Shop Update

This week we have completed one frame and are close to completing a second. Eric's bent downtube 29er is ready to go to paint. Here are some shots of it:

 The other frame that is almost complete is Jay's cross bike. The frame is built and what is left is installing all the braze-ons. We are really pleased how the mono-stay rear end came out. Here are some shots of it:

Texas Custom Bicycle Show #4

Please do stop by and chat with us this weekend at TCBS #4  - Saturday and Sunday 10-5pm at the Convention Center. We will have our Oregon Manifest bike, several recent customer bikes, and my bike with full CTR gear in our booth.

Oregon Manifest, Part I: Thank You!

*note: the following contains an insane amount of links to other sites. It took me such a long time to compile them all, so please take a chance and 'click'. . . I promise that they'll be a better waste of time than talking dogs or celebrity meltdowns (note also that those things do not, in my estimation, deserve a link.)

Yep. . . Part I. I could have said "one" or "1," but I'm going to try to keep it as classy as Roman Numerals imply for the sole purpose of matching the event to which this post owes its existence.

A huge thanks goes out to Shannon and Jocelyn for putting on this event. Of all the bicycle shows that happen throughout the year, I truly feel that this one has the greatest ability to change the way cyclists and non-cyclist view the bicycle.

Shannon is the (one of the?) person (people?) behind Super Relax Concept, whose jerseys I saw in an old old old issue of Velonews back when I thought I could be good at racing bicycles. It took me a year or two of searching the internet to figure out the people who had them made so that I could beg to get on their next order. I did and after receiving them I was told they would never ever again open up to people outside of Portland; I'm glad to know they have since changed their policy. Their motto (among others that can easily be taken from their kit): "Look Good. Be nice. Keep Dreamin'."

We met Jocelyn during NAHBS 2011 which was held in Austin. I think I had emailed her a few times asking about the event, the last was answered by her in person in our booth. It was then that I was sold on going to the event. I may regret the amount of time it took to finish our submission (tackling a bunch of "firsts" is a lot more time intensive than I ever imagined) but I do not regret going. My short conversation with Jocelyn was the deciding factor to sign up. Thank you.

To Rob Tsunehiro (on the right) who let me borrow his wife's road bike while I was in Portland. His generosity helped me save a great deal of money in shipping and handling fees by not having to bring a third bike to get around the city. Thanks, and congrats on your well deserved second place finish! (WIN!)

To the Judge who, unknown to me, gave a "shout out" to our bike before the ribbon recipients were announced. Shane of Brooklyness has video he'll send me once I get a chance to write him, but until then I'm suspecting it was Bill Strickland, editor at large for Bicycling and a really handsome, tough-looking man (he looks like he could be an uncommonly refined turn-of-the-century Dutch stevedore, no?), but that's just a guess based on the reaction to our bike he posted on his blog.

To Greg and Rachel at F3 Designs right here in ATX. I know them from a circle I travel in and asked them to build Katie and I bikepacking bags a while ago. When it came time to decide how the OM bike would carry gear I asked if they could make a racktop/backpack as well as panniers that would look more like their work and less like everything else on the market. An good amount of sailcoth, rubber, and coated nylon later and I had what I needed to carry the requisite items for the 51 mile shakedown-ride. They also make these awesome hats that a) enable me to comfortable tuck all my hair underneath my helmet, and b) keep the sweat off of my face. Bamboo jersey cycling hats. . . who knew?

To Aldo over at Delta Millworks (ATX!!) for making two awesome decks out of Texas Walnut over the Labor Day weekend. They look as amazing as they weigh (which is a lot when you're riding uphill).

To the people who took their time to document the event and post on flickr. I've been viewing a lot from Taylor Sizemore (one of the entrants), Dylan Van Weelden (responsible for the photo above) from Chris King, Jonathan Maus from bikeportland.org, and Anthony Cobb (a student entrant from The Art Institute of Portland) for me to link to. Thanks for covering my ass, otherwise I wouldn't have anything to show.

A GIANT THANKS goes out to Kellie, Pat, Riley and Oliver R. for letting Katie and I crash in their basement for the entirety of our stay. When we weren't out doing the bike thing, we were comfortable in a warm and inviting house, hanging out with friends. Thank you so much!

And my final thanks goes to the city of Portland for making me feel pretty frickin' awesome. What other city in the U.S. could draw a crowd like this to what is basically a one-night museum exhibit on transportation bicycles? Truly inspirational. And thanks for not yelling at me for all the times I forgot to signal my turns. . .

more to come. . .

Shop update

While, this past weekend Mo was having a blast with our bike at the Oregon Manifest in Portland (I can't wait for his update from the event). I wanted to update ya'll on what we have been up to in the shop. First we had John's bike come back from powder and it really came out great. John got the full TF experience with a custom fork and stem:

I have also been working on Eric's small 29er which is going to be a unique design for us having a bent down tube for fork clearance.  So I have got the front triangle mitered, tacked and welded up. Here are some shots of the progress:

I also wanted to say I have been working a write up on the CTR race which I finished in 9 days 10 hours 16 mins and hope to have it in the blog soon. It was an amazing personal experience for me that has been hard to put in words. Here is a link to a video that another rider put together which I hope gives you a window into what some of the sections of the ride were like:

http://vimeo.com/28779413

Heading to Portland. . .

It's Tuesday, and that means TF will be in Portland in a mere two days. KD will be with me as I present TF's submission to the Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge. Clark and I have lost enough bodily fluids to make an industrial kitchen unsanitary when making this bike, and while I've been more mad than pleased during its creation, I couldn't be happier with the final product.

I must say that I am a little more than a tiny bit worried about what exactly will be required of me at this event. As I type this, KD is looking over the presentation criteria (yeah, like a, uh, legit presentation that will, umm, be evaluated by judges and, uh, stuff). There will be receptions, and swag, and builder's only events. With so much going on and at such a high production level, it makes a person reevaluate their strict "two showers a week" policy. And maybe I should shave. . . or wear a tie. . . nah, ties never look good with stained white undershirts. . .

Anyway, it is with great pleasure that I present a sneak peak. . . ah hell. It's two days away! The rest of the pictures can be found here. . . ENJOY!

AntonioGG- TF Gravel Grinder

I know this is a crappy camera phone pic but its all I've got for now. AntonioGG's gravel grinder is complete. I know the pics don't do it justice but this bike is awesome. We still need to get in the carbon disc fork for it. But this will be his do-all machine: commuter, dirt-road rider, and could mix it up on the weekend road rides or WC trail laps. My bike is done in the same vein but his is much nicer! I'll better pics soon.

CTR Tracking Link

Here is the link to the CTR tracking page:

http://trackleaders.com/ctr 

Sit back and watch my blue dot move as I pedal away in the mountains.

Update and Gear List

A lot has happened in the last week, both in the shop and here in Colorado. Although I have my camera with me here in Colorado, my camera cable is back in Austin, so sorry for the lack of pics.

In the shop, the Saturday before I left we got a new mill,  an older Van Norman #12 Milling machine and moved it into place. (Thanks for the help Brad!!)  Mo has been busy working on the Oregon Manifest bike and I believe that it will be going to powder coat soon.

In Colorado here, I have been getting out on the bike each day and getting use to altitude. Believe it or not on Tuesday I got caught in a big thunderstorm ( yes actual rain!!) and my gear held up well.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I would put up a gear list of what I am taking on the CTR Race, well here is it all but the food:

Bike
  
Frameset - True Fabrication 29" Hardtail and Rigid Fork
Drivetrain - Shimano XT
Brakes - Hope Mono
Cockpit - Titec Ti Bar, Ritchey Stem, ESI Chunky Grips, Cane Creek Bar Ends
Seat - Selle Italia Turbomatic 2 , Moots Ti post
Wheel System - Stan's Flows and Hubs
Tires - Ardent 2.4 (Front), WeirWolf 2.55 (Back)

Load Carrying

F3 Designs Framebag ( Thanks Greg and Rachel the bags work great!!!)
F3 Designs Seatbag
F3 Designs Barbag
Fuel Belt - Small Feedbag
Sea to Summit - Ultra light backpack (For carrying extra food after Buena Vista)

Clothing
  
Waterproof/Breathable Jacket - O2 Rainjacket
Waterproof Pants - Marmot Precip
Shorts w/Chamois - Vermarc / Assos Bibs (one pair of each)
Jersey - Castelli Squadra old Cycle 360
Base Layer Top - Defeet undershirt long / short
Long Sleeve Top   - LAF Winter Jersey
Knee Warmers - Defeet Wool
Arm Warmers - Defeet arm-skins
Off Bike Shorts - Mesh track shorts
Off Bike Tights - REI Poly Tights
Riding Cap - F3 Designs  TF -Cap
Warm Cap - Pearl Izumi Barrier Hat
Over Glove - Manzella Windstopper
Vest - Castelli Windstopper
Full finger riding gloves - Pearl Izumi X-light Gel
Sunglasses - Oakley Racing Jackets Perscription
Helmet -Giro Althelon  
Shoes - Pearl Izumi Enduro
Socks   -Swiftwick 7, Swiftwick wool 7, SL3S Compression

Gear  

Headlamp - Princeton Tec Apex Pro
Light on Front Bag - Princeton Tec Quad (2)
Tailight - Planet Bike Super Flash
Batteries for lights    Energizer Lithium AAA, CR123
GPS - Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx
Batteries for GPS - Energizer Lithium AA
Shelter    - Nemo GOGO XL Bivy, Bivy Stakes, Pump, Extra spoke for Bivy swallowtail
Sleeping bag - Mountain Hardware UltraLamina 32 Large
Sleeping Pad - Theromrest Air Core Small
Ear plugs - Simple Rubber (orange for visibility)
Multitool - Leatherman
Bike Multi-tool    - Lezyne 20
Tire Lever - Quick Stick
Tire Pump - Lezyne Mini
Tire Innertube - 29x2.1 (2)
Tube patch kit - Glue Type & Super Patch
Tire boot - Cut Piece of Tire with bead removed
Chain Lube - Finish Line Wax
Power Link  - Sram 9 Speed (2)
Assortment of Zip Ties (QTY - 7) mix of smaller and larger
Large sewing needle
Heavy duty nylon thread   - Small spool
Rope - Multi-Purpose Thin Nylon Cord (15')
Band-Aids - 2 butterfly style, 2 'standard' size
Swabs and ointment- Alcohol wipes, Antibiotic ointment
Sports Tape (3 meters wrapped around pump)
Duct Tape (3 meters wrapped around pump)
Water Treatment    - Sawyer 4L Purifier System - Dirty bag and filter  
Toothbrush / Toothpaste
Clean Wipes - Cottonelle Wipes (2) 10 Packs
Sunscreen (SPF 50+) - Neutrogena Sport
Lip balm (SPF 15+)- Neutrogena lip therapy
Chamois Cream - Chamois Butt'r 10 Mini Packs
Towel - MSR medium camp towel
Bug Spray - Off - Mini pack of 2 towelettes  
Wallet and Contents  - Ziplock - ID, Health Insurance Card, Debit/Credit Card(s), Cash, Calling Card
Camera - Canon Powershot SD980 IS (with batteries and ziploc bag)
Map  - CTR Databook with Detours marked

Water Storage Capacity - 5L and larger bottle

MSR 4L "clean" water bag hooked to camelback tube
Water bottle 28 oz carry in jersey pocket
Platypus 1L Bladder - spare for quick treatment with tablets

Emergency Supplies
  
Mountain House - 1 - Freeze Dried Meal (500 Calories)
Hand warmers - 1 pack of 2 expose to air warmers
Aqua Mira Water treatment tablets - 12 pack
Mini Bic Lighter
Mini Compass / Thermometer
Whistle

I don't have a weight on all of it and I know it is not the lightest, but I think it will keep me safe and get me to the finish. I have been training with it all on the bike for the last few months, so I know what to expect riding and hiking with it uphill. Well, as soon as I have my tracking link I will post it up, that's all for now.

Scott Henry heads to Superweek!

Here is Scott bike all boxed up and ready to go1

Scott Henry flew out to Illinois today to spend 4 days racing Superweek. http://www.internationalcycling.com/?q=schedule For those of you who don't know, Superweek is 17 days straight of pro road racing in Wisconsin and Illinois.

He will be racing his TF road bike with State Wheels carbon wheels. I spoke to Scott before he left and he was debating which bike to bring to race. He said he decided to go with the TF over the BMC because he felt so comfortable on it. Scott mentioned that when racing for 4 days in a row at this level aboard a bike that was made specifically for *him* was the deciding factor. He said it fits him perfectly and it handles so well, even though the BMC would be a tad lighter and a little stiffer.

Evanston Grand Prix in Illinois

Getting Close to Go Time - CTR

July 24 is the date I fly to Denver and then a week in Denver before I start one of the biggest adventures I will ever do. After over ten years of traveling to Colorado each summer to spend a week camping and riding my mountain bike, this year I am lining up to doing the Colorado Trail Race starting on August 1st.  The race is a 460 mile self-supported event from Denver to Durango on the Colorado Trail.  I have been training and acquiring gear for this race over the past year and I am really looking forward to the experience. I know being from Austin and not being able to train at altitude will limit my performance, but my main goal is overcoming all the challenges that I will encounter during the race  ( i.e. altitude, lightning, exhaustion, hypothermia, etc...) and finishing it. Mo will be holding down the fort in the shop starting the 25th and I plan to be back mid-August.  I will post up my gear list and tracking information, so you can follow my blue dot before I head out. 

-Clark

More Frames

Here are some shots of John's 29er. As soon as the fork is cleaned up, it is off to Spectrum  along with a custom stem for a special powder coat:

A finally here is a teaser shot of the bike we are building for the Oregon Manifest contest in September. Mo will follow up with more details on the contest and our design:

Head Down Busy in the Shop

We have been working hard in the shop on several bikes the past few weeks and here are a few shots of what we are working on. First a fork for John's 29er,  it is our typical segmented fork set up to turn his 29er into a gravel grinder duty when needed:

Next up a pair of road bikes we have been building for Doc and his friend Pat. We went as light as we could on these road bikes, with solid ride that is built to last. Working on putting the braze-on on both of them this week and then off to paint.

More frame pics tomorrow.

TF road bike gets 4th in P12 Crit

Check out this great video of the last kilometer leading up to the finish of this weekend's Houston Grand Crit. Scott Henry (blue/red kit) aboard his white TF road bike bridges up to the group of 5 leaders and then takes 4th in the sprint!

STEMS!!!

Hey all. . .

- Happy Memorial Day. . . hope you have fun memorializing. . . .

- Summer has come to Austin. . . those who say "finally" either live in A/C or are insane. . . as for me, I say "Let's move to Saskatoon." Not only is it way cooler, but who can't get behind a city whose flag promotes "Commerce, Industry, [and] Education?"

- More time should be spent in the shop in the coming months, and we're already ahead of our personal timelines for certain projects. . . one of which is

- STEMS! Yep, as I mentioned awhile back we would be making stems, not just for fun, but for PROFIT!! That time has come, and all for the low low price of $150. That'll get you a custom length stem similar to the one pictured (1 1/8" steerer, 1 1/4" bar clamp, custom length and rise). All 4130 steel with the exception of the faceplate which is 6061 aluminum.

Powdercoats beside black and other deviations from the norm can be done, but there will be an up-charge (contact us for details). While I didn't weigh this one, I'm fairly certain it's on par with a Thomson, so you may be saving a few grams PLUS you can get it in that so hard to find 153.713229 length that you need to complement the 95mm headtube on your Golden Ratio bike. PLUS PLUS look at how good it looks just doing its job!!!

- June is National "Update your Business's Website Month" and in that vain we have recently hired someone to do just that. My eyes bleed eye blood whenever I check my email so we thought it best to find someone who knows what they're doing behind a keyboard. Look for us to let you know when it's actually done here on this blog as what we have now is so out of date I can't even laugh about it. (NOTE: it's worth a peek if you wanted to know what websites looked like during the Ford Administration, so for all you high schoolers wrapping up your term papers on "The History of the Internet," feel free to use our site as a primary source. . . just be sure to print out pictures on the dot matrix currently being used as your bathroom step stool).

Frames, Frames, Frames

First off, I have to apologize for the quiet blog though April, I had thought I had lost my camera and after looking all over for it, it eventually turned up in Cody's car.  We have been busy with bike an here are several images of what we have been working on. First up Antonio's Gravel Grinder, back from paint and now prepped to be built up:

Next up a hard tail 29er that is going to Tennessee, can't wait to see the paint job that is going on this one.  It is going to be the personal ride for the painter of the Rat Rod and Bill's Cherry Blossom bike:

And finally a bikepacking 29er for John S.  So far we have it built up to the point of seat stays which will be going on this week and then of course braces and braze-ons. We are using the new paragon rocker dropouts on this one and we are really please with them:

 Next up back to some Titanium work this weekend and then on to a couple road bikes.

Back from Paint

Look what has finally arrived back from paint! This TF gravel grinder is going to be really nice. Of course its for a customer but its not unlike how I'd do one for myself: disc only, room for very fat CX tire, stiff bb, mounts for a salsa minimalist, 3 bottle mounts, etc..

Thanks Dirt Rag

Go out and pick up the latest copy of Dirt Rag. TF and Bill's single speed are featured in the article on builders from NAHBS with some great photos.

Congrats to TF women's rider

I wanted to take a moment to comment on Claire's passed 2 wins. Twice now, she's won the Open Women's Pro Class in the TX State Series on her custom TF hardtail!

We finished this frame for her many months ago. However, she delayed in getting a build kit for it. So I took a build kit from a HH demo bike and built up her TF so that she'd have no more excuses. Then she goes out and wins her 1st race aboard it with SLX cranks, Magura Louis brakes, and other chunky components. Not too mention this old outdated steel material for a frame! ;)

Sarcasm aside, she's been riding very well this season and we appreciate her flying our colors at the races. Keep it up Claire.

Mary Ann's 29er Part 2

Fed Ex crunched Mary Ann's first frame in shipping and although we were able to straighten it to the point it was ride able, we built her a replacement frame. All that is left on it is cleaning up the dropouts, braze-ons, and braces. It should be ready to go to powder coat next week Here is a couple shots of it's current state:

Branching out. . .

Or maybe stemming out. . . not sure if that makes sense, but my desire to be punny makes me want to at least try it. Anyway, as you may or may not be able to tell from the title, TF is on the cusp of expanding their offerings. Our hope is that in the near future we will be able to offer stems to help round out the custom bicycle experience. Here's a shot of the setup:

It'll be a 1" quill stem, 90º, 25.4ø stem clamp and 120mm in length. The stem is going on lugged Trek re-furb that we may or may not be putting more braze-ons on (that's a weirdly constructed sentence, no?). And in case you didn't see it well enough in the first picture, this should let you know where the stem will eventually end up.



There's way more to tell about life in the shop as of late, but it wouldn't make any sense without pictures (which I have yet to download from my camera). What would make sense to tell you (and is probably best without pictures. . . maybe) is that we have recently signed on to compete in the Oregon Manifest Contructor's Design Challenge in Portland, OR this September. I would be doing the event a disservice by trying to explain it here, so please check out the link (as well as this one, the personal blog of the brain behind the event and the Super Relax Concept) and just know that we are more than excited to be involved in this event. More on all that (and pics of the finished stem) next week, I promise.

Travis's New SS

Anyone here want to see Travis' bike before he does? Trust me, he loves it when I do this! ;)

Once again, Travis gives me some general direction and then turns me loose to create what I'd like for him. The previous time was the design scheme on his TF "Neopolitan" geared bike. This time it's his SS. He requested something white and "ghostly", and to be honest, I think I got there by accident. I asked my sticker maker to put white stickers on top of the lightest color grey backing he had. Problem was that his lightest grey, was a dark grey. When we got the sticker kit in our hands it looked waaay too dark. I blindly convinced Travis to let us put them on and we'd try it again later. Well, I picked up the frame from the TF shop this morning and BINGO! I think we ended up with nearly exactly what he was after. This photo does not do it justice. The white color of the frame has a strong metallic component that causes the white to me tinted "off-white". The grey came out much lighter on the frame than in our hands. Overall its a very ghostly mono-chromatic scheme. Now lets just see him try to keep it clean! Yeah right.....

True Fab Roadie in race form!

Check out this pic from Scott Henry of his TF roadie the night before the Lago Vista race!

That weight is with GPS, Pedals & cages!

Not too bad!

Give'm hell tomorrow Scott!

-CJB

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Thanks everyone for coming by our booth. We really had a great time at NAHBS in Austin and hope you did too.

We also want to thank:  David, at NuVinci for the partnership to build Katie's city bike with the N360 CVT hub, Ian and Jorge from the Statesmen for the article and video, James at Cyclingnews for the article and pics, and Bill for the creative vision for his single speed.

We are really excited about building more frames in 2011 and came home from the show with a sweet new toy of our own, which I can't wait to get building on:

Thanks again ya'll and see you in Sacramento in 2012.

True Fab photo shoot this weekend

This passed weekend we got the TF tribe together for a photo shoot. This is the first time we've done this and it went well. We got some great photos to be used on the soon-to-be-updated website. It also had the unexpected outcome of being a mini-reunion of sorts. People brought their bikes, their children, and everyone was all smiles. Below are some highlights from the shoot.