New frame...........

I think i'll use this as a bit of a log for the frame building process, if there is any body out there that has been doing as much research as I have, they will come across it some how, its really good when there is some info on projects from beginners it makes the process seem a little less daunting, although this is probably some what of an ambitious project, I will pull it off some how?!

Have very tentatively broken out the files and torch in anger in the weekend, was pretty intimidating but slowly got in to the groove.















So I filed a half round into the backs of the stays, then slotted them with the angle grinder and a 1.0mm cut off wheel.

















This had me sweating a little, as I decided to cut the slots at an angle rather than bend the tabs on the drop out themselves, but it went pretty well really. It all lines up on the drawing now, so must have done something right.

















Brazed my chain stays up to the nicely machined drop outs supplied by Hank (Henry James). They came up pretty good, although the first one almost turned into a disaster, but pulled it off after much swearing and refluxing(as I heated the joint the dropout fell on the floor!).




























I used a little to much brass and once again gravity wasn't on my side, had some sizey blobs on the stay itself. But with twice the experience I had with the first one I brazed the second one, and it went really well, it was much easier to clean up.
Was pretty interesting playing with the heat control, having the drop out 5.0mm thick and a tube of 1.0mm thick, but was good practice.



























Second one here is still a little to much brass on there, but was sooo much better than the first one.















Heres the first one, partly cleaned up (still got the flux on, I got excited and trigger happy with the micro belt sander, really wanted to see what it looked like!), but it looks good.
The little sander I got takes quite a lot of material off when your not looking!
Have to remember to go easy when I get to the fillets!


Had them soaked o/night and came back tonight and finished cleaning them properly. They look real good, so am pretty stoked, always wonder how strong this thing will be when I'm boosting that road gap at the snow farm eh?! ;-) Later.......

Ridin the new commuter and stuff

Well got the final bits in the mail from the states last week, did a quick micro brazing job on the XT v brake arm on the rear.




Some one had snapped off the little pin that the spring retains against in the brake boss, so I filed the face flat, drilled a 2mm hole where the pin used to be, heated it up with the new fangled henrob torch I bought (man its so handy having a welder around!) and dropped a blob of brass on the face and in the hole, finally got the 2mm drill bit that I drilled the hole with, heated up the shank and the brass blob together and dropped that sucker in there and damn it works a charm!

So with the brakes on and sorted, I installed the problem solvers in the cables, and it was all good to go.The brakes feel somewhat "wooden" but you can't expect to much from them, they are plenty strong enough for what I need them for.



Rode it to work that day, man it feels heavier than it is, this is due to the 29er' mtb wheels combined with the conti top contact tyres(470grm), but its nice ride, good to have the 34t mtn cassette on the back tho!The bar end shifters rule!
Feels bit like a truck compared to the Trek but it should the geometry is quite different.Overall I am pretty stoked with it.I said to Miek that this is the last bike that I will spend money on till the next project comes to fruition, how many bikes can you ride at once?!

Next project, Zephyr Mk1, took delivery of the tubing today, its really nice (in a bike nerdy kinda way!), brass rods, flux, drop outs, braze ons, bb shells, head tubes etc.
Am a little nervous brazing this stuff together, have a little more practice to do first, but will be good to use the rods and flux from the states tho, should make quite a difference to the ease of the brazing process.

Hmmm well i'm gonna retreat to the man cave and check this tubing out and draw the rest of my drawing now I have the drop outs and seat/chain stays, and do some bog work to the other project a 1965 VW beetle, more on that later, heres a pic of the "table" and stuff, later.

Have the travel agents coming from the states, plus a broken xt v brake!?that I have to fix.

Built some wheels in the weekend, turns out they are LX mtn hubs, Wheelsmith straight gauge spokes, laced to WTB dual duty XC 700c rims (not light or welded, but built up pretty good)and the only ones I could get.

So I put the drive on and tuned it up, man those bar end shifters are sick!Nice and clunky on the shift, none of this fairy sti stuff!

Bought some hole saws for the tube notcher that came from the states via Blue shark (thanks Al), can't wait to spark it up, just need a drill to drive it now.

Also got some conti top contact 700x32 coming tomorrow, they sound good couldn't get the right combo in the schwalbe and have had nothing but good from the GP4000's on my Trek, so think i'm on the right track.

Heres the pic of the drawing, kinda finalized, got a few things to change "on the day" but essentially it will say the same.

Hello WWW

Yo, with some inspiration from Rick/Redwood Rev, i'm here, not sure how this going to start or end for that matter, but is kinda cool.
Also hope theres enough time in the schedule for this!
Hopefully get some nice pics that have been collecting in the computer for ages and post them on here for the peeps to see, and will be a little ol' log of the multitude of projects going on in the man cave(Nevadas affectionate name for my garage!).

Well hello WWW, kinda strange being out there for all to see eh?!Oh well I'll get over my shy kiwi nature and get to it.

Have kinda "acquired" a Surly cross check last week, and started putting it together with some bits I have had lying around here for some time waiting for a project similar this, I had hopes to build a 29er frame for myself but thats been shelfed for the moment while the new addition to the family keeps the disposable income down for a while, but will do at it some stage.

So the current spec of the x check will be-

+ 58cm x check frame and fork
+Bontrager Select bar/stem/carbon seat post combo-donated from my trek 1400
+Exage (very nearly New)brake levers-$30 trade me
+9spd ultegra (I think)bar end shifters-$30 trade me
+Cane creek sealed headset-from EX8(it got my well used Chris King)
+105 long cage derailleur
+Tiagra frt derailleur
+Wipperman 9spd chain
+Sram PG-990 cassette 11-34t(got steep hills and heavy wheels-go figure)
+Fsa gossamer 175mm cranks-bike shop "upgrade special"
+Xt V brakes with tavel agents-trade me/ebay $30
+LX 32H MTB hubs with center lock splines-these wheels will double as a 29 disc set also at some stage
+Rims Hmmm not, sure tried to get Salsa delgado x but Dave at cycle supplies only had one.So will keep you posted on this.
+tyres, thinking Conti top contact or schwalbe marathons of some description
Am thinking of running mud guards/fenders, but to be honest not sure how much rain riding i'll do its much nicer to sit on a bus in the pissing rain!
Can't wait to ride the thing, am quite excited to ride a nice(ish) steel frame, after doing so much research out there on cro-mo bikes it should be interesting, which brings me to my next topic.

I have officially started the Zephyr Mk 1 (hahaha to all those old bogans out there, you know who you are!), have been slowly but surely building up tools, benches, welders, etc to create my next monster, its kinda like a Balfa BB7 but build around the 6 inch trail bike platform that we all seem to be riding these days, so it will have a Fox 36R on the front with some where between 160 and 195mm rear wheel travel.
Just ordered the tubing today from Henry James (was pretty stoked bout this), He was a classic old dude!He even suggested I dissolve the flux with, quote "some of that mountain spring water you folks have up there or perhaps some sheep urine"!!
Was good to spend some time on the phone with him, he knows loads and is qualified too.
Got some other bits for Rich as well, a mention to him to, Rich was the original source of inspiration for this project, and is also a really good man to hang out with, so thanks buddy.
Will get some pics up soon, once I know how to!