Fit Kit

The Waterford Fit cycle at Trophy has been a godsend. Rather than going to my SketchUp drawing to figure out all of the jig dimensions, I can quite easily measure out all of the salient measurements from the Fit Cycle. Pretty cool.

We re-worked the geometry dimensions that I came up with after our initial fitting just like the pros do. Megan was an ideal client in that she bought beer for the fitting and said, "I'm open to whatever." That's always nice, though it does put a bit more pressure on me to get things right!

Right now I'm waiting for some pieces from Edge Composites out in Utah. They make a very attractive carbon chainstay kit that I'm hoping will couple with the oversized headtube and downtube to make for a stiff bike. I can rely on the bamboo's natural damping abilities to smooth out the road buzz a bit. I have really liked dealing with Edge; they're among the top composites manufacturers in the industry but still have the small shop sort of customer service.

I'll post the geometry and design specs soon.

Made to measure

While the first two bikes I made were essentially made to spec standard sizes, I have had the interesting experience of custom fitting my second 'customer'. The next person up is a woman who used to work at Trophy, and was taken with Jennifer's bike once she had ridden it. She ensured her place in the lineup with an actual deposit, something which didn't occur to me when building the second bike, but which makes a WHOLE lot of sense. Why one would front the entire cost is beyond me. Never again will I do it that way. Not that I have any doubts about being paid by my 'customers' who have thus far been closely tied to me, but it's just easier to invest in the bike when it's not your own money going into it.

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.

Testing1, 2, 5 (No THREE sir THREE!)

I built up Mark II last Thursday with parts from my cyclocross bike. The process went rather smoothly, by and large. The headset went in without complaint, and all of the pieces fit together in a very bike-like manner. Things that I had been worried about, such as the cantilever brake bosses and the front deriailleur mount were absolutely rock solid. However, in a feat of miscalculation, I made the seatmast too tall for the intended customer, and had to chop it down and remake the seatclamp. This proved to be a rather annoying task, although it's given me a bit of practice making clamps. My second clamp however, turned out to be somewhat underdesigned, and cracked during installation. Lame. Super Lame. Better here than in Wisconsin though. So, I rethought the whole area, and redesigned the seat clamp with a more standard external diameter so that I could use an off the shelf binder clamp for it. Good idea, wish I'd had it sooner! After redoing that over the past weekend, I sanded it down and actually got to head out on some rides with the bike. Overall impressions are good, but I don't want to divulge too much until the owner gets possession of the bike and makes his own judgement. I'll post some pics in a bit.

Bike number 2, closing in

I'm finally nearing the finish of my second bicycle. The bike is intended as a super-commuter/cyclocross style bike, and will soon be zooming around Madison, WI, the good lord willing. I've posted some pictures of the nearly finished bike to the right in my Flickr account. A teaser is pictured below:


I've asked $600 for this bike, and given how many hours I've put into the project, an exceedingly reasonable price. The materials cost about $400 bucks, and the $200 for labor works out to something in the neighborhood of $2 per hour. Princely sum, to be sure. As I get better at making these, and am able to refine my technique, and maybe add some equipment for vacuum bagging the frames, I hope to reduce the time by a lot, and increase my price by a little, gradually working my way towards some sort of profit. That seems like a long way off however.

Next up will be a bike for me and a bike for a woman who used to work at my shop here in Philly, Trophy Bikes.

The end of the beginning

I am approaching the home stretch on my second bicycle. This one is going out to my brother Ian's boss at Williamson Bicycles in Madison. Dave has been a willing guinea pig and has ferreted out a lot of great information for me in addition to being a patient and accomodating customer. I did get the better of him when I suggested that we just skip the standard seat clamp and use a hose clamp instead! Ridiculous!