BB Heat Sink

The BB heat sink does two things, it helps keep the titanium tubing cool during welding by acting as a heat sink, and it also helps minimize the distortion of the BB shell from the heat of the welding. This 29er frame with a Type II Fork will be heading to my friend in Spain very soon!

Hope This Makes Some of My Favorite Collectors Happy!

I am fortunate to have some great people that collect some of my old bikes. I am honored that there are some collectors that can appreciate how much work went into the old fillet brazed bikes that I built almost 30 years ago! In the good old days, the bike wasn't finished until the head badge was put on. What that meant for me was going home after a real long day of building bikes and putting the tea kettle on and cutting out my head badges out of brass sheet and a coping saw until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. Well needless to say, I could keep my eyes open a lot longer in the old days than now, but I am at it again to to make some of the old style head badges for some of my favorite bike collecting buddies . Thanks for restoring all the old bikes you guys, you know who you are !

Sincerely, Steve.

Tig Tacked Before Brazing

The new disc mount is tig tacked evenly on both sides before brazing. The new design distributes the brake load in a more reliable way and the new mount takes much less heat to braze on, which in turn makes a stronger , more reliable fork.

The First New Disc Mount!

This is the new disc mount for the front fork. Going to be a nice two tone for Jesse!

Grateful

This is a photo I took from my porch looking toward Mount Tamalpais one early December morning. I feel fortunate to have such a great view! I use this blog to try to keep interested people and loyal customers informed to what I am making in the shop that is bike related. There is always more going on in life than could be put in a "blog", and of course, would not be revelant to the bicycle theme. This last month I have lost three life long friends to cancer, I will miss all of them for sure. Life is so busy that there is so little time to say thank you or to see how full our lives are with family , friends and work. So, I remain grateful for family, friends, and loyal customers that have provided me with doing the work I love to do, and the friendships that make life all that it is. Steve.

Photo for Noah

Just a little idea of proportions. Hope this is helpful!

29er, Type II, heading to Spain

This is my favorite combination, the smooth ride of the 29er with the precise, lightweight performance of a Type II Fork ! More photos to come on this bike.

Long Steer Tube!

This has to be the longest steer tube I have built on a Type II Fork. You can see the long machined butted section that will be pressed in after all of the welding processes are done. This is the safety sleeve, a long tapered piece of 4130 steel that will dissipate the fork loads in a safe manner. The safety sleeve will be very strong as it will be unaffected by any welding heat. This fork will be getting a traditional two tone paint job . Today the new disc mount will be put on . I'll keep you posted!

ZORRO'S

Zorro rear ends tacked and ready for welding with John Castellano. John and I are both just a bit overworked so it is nice to have the help to get things done.