Thursday, February 27, 2014

Vote! What stupid project should Walt build in 2014?

I have a deal with Sarah (and myself) - I get to build myself one bike a year. I've maybe fudged that rule a few times but I generally stick with it pretty well.

In recent history, in 2012 I built myself a cargo bike (which, because it was a test bike to check equipment after the move to UT, I decided didn't count) and Stupidmobile (the stupidmobile build lasted into 2013, really). In 2013 I reassembled (with very expensive parts) my 6" travel 29er, rode it a bit and decided I didn't want or need that much travel in northern UT, and then parted it back out. I also played with my 4" travel FS bike and built some new chainstay assemblies for it. With all the churn there I figured I was at my bike limit.

But 2014 is a new year. Of course, we're having a daughter in June and we're moving to Park City in 2 or 3 weeks... so there's a lot going on, but I am hoping to still find time to build myself something fun and a little bit wild/weird.

Maybe not THAT weird.

That's where you come in. I need ideas. Keep in mind that:

-I have a very fun hardtail and a very fun XC full suspension bike that I have niggling complaints about but am not all that excited to replace.

-I rarely ride road bikes and have an "old man" flat bar road bike for those rare occasions.

-I only ride fixies on the track and I sold my track bike when we moved to UT from CO. There is not currently a track here. Also I am perhaps the world's worst track rider.

-The cargo bike works fine and there is no way I have room for another one in a 550 sq ft. shop. It's already in the background of every picture, ever, from in there.

-I've determined that I don't have enough really gnar trails to ride in the PC area to justify a long travel setup of any kind. Plus I have a 6" frame that I could put back together if I changed my mind.

-Park City has a metric ton of groomed winter trails that are generally open to bikes. I also need a bike that can be used to pull a mower for the new huge stupid yard without damaging the turf too much - fatbike of some kind? But a rigid fatbike is kinda boring. I do those all the time. We're looking for weird here...

-I've been doing lots of building full suspension parts and have entertained the thought of doing an FS bike for Knards or for 26" fat tires. Combine this with a custom headshok fatbike fork perhaps? That would peg the weird meter pretty well as I pulled a mower around the lawn in my wife beater (or UV-protective long sleeves) while drinking a beer... but might also weigh a ton and not be much fun to ride. Having only ridden rigid fatbikes I'm not sure it makes any sense to do suspension if you're riding on actual snow - and I've got other bikes for dry trails.

-Maybe I need to build a kids bike? Something that can grow with the little one and work with multiple wheel sizes, maybe? Problem is that Bean isn't even 2 and doesn't much care for his current balance bike, so it might just gather dust.

-36er? For all that I seem to be the main guy building these, I don't own one. That's probably because I'm a little too small for one, and because they take up an amazing amount of space. Maybe I need to go big...

-A road bike, just to attract the deep-pocketed dentist-bike crowd? Problem is I'd hardly ride it and the build kit needed to impress that kind of customer would cost me a fortune.

-Tandem? Sarah would kill/maim/divorce me but maybe Bean would be big enough to ride it with me in 7-10 years.

-Recumbent? Swing bike? Muni? These are all terrible ideas, probably. No offense to the recumbent swing bikers out there.

-Something else? Get creative and tell me your ideas. It has to be at least moderately practical for living in a mountain town and not require $10k worth of obscure parts.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Bikes on the way...

Yep, this is how they get to Fedex (in this case it's Angus and Carey's rigs). In Portland or Boulder I probably would not get a second glance from anyone, here in SLC I almost cause people to drive off the road rubbernecking at the crazy person with the weird bike. I am sort of planning (pending SR65 being open by then, no way am I riding up Parleys) to move a small amount of stuff to Park City on the cargo bike, just for extra smug yuppie bike jerk points.

Barely visible Subaru scoffs, "You are not car free, sellout"

Friday, February 21, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Super Snotfactory!

I'm in awful-stuffed-up-dizzy-weak mode today so didn't accomplish anything. Tomorrow might not be great either. I'm capable of answering the phone or emails, though, so if you've got a burning need to chat about chainstay length, I am your man!

For those with frames at the powdercoater: they are way behind. I am hoping they will have some stuff on Friday. We'll see.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

It's NEVER too early...

...to learn proper shop safety!


Monday, February 17, 2014

Pics from Rob

I built Rob 2 nearly-identical bikes, one for traveling, with couplers and super beefed up everything (Supertherm!) to TSA-proof it, and another with lighter stuff for racing and riding closer to home.

Skinnies for touring, but she'll take 2.3s if Rob wants to go offroad

The "serious" bike. 


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Separated at birth?

I am really tired of putting water bottle bosses on/in things now. Jason's fork has 12 threaded mounting points (on top of the 14 on the frame)... maybe someone will want a fixie or a BMX soon so I get a break.


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Coming soon...WW Jerseys Are Back!

Yes, I'm finally doing jerseys again. Cost will be $85+shipping (generally about $10 in the USA) and availability will be sometime in early summer. Made in the USA, baby! To order, scroll down below the image.




Size


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Brief rant: Fatbikes are not mudbikes

I just randomly saw this video of someone dressed as a clown riding a fatbike. Not a very exciting video, really, and the clown schtick is, well, lame, but it's fine as far as it goes.

But here's what really drove me nuts: clearly, the snow on the trail is basically slush. You can see mud in many of the shots and while there's no direct evidence in the video, it's likely they rode on/through a lot of mud during the ride/shoot.

Guys, gals: riding in mud is bad for the trail. It's bad for your drivetrain. And it's really bad when a land manager goes for a hike and sees a bunch of big ruts left from bikes riding through the mud. Being on a fatbike does not earn you a free pass to shred the mud.

I see the same thing on our locals trails here in SLC - people seem to think that the presence of snow ANYWHERE on the trail means it's ok to ride their fatbike on said trail. Well, it's not -just like it's not ok to ride your regular mountain bike there. If the ground is frozen, or the whole trail is snow - anything goes. If it's 55 degrees and slush/mud/sun - go for a road ride and wait until it gets snowier OR drier and you can ride whatever bike you like best.

Riding in mud and trashing the trail is... for clowns. Don't be a clown.

Jason's frame... done

I am on a weird streak of building mostly road bikes (ok, dirt road bikes, but still) and everyone seems to want to use a zillion things attached to their frame - so my water bottle boss supply is almost toast! Jason used up 10 on just his frame and there'll be another 6 on the fork once I get it done... yikes, that's a lotta bottle bosses. But he'll be able to carry a lot of crap.

The hydrationmobile

Geometry breakdown is:
-71 HTA and 74 STA. I used a pretty long rake (50mm) fork to push the front wheel out a bit to help deal with Jason's annoying fender-overlap issues. With 40c tires, that means trail in the high 60s and front center of 61cm.
-The STA is a degree steeper than Jason usually rides so that he can use a setback post for a bit more cush.
-Chainstays are 45.5cm - nice and long for pannier clearance and stability on those long straight dirt roads that disappear on the horizon.
-BB height is nice and low at 265mm (again assuming big tires). Not great for a crit, but awesome for a long cruise or even a long hard effort out in the boonies. Without full on MTB tires, you're not going to get to a lean angle where hitting a pedal on the dirt is an issue in most cases so low and long is where it's at for this kind of bike.
-Clearance for 40c tires, fenders, bags, 3 water bottles, and the kitchen sink.
-Tubing is mostly Supertherm and Verus. Touring/gravel bikes get the crap beaten out of them and carry heavy loads so super thin/light tubes are a waste here. Frame is still a respectable 2050g, though.
-Paragon low mounts in swanky stainless. I love these dropouts for this kind of bike - they keep the caliper out of the way of the racks and bags really nicely.

Long story short - a bike for getting away from it all.

Temps in the 50s = sad skis

Friday, February 07, 2014

2 post Friday! Random pictures for Jason

Not much to say, but I'll try to use the captions to make a few of my trademark bon mots and keep you guys entertained at work.

BB welded in... nothing clever comes to mind

Um, still got nothin. The hole at the end of the slot looks weird to me in this picture, not sure why.

No wittiness but a story: this is the pencil I use to mark the tubing butts. Thanks Dr. Bart, and thanks, random kid who dropped the pencil outside Bean's preschool! The key here is that carbon does not cause any powdercoat problems. Ink (sharpies)? Problems. 

What a tube looks like fresh outta the mill. I have a lot of random scars on my hands from these damn things.

BB cluster. Aaaand... total fail on the bon mot front. 

Yes...

...I still occasionally get asked to build something with rim brake mounts. It's starting to be hard to remember where they need to go now, though, so I'm always digging back through one of my notebooks to figure out where to put the studs. Funny, when I started doing this disc brakes were practically unheard of outside of DH. I think I did maybe a couple of disc bikes in my entire first year of building.

Here we have 90's vintage braking... with some 90s style paint to match (I only built the boring black fork, though, to be fair) and a nice looong early 90s style stem... you could roll by a fine young thing on this bike and use your best 90s pickup line...


Thursday, February 06, 2014

Quick pic for Gus

The Minnesota singletrack slayer... ready for powdercoat.




Monday, February 03, 2014

By popular request - geometry geekery for Steve's frame

A few people have bugged me to do a geometry post on Steve's bike from yesterday. I've been slacking on those lately because getting ready to move, dealing with a 2 year old and a pregnant wife, and trying to survive the horrible air quality on the Wasatch front has taken up most of my time lately.

But I can't say no to my "fans" (hang your heads in shame!) so here we go.




-69 HTA (assuming a 120mm fork with some sag - Steve can run up to 150mm if he wants), 66.4cm front center, and 97mm of trail.
-That's a 72 degree seat angle and 61.5cm/24.2" effective toptube for those who don't want to figure things out using front center.
-31.7cm/12.5" BB height assuming big fat 2.5 tires. A bit lower with smaller rubber.
-41cm chainstays (actual, 40.5 effective) and clearance for a 2.4+" tire (a DHF will easily clear with the wheel pulled back a bit). I tried to talk Steve into letting me mess with the driveline since this is a SS-specific frame and he doesn't need/want a bashguard, but he opted to be a little more normal. Otherwise we'd have done 40cm or something.
-Built for a tapered, 120-150mm fork with a tapered steerer and a 30.9 dropper post. I tried to talk him into a stealth but no dice - he already has a non-stealth post and it's hard to argue that a little less visual clutter is worth $300. Note that I usually do 31.6 for droppers but it's just as easy for me to do 30.9 if that's the size you prefer.
-To allow full insertion of the post and get enough tire clearance, I offset the seat tube forward onto the downtube - so on this frame the seat tube and BB shell never meet. A supertherm downtube provides plenty of beef to handle the load.

Steve picked out a really neat avocado-y green color with a low/satin gloss that looks much cooler in real life than in pictures, too.

RAL 6003!

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Pics and unsolicited praise from Steve

Photoshop? Or not? Only Steve knows...


Steve writes: Bike rides awesome.  Telepathic is the term I would use.  I'm cornering noticeably faster than what I now call my long chainstay Paradox.  Those same corners that I used to sort of plow/understeer through the bike just carves through.  No pedal strikes either.  Great traction and I love how (with the dropper and short seat tube) I can get back over the rear wheel.  I rode the east side of High Desert Trail System today, which is basically cross country with a bit of trail.

I am still not used to pictures of bikes with the saddle slammed down. Tried
to talk Steve into going stealth on this sucker but he already had the non-stealth.