NAHBS Retro Bike part 2

It doesn't get any prettier than this!



















Some of the small details around the front derailleur




















I must say, setting up the notoriously difficult brakes wasn't as hard as I had expected.

Threading the cable into the brake lever was probably the trickiest bit.




















The glamour shot in the hallway of the hotel!

NAHBS Retro Bike

Jason worked his butt off to get this one done in time for the show, but it didn't quite make it by our early Wednesday morning departure.














He finished it up on Thurs. and got it over to Ben's where they packed the heck out of it and sent it overnight to the hotel in Richmond.














We got back to the hotel room after the first day on Fri. and the frame was waiting for us.















Getting the bottom bracket installed, and below, the gorgeous Delta brakes!

Caitlin's Ellis

Just got this photo back from Drew, it's Caitlin's road frame. She's graciously allowed me to hang onto it for a couple weeks extra, and I'll have it on display at the Handbuilt show later this week.

Paul's Modern Classic, Finished.

Paul wanted his Ellis to be a light touring frame with the same look as last year's NAHBS winning frame. I was hesitant to use 953 for the rear end if he was going to be carrying a load, so instead I'm going to have the chain stays and seat stays chromed along with the fork. The lugs are all carved, and the head lugs will be polished stainless.

I used the Pacenti Artisan lugs for the head tube and had a bit more length on the points to work with. I still need to braze on the head tube cable guides after the lugs are polished.

Nice clean fastback seat lug.

Seat stays are sleeved and carved. This way I can use a heavier lower stay and still have the clean fastback at the top.


The new Ellis double eyelet dropouts. These are 4130 steel,,rather than 17/4 stainless so they can accept chrome.

The Inspector / Show Displays!

We've had a couple sunny but cold days here after 10-12" of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Inspector managed to sneak out and check out the damage while I dragged one of my show displays out for pictures.

After much woodworking and finishing, the displays are done. Each one will accommodate two bikes, one on either side with the drive sides facing out. The lug design on the front was tedious, but I think it turned out pretty cool.

Just talked to Jason and 2 of the frames for the show are almost done. Hopefully he can squeak out my frame for the vintage Campy parts, but if not, it'll have to wait for the Cirque in June.

More soon,

Dave

Paul's "Modern Classic"

Paul's take on the "Modern Classic" will be a light touring bike with mounts for fenders and racks. As you can see, I've got the tubes all mitered and ready to go, I've just been waiting for the head lugs to arrive. They showed up last week, but I've been distracted with my display stands for the NAHBS show which is coming up soon! More on the displays later...

Here's the Pacenti Artisan top tube lug after some solid carving time. I haven't used one of these lugs for quite a while, and I noticed that he's changed the casting a bit to give more of a radius to the transition between sockets, nice! Should make polishing easier too.

Another view.

OK, here's the other project that's been taking me away from my building duties. I originally planned to make some basic stands to display my complete bikes on for the show. Just plywood with some trim, no big deal. As I'm working on the basic parts, I mentioned to Lisa how I wanted to cut an arch out of the sides to make it a bit less "boxy". She immediately threw out the idea, "why don't you make it look like a lug"? Pretty good idea, but much more involved from the construction side. I even ended up making a steam box to bend strips of wood for the trim. See what I mean about more involved?

At least they're close to being done. Hopefully one more coat of finish tomorrow and they'll be done. I'll take some more photos with the bike mounts as well, and if you're at the show, stop by and see 'em. The bikes on top should be nice too!

Dave

Kevin's frame part 2

I'll keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking!

Kevin's Ellis

Drew just sent along this photo of Kevin's new road frame and I had to get it posted!

More soon!
Dave