to run lower tire pressure and float through sand that would otherwise grind momentum to a stop. The mid fat bike is a compromise for sand floating and cornering ability: While the bigger 4"+ fat wheels float on sand better they can be sluggish and have an over-steer characteristic.


Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Almost there. I debated whether to use 16 or 19mm seat stays and went with 16 because they're more compliant, most of the other steel 650+ bikes have them, and I can bend them on a large radius. The little seat tube gusset was to lower the standover a little bit and keep the junction strong enough. I lathed down some bottle cage mounts with a slightly wider surface area.
Been riding skateparks on this thing with 7"s instead of the 8"s and it feels right. I have to get a disc specific lever, as the BMX lever doesn't have the correct pull ratio for street stuff (way too sticky).



Monday, October 23, 2017

trials 24 done

 "Midnight blue"
 Tensioner and tool designed for a specific trial hub.
 Removable V brakes and disc.

Monday, October 16, 2017

 Starting the little big bike: mid fat, 148mm rear. Size Extra Medium
I chose the stainless dropouts this time as the last (1018 steel) thru axle drops that I used seemed to have too tight of tolerances for any kind of coating. 

I forgot to order barrel nuts for the brake mount so I had to make a few out of stainless. The ones Paragon sells are AL or brass, so these might actually be better than what they sell.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Trials 24"

 Finally got the 24" close to coating. Tensioners and a brake brace are next
 The first set of stays below had the bosses too narrow. At 83mm, the brake arms had to aim too far outward, even with the convex washer removed. The good ones here are sitting at 91mm apart. This wouldn't have been a big deal had I not had to make the removable V brake mounts each time (my usual sources are out of them).

Friday, October 6, 2017

The trials frame is awaiting some details on sprocket size

Brent's 17 backsweep bars are ready to go