Thursday, March 26, 2015

Spring cleaning 2 - 140mm 29" trailbike!

As I said, I've accumulated a lot of stuff and I'm trying to clear things out a bit in the shop.

I could be yours

This frame was built for Peter who decided he wanted some different things (different shock, different setup to allow a different dropper post). The powdercoat is a bit meh - plenty of spots where it's rubbed off or thin around cable guides. But it's a great bike for someone out there, with no structural problems or dents/dings, available with a warranty from me.

$1250, includes a blue King tapered headset. Full custom parts kits available as always.

Vital stats:
-68 degree head tube angle with 140mm fork.
-140mm rear travel, will take anything from 120-160 in the front.
-ETT of 59cm, Front center around 690mm
-46cm/18" seat tube.
-115mm head tube length.
-43cm chainstays.
-355mm (unsprung) bb height.
-Takes a 31.6 dropper (stealth or non).
-Around 30" standover.
-Mostly supertherm pipes. Great for up to 200#.
-Ventana QR rear end. A replacement through axle swingarm exists now and is available for some extra cost.
-Includes CTD shock in excellent shape.

Please contact me with questions.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

E-bike forks?

As I understand it, Pierre will use this for an e-bike with some cargo carrying capability. Hence a fork built BEEFY (those fork blades? Steerer tubes...) with dual disc rotor capability and 110x20 axle.

Pierre might have set the record for most expensive custom fork on this one, too, once the custom-color ordering gets done to match it to his frame.

Double trouble.

Winter in the mountains is hard on the outside of your house.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Spring cleaning begins!

I've accumulated a lot of stuff related to bicycles over the years, and because I'm a bit of a packrat, a lot of it has been gathering dust for quite a while - time to clear some stuff out. Stay tuned this week for a whole bunch of neat stuff (including some frames!)

For today, just some small stuff:

-XT M780A low clamp dual full front derailleur, brand new. Fits 34.9, 31.8, or 28.6 (with adapters). $25 shipped.

-Dimension tandem stoker stem for 28.6/27.2 post (shim is included) and 25.4mm bar. 35 degrees, 130-170mm length. Brand new, installed and then removed when Matt realized he wanted a 31.8 clamp bar. $30 shipped.

-Selle Italia Flite L1 Monolink saddle. This is brand new and still in the box. Sick light, but only works with monolink seatposts. $75 shipped.

-Bontrager Chupacabra 29x3" tire. Ultra radness. Brand new. Ended up with one extra. $90 shipped.

-WTB Laser V pro saddle. Brand new. $55 shipped.

-XT M780 175mm triple crankset. 24/32/42 chainrings, includes a BB, brand new in the box.  $150 shipped

-Fox CTD rear shock, 7.875"x2" (200mmx50mm) with all the fancy settings and kashima coating. Brand new in the box. Decided to do a Cane Creek instead. $175 shipped.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Couple pictures from John

Short-stay (though he's running the wheel slammed...back?) 29er, baby!

Bar ends are so 1995

I like DT cable routing on these curved-toptube bikes

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Ken, 148x12, the future, Keanu Reeves

As promised, here's part 1 of my thoughts, musings, ramblings... incoherent gibberish about new axle standards.

I'm not even going into the new 110x15 fork standard right now, we'll concentrate on 148x12.

First, remember: if you are buying a hardtail, a through axle has no actual benefit over a QR unless you weigh 400 pounds or are constantly forgetting to tighten your skewer. Your pathetic excuses for legs won't get any more power to the ground than they did before - the rear end of a hardtail really doesn't flex much, so adding a big fat axle make zero difference in how the bike rides. Of course, I build them all the time, and if/when I get around to building myself a new bike, that's what I'll do. Why? Because time marches on, and it's harder and harder to get nice QR parts - just like it's hard to find a really nice set of v-brakes these days. C'est la vie. Take the red pill. Or maybe the blue one? I can't remember, the sequels have caused me to block all Matrix-related knowledge from my brain to avoid the pain.

142x12 came out about 3 years ago and quickly took the world by storm. Why? It promised a bit stiffer rear ends on FS bikes, compatibility via adapter for most existing hubs as the cassette and disc rotor stayed in exactly the same place, and something new to sell to the bike-buying public. Which I would roundly condemn, except that I'm one of the purveyors of said new stuff.

27.5+? My doing.
As a giant world of diverse wheel/tire and drivetrain options has opened up in the post-29er glasnost, lots of manufacturers realized that cramming 3x29/27.5" tires into frames built around 73mm BB shells and 50mm chainlines (just a quick pause for a definition here: "chainline" here means the distance from the center of the frame to the center of the middle chainring, though these days that mostly means the *only* chainring. Here's Sheldon Brown's definition) would cause some terrible problems fitting everything where it needed to go. The chainstay, tire, and chainring all fight for space on a typical mountain bike frame (FS or hardtail) and if you have to give too much to the tire - you've either gotta lengthen the chainstays or do *something* to move the chainring out of the way. As more and more gears get crammed onto cassettes, the flanges of the hub have also gotten closer together (this has been going on for 20 years, really) which is generally bad, as the spoke tension between driveside/non driveside gets out of whack and the wheel gets less laterally stiff and weaker. Bigger rims (ie 27.5, 29) exaggerate these problems. Something had to give (well, ok, maybe "had" is too strong a word). Something is giving, anyway.

Enter "Boost" (why didn't 142x12 get a cool name?) 148x12 rear ends. The idea here is that you move both the cassette and disc rotor outboard 3mm, and move the flanges out to match. Result, you can move the *chainring* out a bit to make more room for the tire, keep a decent chainline, and end up with a bit stronger rear wheel to boot.

Now, there's another solution out there that I've been doing for over a decade along with a few other weirdos. It's to stick with 135x10 (or now142x12) spacing, but move the *entire* rear end (meaning, the hub/dropouts/stays) about 5-10mm to the driveside (the exact amount depending on application). This gives you a great chainline for single ring bikes and loads of room for short chainstays and big tires. It's also a near-dishless/even tension rear wheel. Great stuff, IMO. Cannondale ripped me off this year with their "AI system" (here's C'dale's explanation of the setup). Stupidmobile (you know, the 29er with 40cm chainstays?) was built this way. So are many bikes I build for customers, because it gives you a ton of benefits and really only has a few drawbacks. You can also do fun stuff like an 83mm low-q-factor fatbike by using various amounts of rear end offset (Felix's runs a 135x10 rear hub offset 10mm).

Whew. Did that all make sense? No? That's what I run into a lot. Many people don't like the idea of asymmetry, so the whole idea is off the table. I think that's a big part of the 148x12 idea - easier to explain, inherently less weird and threatening...but we don't do normal and unthreatening around here!

Ken wanted it *all*. 148x12, lots of tire clearance (in his case 27.5x2.8-3 or so) and short, short chainstays (well, not totally insane - we did 41.5cm). So we went nuts and did an *offset 148x12* setup. In this case, it's just 2mm of offset to get the chainline we wanted, but it still felt weird to take a brand new Anvil dummy axle and chuck it up on the lathe!

So long story short, Ken's bike is weird but should be awesome. Your bike can be awesome too if you think outside the box a bit and let me get creative - it's custom, folks. The world is your oyster.

Or we can just do 148x12, because what the heck, I already paid for the dummy axle, and the writing is on the wall...

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Ken - done

Flowers coming up?

There is a lot to talk about with this frame - super long front center/slack/low aggro geometry for big-ish 27.5 wheels (up to 27.5x3!), 148 spacing with some offset (!), supertherm pipes all around, etc, etc.

I will do several posts on these topics, though, because they all deserve more attention than I can give them right now.







Blooming?!?! Spring, you're here too early.

So, basic geometry:
-67 HTA (assuming quite a bit of sag) with a 140mm fork, 770mm front center.
-72.5 effective STA and 66cm effective toptube
-41.5cm (actual, 41cm effective) chainstay length that can adjust out to 43.5 with the rockers. Clearance for up to 27.5x3" tires
-Around 30cm bb height with a rider onboard
-For a 31.6 dropper post (external routing, Ken wanted the rock-solid reliability of a Gravitydropper over some of the blingier but less durable options)
-148x12 spacing, offset 2mm to the driveside (more on that later)
-Supertherm tubes and a ton of beef but "only" 5.8# with all hardware

Thursday, March 12, 2015

I've sold out...

And joined the modern world/Instagram. 

Stand by for Instagram to become passe.

I will still be doing blog posts, of course, but there should be some fun I-gram photos popping up regularly if you like bike and geeking out. Check it out!

I am too dumb to figure out how to upload these photos from my old camera, though, so here are some early shots of Ken's 27.5/27.5+ ultra-aggro hardtail. I'll have some interesting geometry discussion (and drivetrain musings, too) when it's done.








Wednesday, March 11, 2015

We do the weird stuff

I look like I've been hit by a car...
 135 fork with 17.5 offset for a 5" tire?

No problem.

We do the weird stuff.

Anyone for a nice normal road bike? Anyone? 73/73? Nice parallel toptube miters? 23c tire clearance so I don't have to bend every tube on the bike? What's that? You want a full Super Record Group to go with it?

Nope, next project is a boost 148 freeride 27.5... with a ton of cool stuff. Sometimes I'm jealous of folks who get to build $10k roadies all day... but man, you gotta love having something weird and new to take on every day.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

March freebie offers!

-I ordered 2 racks instead of one. So, if you're in the market for a very nice silver Surly rear rack - it's available for $100, shipped to your door! Or get it for free (first come, first served) when you order a frame.

-I also lucked into a deal from Thomson, so (while supplies last) order a frame this month and get a free X4 stem AND elite post, free - your choice of size/length/color.

Saturday, March 07, 2015

No idea how the race went...

But Miguel wins the cute-kid competition for the day.


Nice pogies

Nice goggles

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

If I were a NAHBS guy...


...this would be the kind of bike I'd have to bring. Jake wins the least-practical-of-all-time award here (sort of). 36" wheels, Schlumpf drive, every single tube (except the head tube) curved, heavy as hell, no standover, no front brake...


And it should be awesome for cruising. Awesome. Especially with the Illusion Malbec (think, Prince) powdercoat he's going to do.

It makes me want to build myself a stupidmobile2 with a bunch of curves and all semblance of light weightweeniedom thrown out the window. Hell, I'm not fast anymore. Who am I kidding with these thin wall butted tubes? I doubt I'd be any slower on a bike with more style...



Double BOB stroller = old, slow

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Neverending illness

Progress on bikes will be slow again this week - I am still sick. This marks approximately 2 months of *constant* illness. I've been to the doctor, I've been on a couple different antibiotics - nothing. UT is apparently getting hit hard by viral respiratory infections, and I guess I'm getting them in order or something.

Anyway, if am slow to respond to emails and update the blog, that's why.

On the plus side, we got a few inches of snow this morning. Bringing us from crazy severe awful drought to somewhat crazy severe awful drought status.