# #3



## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

AKA 650Brunette

How about an in progress build. The plan for #3:










This is a Wifey bike. The current Wifey MTB is a cobbled together hunk of crap from the college student days so She's due a descent MTB-ish ride to even out her cycling requirements.

The Plan:










#1 This will be part of an anniversary gift come Aug 31, so this thread should progress pretty quickly.

#2 Big-ish wheels. Damn, 650b might finally be catching on...So I'm waiting for both rims/tires, pissed and stoked at the same time that I'm waiting for cool new things that weren't available a year ago. Pacenti/Velocity P35 rims will have some Schwalbe Racing Ralphs stretched around them, so fatter and bigger than 26x2.1 meat but low rolling resistance and not massively heavy.

#3 Low BB. The Wifey needs to be able to put a foot on the ground with her ass on the seat without too much drama, poor technique, but it will keep her happy. She's not riding technical stuff, and not mashing through off camber corners.

#4 Stable, this bike is the opposite of my #2. This needs to be low and calm, it's going to see bike paths with a Burly trailer 90% of it's life. The Wifey is also terrified of hills, so shortish chainstays, long front center/trail #s

#5 Easy shiftin' using an Alfine 8 rear hub, one shifter...push one lever for harder...and one for easier. I was thinking about Belt drive just for fun...but talked myself out of it. There's only a few non-optimal cogs for Shimano Nexus/Alfine hubs anyway which would have required a huge chainring to get to a MTB-ish gear range. Paragon Rocker dropouts will accommodate. Stripped and polished just for fun

#6 Internal cable routing for the shifter and rear 140mm brake. Found some thick wall stainless tubing to make it harder for me to ruin tubes in the name of aesthetics. Both shifter and brake will enter on the left side of the down tube, exit before the BB and run on the bottom of the respective chain stays.

#7 Salsa Chromoto 26 fork. The "old" style with both disc and canti mounts. It's shorter a/c than the disc only version, still with plenty of space for a fat 650 wheel/tire. Modded to use a 140mm front disc. Just because. Will be a nice straight legged stainless dropout color matched fork when all is said and done.










Re fitting the disc tab to tuck the caliper in tight on the leg and allow a 140 front. A proper Disc tab Jig will be on order for this kind of thing next time. 









#8 Properly powder coated and finished, might even get some decals!

Photo Dump:

It' was nearly cheaper to buy a complete wheel from "The Q" than the hub only. Houshold master mechanic was there to help strip the wheel and hub










Better leave this part to me Da:



















EzOff Oven cleaner to strip the Anodizing on the hub and soften the Powder Coat on the Salsa Fork.



















Anodizing nearly jumps off parts....along with your finger prints if you don't have gloves just once. I stripped a Shimano M629 hub for the front wheel, it's nice and forged/machined and nearly didn't need any polishing. The cast shell of the Alfine will took a bit more work to become shiny


















More to come. Fargo folks, shhhhhhh it's a surprise.:thumbsup:


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

Maybe it's just the beer talking, but I'm psyched about this project.


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

I mean, oddball wheel size, short rear end, internally-geared hub that has been refinished, and 140mm rotors. Weird and cool in the best of ways.


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## TrailMaker (Sep 16, 2007)

VERY interesting...

If it gets her riding more, and with more confidence, it will be a huge success!


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## davesauvageau (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm totally willing to make a couple trips to GF to bring powdercoat items back and forth! Keep up the progress Greg!


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Random progress report. The camera battery died so the pics are a bit sporadic.

Arts and crafts time! Print these bad boys out, remember to turn off any scaling/fitting your printer want's to apply. 









I scribe a line oriented on what will be the top of the TT/DT. BikeCad will crap out pretty much any dimension you could possibly want. So I have it tell me what the Miter-Mitre distances along those scribe lines. Line templates up along the scribe and set the distance (taking into account butt lengths) and I have a really good starting point for cutting tubes.










Start with some hacksaw surgery:










Some bench grinder surgery:










Then some filing:










Just file till the sharpie is gone, it's easy! There will be lots of back and forth from the jig to the tubing block/file.










I cut the main tubes and set up the jig so I could plan for h20 bottle brazeons and the internal cable routing. I'll do as much drilling and brazeing as possible before getting picky with the mitres. That takes how bad I'm going to warp the tubes with brazing bosses out of the final alignment.

I bought some beefy stainless tubing off of Amazon, 5/16in OD and .125"ID for the brake 11/64"ID for the derail cable. Maybe a bit hefty, and the housing was going to be a tight fit if I warped the tubes much.

The first step was to get a sharp bend for the entry into the DT. I carved a 5/16th's-ish slot in one of my tubing blocks...and smashed it against another block. The white tape is preventing the cable housing that is serving as a mandrel from slipping too far inside the tube. It worked pretty well, the tubes are fairly malleable and the thick walls keep it from kinking and buckling. I don't think the ID changed much at all, the housing is no harder to move than before the bending.










I slotted the thicker wall derailleur tube and brazed it to the brake tube. I eventually tacked them together at another spot halfway down the tubes to try and prevent any rattling.










Lots of careful drilling and filing on the DT. In practicing on some scrap I tried the "just lay the drill bit over" method of making a nice profiled oval. And it totally mauled a thicker tube than my DT. So I killed a few Dremel bits slowly carving out the proper shape.










Split into two for the exit.










Chopped and ground smooth. I wanted to leave some tubing out and have a nice bump/fillet to shape. But thick silver fillets and newb brazer don't really mix and didn't want to subject this poor tube to anymore time under my torch than necessary.










I should get the front triangle mitered and tacked later today. I might finish braze the front triangle since both the rims and tires I want are backordered and want to have it in hand before starting on the rear triangle.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

I found my camera so I can post a few more pics, life got in the way and slowed things down a bit. Which is actually nice as it forces me to take my time. I don't have wheel's yet anyway. I did manage to find a 2.35 Kenda Nevegal and probably the last 650b P35 on the internets. I can get Velocity Blunt SL's right now so they may end up on the build if the p35's don't become available soon. I'm still planning on ample clearance with the 35's and 2.35's either way.

Lil tattoo from the internal tubes that I forgot to add to the last post. I brazed up the front twin tubes and turned the piece it to start working on the other side....rookie mistake forgot about the hot side :eekster:










I don't have any pics from the actual overheating of tubes I call brazing. But here's some of the aftermath right out of the dunk tank:



















Remember this ugliness the next time you are see a pic from Garro.

The joints are cleaning up nice, working on polishing out the front triangle. Will start on the rear triangle in the next few days.


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## davesauvageau (Jan 8, 2010)

Good Progress Greg, I just got some 29er P-35's at work today for my SS Karate Monkey. It was the last two that QBP had in stock and they had to come from Utah. I was hoping that they were the 'Merican made ones but they are still the Australian stock. Kinda bummed but they look amazing! I want to lace them up tomorrow. I plan on tearing the Pugs apart this week and shaving some stuff off of it. Then I will make the trip to Grand Forks for powdercoat if you want to throw this sexy frame along for the ride. What color are you thinking?


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

you know, you don't actually have to set the tubes on fire...

Looks nice, looking forward to more progress


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

I'm making some progress cleaning up the front end. The charcoal looking stuff is flux, it doesn't nicely sluff off when you overheat it that bad. A little emery cloth and I had shiny tubes again. Not that it's good, just not quite as bad as it looks. Didn't want it to look like I was only posting airbrushed glamor shots.


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

Your bronze looks fine for the most part. If you weren't going for such giant fillets it probably would be easier for you. 

I was just going for cheap laughs. The rust makes it look a lot worse than it is. It is overheated in spots. I wonder if hotter water would help get the remnants of the flux off. I don't have problems with burning flux usually, but I was doing some experimentation recently and burned some flux, but it came right off in very hot water.


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## vulture (Jan 13, 2004)

Round off your grinding wheel with a wheel dressing tool for easier mitres. Also finer grit wheel will help, I use Pherd brand wheels. I don't use grinders to mitre anymore, but when I was building airframes we mitred hundreds of tubes with a grinder, with practice I could bust out a very very tight mitre in no time. nothing beats practice. Have fun making bikes.


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## edoz (Jan 16, 2004)

A trick for the internal routing is to use an endmill in your drill. Drill the first hole with a drill bit, then chuck up a small endmill in your drill. You can lay it over until you get where you want. It works pretty good.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Thanks for the tips, keep them coming. I've got thick skin and am obviously at a humble point as a frame builder, so I'm totally open to advice/criticism. You don't even have to be nice about it


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Shitty day, and not just concerning my metal fab skills. I had to put a 3 year old Boxer to sleep earlier. My Buddy, My 2.5 year old Son's Buddy.....Didn't have the kidneys to live past today.

From day one of my frame building experience, I though about using Tucker (the Boxer Dog) as a mascot. The emotions of today solidify it.

Sorry to be a downer, but the lil' dog exemplified how I want to feel about life. In his glory the little guy had huge endurance, and would give you _*every bit of it*_ for a pat on the head. He was a goofy-ass that didn't know his short lived strength and endurance, he was just playing all along.

I'm sorry Tucker, for naming what I do in the garage after _your_ boy goes to sleep after you, consider us even for all the carpet you ruined in your last days. A dog tag on everything from here on out.


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## TrailMaker (Sep 16, 2007)

Sorry to hear that, G;

They really can make a spot in your heart that nothing else can. Mine are all young, and God willing will be around for many years to come. It will be Hellish to let them go someday, for in 3 years they have stolen my heart well & truly.

If you have half as much pleasure and joy doing your bike thing as he gave you, it will be a fitting tribute to name your brand after him.


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## davesauvageau (Jan 8, 2010)

Good way to remember him Greg, his strength and endurance will live on through your frames. This one will be especially important for the wife as well being the first to be dog-tagged. Keep up the work on the frame.


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

sorry to hear that, boxers are the most awesome dogs.


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## Yogii (Jun 5, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your friends demise. People who love boxers, really LOVE boxers.
Next time name your dog after a car company that lasts longer than a few years.
So no dogs named Rambler, Edsel, Studebaker, Packard, Yugo, Delorean, etc...


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## Drew Diller (Jan 4, 2010)

I'm sorry man. After a while you will remember him with only a light heart.


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

I always thought that boxers look like they are anxious that they aren't making you happy.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Thanks folks,
Yogii, that's the exact reason I didn't choose Tucker from day one....And why it's going to be Tuck Cycles.

Did some experimenting with a dog tag and headtube scrap...this is totally do-able.










Need to slot the chainstays for the dropouts and should have them tacked by the end of the night.










Hopefully I have enough silver, I need to give Bohmemian a call and order up a good amount for the future. The Fillet Pro brass stuff I got from him was much nicer to use than the rando crap the welding store had in stock.


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## davesauvageau (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm glad the tag worked. That could be an awesome headtube badge! You can get them in shapes and engraved with whatever you want for pretty cheap. What a sweet idea!


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

the dimple is interesting, what did you make it with?


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Progress is being made, work is crazy and the rando-frame building took a bit of a back seat. Keeping the bike a secret doesn't make it easier. A local dude (mtbr handle - davesauvageau) picked up my frame with his up in Grand Forks. The guy does pretty good work for fairly cheap. My metal work detracts from his powder for sure. 

Anyway, more in progress pics as I have time. The reveal is next weekend so I've got some polishing to do on the rear drops yet.


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## RCP FAB (Jun 15, 2011)

Looks good. Id like to see what you are using to dimple the chainstays with also.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

Dimples were done like in my #2 thread

A tubing block and a hunk of old tack hammer. I crushed lots of scrap and tweaked the profile on the hunk of hammer until it didn't leave any excessively sharp or creased corners.


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

First things first: Here's Shelby! We didn't plan on getting another pup....but a friend of a friend just so happened to have a litter of Boxers. Yadda-Yadda-Yadda and the household has again met the jowl quota.









Still named after an obscure auto manufacturer, but a successful-ish one at least. Pre-Puppy purchase I came to the conclusion that I'd not really have a "name" brand. I was working on getting some decals made and realized that I'm not selling anything! Why advertise. So a discrete dog tag or head tube badge will be on everything, but that's it as far as branding.

I slapped the bike together without the rear brake for a quick toodle with the Burly before really polishing things up and getting it powdercoated, just to make sure it was a turd worth polishing.



















I sent it off to powder quite a bit before I would have liked, and there are blemishes that show as a result. But it's really nice for the price and turnaround time. I quick stripped and polished some of the rear dropouts and fork dropouts.



















As time and life allow I'll polish more, but I was under the gun to get the bike to our cabin before this Labor Day weekend so it would be a surprise when we arrived.

The Wifey was initially pissed that I didn't bring her MTB along for our vacation weekend, totally unaware this was in the works. She thought the Puppy was the anniversary gift (accompanied by a hefty donation to her Nikon D800 fund). She was totally surprised, I haven't drawn tears too many times in my gift giving over the years.










The color is from Tucker's favorite chew toy, and the head tube badge his actual dog tag. As far as the Wifey was concerned the bike was a win from here, fit and handling be dammed.

But sentimental crying about an old friend aside, she really likes how the bike handles. The low BB and short chainstays with good brakes gave her more confidence than she's ever had down hill. Now that I've seen the real life physical fit we'll order up a Ritchey "Classic" stem and seatpost and a silver headset and get some miles in.


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## RCP FAB (Jun 15, 2011)

Beautiful. Love the color.


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## TrailMaker (Sep 16, 2007)

Looks like a big honkin win all around! :thumbsup:


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## todwil (Feb 1, 2007)

*Saweet!!*

Nice bike I like the color!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## tswp (Dec 24, 2010)

Sweet lookin ride, G-reg.
And that is quite the touching tribute to the dog...I can see why the wife liked it so much.


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## WarBoom (Dec 13, 2011)

That is super nice and quite a memorial


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## CS2 (Jul 24, 2007)

G-reg said:


> AKA 650Brunette
> 
> How about an in progress build. The plan for #3:
> 
> ...


I never got results like that with Easy Off. I must be missing something.


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## rob1035 (Apr 20, 2007)

Awesome!


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## G-reg (Jan 12, 2004)

CS2 said:


> I never got results like that with Easy Off. I must be missing something.


The easy off works exceptionally well on anodized parts. It made the powder coat a bit softer.


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