More Progress on Paul's Singlespeed

All the tubes and lugs cleaned and ready to braze.

I used a set of old pressed lugs which came with triangular windows in the corners. I filled a bit of the window with brass and then cut the filigree.

The lugs also had cutouts on that looked vaguely like hearts, so I just finished the jobs and made hearts.

Here's the internal brake cable fitting after brazing. I get quite a few questions on how I do internals, so here's a couple shots.

On the left I have one end ferrule which is already brazed onto the smaller internal tube that the cable will pass through. I've drilled and shaped the hole in the top tube for the ferrule and now I need to fit it to the length I need and braze the second ferrule on which I'm preparing to do in the photo on the right. Once I have both ends brazed on, I fit it into the tube and do the final braze shown above. Once the flux is soaked off, I'll finish the protruding ferrule. On this particular frame I choose to finish it flush with the tube, on other bikes I may use a different look.

Ellis Cross at Lapham Peak

Here's James hauling through the finish line on the first lap. After last week's success, James upgraded to Cat. 2, so now the competition gets quite a bit stiffer!

Here's James' brother Jesse, he went out early and pretty much led the race from start to finish.

The race for second and third was tight the whole way with James and #38 trading back and forth throughout the race.

Not too dirty yet!!

James' keeping it close.

He's leading out of the barriers this lap!

A slide out on the this lap and James is chasing again. They're passing a lapped rider on the left.

I didn't get to the finish line for a photo, but here's the post race shot. James scored 2nd place after chasing down #38 on the last lap.

Now this is how you're supposed to look after a cross race!

James, I think you've got something on your face!@#?... Congratulations!

Paul's Singlespeed

I got a good start on Paul's single speed today. The main tubes are mitered and the lugs are well on the way to being ready. I still need to prep the bottom bracket and and get the chain stays mitered, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Here's the main diamond set up in the fixture.

The lugs are a set of old pressed lugs I had been playing around with. I hadn't finished the whole set, but I showed them to Paul and he liked what he saw. I'm excited to get them brazed up and finished.

Here's the chain stays and fork tips. I did the tight retro bend on the fork blades, I really like the way these ride and absorb shock on the road.

The fork tip and rear dropout freshly brazed.

You may have noticed the old Campy dropouts with the derailleur hanger cut off, I'm using these so Paul can run fenders and not have to mess with them every time he needs to take off the rear wheel. The frame is designed to work with 32C tires and cantilever brakes for what Paul calls "urban guerrilla" riding.

James Lalonde Wins on Ellis

Well, the first two races for James on his new Ellis cross bike couldn't have gone better. He e-mailed me on Sat. evening to say he'd won the Cat. 3 race in Sun Prairie, Wi.

Today Lisa and I drove out to watch the second race of the weekend at the Angell Park Speedway and root James on.

There was some early jockeying for position, James is the last one in line here.

A shot of the remount after the only set of barriers and subsequent run up.

James and his Velo Trocadero teammate pulled away from the pack and rode together for most of the race.

Here they are on the deserted far side of the course.

James leading as the race nears the end.

The finish, James and Ellis Cycles rack up win #2.

James and I pose for the after race shot. I must say, it was pretty cool watching James win on one of my bikes. Now the question is, will James upgrade to Cat. 2 for the rest of the season? I'll keep updating as the season progresses, maybe you'll even see some shots of me on my cross bike!?

Looking forward to the Ellis Cycles jerseys too!!

More of James' Cross Frame

Here's a bunch more detail shots of the fillet cross frame. Should be ready for racing this upcoming weekend in Sun Prairie, WI.

Pacenti dropouts with stainless faces.

There's that internal brake routing.

I did a "bi-laminate" seat lug by cutting the socket off a Sachs seat lug and filleting the top tube in.

Nice clean fillet bottom bracket.

Team Ellis Cyclocross

James' cross bike is back from paint and ready to tear it up. Should have more pics soon, these are to whet the appetite!

The front windows are blue, the rear ones red. Awesome work by Jason Sanchez.

Doug's Frame, Ready for Paint!

I finished up the final bits on Doug's frame today and I'm already started on the next Ellis in line. I sent Doug all the photos I took today, I'm sure he'll post a bunch, check here : http://mnbicyclecommuter.blogspot.com/, in the mean time here's a couple of my favorites.














Doug wanted the frame built for Paul's Racer brakes, but with a small bike it's always a challenge to find enough room for the seat stay cable stop. I tried to leave plenty of room for the rack struts and the brake straddle cable.






Those studs always look a little funny that high on the fork!