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
It’s finally time for this problem to be solved. I’ve been wanting this for a very long time! Now testing can begin without constraints. I’ve been contending with the availability of wheels that conform to the needs of my skateboard project. I need tall and soft wheels for ease of travel over rough road but … 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
Here we are again. Another draft of the skate truck. They are getting pretty. The G4 trucks were working very well and there had been enough time on them to figure out what needed to change next. Functionally, they were pretty good but there was still room for improvement. I had some changes to add … 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
In my workshop at the university, I’m constantly instructing students and others that designing at the mill is a fools job. It’s not where we do this work. We should be arriving at the machine with a fully sorted design with all of the issues worked out. This is obvious stuff that somehow doesn’t occur … Read more
I started this project about a year ago, almost to the week. It was going to be a big undertaking for me as I haven’t done a lot of this kind of work, or at least properly. I’m happy to learn new things but it can take me a bit of effort and time to … Read more
I’ve been doing audio interviews surrounding the bicycle space for the past few years. In that time, I’ve built up a back catalog of over 65 recordings. I wanted to get them all together so that folks could hear them if they haven’t. The blog format that I use inspires me to create new posts … Read more
This starts with my path to Marc. In 1995, I left the Boston area. I was 25 years old and needed a change in my surroundings. I had grown up in central and eastern Massachusetts. Just two semesters at a college in Rhode Island. Otherwise, I had spent the previous 6 years in the Boston, … 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
I design and produce quite a few things as a hobby. Bicycles, motorcycles, & skateboards and the details that surround them. I do other projects but the short list is probably the most elegant way to describe it. I could get even more discrete when I say ’tilt steer vehicles’, but that requires more explanation … Read more
In early November, I got the new G3 skate trucks finished and mounted. This was just before a big trip to Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City. That was a great thing as I was able to log about 40 miles on the trucks. This was a massive test in exactly the conditions that I’ve … 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
