Bicycle

Colorado road trips are pretty great! Last year we rode at Trestle Bike Park and this year we got to ride Keystone Bike Park. I was stoked for this as most folks I talked to agreed that Keystone was the gnarlier of the two. That proved to be quite true, it’s an awesome hill. As … Read more

This is an exciting new tool for me and worth taking a look at if you build bike frames! I’ve been needing this tool since I started building my own bikes. I probably could have even used it before that. I finally got around to designing and producing it. I’m sure that many others will … Read more

This was the last detail that needed to be sorted for the PVD Millennium Falcon build. I had left the rear brake adapter to the end of the project as I figured that I had something to work. I hadn’t . Little details escape. This happened as my memory of using a FM160 to PM180 … Read more

Ronen and I were discussing some details for a few of his upcoming frame building projects. He is fresh off a success in building (almost) 100% of his new Raven Caw in his own workshop. Like the Sith (see: Rule of Two), he has the twin to my Cyberdyne frame fixture. He’s just got a … Read more

Windy and I were on the road. We were cutting through southern Utah on our way to the front range. We had to decide if we were going to go through Gunnison or Durango on the way to Salida before going north. I enjoy Durango and it’s generally a good stop and we chose to … Read more

While everyone is learning how to work with the new SRAM Transmission Drivetrain, issues arise. The trim adjustment needs to include a wider range for some reason. It’s too narrow, even when using parts within spec. Don’t ignore the high torque that is put on the mounting screw for the derailleur. 35 Nm (310 in-lb, … Read more

Every time I build a bicycle, I try to take something (or many things) to a higher level. I didn’t see a detail until after I got my recent bike, the Millennium Falcon, back from paint. I wish that I had thought of it in time. I had decided to add some reinforcement washers under … Read more

It’s finally time for a new Millennium Falcon. I’ve been waiting to do this for when I got to an important phase in my development. ‘Millennium Falcon’ is one of the special names in infamous spacecraft category. Few names command such respect and honor. While the Falcon is remembered for it’s roll in helping a … Read more

After testing a new modular head tube design on Windy’s Vega MTB, I wanted to get some nice parts CNC machined so that I could get the look just right. I’ve got a new mountain bike going together for myself and it’s going to use the new parts. As usual, a lot has gone into … Read more

No Sea Otter for me. I did go to the Chris King Guest House at Santa Cruz Bicycles. I was expecting something a bit bigger than last year’s event at Caletti Cycles. It was, but in a different way than expected. A smaller bike show but a bigger ‘party’ at the headquarters. An interesting crowd. … Read more

This is one of the big ones….hold on! The Lockheed 5B Vega “Little Red Bus” is the airplane Amelia Earhart used to set two of her major aviation records. In 1932 she flew it solo across the Atlantic Ocean, only the second person to do so and the first woman. She was the first woman … Read more

Dummy axles and how they are held are a crucial part of a frame building program. We have to accurately place where the wheel axles will be, just as we do with the various tubes. The frame should hold the hubs so that the tires, gears, derailleur, and rotor are in plane, centered among the … Read more

When we work in engineering and design, we refer as much as possible to ‘first principles’, those datums or facts on which the entire project rests. “A basic assumption that cannot be deduced any further”. Everything comes back to these. They are both our lighthouse and safe harbor. In bicycle design, there are many of … Read more

Construction of Windy’s new mountain bike is underway. Among the details that needed working out was the head tube. In optimizing the geometry, space got a bit tricky at the head of the bike. I wanted to free up some rider space for her and that means keeping the top tube low. That meant using … Read more

It’s been a while since discussing the SKYNET and WOPR frame fixtures. They are some of my most important work and I review them from time to time. I’m not going to go into too much about the fixtures as little has changed, aside from one important detail. Early in the designing of the Cyberdyne … Read more

For those familiar with my work, it’s known that I try to push my models hard in the design of my bikes and the parts that go onto them. Because of that, equation driven construction geometry for entire bikes and groupings of parts turn into hundreds of parameters and equations for any given configuration and … Read more

I had to build a wheel for Windy’s bike the other day. When we put her new full suspension bike together, I had to ‘borrow’ a rear wheel from another bike to stoke the setup out. The rear hub had to be an Onyx and that got her going. It just left my klunker disheveled … Read more

This post is about durable solid modeling. Durable models are those that are difficult to break after minor changes when marking-up in the virtual model space. Very often, I see others using methods that produce very fragile and delicate models that explode any time the smallest of change is made. There are methods to prevent … Read more

It was so long ago that I can hardly remember. Maybe a dozen years. New ways of looking at bikes was driving new choices in parts. I had to start getting more and more creative with setups. More than any other part, the stem became a crucial part. Not just any stem, the RIGHT stem. … Read more

It was looking to be a lively year for the Philly Bike Expo. Well on the backside of the pandemic, things would be closer to ‘normal’ than in the past few years. Also, with the collapse of the North American Handmade Bike Show, PBE was, without question, The Show for North America in 2022. Over … Read more

The other day, I got to go visit the Firefly Bicycles studio in Boston. I’ve got some history in the world surrounding this. I talked with Tyler Evans during the tour and after about what this is all about. Not many know that Tyler’s personal story was made into a movie, Flashdance, although Hollywood took … Read more

I finally had a chance to work with some of the new OnePointEight head parts. These are being rolled out for heavier eBikes. Matt has a Transition Repeater 29″. He was ‘upgrading’ from a RS ZEB R 160mm to a Fox 38 Grip 2 Factory 180mm. The ZEB that the bike came with has a … Read more

We just learned about the 2023 Marin Gestalt X10. A $1,549.00 bike that is almost worth riding. I try to rep Marin County with my bike work. It’s an incredible place to ride, especially if you want mixed terrain. We have hundreds of miles of gorgeous fire roads and a ton of singletrack from mild … Read more

In response to whether he should give up a project, Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” I’ve been welding my own bike frames, forks, and handlebars together since 2006. That’s about 16 years. Before that, I had a good amount of experience preparing … Read more

This was supposed to be a nice little post about a setup tweak to Windy’s Stumpjumper and a different look at front end setup. Instead, we are also going to look at what makes a terrible commercial handlebar and what makes one good. When setting up Windy’s new bike, we were trying to push the … Read more

This Sunday, I’m getting to close out the season at Northstar. I love riding downhill although I don’t do it much these days. I’ve had a nice summer in this regard. I was able to ride a day at Northstar early in the season and another two days of riding at Trestle in Colorado. Not … Read more

I tell people all the time that I’m not a very good welder. I know good welders. I am not one. Still, I need to get metal connected and I can use all the help that I can get. When welding a bicycle frame, it needs to be held in a lot of interesting positions … Read more