Curt Goodrich Bicycles

New web site and blog!

2009-01-23T10:54:00.003-06:00

I have a new web site and blog. This blog is being abandoned. Please visit and frequent my new blog which is at http://www.curtgoodrich.com Thank you.

Baffin Blue

2008-12-08T13:00:00.000-06:00

That's the name of the Dupont paint color. I took these photos inside because it was too cold outside to sit in the snow. The color in natural light is a classic baby blue or some might call it a French blue or is it bleau? I only took one quarter of French but I should know. Anyway, this is a repaint of the earlier Tournesol. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Candy Apple Red

2008-11-21T17:12:00.000-06:00

That's the color. It looks really great in person. The pictures make it look a little maroonish but it's not. Probably the fluorescent lights. I like it.

531 Sportif

2008-11-14T14:07:00.000-06:00

This frame is built with NOS Reynolds 531 tubes along with stamped and welded long point Prugnat lugs. The lugs take a lot of work to make them presentable. I reshaped and filed them to a new profile. These old lugs present many challenges but in the end they can look really great. A subtle thing is the larger radius at the crotch of joint which you can see in the picture of the lower head lug. It's just an aesthetic thing but looks matter. I think all frame builders working with lugs should build at least a couple of frames with the old welded and stamped lugs. If for no other reason but to get some filing in. I see too many frames these days being built without the benefit of the business end of a file. The frame is designed around standard reach brakes and will have a front rack. I took these photos before putting on the rack mounts on the fork blades.

Wally's wine

2008-10-17T15:03:00.001-05:00

Steve asked me to paint this frame and showed me a picture of a Baylis. The customer wanted that color. Brian Baylis is famous for mixing his own colors and is a master at it. Me, well, I'm a rookie. I stopped by my friend Chris Kvale's shop to look at his Dupont chip book. When I explained to him what I was looking for he said he had something like that. It was a custom color Chris had mixed for one of his customers. The customer's name is Wally. I've never met Wally nor have I seen wine this color but the name on the can was Wally's Wine. Chris was kind enough to let me use the color because he had a quart of it and hadn't used in years since painting Wally's bike. Lugs are Sachs Rene Singer. BB shell and crown are Pacenti The frame was built by Martin Tweedy. He did an excellent job.

One of the twins is built

2008-10-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

Pete got his frame built up. This is one of the twin frames. I think it looks good. If my bikes were only one color that blue would be it. He says he likes it. This bike can be ridden almost anywhere. From smooth paved roads with 23mm tires to gravel roads with 30mm tires. Raced or rambling. Fenders with fat tires or supple tubbies.

Kevin's 650B frame and fork

2008-10-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

This frame and fork are built around 650B wheels. Pacenti stainless lugs and bb shell paired with a Sachs fork crown. The photos aren't very good because I took them quickly in the bright sun. I couldn't clearly see the display so the I didn't notice the focus is a little off. The finish on the lugs is a brushed look. Same for the head badge. It has a modern sort of look. I like it. The rear drops are NOS Campagnolo 1010A horizontals. The customer wants to have the ability to go single speed or a internally geared hub or a rear derailleur. The drop out faces are nickel plated. Paul cantilever brakes will be used. I've used the paint combination before. Green and yellow remind me of John Deere tractors but these two colors don't at all. In person, these colors really pop.

Team Red

2008-09-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

Finally after a summer vacation and a recovery time from a pinched nerve in my neck I got this frame painted and shipped out. This is RT's frame from the previous post. The red is a highly pigmented red. Expensive color but worth it. The lugs, crown and bb shell are Pacenti.

The last two pictures are of the assembled dragon fly bike. There's an earlier post that shows the frame. I think the picture in the garden is fitting given the colors of the frame. The bike has a look of gentleness. Maybe that's due to the background, the design or the build. Either way I'm happy with it. The customer is too.

RT's road frame and fork

2008-08-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

This is a road frame and fork. Built around short reach caliper brakes and a sensible road geometry. It's a style I know well and have built the most. The lugs and crown are Pacenti. They are stainless and will get polished. Actually the seat lug won't because I don't polish those. So the head lugs and crown will be masked after polishing and before paint.

TK's rando frame and fork

2008-07-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

This frame and fork are designed and built around 650B wheels. The lugs are from Richard Sach and are called Rene Singer. The fork crown and bb shell are Pacenti. Built with light tubes and painted by JB. There's a custom stem, tail light and front rack but I'll wait to get complete bike pictures. Then I'll post pictures of the complete bike.

BB's frame

2008-07-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

I finally got this project painted. The frame has bi-laminate construction which is fillet brazing combined with lugged construction. The paint color is a stock color for a 1938 Ford Model A. It's sort of blue and sort of green depending on the light. The fenders are Honjos. I almost didn't mask off the ends but I think the fenders look better like this.

Pearl cross frame and fork

2008-07-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

Built with Sachs lugs, crown and bb shell. Light tubes and will be built with Tune parts. This will be an all out race bike first with the ability to add fenders in the off season. I'm happy with how it all turned out. The paint is white with an alabaster pearl in the clear. It doesn't show well in the pictures but in person it's quite striking.

Twins

2008-06-26T12:42:00.000-05:00

I built these for two customers that are pals. One lives on the East Coast and the other lives on the West Coast. Both customers wanted the bikes painted identically. The colors and paint scheme were up to me. The only restriction and really it was more of a suggestion was not red because Tom had several red bikes. No problem. I love this blue. If all my bikes were to be painted one color I'd be perfectly happy with this color for a long time.

Front rack

2008-06-20T15:46:00.000-05:00

Here's some photos of a recently completed front rack. The frame and fork were done awhile ago but I was waiting for special mounting bolts to come in from Japan. The bolts replace the ones that mount the brake to the pivots. Finally the bolts showed up but they didn't work! Wrong thread pitch on one end. So I made my own. Not a big deal but bummed me out for waiting for these elusive good for nothing bolts. As I'm writing this I'm waiting for the customer to pick this up. I can't wait to see it built up.

Now for something completely different

2008-06-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the bi-laminate frame. It's built to be a single speed or converted to a 3 speed Sturmey Archer with a coaster brake. The gear cable is routed internally. The cable enters the down tube near the head tube and exits near the bb shell. The cable goes under the bb shell and enters the chain stay. The cable then exits the side of the chain stay near the rear wheel. I hope I never do that again.

The seat stay arrangement is unusual. This sort of style was done by other builders like Singer and Routens. I doubt I'll do it again but it turned out the way I wanted it to. I like how the seat stay caps wrap part of the top tube. That was sort of a pain but worth it.

The rear drop outs are from Pacenti. The faces are brazed on seperately and are made of stainless steel. The faces will be masked off before paint. I think they're a nice touch. Also the coaster brake plate is made of stainless steel too and will be masked off before paint. The swoopy tube between the seat and chain stay acts as a brace during the braking loads from the coaster brake. The loads aren't that significant so the tube is more decorative than functional. The tube is brass but is quite thick walled so it will be strong enough to actually act as a brace if needed. I used brass because it bent the way I wanted and it was the diameter that would look appropriate.

The fork crown is the same twin plate crowns used on the Masis. It's a pain to work with but it sure lends some mojo to the overall aesthetic. These crowns are quite rare. Definitely not somthing I'll be using too often.

Bi-laminate

2008-05-31T15:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lame formatting. Here's some shots early into a build. Combining lugs with fillet brazing is often called bi-laminate construction. At least it is in England. This has never been a common form of joint joinery in the U.S. so I'm not sure if we have a term for it. I like to call it "a little something for everyone!" Heck there's even some tig welding in there. The points have been tig welded on and the weld bead was ground off. Thanks to Erik Noren for welding those on. Tig was necessary because I brazed the lugs and laid the fillets at the same time. Since fillets typically need to be done with brass it made sense to use that for the lugs too. If I had brazed the points onto the lugs beforehand with brass that filler would have melted during the construction. The melt would make the seam between the lug and the added point visible and ugly.

Paint shop is open!

2008-05-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here's pictures of my first solo paint job. It turned out really well. There's room for improvement but the masking turned out crisp, no runs and the final clear has good gloss. I'm proud of it. The colors are much better in person. The green has a sort of gold pearl effect combined with a candy appearance. I think I'll use that color more.

Computer hiatus

2008-05-14T13:02:00.000-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with computers. This condition goes in streaks and lately I've been hating computers. Hating is too strong a word. Really I've been avoiding dealing with pictures and blogging. These activities so often feel like a waste of time. I know they're not but like so many one person operations sometimes things get pushed to the side for more important tasks.

This randonneuse frame and fork are for Gunner's daughter. He's giving her this as a college graduation gift. Pretty nice gift but I'm biased. I still need to build the front rack for this but I'm going to paint it first. As I'm typing this the drop outs are in the plating bath and will be done soon. After that I'll prep the frame and mask off the nickel for paint. Earlier today I mixed up the epoxy primer and will spray the frame this afternoon. Hopefully I can get a little color on the frame too before I go home tonight. You may have noticed the dragonfly on the down tube. Gunner carved that and asked me if I'd put it on the frame. He explained to me that dragonflies are important to his daughter. At first I wasn't thrilled at the idea. Mostly because I didn't want someone to ask me to carve up something for them. I just don't think I have the talent to do that. Anyway I thought more about the reason for this whole bike being built and realized I needed to get over it. I think it's really cool that the bike is somewhat of a collaboration plus Gunner did a beautiful job. Also my daughter thought it was cool. One should never get in the way of a father's love for his daughter.

3...2...1...blast off!

2008-04-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

There it is. The new 15' exhaust stack is up and working perfectly. The duct is 24" in diameter so the rain hat needed to be 36" is diameter to effectively keep out rain and snow. Between this project, funerals and illnesses my time at the bench making frames has been limited this last 2.5 weeks. Yikes! Oh well, that's family life.

Davis fork crown

2008-03-26T16:23:00.000-05:00

This is a Davis sand cast fork crown from the 50's. The first two pictures show the crown in the untouched state. The crown is pretty crude to begin with. I refer to these sand castings as lumps of coal. It takes a great deal of labor to make them presentable. These castings make me appreciate the quality of investment casting. I wouldn't want to work exclusively with sand castings but occasionally it's fun.

I didn't like how the groove looked on this crown so I filed it with brass. Since the fork will be silver brazed the brass won't melt when I heat the crown up again during construction. You can see I removed a lot of steel in coming up with this shape. Additionally I thinned out the crown a great deal. I will thin it more after brazing up the fork.

Paint class

2008-03-24T13:26:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my painting class now. I won't bore you with the countless photos of my squirting paint but the first picture gives you the idea. I'm spraying on primer. The rest of the pictures are of one of the frames. I couldn't get the lighting right to show the green pearl. The frame looks primarily white but in the right light there's green iridescent sparkles within the clear coat. It's subtle and really nice.

Polished crown

2008-03-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of pictures of Frank's stainless steel fork crown after polishing. The pictures don't really capture the shine very well. I need to work on my photo skills. The other two are photos of his fillet brazed stem. The stem will be painted to match the frame. I'm taking this frame and stem along with Pete and Tom's frames and forks to a frame painting class this next week at Doug Fattic's shop. Doug is an excellant builder, painter and teacher. The class will shorten my learning curve a great deal. I'm very excited. I won't be in the shop from March 15-23 and I doubt I'll access the internet until I return.

Tom's club racer

2008-03-11T13:50:00.000-05:00

This is another club racer. I know Independant Fabrications has a model called a club racer too but the term "club racer" is an old one. So I don't feel like I'm ripping their idea off. Besides, they don't do lugs. This bike, like the previous two, is designed around standard reach caliper brakes and the brake bridge and fork are built so the brake pads are near the bottom of the slot. This requires a fair bit of accuracy during the build because if the fork is a little too long or the bridge too high and the brakes won't reach the rims. That's bad! Why do I bother with this? Well this sort of bike is all about options. The additional clearances under the brakes allow for a range of tire widths and the eyelets make fenders possible. Tom lives in So. Cal so fenders probably won't make sense but who knows? If he wants to stick 30mm tires on and explore fire roads he can. If that doesn't appeal to him 23mm will be just as at home on this frame. The lugs, crown and bb shell are Sachs castings. Tom has agreed to let me paint it anyway I wish. How cool is that? I will be painting the same as Pete's club racer because they want me to. Pete lives on the East coast so the twins will be seperated by about 3000 miles. Hopefully they will get ridden together sometime though.

Frank's club racer

2008-02-27T16:02:00.000-06:00

Here's some pictures of Frank's new club racer. It's made with Sachs lugs & bb shell. The fork crown is a stainless Pacenti crown. I still need to polish it before painting but I didn't want to show it after polishing. The lug edges always look strange due to the polishing rouge that builds up there. Of course, I could polish it, clean off the rouge then take photos of it again. We'll see. This frame is built with lightish tubes and takes standard reach caliper brakes. The bridges are equidistantly spaced from the axle center with fender mounts. This will allow for easier fender mounting if desired and the fender will follow the wheel radius.

The last picture is of my new head badges. I was running low on brass ones so I decided to get some stainless ones. Sorry no more brass ones for a while. I like these stainless badges. They're the same dimensions as my old brass badges.

Miters and stuff

2008-02-22T10:44:00.000-06:00

The first three pictures show top tube miters. I miter my tubes with a 1952 Bridgeport vertical mill. I love that old machine. Mounted in the Bridgeport is a mitering jig/fixture that holds the tubes and insures the miters are in the proper phase. This is important especially with the top tube. The top tube is mitered on both ends and if the miters are out of phase the seat and head tube centerlines won't be in the same plane. That's less than ideal. So I make the miters as perfect as possible and the bikes are better for it.

The last two pictures are of a frame in the Marchetti jig. The front triangle is already brazed and I'm getting ready to braze the rear triangle on. The close up of the seat lug shows a little excess silver around the seat lug edges. That's called flashing and will be removed after all of the brazing is done. That cleanup is part of the filing and thinning of the lugs. If the lug was brazed cleanly like this one, the flashing could be left because it won't show under paint. But I like to remove it so if the frame is ever repainted by someone else he or she will be impressed with the clean work. That makes no business sense but it's just a source of pride for me.

Pete's Club Racer

2008-02-15T14:47:00.000-06:00

I call this frame a club racer and it's sort of a model for me. It's built with light weight tubing and a geometry that is as well suited for pace line riding as it is for a long solo country ride. Designed around standard reach brakes so the frame will fit 28mm tires with metal fenders. Of course, if you only want 23mm tires there's no penalty to having room for larger tires. Speaking of fenders, there's eyelets for mounting them. No ugly clamps needed. The lugs, bb shell and fork crown are Sachs castings.

Price increase

2008-02-04T20:39:00.000-06:00

Well it's long overdue. I haven't raised my prices in three years. That was a dumb business move on my part. So here it goes- Starting March 1st, 2008 the base price will be $2800 for a frame and fork with Sachs lugs and a single color paint job. Hand carving Pacenti lugs, stainless lugs and fancier paint schemes will add to the cost. This price increase has no affect on people in the queue. So if you're sitting on the fence about when to order you can save a little loot if you order before March 1st.

Stop or I'll...

2008-02-04T13:48:00.000-06:00

paint my ear drum! I couldn't afford a real model so you'll have to look at my mug wearing the recently arrived breathable air supply mask. The mask is hooked up to a 50' hose which is connected to a small compressor. The compressor produces breathable air which is pumped to the mask. A useful safety piece of equipment because painting is a nasty bit of business. This breathable air system is one of the last pieces missing to my paint booth set up. I should be ready to spray soon! Now the real learning can begin.

The second picture is of two of my spray guns. The larger one is an Iwata LPH-300 and the smaller one is an Iwata LPH-80. They are expensive but worth it.

Pearl

2008-01-27T15:26:00.000-06:00

Here's Mark's cross frame. Paint is by Chris Kvale. It's white with white pearl. I think it looks great!

Cyclocross frame

2008-01-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

This frame is built with light (7-4-7) tubes and Sachs lugs, crown and bb shell. The frame is built to be equally at home on the race course and the road. There's mounts for fenders in the off season. Those fenders will be removed for next year's race season. The bb height is normal rather than really high like on so many cross bikes.

Paint booth

2008-01-02T17:16:00.000-06:00

I'm in the process of setting up my own paint shop. Here's a few pictures during the ongoing construction. This picture is taken through the front doors of the cross flow booth. The open squares will be filled with filters to clean the incoming air. The duct work is sitting inside waiting to be installed and connected to the exhaust stack.

The second picture is looking through the front doors. The back wall is visible. This will be covered with filters to catch the exhausting particulates.

The third picture shows the used flammables cabinet that I purchased. I was excited to find a used one locally because these cabinets are quite expensive. The material on top of it are the filters for the exhaust wall.

The fourth picture shows the 24" tubaxial exhaust fan along with the 2 hp motor. The remaining duct work will be finished soon.

Single speed/fixie

2007-12-27T12:50:00.000-06:00

This bike is built with Sachs lugs, crown and a Pacenti bb shell. I designed and built it around standard reach (47-57mm) brakes to accomodate 27mm tires and Honjo fenders. The bike is currently set up as a single speed/fixie with a flip flop hub. You can see there's provisions for gears and derailleurs. The customer wanted to have that option in the future. The crank and hubs are by Paul Components. The bb is Phil. Freewheel is from White Industries. Chris King headset rounds out the collection of US made components. That wasn't really the goal but in the end it was kind of cool. The wheels where handbuilt by me with DT spokes and DT 1.1 rims. I really like how the red accents on the rims decals tie in nicely witht the red cable housing, bar plugs, bar trim tape and seat tube panels. Also the gold and black chain highlights the gold used in the window fills and stenciled on graphics. The stem is fillet brazed and nickel plated.

Rene Singer lugs

2007-11-30T12:36:00.000-06:00

This frame and fork are built with Rene Singer lugs (Richard Sachs' latest set) and Pacenti crown and bb shell. The frame and fork are designed around 650b wheels with Grand Bois tires. It's a rando style set up with a custom rack and stem which are at the plater. The bike will have a Goodrich custom tail light. Hence the mount on the back of the seat tube.

Speaking of randonneur bikes, one of mine was recently reviewed in Bicycle Quarterly (BQ). I don't like when people cherry pick only the positive comments in a review but I'm going to use a quote from the review anyway-
"Excellent workmanship, performance and handling combine to make the Goodrich a superior bike that can be ridden any distance, in any weather, over any road surface. Unless you race or carry large loads, it would be hard to find a better bike." You can see a picture of the bike and get a little information about the current issue here-
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/currentissue.html

To me that's a great review and I'm proud. I build a wide variety of bikes but the randonneur bikes are the most complicated. If you don't subscribe to Bicycle Quarterly you should. Even if you're not into randonneuring or vintage/historical bike stuff BQ is a quality publication and read. If nothing else, it's not like the other bike mags and that's worth something!

Dylan's new bike

2007-11-23T13:18:00.000-06:00

Dylan wanted a relatively light, fast and sensible road bike. Sensible in that it's got reliable and not overly expensive parts. Also sensible because the chain stay length, fork length and clearances allow for several tire widths. Currently the bike is built with 23mm Michelins and that's likely all that will live on it but if the owner wishes he has room for fatter tires. The paint is by Bad Boy Bobby Brown. Ever since Whitney gave him the boot, B4 has cleaned up his act and taken up bike painting. The white has a silver pearl and the red is a solid color. The paint scheme has been done so many times but it still looks fresh to me.

Newvex lugs

2007-10-16T15:58:00.000-05:00

Built with Newvex lugs from Richard Sachs. Fork crown and bb shell are from Kirk Pacenti. I apologize for the poor lighting in these photos. It was pouring rain outside and I didn't want to wait before boxing this up for paint. Still I think you can see the work. The brake pivots are for Paul centerpulls.

A mind is a terrible thing

2007-10-09T12:51:00.000-05:00

I guess I got carried away with this top lug. Looks good in that over the top sort of way though. I won't do it again. One of a kind.

Cross season is here

2007-10-08T16:14:00.000-05:00

Go get dirty!

Silver Pearl

2007-09-28T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm a sucker for pearls. This is a silver pearl over white. I really like it. The Sachs lugs with red highlights really jump without being too much. The front rack is nickel plated. I like how that turned out. The tail light tucks in nicely yet is very visible from behind. The tail light weighs 30 grams.

Identity crisis?

2007-09-26T16:23:00.000-05:00

Sachs lugs, crown and bb shell. Well, at least the drop outs aren't Sachs. This is a what I'd describe as a sensible road frame. Light tubing, chain stays aren't too short, proper seat angle, fork bend that starts low and continues to the drop out and a front center that's not too short. The frame and fork are for short reach brakes and there's room for 30mm tire. The customer is only going to run 25mm but there's no harm in have a little extra room. Who knows in ten years he might want 28mm tires?

Black and red

2007-09-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures of a recent frame. It's built with Pacenti bb shell, Sachs lugs and crown. The drop out faces are nickel plated. This frame will be built up as a single speed but the customer wanted provisions for gears. So the rear drops are a Campagnolo short slot copy. Photographing black bikes is tricky. Every little speck of dust or fingerprint shows. The graphics are painted on with a stencil. Normally they're decals. I prefer the decals but this looks good too.

New fork crown

2007-09-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures a recent fork built with Kirk Pacenti's new fork crown. I don't know if it has a name. The crown is wide. The blades are 70mm apart at the base of the crown. The fork seems ideal for rigid mountain bike forks. The steerer is 28.6mm. Aesthetically the crown reminds me of the cool faux twin plate crowns used on Bridgestone mountain bikes. Don't ask me what it weighs. I didn't put it on a scale. I don't normally make many mountain bikes but I could see using this fork crown in the future. It's nice to have options.

Butterscotch

2007-08-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

The color in person looks like butterscotch. The photos were taken in the shade because it was too sunny to get good photos. This is the frame that's pictured earlier without paint. I apologize for the poor formatting so far. I'm still trying to learn how to move images and text around.

Nuovo Richie Series

2007-08-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

This is the first frame I've built with the Nuovo Richie Series lugs. I like them. This frame is built around Paul Racer centerpull brakes. Hence the canti posts in the unusual position. The Paul brakes work great and allow for fat-ish tires and fenders. Those requirements ruled out even standard reach brakes and the customer didn't want cantis. Racers to the rescue. The steerer is threadless and obviously is still at the stock length. It will be shortened during assembly.

The next pictures show close ups of the lugs after brazing and clean up. They have been thinned and sanded smooth.

The photo of the seat lug shows the braze on for the tail light behind the seat tube. The light is an LED blinky light that I make. It's very bright and yet it's attractive. The light weighs 31 grams and is waterproof. Pictures of that some other time.

The fork will have braze ons attached to the fork blades for a custom front rack. I'm still working on the rack. Once the platform is completed then I will know where to put the mounts. In addition to the fork blades this rack will mount to the front of the Paul Racer brakes. The rack will secure the front of the fender, hold the headlight and on occasion a handlebar bag.

Fork alignment

2007-08-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

Fork alignment is very important to me. I think it's as important as frame alignment. Unfortunately with the prevalence of carbon forks, fork alignment has become less important to many builders. Forks are taken out of boxes and stuck onto frames and as long as the wheel centers up between the blades all is golden. Well not really. Many of these forks have the drop outs pulled to one side or the other of centerline. So even if the wheel centers up between the blades the wheel will not be vertical. Since carbon forks can't be cold set there's nothing to do about it. The builder could return the fork and some do. But many don't. Many don't even have the tooling to check. Also there's a whole new generation of builders that have never even built a fork and are largely unaware of this issue. That bugs me a lot. Maybe too much. Anyway, I make my forks and I'm passionate about it. The first picture shows a fork on my Marchetti fork table. The steerer is held parallel to the table surface. The square is placed on the blades by the crown to make them perpendicular to the table surface. The black gauge at the drop outs has a dial to symmetrically set the pointers at the desired width. In this case 100mm. You can see that the gauge can move up and down the vertical shaft. The V is placed on the steerer and that sets the gauge at the centerline height.

The second picture is a close up of the gauge between the drop outs. This is to ensure the drops are spaced equidistantly from the centerline. There's more steps to aligning fork after this. I haven't taken photos of them but maybe will sometime. The other steps are to H-tool the drop outs to make sure they're parallel. The square is put into the drop out slots to confirm the crown isn't twisted. A properly dished wheel is then put in the fork to confirm the wheel is centered between the fork blades. Lastly the fork rake is measured to confirm it's to spec. When all of that has been done, then the wheel is truly vertical and the fork will truly perform as intended.

Jet Vent

2007-08-03T18:41:00.000-05:00

Jet vent is framebuilder slang for internal routing. In this case it's the rear brake that's internally routed through the top tube. The first picture shows the mitered top tube and the stainless steel tube that will be brazed in. You can see it's bent on each end and on the top tube one of the openings for the stainless tube is visible. The bends are so the tube passes through the middle of the top tube. This prevents the tube from hitting the top tube and making an annoying metallic "clink" sound whenever the bike runs over a bump.

Here's a picture of the stainless tube inserted in but not brazed.

The third picture is of the tube brazed in with the flux still there. I took this picture right after turning off the torch. I braze one end and then let it cool before brazing the other end. This reduces any possible issues with jet venting thin top tubes.

The fourth photo shows the same thing as the third but after the flux is soaked off.

The last photo is after the end of the tube has been shaped and the excess silver has been sanded off. The shaping is done with a Dynafile which is a hand held pnuematic belt sander. It makes quick work of it and yields great results.

Ready for paint

2007-07-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here's some more pictures of the recently completed frame and fork. The frame is built around 700C wheels, 32mm tires with clearances and mounts for fenders and canti brakes. The lugs are the previously pictured Pacenti lugs that I carved up. I'm happy with how it all turned out.

Here's a nice shot of the completed seat lug. You can see how I carved down and reshaped the top of the seat lug. I think it looks more balanced and sedate. Also you can see the capped seat stay after it's been brazed onto the seat lug.

I don't know why but the bottom head tube lug is my favorite. This, to my eye, is a great photo of it. Notice how the lug has been thinned. I can't stand when lugs get stock on and left at stock thickness. I guess that's fine for a production bike but for a handcrafted frame the lugs look so much better thinned out.

Here's a nice shot of the fork crown. It too has been thinned and the points have been tapered. While not necessary it shows the hand of the maker.

Why not?

2007-07-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

I first saw this cable stop design while working at R&E Cycles in Seattle. An old Rodriguez custom frame was in for a re-paint. It had this type of triangulated cable stop. I always liked the look and have been using it on a few Goodrich's. Perhaps I'll continue to use it as a signature of sorts. We'll see. It's more work but worth it, I think.

Semi-wrap seat stay caps

2007-07-17T15:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of a frame in my Marchetti frame fixture. The front triangle is brazed and has been put back into the fixture to tack on the rear triangle. I don't have the head tube held in place because it's not necessary when tacking on the rear.

This is a close up of the seat stay as it rests on the seat lug before tacking. You can see that the seat stay is capped and not plugged. The difference is with a plug a pre-shaped piece (either turned or cast) is brazed onto the end of the seat stay. A seat stay cap is when a piece of tubing is brazed onto the end of the seat stay. In this case it's a scrap piece of chain stay to create a concave finish. You can see the tip of the cap wraps slightly around the seat lug. It increases the surface area thereby increasing the strength of the braze. That's cool but not necessary. Mostly I do it because I like the way it looks. I've never liked a full wrap like the old English bike builders did. I also don't like when the stay is just stuck on the side of the lug sitting out there in space. To my eye, this semi-wrap splits the difference aesthetically. The seat lug has been filed and thinned. After I've brazed the whole frame then I will sandblast around the joints. That will quickly remove any of the silver flashing which is the excess silver that you can see around the lug. The top of the seat lug will also get shaped then. Currently the seat tube extends through the lug and is left there until I'm done brazing. Then I'll greatly reduce it's length and change it's profile. Pictures of that later.

Pacenti lugs- before and after

2007-07-13T17:02:00.000-05:00

Here's some Pacenti lugs before and after I carved them up. This is a twist on the way that I typically carve them up. The window or cut out that I usually do is a tear drop of sorts. In these pictures the cut out is more of a traditional triangular window. What do you think? The lugs will be thinned after the front triangle is brazed up.

Some lug carving

2007-07-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

This picture was taken by my friend Mark Stonich. The color is a stock Imron color. The seat lug is a Pacenti artisan lug that I carved up. I like how it turned out. The seat stay caps are a semi-wrap style that I typically do.

This picture shows a Richard Sachs top lug in my hand and the same lug on the frame with the head tube extension removed. Kind of trick.

More pictures

2007-07-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

Here's some more pictures of the recent club racer.

A recent Goodrich

2007-07-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

It's what I consider to be a club racer. By that I mean it's a bike that's built as a race bike but is a little more practical. This is accomplished by building the frame and fork around standard reach brakes and maxing out the brake reach. This creates the maximum amount of space between the tire and the brake arch. Also fender mounts are on the drop outs and bridges. The additional clearances and mounting points come with virtually no penalties unless you consider an additional 8 grams a penalty. The bike can be built in many configurations. It could be outfitted with 23mm tires and be at home in a race. Or if the rider desired there's room for 28mm tires and fenders. I know not everyone will always want to ride with fenders but sometimes it's nice to have them and it's even nicer to know the bike doesn't limit your options. The frame is built with Richard Sachs lugs and crown and Columbus .7-.4-.7 tubes. The stem is fillet brazed and nickel plated.

Test run

2007-07-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt at blogging. I recently finished a Rivendell. The customer requested a custom front rack. Normally I only make those for Curt Goodrich customers but in this case I made an exception. The bike is built around 650B wheels and bolt on Paul Racer brakes. I like how it turned out. Oh yea, the rack will be plated.