Big Bike Little Bike

Joe’s frame is painted and ready to be sent off. The paint scheme was done with a brush and many small vinyl stencils. It was time consuming but I’m happy with the colors and the overall feel of it. Here are the shots of the finished frame and some of the actual process.

  
   
  
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Brian’s (not me) flatland frame is coming up next so check back soon.

So Joe’s bike is finished (completely since these shots were taken) and I’m waiting until I get back from vacation to do the paint. It seemed like it might be a little labor intensive so I didn’t think I should rush it. Here are the current shots. The next ones will blow your mind.

 
 
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The Major Taylor Association’s annual George Street hillclimb was this past weekend and everyone was so fast!! The winning time was under 23 seconds by Rich Hollenbeck. Which basically means he averaged 15 miles an hour up an 18 percent grade. Crazy. We had a good Circle A turnout with myself, Hilary, Brent, Ken, and the Burkes. Congratulations to Liane Burke for getting 3rd!

  
  


I also did a couple of repaints including this Moser track frame that has been around the block. I’ve seen it exchange hands several times and it has definitely seen some wear and tear. I was happy to get it back to riding condition again.

 
  

And Adam finally came by and built up his bike. He put all SRAM Red on there with a nice set of DT wheels. The final weight with the pedals was 16.5 pounds! Can’t wait to hear the full ride report.

  

Chris’s cross bike is painted, frame-saved, and ready for shipping. I’ll be sad to see it go. The paint is a classic blue with white panels and silver lug-lining. Here are the shots of the finished bike. Absolutely gorgeous.

  
  
  
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I also painted a gas tank for Tom from White Electric Coffee. It came out pretty sweet and I should have some more pictures of it soon on the bike.



Joe’s fillet brazed road frame is up next as well as a bunch of repaints. It’s going to be a busy week so check back for more updates.

Rick’s flatland frame is done and painted a unique palette of brown, pink, tan, and white. I’m a big fan of the argyle and painting it wasn’t as hellish as I was expecting. Still it was a full day and a bunch of basecoats. It’s being assembled and hopefully he’ll be riding it later today. More pics of the completed build to come.

  
 
 
 
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Chris’s lugged cross bike is up next! It’s currently just a box of tubes but it’s going to be so much more. Sparks will be flying later today.

Steph’s bike is polished, painted, and finished. This update is overdue but I’ve been updating the slideshow all along. This is a single speed cross frame with dropouts from Paragon Machine Works and rack mounts for touring. She described this as her cross frame but also as her escape vehicle if she decides to go on a long tour (hence the derailleur hanger). I worked with our mutual friend and auto paint master, Jay Nutini, on the finish. I’m very happy with the way it came out.

 
 
 
  
  
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Last weekend we had a fundraiser for the Circle A Cycles MS 150 team (the MS 150 is June 21 and 22). We were giving bicycle tune-ups to people who donated to the cause. Here are a couple of shots from the event courtesy of Hilary. If you would like to help us reach our goal and support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, show your support here. Thanks.

  
  
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Ron called from the road after getting the Circle A built up with a positive report. He put a full Campy Centaur gruppo on it with a nice Zonda wheelset. Here are the pics of the finished product.

   
  
  
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Steph’s single speed cross frame and fork are looking great right about now. That’s if you define dried flux and freshly brazed frames as great. It’s coming along fine and I plan on spending a good portion of this week polishing the head lugs and fork crown. Here’s the work in progress.

  
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And Mike Taylor’s bike is painted and cleared. Mike is the guy who painted the bearded lady mural on the wall of the shop. This bike was Chris’ project so I’m sure you’ll hear about it again but I wanted to share the pictures I took yesterday. Mike brought the frame to us with a stuck seatpost (please don’t let yours get seized). Chris replaced the seat tube, cleaned it up, and then primed the frame. Mike went to town on the frame painting it with anything he could find. The final product is amazing and was INCREDIBLY time consuming as you could imagine. Check it out.

  
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And I guess we build stems now. Get that custom stem that the bike was designed to have! With some modifications the Anvil frame jig and other frame tools were converted to build stems. This one was fillet brazed and painted to match my bike. If you’re on the list to get a frame, think about getting that matching stem to drool on as you ride.

  

And Sarah’s bike is built up and riding like it was meant to be. This bike is gorgeous. Check out the final built up shots.

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Two more bikes are ready to get built up. Adam’s racer looks incredible. The polished 150 badge was a nice touch. It seems like the Circle A milestones come in numbers divisible by 50. Adam chose to get the seat mast instead of the typical post. It adds just that much more class to this ride. It’s going to be built up with SRAM Red and an amazing DT wheelset. More pictures to come soon.

 
 
 
 
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Jeff’s touring frame and fork are gorgeous as well. The orange and cream is one of my favorite color combinations. I’m extremely happy with the lug shaping on this frame considering the lug choices for a 1 1/8″ steer tube are limited. The seat cluster in particular makes me very happy. Check out these shots.

 
 
 
 
 
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Circle A is contributing to a project organized by Rapha Clothing. They’re creating a publication of long rides with photos and cue sheets in the northeast. There are several framebuilders in the northeast that are taking part in this project including Independent, Bilenky, Igleheart, and Richard Sachs. The frame we’re building will be ridden by Piers North from NYC. It’s it’s full Dedacciai Zero Replica for lugs tubeset with Columbus Life s-bend seat stays. We’re not doing the paint on this but we’re happy to hear that the talented Chris Rowe will be taking care it. Here are the shots of the current build up.

  
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We also did a little bit of paint work on a tiny road bike. It says Colnago but it’s not. Still very adorable. We painted the fork and pump to match the frame.



We also did a bunch of clear coating on Sonny’s wire art. We’re finding new uses for the frame jig everyday.

So many bikes since my last post! I finished Sarah’s cyclocross/touring machine, Ken’s bike looks outstanding, I built a single speed for myself in the after hours, and Adam’s number 150 is well underway. Chris and I also did a couple of paint jobs for Dwight Bowen of Bowen Bicycle Works out of Connecticut. I spent the greater part of last week in the paint booth so forgive for the delay in these updates.

First off, Sarah’s paint scheme was amazing. She came to me with an idea that included a damask pattern. I didn’t even know what the word meant and when I saw the sample patterns I got a little nervous. The vinyl cutter we use is pretty old and has difficulty doing detailed patterns but everything worked out in the end. I’m especially pleased with one of my premiere forays into lug lining. The gold is subtle and gives it that classy Victorian look.

  
 
 
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Ken’s frame and fork wasn’t that shabby either. I used some Richard Sachs Nuovo Richie lugs for the first time and really like the look of the cutouts. I also used a new (to me) seat stay attachment style which I borrowed from the recently restored Viking. Ken did a lot of tweaking in Illustrator getting the final paint job down. I was skeptical on how the coffee milk colored fork would look but I think he made the right choice. The dark chocolate/coffee milk scheme has me craving mousse. And more lug lining practice here. There a whole lot of lug action going on so the pressure was on to have a steady hand. It all came out fine in the end.

  
  
  
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I spent most of last weekend and early this week on a frame and fork for myself. We can never have too many bikes, right? This is a single-speed-all-around-town-and-then-some bike. My old single speed is racing through the streets of Philadelphia under its new owner, Jonny

 
 

And after a TON of carving on his bottom bracket shell, Adam’s is well underway. Totally starting to look like a bike. There will be more entries about mine and Adam’s next week when painting begins. Stay tuned.

 
 
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Micah came and built up his frame a couple of weeks ago. We spent a small part of a freezing Saturday afternoon putting some nice parts on his beautiful new frame.

Ricardo picked up the 3RENSHO which came out wonderful as well. I was very pleased with the lug matching (thanks in part to Joseph for tracing the old ones for me).

   
  

Joe’s Viking is another inspirational restoration. This was an old one but definitely worth redoing with its Nervex lugs. The seat cluster in particular was my favorite. I like the way the stays clasp the seat lug so much that I ended up using it on Ken’s upcoming single speed. Here are the pictures of the completed bike.

   
  

Sarah’s cyclo-touring machine is ready for her super fancy paint job. I finished it last week but we’re still working out the details of the paint. More to come soon.

 
  

So much has been happening in January! Where to start. Well, Stephen’s bike has been assembled, Micah’s bike is ready for parts, Hilary’s frame is completed and built up, Sarah’s coming up next with a cyclo-touring machine, Joe’s Viking decals finally came in from the UK, and Ricardo’s 3RENSHO is ready to be rebuilt. Phew.

Stephen came in yesterday with his Specialized to migrate the parts over to his Circle A. Everything went smooth and today was gorgeous so I’m sure we’ll hear the verdict on how it rode very soon. Here are some shots of the finished frame and the making of it.

   
  
  
 

Micah’s frame was also completed recently with the most original color scheme I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a metallic eggplant, coral panels, and gold bands. Looks AMAZING! This one was built up with Dedacciai Zero tubing and Paramount lugs. Here’s the finished product and as usual, the slideshow.

  
  
  

I also built a bike for my girlfriend Hilary’s birthday. It wasn’t a surprise because I had to get measurements to design the frame. The frame is built with Columbus Spirit for Lugs tubing (thanks Richard), Paramount lugs (thanks Kirk), and an old set of Reynolds 531 fork blades (thanks Owen). I did some fancy-shmancy vent holes in the head tube and some old styling cut outs on the BB shell. I also used the ultra-svelte single speed dropouts that we have cut over in Pawtucket. I brazed some stainless plates on them and then polished them up. The lace design was her idea and came out very classy. We actually went to the fabric store to find a nice lace pattern, scanned it in, and made an EPS file out of it to cut the vinyl mask out. Our old Roland vinyl cutter is somewhat of a relic so it wasn’t too happy with the intricacies of the lace. There’s an extensive slideshow of the build here.

   
  
  
  

And finally, cross season ended over a month ago and I haven’t even mentioned that it totally changed my life. I need to personally thank everyone who made my first season so much fun including Jack, Hannah, Dan, Adam, Scotty, Scott G., and NBX. I never knew beer and bikes went so well together. So as a result, my plan for 2008 is to start off riding mostly flatland, move onto the road bike mid-summer, and then ride cross for the fall and winter. Year-round on a bike sounds like fun, right? Here are some choice shots from this season for your entertainment.