Midwest Bike Polo Championship: May 3rd

Should be fun times as usual.

More info here: http://www.madbikepolo.org/

Seen on the Fixed Gear Gallery

I made the stem:

http://fixedgeargallery.com/2008/apr/2/JonathanMorgan.htm#image_2

H8TR100 photos

The H8TR100 (formerly Madison-Basco-Madison) was a success!. Due to poor trail conditions the race stopped at Belleville instead of going all the way through the train tunnel (frozen and ice covered). 40 degrees with rain and snow = perfect conditions!

Some photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/newlow/sets/72157604524396442/

Results here:

http://www.kittenfactory.blogspot.com/

Orange

Custom orange track stem with a French diameter (22.0 mm) quill - hows that for unique?

Threadless stem installed on Mercian

Kyle just sent me some photos of this stem installed on his Mercian:

Expedition touring is the theme for this week

The week started off with finishing up work on a Trek touring frame-set. I built a custom stem for this bike then added some brazons: Paul Racer mounts, cable guides, kickstand plate, generator mounts, etc etc.. and then sent it off to Spectrum Powderworks for a full repaint. After it was back from paint I did the full build and it turned out really nice with a mix of old and new parts. Matthew picked it up earlier in the week and was very happy with it.












While Matthew was picking up his "new" Trek he dropped off his custom Oswald touring bike (you may have seen it a couple years ago at the Handmade Bike Show). Matthew decided he would put it to better use as a dedicated commuter bike so were making some changes: Building a new fork with more clearance for fatter tires and setting up the front end geometry for a platform rack. I'll also be installing some new parts. I had previously built the custom stem for this bike (the one that holds the Rohlhoff shifter) so I was familiar with it. Tom Oswald (you can see more of his work here: http://www.oswaldcycleworks.com/did some nice work building this frame and it has some really nice details:













Later in the week Nat stopped with his "Super Tour" I built for him awhile ago. I installed the fork lock for him while he was here. This bike is still a work in progress as we need to finish the racks and chainguard, but in the mean time Nat's riding it around. Its certainly the most unique bike I've done. Build up was by the Yellow Jersey here in town, although I actually did the work while I worked there a bit last fall. Nat put some serious thought and consideration into it and came up with exactly how he wanted the bike. He's a nice enough guy and everything was reasonable enough so we just listened and added some guidance here and there. Here's the result (wow):

Custom stem for a Richard Sachs frameset

John wanted a quill stem with a lugged handlebar clamp to match the lugs on his Richard Sachs frameset and hold a 26.0mm handlebar. Of course no such lug exists, the closest thing being the Pacenti stem lugs which are designed for a 31.8 bar and a 1 1/8" extension tube...both a little big for this project. I decided to make my own lug, which really is isn't that difficult and I was able to get exactly what I wanted. I turned down some tubing on the lathe to make both the bar clamp and the lug piece, brazed them together, and then modified the shape to match the Sachs "Richie-issimo Series" lugs. Check it out:

Spring race

The spring race waiting for a name now has a name and a date:

When Pigs Fly

April 26th

Olbrich Park

5pm registration/Fee $5

http://www.myspace.com/madisonrace