ARGONAUT [custom bicycles]

Joshua’s MAX track bike arrived Thursday from the painter and it looks killer! The biggest challenge on this frame were the seatstays. On MAX frames there isn’t a very obvious way to tie them into the seat lug especially when the lugs are being chromed. I decided to essentially mask half of the lug and paint the bottom half where it tucks under, and to paint the stays.

Spectrum did a phenomenal job on the paint, especially the MAX logo down near the BB. It’s a three color replica, and JT even figured out a way to incorporate the fingerprint that’s in the Columbus sticker background.  The logos are liquid brown paint color matched to the brown Chris King headset that I have yet to install.

I had some regular steel dropouts specially laser cut for this frame so they could be chromed along with the chain and seat stays. Oregon Plating did a fabulous job as usual.

I finally finished Bill’s frame….well, second frame really. I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate Bill’s patience on this bike. The delivery is a little late to say the least. Adam’s Interbike build, Joshua’s chromed MAX, and the tricycle all took longer than expected and delayed Bill’s ride.

I originally finished his frame the beginning of December, but learned how true the old saying, “haste makes waste” can be. It was the end of the day and I wanted to finish the braze-ons before going home when my old fixture broke. Instead of repairing the fixture I just clamped the down tube cable-boss to the tube. Well, the clamp I used held it too tightly to the frame and didn’t allow the silver to totally penetrate, so the difference in air pressure that was created during cooling sucked the braze-on into the tube, creating a small dimple . I couldn’t in good faith sell Bill a damaged frame, so I told him the bad news and luckily he was very understanding.

So, long story short, Bill’s second frame is a beauty – even better than the first! Ha, ha! It will be built up Chorus 11 and an off-white, blue, and black color scheme.

I’m revamping my price structure this month and it’s going to become effective February 1, so if you’re on the fence jump over! Prices for lugged and fillet brazed frames will both increase to $2200.00, and there will be a flat $100 tubing upgrade charge for anything other than Columbus Zona.

My desire is to simplify my pricing structure and incorporate more of the costs that typically go into one of my custom frames. Oh yeah, and my lifestyle continues to become more and more extravagant, so I need to subsidize that somehow.  HA!

This was sitting under the tree at my brother’s house on Christmas morning. I made it for my nephew, William, who is turning two this January. It might be a little bit before he’s able to ride it by himself, but it should be pretty epic once he can.

Here’s the design that I started with, which I got a lot of help from Aaron Hayes of Courage Bicycle Mfg.

We started designing November 30th, and it went to paint December 14th. I was able to get it done in such a short amount of time because of all the help I got from Andy Newlands, Aaron Hayes, Albina Pipe Bending, and Spectrum Powderworks.

The trick was making it small enough given the restriction that the smallest quality wheel I could find to build it around was a Velocity 16″ (405) rim. The main tube and reinforcement tube are 4130, .049 wall bent by Albina Pipe Bending in Tualatin, OR. They did a great job especially in a pinch.

The rear step plate is a piece of laser cut stainless, which bolts to an axle that runs between the two rear wheels. I had originally planned on leaving it bare or bead-blasted, but in the end I decided it looked better painted the same color as the frame. The pivot is made from a Mountain Board truck, with the axles cut off and bolted upside down to the plate. There are two tension screws accessed from the underside that tighten or loosen the side to side travel of the trike. This was something I really wanted to include from the beginning, and ended up pretty close to how I conceived it. Since Will is the only one that will be able to test it out, the actual performance of the pivot remains to be seen.

I made the fork to accept an oversized 42mm bearing unicycle hub. This one is a 36 hole Kris Holm with an Isis tapered axle.  I fabricated these dummy bearings, which fit around the dummy axle of my Anvil frame fixture. The crown is Pacenti’s Paris-Brest.

The handlebars are custom bent 4130 with steel rings and caps that Andy Newlands turned down for me on his lathe. They were then brazed onto the bars before Oregon Plating did the chroming. The saddle and grips are what I feel really brings the whole thing together. I couldn’t find an aftermarket saddle that was small enough, so I took the steel saddle from the little Radio Flyer trike I used for a model, and brazed two fabricated saddle rails to the bottom. Luckily I found Jed Hollenbeck, who makes custom motorcycle seats for custom choppers. He wrapped the steal saddle in leather and made grips for the bars to match. The result is pretty next level to say the least.

If I were to make another one of these there are a few things that I might change, but not much. I might try to make the wheel-span a little shorter, and maybe even less head tube angle to get the cranks closer to the saddle. All-in-all I feel it’s a pretty successful first attempt.  Thanks again to everyone who helped on this project. I think it was a pretty special Christmas for little Will.

I finally got Joshua’s bike back from the plater and it looks killer!  The lug detail turned out really well, especially at the seat tube joint.  The bottom half of the lug and stays will be painted, and the top half will be masked.

Bill’s bike is pretty close to being finished.  He’s getting a fairly staigtforward road bike with a relatively relaxed geometry, but a more performance oriented tube set.  I’m using a Columbus 6/4/6 35mm downtube, True Temper 31.8 tt, True Temper externally butted 9/6/1 seat tube, and Columbus Life S-bend stays.  It will definitely be a light frame, probably around 3.75 pounds, and fully built up around 17.5. This bike will be great for long rides, but will handle well when you want it to.

Joshua’s track frame is being chromed at the moment.  The head tube lugs, seat lug, seat stays, and chain stays are all going to be plated.

There are a lot of custom touches on this frame.  I hand carved all the lugs including the bottom bracket, and had a pair of 4130 chromoly dropouts made, instead of the stainless steel dropouts I normally use, so that they could be chromed along with the chain and seat stays.  MAX tubes, hand carved MAX lugs, and one-off laser cut dropouts; this rig is truly one-of-a-kind.

Joshua’s front triangle and chain stays are ready to be brazed up. Next up: fastback style seat stays and then off to be chromed!

I finished up carving the lugs for Joshua’s lugged Columbus MAX track bike the other day and was pleased with the result. The MAX lugs don’t leave a whole lot of room for creativity, but done carefully they can look good. I’ll leave out a few of the details for surprise later, but this bike is going to have some chrome and be absolutely gorgeous.