photos photos and more photos....

I recently purchased this really slick memory card for my digital camera that automatically uploads the photos to my Flickr site as soon as I take them. Now you can expect my normally well documented builds to be even more well documented in more or less real time.

Starting with Johns framehere you will be able to see the slow process of building a frame in my shop.

As usual all the builds are here: http://jonnycycles.com/framesInProgress.php

Also check out quickly expanding Flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/jonnycycles/collections/

More photos on Tuesday when I return from the holiday weekend bike trip...

Cookout tomorrow: Thursday 08-28

At the shop from 7 pm until ?

There will be some food and beverages, but feel free to bring your own!

chain tension

Normally I'm a loose chain sort of guy on the fixed gear and I'm always surprised by how loose a chain can get with good components and never come off. Today over on the fixed gear gallery forums I saw this:



Apparently his chain jumped of the chainring and was caught by the crank as it came around. ?!
http://fixedgeargallery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18139

Maybe I'll tension my chain before the ride home.

Finally, a useful wooden fender!

Over the past few years there have been quite a few people making wooden fenders. For the most part I've ignored them all because they were less functional that the standard plastic/aluminum/steel fenders. All the wood ones were flat as opposed to curved to fit around the sided of the tire. Google "wooden fender" and you'll see several examples. All these wood fenders all look great and some have excellent craftsmanship with all those wood and inlay options, but a fender is supposed to stop all road spray which is something a flat fender isn't that great at (seriously try one though a wet sloppy Wisconsin winter).

A few months ago this random guy Ben wandered into the shop. If you've been to the shop or are familiar with the location you would know someone just wandering in is a rare event. Ben was looking to see if I needed any help, which I didn't need but we chatted for awhile anyway. On his way out his last words were "check out this cool curved wood fender prototype". What?! Thats like the holy grail of cool fenders and I'd been thinking of attempting it someday when I find the time (i.e. never!) and Ben just mentions it as an afterthought, pulling a sample out of his pocket as he walked out. I expressed quite a bit of interest and encouraged him to pursue the project further. As it turned out he wanted a custom rack for one of his bikes and Leah(the rack builder that hangs out in corner) wanted some wooden fenders.

Today Ben stopped by the shop with the fenders:




I am very impressed. If your interested in some of your own you should contact him via e-mail - Lbrk@hotmail.com, we need to get him making some more of these.

ZR Cycles in Bike magazine

ZR Cycles (the guy that builds on the other side of the shop from me) has a nice review of a 650B mountain bike he built in Bike Magazine, check it out: http://bikemag.com/gear/bikes/tested_zr_cycles_650b_hardtail_frame/