Brad's Frame / Long Overdue Update!

Jason dropped off the latest Ellis, this one is destined for Brad in MN. If you're doing RAGBRAI this year, you might just get to see this beauty!

It's got the new eyeleted Ellis dropouts which are pretty sharp if I do say so myself, and Brad choose some really nice colors for his paint scheme. Subtle, but classy.

I thought I should throw in a shot of my recently repainted cross frame, it's been seeing alot more duty lately as a commuter and I also used it on the recent century ride I did in Freeport, IL.

Here's the guys from Freeport and myself prior to the 100 miles. From the left, it's Mike?, Andrew, me, and Dave.

Dave shot ahead on this hill and I couldn't figure out what he was thinking?, a breakaway? He jumped off at the top and took photos of the group cresting "Binkley's Bonk". It doesn't look like much, but it was a steep one!

Finally, going all the way back to June, here's a couple shots from the final day at Cirque. I was positioned right by the door at the fairground again this year, but thankfully the temps were much more enjoyable. I didn't bring any real "show" bikes this year, all three of the bikes pictured are my personal rides, and the frame on the table is Murdo's "Modern Classic", pretty similar to the NAHBS winning frame, just a little smaller.

I had a great time at the Cirque, definitely felt more comfortable this year and got lots of positive feedback about my talk on Sat. I'm looking forward to next year.

Paul made the trek up from NC, with his Ellis which was on display in the craftsman category, it was named runner up in the "singlespeed / track" category that the Ellis "ghost" frame won last year. I think Paul's is just and pretty in it's own right!

The Inspector

If you follow my blog, you've probably seen the Inspector before. She pretty much oversees everything that happens around here, and this weekend was no different.

Lisa and I have struggled to keep up with the garden over the last year and a half, but the weeds are clearly winning. So after celebrating our anniversary on Sat. night, (6 years!), we got down to the real fun job of weeding the iris bed.

Of course the inspector has to be on hand making sure the job is up to spec....


Occasionally, she takes a break with me...

But this is just pure bribery!, and one happy cat!

"I'll overlook those last few weeds!"

Mike's 953 Frame

OK, Mike's frame was originally going to be a show bike for NAHBS, but I had to have a special run of stainless fork crowns cast at Long Shen and they didn't arrive until after the show was over. I did bring the frame, unpainted, so some of you may remember it in the raw. It's looking a bit sharper with some paint and it's final polish.


















I made it with a full 953 tube set, but the seat tube and head tube are painted to match the darker Fizik red that Mike's using for the saddle and handlebar tape.




















Close up shot of the head tube and the smooth, clean fork crown. You can just start to see the Ellis logo bead blasted into the down tube.

The 953 seat stays are single tapered, so I tried to blend them down gradually into the seat cluster with some slightly pointed caps. Really like the way this area turned out!

Here's a close up of the bead blasted logo, very subtle.

Another of my signature parts, the Ellis dropouts. I finish the tabs down to points before I braze them into the seat stays and chain stays. I also have to make my slots tapered to match the points, but it's a classic look and it keeps the braze from getting polished out of the joints like it would if I simply blended the dropouts into the stays. No hiding my work under paint here!

And the bottom bracket. Check out how Jason masked the window behind the seat tube!

Again, thanks to Drew at Ben's who took these awesome shots for me, I keep making his job harder with all the stainless bikes, too much shiny!!!

Juan's Cross Frame

Jason finished up Juan's frame this past week, here's some glamour shots.

Stainless Sachs' lugs all around!

That brake routing is tight on a frame this small, but everything runs smoothly.

This fork crown polished up beautifully. I added a star nut inside the steerer on the bottom for mounting fenders, that way the crown doesn't need a brake hole and is super clean.

Juan also wanted to have some flexibility to run fenders and racks when it's not stripped down in full "cross" mode. Hence the double eyelets and rack mounts on the seat stays.

Brad's Frame / New Ellis Dropouts

I finished up Brad's frame yesterday, but it can't go to paint without the inspector's OK.

Brad wanted a bike he could do long rides on, with or without a rack and fenders. As you can see, he's not a little guy, so we went with canti's to slow the whole thing down.

I cut the lugs similar to the NAHBS bike for my brother. No stainless lugs on this one though.

I did get a new batch of Ellis dropouts made with eyelets. I've got to thank Scott in Wausau again for his help getting these from the drawing to reality so fast!

You can see they have a bit of a texture to them, it's the normal finish that 17/4 stainless comes from the mill with, I kinda like it. Also, check out the finishing on the bottom of the dropout, this bottom face will be masked at paint and remain raw stainless so when an axle hits it, no more chipped paint.

Finally, some shots of the front dropouts and fork crown.

Harlan's Singlespeed

Another "team Ellis" paint job, this time on Harlan's singlespeed.

The washer on the brake bridge is stainless, I'll sand that off so the paint doesn't get mauled up when Harlan takes the brake on or off. You can also see the hidden internal brake routing at 6:00 on the top tube. That way if he runs it brakeless, the frame doesn't have empty split guides looking useless.

The "Modern Classic" finished build!