Whaaa Happened?

 

I guess that the crappy acrylic spraypaint that I used to cover the original repair to this bike was somewhat, wait, TOTALLY incompatible with my primer/topcoat system. Things were looking a bit blotch when wet, but then after the paint dried, things really looked bad. I had to sand it down 3 separate times to get this effect to go away, and then ended up just using water-based airbrush paint which was not going to react with the basecoat at all. Ugh, this is why paintjobs cost a lot. They are HARD to do well!

Painting is not my thing

 

At long last I have finally gotten Jason's bike repainted. Though i got myself a nice new HVLP gun, which makes painting a lot easier due to the appropriate size and better action, this was nothing but a pain in my dirty basement. Next time I take on a painting project, I'm pretty much going to limit myself to painting things that are dirt colored, that way when the dust and lint and hair eventually percolate onto the wet paint, they'll just blend in. Ugh.

The competition

Another company jumps on the bandwagon. Come on boys there's enough room for everyone!!

Win some Lose Some

 

I guess I had too many irons in the fire last night. Trying to finish Jerry's head tube as well as bake a cherry-chocolate loaf turned out to be one project more than my addled brain can handle. At least he head-tube joint looks nice.

Best head tube joint yet

 
After trying and trying to get the perfect bleeder material that stretches just right, and absorbs enough epoxy, but not too much, doesn't leave any air bubbles etc, I think that I have finally got a combination that works. It involved some home-made release fabric and a needle and thread. Oh yeah and a vacuum bag, and a heater and an old air conditioner compressor, and a light switch and some air hose...

It's been a long battle, but I may just have found my solution. With a little sanding I expect this to be an attractive and strong joint if ever there was one. Head tubes are easy though. Next is the Bottom Bracket. Not so simple.

Cool after effect

 
While working on a frame painting project for a teammate, I realized a bit late in the game that there was a bit of an issue with the raised surface of the original logo showing through in relief. While sanding this off, I happened to notice this effect. Too bad the final color scheme is white and blue, or I would have left this as is.

Some new pictures of Jerry's Bike

Just posted a couple of new pictures of my teammate Jerry's bike. I've tried to push the envelope ever so slightly, though thanks to a mixup at ENVE composites, I've actually had to move back from PressFit 30 bb to a standard BB30 shell that I lightened on my finicky little lathe.

The most interesting bits are certainly the home-made dropouts since nothing that I can find fits the ENVE chainstays in the least.