Recieved

My first 'customer' received the bike yesterday. He's pleased thus far, but I'm still going to hold back my jumping for joy until he gets it built up and is riding the full bicycle. I hope he likes the ride.

One off the line

Daruma Cycles number 2 is now in the mail, winding its way to the midwest. I must say that I am a little nervous about having somebody else riding one of my bikes, but I'm also pretty confident that I did a good job with it. While testing it here, I almost didn't want to give it up, it really rode that well.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance of the whole process was the finish. I chose Spar Varnish for its weather resistance, but in retrospect, I think that a slow curing finish like that, coupled with my natural impatience caused me to waste probably 10-15 hours of time with the final finish. I prepped, I painted, I steel wooled between coats, I sanded off runs, I sanded through the finish, I repainted and then did it all over again. I'm not entirely satisfied with the final finish of the bike, but then again, that's what professional painters are for. Next time I think I'm going to go through the pros.