Wrenchn' for the Pro's.

I have been up here in Silver City, NM for the last two days, helping Kelly Benefits at the Tour of the Gila. It has been a great experience so far and I have learned a lot about being a mechanic on the Pro circuit. Living on the road and wrenching on bikes for pro riders is very different from your everyday wrenching at the bike shop. In fact, from a wrenching aspect, its easier. Always new parts. Always clean bikes. Always the same parts and bikes! Once you understand your given inventory you are set, not too many surprises. That is until a rider flats and you have to jump out of the car and change a wheel in under 20 sec. I would say the biggest difference is the pressure. You have to do your job well and do it well every time. Your ability to dial a bike in perfectly every day is dependent on if the rider will have a mechanical. These riders make a living riding there bike and you are there to make sure they don't have any problems. In a bike shop, it sometimes feels like there isn't as much pressure. Most of the time you are working on something older and you are trying to get it work better than it is. Or adjust a bike that has seen many miles and you are just trying to make it better. Well, in the professional world, there are no excuses. Everything is new and everything should work perfectly, you are just responsible to be perfect every time, because if you don't, you will lose your job and your riders won't do well. So the pressure is on.

So far so good though. We have had no mechanicals and our riders are doing well. Tomorrow is the TT which means there will probably be lots of dialing in and tweaking at the very last minute. For some of our riders, they havn't even ridden their TT bikes. So it will be our job to make sure that we are there when they need us. Its been a fun experience so far and I'm hoping one of our riders pulls of something great.

Anyway, enough about pro wrenching. The bike building is on a very brief hold right now until Monday, but I'm itching to get back into the shop. I have recently had more motivation than ever to build beautiful bikes. I will be around for the entire month of May and plan on spending many hours with a torch and a file in my hand. I'm excited to be home if you can't tell. I hope everyone out there is enjoying life and keeping two wheels on the ground. I will check back in very soon.

Here is a jam that I am listening too right now. I'm currently sitting in a dingy hotel room in the middle of now where. Music is on. Door is open and fresh tubulars are hanging on the chair. I'm also enjoying a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with my feet up after a long hot day. Enjoy.

Rambln'

I got back to SB on Monday afternoon. Coachella was great. I saw some good music and made some good money. I also got to see a lot of friends I used to work with at the bike shop. It was nice to catch up with everyone.

As they say though, no rest for the weary. It was right back to Perry's SS 29er. I had been waiting for some adapaters that Don Ferris machined for me. They arrived yesterday so I was able to get back up to speed with his bike. This build seems to be taking a bit longer than expected. However, its new territory for me and I am constantly learning. I want to have the bulk of the build done by Friday. Saturday morning I head south again and make my way towards Silver City, NM for Tour of the Gila. I'm excited to make my debut as a pro mechanic on the racing circuit. Its an honor and I am looking forward to the experience.

Today I spent most of the day making the lower headtube downtube lug/gussett for the 29er. It turned out really cool, but took lots of filing and sanding. A lathe would have been very helpful, but I don't have one yet. Soon I hope. Its the first time I am adding an artistic piece to one of my frames. It looks really good, but took lots of work! Tomorrow things will go quicker and I promise to take some photos.

Here is a band I saw at Coachella. I had never heard them before. Someone said they were good so I figured I should check them out. They were phenomenal and they put on a great show. I highly recommend taking a listen.

Segmented Riding.

I seem to never be able to get into the routine that once used to rule my life. The routine of training. I have been trying hard the last three weeks to get out and ride more, but to no avail. Life and everything that comes with it, seems to be taking up more of my time. That being said, I am happy with what little riding I have gotten in recently. It is more than I have been doing in the past. It seems like every year at this time, I get the itch to race again and train like there is nothing else that matters. Fortunately though, there are bikes to be built.

I will keep this short and sweet. My legs feel good. I have been out to our local crit practices and I'm not getting dropped. I can even muster and attack or two. Not bad considering I havn't raced my bike in 3 years! Thats a scary thought. I might have to change that soon.

Today I started a segmented fork for my friend and mentor John Jones. The mastermind behind Jones Precision Wheels. If you havn't met him, or had a wheel set built by him, I recommend that you do. You won't regret it. He recently got a Trek FX bike and hates the fork that came with it, so I am making him a fork that can support some weight and looks good with the frame. It is coming along nicely.

The 29er in my jig is waiting for some adapters that should be here soon. I hope. Don at Anvil Bikeworks is sending me some adapters for his jig so I can utilize the 44mm headtube. This bike is going to look really good. Im excited for everyone to see it.

I am leaving for Coachella tomorrow. I was feeling a bit torn between Coachella and Sea Otter this year. I really love Sea Otter. Its an event I have done many times. I love the courses. I love the venue. But I hate the weather. Maybe next year? This year Coachella pays! I also get to see some friends and hear some great music. 

I will be back in Santa Barbara Sunday night, but my phone is never off. So if you need to get a hold of me, please don't hesitate to call. Until then, here is a song that I hope to hear when I am at Coachella this weekend.

April Already!

I guess its April already. Time seems to fly by. The 29er SS is coming together nicely. I have been working on machining a few parts and I have been lucky enough to have the guys at CandS Automotive let me use their Mill and Lathe. I would love to have both of these machines in my shop, but the budget isn't allowing for that purchase YET! Eventually I hope to have these tools in my own shop, so I can customize my own parts whenever I want. In the meantime, getting to use their space is a blessing.

I took a few pictures of the Delta Lathe I have been getting accustomed too.

Heres a close up of the piece I was holding.

And yours truly measuring things out. (The machine is not on, always wear saftey glasses)

My goal is to get the 29er wrapped up pretty soon and off to paint. This month is very busy for me. I was invited to go wrench for Kelly Benefits at the Tour of Gila. I will be leaving SB on April 25th and will be gone for about 8 days. Im hoping to get a lot of work done before I leave. I am really excited about the opporutnity to wrench for this team. This will be my first time on the road with a professional team and I am looking forward to the learning experience. Should be fun!

 I am also going out to the Coachella Music Festival next weekend. My girlfriends family runs food vending booths for the festival and I always go out to help out. It gives me a chance to make some cash and see some really cool bands. 

So I have a lot on my plate. But I am loving every minute of it. I will not be at Bicycle Bob's for about three weeks. Between framebuilding and going on the road with Kelly Benefits, something had to take a hit. Bob has been really supportive of everything I am doing. I am lucky to have a boss like him. If people are looking for me, please don't hesitate to call or send an email. My phone is always on and I get emails fairly quickly. 

Here is a band that will be playing at Coachella. They are supposed to be amazing live. Can't wait.

Progress!

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success"

- Henry Ford

Stinner Frameworks has been making great progress. This last week I finished up the lugged commuter I was working on and started working on the SS 29er. This mountain bike is new territory for me, and I couldn't be happier. My file strokes are getting better and my torch skills are being refined. Building bikes so far has been a very humbling experience. There are always obstacles and things to learn. You gain momentum and just when you think you are full steam ahead, you have to take a step back to take two steps forward. Its a wonderful feeling to think, learn and make progress though. I can't complain. I will be posting pics of some of the "new" things I will be using on this 29er. I am very happy to announce that I am using Black Cat dropouts for this project. Todd Ingermanson of Black Cat has been gracious enough to let me use his dropouts. They are a rocker dropout that works great and looks even better.

This week is going to be a very busy week getting this mountain bike all finished up. I am looking forward to the challenges. 

Currently playing through my speakers is the soothing soul of A. A. Bondy. He is a fantastic singer songwriter and I think everyone should take a listen.