The itch

Totally jonesing to build a new bike. I just got a new tool post for my mini lathe, and I could not be happier with the results from that investment. It cuts, it faces it knurls, and all with much more rigidity and precision than the little runty thing that I've been using thus far. Fabulous.

I've got about 3 bikes in mind for the coming months, and I constantly wish for more time to work on them.

Bike one: potential custom frame for a bike club friend of mine. Could be cool. He's deciding on whether or not to make it a track bike or a road bike. I'm kind of hoping that he'll want a track bike, since I haven't had a chance to make one of those yet.

Bike Two: cyclocross frame for myself. I have long thought that Bamboo would be ideal for CX since it soaks up so much vibration. My hangup here is that I would want to run a tapered headtube, and I don't have a source for that yet. None of the aftermarket fork manufacturers currently offer a tapered steertube CX fork. I was also thinking that I could go with something with an aluminum steerer to avoid excess brake chatter and frame flex, but I don't know if I want to bother if I can't do the type of job that I want.

Bike 3: actually two bikes for a guy that I met through the bike shop. He has in mind some sort of upright dirt trail bikes, a matching (kind of) set for him and his wife. This project will develop a bit over the next few months I think, but I'm looking forward to trying to build two of the same thing.