Archive for the ‘Bike Building’ Category

John’s single speed left the shop late last week and was on the road by the weekend. It was aching to get dirty on these dry, dusty Rhode Island roads. He put 75 miles on it in one day which blows my mind for a single speed (more like a two speed with the White Industries double freewheel). This sharp bike is primarily white with gray panels and blue accents for the logos and cutouts in the Richard Sachs lugs and fork crown. He went with Paul Components cantilever brakes which will give him more than adequate stopping power as he contends with some of the worst drivers in the country.

 
 
 
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I also built a fork and quill stem for our friend Ricardo. This was sort of a collaboration as he did the polishing of the stainless and created the stencils for the fleurs de lis. It’s was a long time in the making but it’s finally done.

 

We always have tons of pictures of frames, forks, racks, stems, and whatever else we make or paint here. While we’re doing all of that, we want to make sure that the bike and components come to fruition as a whole. Maybe it’s a Brooks saddle or sweet Campagnolo Super Record gruppo that is the glue that brings the whole thing together. Here are a couple of shots of some of our most recent builds in their complete form. I’ll try to get more together for future blogs so you can get ideas on what is best for your Circle A.

 
 

And finally, tandems take time. Lots and lots of time. I’m in the middle of fillet brazing my first for our friends Jay and Josie who are getting married later this month. Deadlines! Here are a couple of shots of the build in progress. I managed to modify our current tube mitering setup to easily do the complex cuts on the top and lateral tandem tubes. More updates to come soon. Back to work now.

  

The latest restoration here at the shop was on this 1976 Team Raleigh frame. It came in with a busted fork so I built another with Reynolds 531 blades, Campagnolo fork tips, and a Cinelli crown. This bike apparently has quite the pedigree after the owner did his research on it. This is what he found out:

“According to people who know these things, the bike appears to have belonged to Jan Van Katwijk of the Dutch TI Raleigh/McGregor professional cycling team in 1976. This is evidenced by his initials in the bikes serial number (JK176 which indicates that this was the first frame built for Jan Van Katwijk in 1976). In 1976 Jan rode in both the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain. I haven’t been able to confirm if he rode this exact bike in either event but it’s probable because he was only with the team for a year. Jan’s brother Piet Van Katwijk also rode for the team and must have been a better rider as he was with them for six years. I bought the bike from Mike’s Cyclery in Boca Raton, FL in the early 80′s and was unaware of its history until I researched it for the restoration.”

 
 

In other news, I had moved last year to a location that was about 7 miles away from the shop. Before the move I had been doing my 3 mile commute on a single speed as that was fine. But for the past year I’ve been riding either my race bike or my cross bike and finally decided to build up a light touring/commuter bike for myself complete with front rack (soon) and fenders. This multifunction bike also survived the D2R2 this past weekend as there’s room for cyclocross tires on there. I was looking for mustard in the color and I got it. A mix of our yellow and gold came out with this classy number. Some subtle logos, a pearl coat over the whole thing, and a little yellow tint in the clear gave it some extra detail as well.

 
 
 
 
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This road frame and fork(s) is ready for some high speed club rides or road races. Full True Temper OX Platinum tube set and seat mast will keep the weight of this bike well below 17 pounds…and having the Edge carbon fork on there won’t hurt either.

 
 
 
 
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In non-bike building news, a bunch of Providence locals travelled over to Deerfield, MA for the 2010 D2R2. This was my first time doing it and it was one of the most fun rides I’ve ever done on a bicycle. Maybe it was the weather or the great group of riders or all the steel bikes or a combination of everything but I can’t recommend it enough. There were a lot of hills and our group did the 100k version. Maybe next year we’ll get brave and do the 180k.

  

Our kitty turns one year old this month too. Since she’s joined the Circle A team, morale has been up and productivity down (kidding). She’s the best thing that’s happened to the shop…aside from the Bridgeport. Here’s to many more years of her walking precariously onto bike stands while we try to file your lugs.

 

To continue on with Circle A’s world domination, we’re sending this one to one of our neighbors to the north. This fillet brazed single speed cruiser will soon be rolling around the streets of Edmonton, Alberta. The Jack Brown 33c tires and the Nitto Albatross bars make this an incredibly comfortable bike to ride. It’s built with Dedacciai Zero Uno tubing throughout. There’s something about gloss black paint on a smooth brass joint that makes me smile. I’ve always been obsessed with smooth fillet brazed bottom brackets and continue to try and perfect a very liquid looking shell. I’m pleased with how this one turned out. I’m aware that no one is really looking down there after all the components are installed but we try to pay attention to the details. Check it out.

 
 
 
 
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When Bob brought this Tanguy in, I had no clue as to its origins. Bob enlightened me that Tanguys were built in Somerville, MA by Ron Horowitz and that in the 70′s he had apprenticed with him and built this frame and fork. I was impressed with his work and was happy to do a couple of modifications to the frame to make it more of a commuter style bike with 700c wheels. After the changes, we gave it a nice blue and cream paint job.

 
 
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It has been 1,000,000°F pretty much everyday this summer so we’ve had to alter some of our paint techniques to accommodate Mother Nature’s cruelty. Here are a red Lemond and a purple/black single speed that are fresh out of the booth.

 

And finally, I got married! Hilary and I made the leap late June. Now it’s back to work and build, build, build! Coming up next is Brian P.’s road bike, John #1′s single speed, John #2′s Rohloff bike, and Jay/Josie’s tandem. Yowza!

I’ve finally finished the second Reynolds 953 frame this year for our friend Nathan. I don’t anticipate doing a lot of these frames based on the availability of the tubing but it’s a nice change of pace once in a while. The advantages of using stainless is not super light weight if it’s going to be lugged (which is how I do it) but rather the option of leaving the frame raw. Nathan chose to leave a significant portion of the frame exposed. I have to say that I never thought I would have ever painted flames but I’m very happy with how this came out. It’s all oversize thin wall tubing which is conducive to distortion when brazing. This is mostly crucial when brazing the seat cluster together so little to no seat tube reaming will have to happen. All went well and Nathan should have the rest of his Edge components this week to complete the build. I’ll make sure I get some complete bike shots when all is said and done.

 
 
 
 
 
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Speaking of completed stainless bikes, Mark stopped by the shop the other week to show us the amazing components he used to complement his orange 953 frame. What a head turner!

One of the other projects I was working on recently was a rack designed by our friend Benno who Chris built a bike for earlier this year. This rack is designed to go with the fork that Chris created. It’s made for light touring with a handlebar bag and small Ortlieb front panniers. It’s a unique design and after I was done complaining about all the complex angles, was really stoked on it. I plan on building a light touring/commuter bike for myself later this year and am now contemplating this rack design (with Benno’s permission). The stability of the fender is amazing! There are three contact points not including the struts. This one has yet to be plated because he’s doing some field testing with it first.

 

And finally, I will be married by the end of this week! Rings and cupcake stands are being brazed up and all the loose ends are coming together. I’d like to thank all my customers who have been patient and understanding during this busy time. Come July, I’ll be working at full steam once again. In the meantime, here’s a shot of me and Chris playing around at my bachelor party ride. Good times and great adventures to come!

Stainless tubing is not exactly a framebuilder’s best friend. Reynolds 953 is apparently one of the hardest tube sets to machine and I will vouch for that. It is a hacksaw blade killer, a hole saw’s worst enemy, and a challenge for any file. I ended up doing this one the same way as the previous one which is mitering everything by hand. I used the oversized version of the Llewellyn Slant 6 lug set in stainless so he could use the 1 1/8″ Easton EC90 fork. The entire frame is silver brazed with all stainless cable guides, bridges, bosses, etc. The frame could have been left raw but why do that when you can have cool paint? Orange with masked lugs, pinstripes, and contrasting bands. Nice choice, Mark!

 
 
 
 
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Repeat customers are the best! They’re already happy people and getting a second bike makes them twice as happy, right? This is Hannah’s road bike and partner to her cyclocross bike. This is the most sparkly frame I’ve ever painted/made. It’s also the first time I made my own headtube reinforcement rings from stainless tubing. I think it looks pretty nice with the stainless headbadge and seat collar.

 
 
 
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In other news, this Zanconato was a collaboration between Chris and I. It came in with a seized seatpost and broken rear dropout. Chris took care of the post and dropout replacement and I took care of the paint. This is how it’ll be leaving the shop. Next up are the 953 frames…finally!

 
 

This frameset will be making its way over to Japan very soon! Things to note about this frameset are the subtle “dark white” main color with white seat tube and head tube, polished stainless lugs/fork crown, and a custom stainless cutout of his son’s name on the top tube. What a tribute! It’s made from Columbus Spirit for lugs tubing, Richard Sachs lugs, Henry James bottom bracket shell, and Henry James front and rear stainless dropouts. Another way it’s unique is in the way it’s going to be a 10 speed in the literal sense. No front derailleur braze-on and a shifter boss on the drive-side only. Classy!

 
 
 
 
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And we had our annual open house this past weekend with summer-like weather! Lots of people showed up and checked out the shop even though we gave them next to no notice. Sorry. We’ll try to be more on the ball next year.

 

This was my first time making a front luggage-style rack. It was based off of the Cetma 5 rail HALFrack but I mounted the stabilizing rods to the fork crown and not behind the brake. Isaac will give me a full review of how it performs. The frameset is fillet brazed with 6° sloping top tube for a comfy ride. Campagnolo long slot rear dropouts were used for this frame because this bike is a single speed and will have fenders. For those of you with a single speed with fenders, getting the rear wheel on and off is much easier with forward facing dropouts. The dropouts were modified by removing the hanger, filling the adjusting screw holes, and then shaping. Check it out!

 
 
 
 
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And coming out of the paint booth is Jeff’s sparkly red Lemond Zurich. The transformation from the original rusted and chipped blue and silver paint is quite dramatic. Makes me think we need more before and after photos so you can get the full effect. You’ll just have to settle for the after photos right now.

 
 
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The latest frame and fork completed here at the shop is Leif’s cross/commuter. The Zona tubing, top tube cable routing, horizontal top tube, fender mounts, and rack mounts make this cross bike a great commuter as well. The white and green paint was a scheme that Leif came up with complete with the Unibird on the seat tube. Leif’s is guaranteed to win his commute with this one.

 
 
 
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This Bruce Gordon Rock ‘n Road touring frame/fork/stem was a respray in our popular dark blue pearl. This bike will be a real stunner in the sunlight. The blue over silver has a real bright candy effect. I’m pretty sure it makes the bike go faster too.

 
 
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So things are still busy here at the shop with lots of repairs and repaints. Get ready to see a revamped Serotta, Lemond, and Hetchins. But right I’m focusing on the current bikes in the queue. Isaac’s commuter with custom rack was just finished as well as a couple of the steel Gaulzetti frames. The 953 tubesets have arrived and Noriyuki’s polished stainless lugged frameset is in progress!

My blog might indicate that there’s not a whole lot happening at the shop but that’s definitely not the case. I just finished four frames and forks and many paint jobs. The most recent ones are this gorgeous Molteni Merckx which has been brought back to its original luster.

 
 

Other paint work has been for various local (and not so local) builders.

 
 

And when I’m not in the paint booth, I am building bikes. I’m finishing up a front rack for Isaac’s single speed and then it’s back in the booth for these four. I promise I’ll post more updates soon!