Customer Feedback- "Less is More"

When a customer receives their bike and then sends you this....you know you've done good!

____________________________________

[Email Title] Weak in the Knees

Dear Cody,
I am in love.
Truly,
Mary Ann

Back in shop and build, build, build

I will post some trip pics in another blog post, but a quick summary cold, wet, frozen, and fun. We are back in the shop and just cranking though builds. Here are some snapshots from the current work:

Rear end is on the drop tube mixie



Custom fork for the mixie is coming along as well





The front triangle on Antonio G's Dirty Road Bike is all welded up



Close-up on the head tube welds



Next four builds, tubes selected and seat tubes welded



It will be a busy December but we are going to work hard to see if we can get as many built up as possible. Hope ya'll had a good turkey day.

Off to Arkansas

We have made pretty good progress in the shop on several frames in November. I promise to post some photos of all in my next update. This morning Mo and I are headed to Arkansas for a four day bikepacking trip on the Ouachita and Womble trails. Thanks to Greg and Rachel at F3 designs for some sweet bags. Here is a photo of my setup.

Plenty of work in the shop to wrap October

Sorry for the delay in posts to the blog, we have been busy in the shop and I have not got a chance to get some images in a while.

First up t-shirts, hot off the presses in two new colors army green and gray!!! Get them up at Hammerhead Bike shop for $15 or shoot us and email.



29er fork for Bill to finish out his Cherry Blossom ride. A little different then our usual forks with most all of the rake in the angle of the outer miter of the top segments. We just need to cut the tops of the legs, put on all the brazed-on parts, and add the disk tab.






Next bike we are working on is a special townie which is going to have a curved top tube. Here is some shots of it in the jig and of the seat tube sleeve on it:





We also started working with some titanium and are in the process of building up three frames to test out both building with it and how it rides. Here is the front triangle of a 29er in progress:




And Finally Mo added a third set of bottle braze-ons to his 29er frame and had it powder coated with a James Bond theme:

Texas Handmade Show

We will be at the 3rd Annual Texas Handmade Bicycle Show this weekend in Austin:

http://texascustombicycleshow.ridedaltex.com/index.htm

Come on by and say hello.

Long Travel FS progress

Wow, we may have succeeded in most everything that we hoped to accomplish! The bikes are getting closer and closer to being completed. We've got the frames completed, shock installed and have tested rear wheel clearance and more.

So far it looks like we are have met our travel goals. The 2 frames get 147 and 153mm of travel respectively. The good news is there is no tire contact interference with the ST when fitted with a decent 29er wheel. we thought we were going to have to run 650b rear setup in order to get full travel and THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Next up it looks like we've received a little bonus in the fact that we have clearance for at least a double from chainring setup. In our design we planned to run these as 1x9's but it seems that we may be able to weld on direct mount front D's. We ended up with a CS length of 440mm. Not as short as I had hoped for but probably short enough.

More to come as things continue to move forward.

Long Travel FS update

For month's we've been working on this design. Its been mocked up in a CAD program and scrutinized heavily. Now the speculation is over and the fabrication has begun. There have been a few hurdles along the way but for the most part its coming along very well.

In general, our goal is to have a short-stay long-travel full suspension 29er. We want it built stout with slack angles and as much travel as practical. So far it looks like we will arrive at around 150mm of travel, 440 CS, 13.5" BB height. Our issues so far seem to be stand over height, ISCG mounts, front derailer and tire contact on the ST. Lets see how this things plays out.

Thursday, Adam (HH mechanic) and I are heading out to Angel Fire NM for the 12hr Red Bull "Final Decent" endurance DH race. Nothing like 12hrs of shuttle runs to test a new prototype design! ;)
http://www.hammerheadbikes.com/forum/index.php?topic=1980.0

Scott's Roadie is back from paint

I just went and picked up Scott Henry's TF road bike from the painter. It turned out really nice. I tried to get an orange that wouldn't look like UT...and everyone agreed it didn't. However once the clear coat was added it changed the color of the Org. Now it looks a bit UT-ish. I do love the Org-White-Blue combo and its finished with a strong Orange Pearl clear that really shines in the sun. Now its back to the shop for final prep: HT badge, ream/face/chase, and frame saver.

Its Official: My TF is for sale

This could prove to be a good test on how much traffic the TF bike blog actually gets. I've decided to part ways with my new TF bike. So if you are generally 6' to 6'1" and don't want to wait in line for a SS bike with Black Cat sliders....then this could be your chance.

I can't recall off hand all the geo spec's but its got a 24.5" ETT.

http://www.hammerheadbikes.com/forum/index.php?topic=2043.0

Weekly Update

This week we got Antonio's frame all welded up and the rear disc brake tab welded on. Mo is going to start on the braze-ons and braces tomorrow and it should be ready for powder early next week.





Cody also has a special project for us actually two special projects for us. Here is a taste of the big tubes he has designed into the frame.



It is going to be stiff with lots of travel...

Look what was finished today!

We've done quite a few theme bikes....Rat Rod, Prisoner Bike and now this Cherry Blossom theme. They are always alot of work and also alot of fun. Its great to see someone's vision come together in a custom bicycle. Here are a few teaser photos from what was completed this afternoon. Enjoy.

Progress on Antonio's 29er

Although we had to wait for a tube to come in today to make progress on Antonio's frame, we were able to get the front triangle all mitered, in the jig, and then tacked up. Here are shot of it tacked up:





And a close up of the tacked seat tube sleeve. Adding this sleeve strenghten the seat tube top tube joint and makes the frame much easier to ream out for the seat post.

Frame prep and more

This week we got several frames back from paint and powder for prep before they get built up. First off, Bill curved tube 29er:


Next is Clarie Team 29er:


And then David T's 29er which after a few years was getting a re-powder and paint:


We also got the road bike we were working on last week wrapped up and off to powder:


And finally started on Antonio's 29er:

A few Colorado pics

Mo and I spent a week in Durango on the mountain bikes hitting all our favorite rides. Nothing like what a week in the mountains will do for you.

Back in the shop

Mo and Clark are Back in the shop and started on a road bike. Here are some shots of the front triangle and the chain stays. I will get some photos up tomorrow of our trip to Colorado.

A tribute to last year's Durango trip

Clark and Mo have been in Durango this entire week. They will be returning this weekend. Next up, I will be heading to Durango next Wed for about 4 days of riding. Below are some pics of where they are and where I'll be going. Last year was the 1st year that Clark and I were both on TF bikes. It had been 2 yrs since I last went...and when I was last there summer 06' I was riding my custom Waltworks 29er. My TF had yet to be finished.






I'm going to start with this photo which is my near all-time favorite. It a pic of my Rat Rod at the top of Blackhawk pass around 12k ft. It was a great day, with great friends and riding....its what we do all this for and its what these bikes were made to do.













This is a photo of Clark on the approach up to Blackhawk Pass. I had ridden ahead and then hiked out onto an outcropping to catch a pick of him riding underneath.

















This is at Gudy's Rest at the end of the CO Trail. If you've been to Durango, you've prolly been to Gudy's Rest. It was day 1 and I think Mike may have been a bit shell shocked.










This was our last day of riding. We did Hotel Draw--->CO Trail--->Coral draw---Hermosa. It wasn't as big as it sounds. We had about 3.5 hrs of riding that day. It was just a nice exiting loop for the week. Fun times! Can't wait for next week.