S’what we likes. Stitched and flowed and filled.

Somewhat esoteric for the non-builders / non-dorks out there (of which I count myself both of the opposite) (ugly syntax but you get the point, no?) but yes yes we likes them lines.

The relentless pursuit of quality through repetition and practice.

Start to (un)finished. I’ve turned a corner in my fillet brazing. Minimal clean up, some areas of really delicate overlapping puddles. Psyched at this step in the game. I kept half unfiled and the other half a quick pass. It had been a little too long without making a little something.

Pieces to product.

So. Finally. An update. I’m so sure y’all are out there wondering what I’m up to. Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve been busy. There’s been an update to the shop and tanks are coming in fast. But you knew that already.

I’m been working hard at getting ready for teaching the summer bicycle building course at California College for the Arts (CCA) which I am amped about. It’s called URBAN MOBILITY I: THE FRAME, TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES, and it’s a 100 hour course with me, yours truly, teaching 10 folks how to make a complete bicycle frame, without fork, from start to finish, along the line teaching about materials, design, tooling, shop practices, and brazing. I’ve always loved teaching, and the chance to get my foot back in the door got my psyched. There are still some spots available folks… My students will be contributing to a communal documentation project – THE FRAME which you can follow as well.

So that’s why I’ve been less post-y lately. But expect some new things. The queue has been filling up too, so talk to me in the near rather than the far if you’re trying to get your hands on a cross machine for the season.

I’ve got a few projects in the works with some local makers and designers, some killer new designs of frames – models for all your urban and dirt needs. I know I know, you’re like, where are all those killer pictures that we’ve come to expect from this man? Well, shortly dear readers.

Man.

Such an epic post – to come. But tanks – American Apparel uniSEXY only – are $15, $20 shipped. Get em while they’re hot just in time fer them summer times.

Sigh. Making life somewhat harder. Understatement.

Spring is here. Blog less. Ride more. I’ve been busy in the shop. Gene’s bicycle is off to paint, with Victor (of Archive Bags) soon to follow. I’m slammin’ y’all with a big image dump, narrated in block form. Walking through Victor’s machine, we’re getting some great radii to the fillets, and badass shorelines (untouched / cleaned up) on the seat tube sleeve. I’m really happy with how my brazing has come in the past year and a half, and each machine things get cleaner and better. I love curved stays, and I’m going to work on making them even sexier. A random image of my shop in the morning, very quiet, very still. I love walking into a clear space that is ready for a good workday. Victor’s name plate, in brass, high class. You saw what the rear end looked like all naked, and now it’s all dressed up – rack mounts, cable hanger, bridge, canti studs, binder boss, whew. Moving onto phase 1 of the clean up process as well, and a little peak at the killer Paragon Machine Works threaded stop and simply elegant adjuster screw.

So that was a bunch of days compressed into one. More to come soon, I promise.

And then and then. Some actual riding of a bicycle. That’s my best bud Josey Baker of Josey Baker Bread and upwards are the mountains. The old Highway 1 of California didn’t run along the coast, but instead at times inland, up and down a mountain. You enter the trail, and are surrounded by trees and dappled sunlight filtering through the overstory. The ride is generally called Planet of the Apes, and for a good reason – as you move upwards, you ride on the broken concrete trails of the former highway. It’s enclosed by vegetation, which traps heat, making it extra nice, but you feel at times like you’re moving across a lost landscape, moving over the literal remains of the past. It’s a little post-apocalyptic in some ways – bicycles moving across a fallen landscape, the concrete eroding into gravel into dirt, nature reclaiming and re-territorializing.

As you ride glimpses of the coastline peak over the mountain thickets. Oh yea, there’s my cross machine that I rode up there. A cross bicycle / allRounder type machine is really the perfect thing for this kind of adventure. Fast and capable of taking anything that you throw at it. I also talked to Victor about making about a new bag, for day long rides, a smaller truck style bag, holding a layer, tools, wallet, cellphone, and keys (the holy trinity), and a snack, so that your body and pockets can be free.

And I just like the bus. But yes. Down to Montara, CA, a little coffee and a donut, and then I cranked back to SF alone, leaving Josey to go camping down in Half Moon Bay. Wish I could have stayed but duty called. I raced back up the 1, which was intense. No shoulder, highway traffic, not fun. Anyway.

I’ll be riding and adventuring a lot this summer, so expect more travel adventure style stories.

Oh yea, did I mention that I’m teaching this summer? More to come…

Enjoy.

Yezzir.

Images by one Geoffrey “Geoff” “Jeph” “Geoffery” Colburn. Rockin’ it.

Assembly line stylee.

Rad trip up North.

Saturday: SF into the Presidio across the GG bridge up the bike path through Larkspur onto Sir Francis Drake sideline San Geronimo Rd onto the Cross Marin Trail and then Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Hike / Bike style, cold as hell, slept well.

Sunday: Samuel P. Taylor north to Olema onto the 1 pit stop for a double bacon cheeseburger in Stinson climb climb climb out and up and along the coast for hours in the sun (rad) ups and downs back onto the bike path up and out of Sausalito back over the bridge into the Presidio and city style home.

There’s nothing like carrying everything you need on your bicycle. Cooking up food on the stove at night, hot azz coffee in the AM. I almost didn’t bring my tent, and I’m glad I did because it was hella cold up there. Great miles. Can’t wait to get more fit. The season is on. And do yourself a favor all you out there, Alpine gearing, as they say, is helpful, though not necessary (clearly) but would have been nice. That is – a triple up front.

Marching forward into the everlasting night. Whoa. Kidding.

Anyways. It’s been a rough few weeks. Pretty sick moving slow. But we’ve got some killer pictures. Geneva’s SS machine is done, finish work and the off to paint. I’m pretty psyched as it’s my first frame / fork / stem matchy matchy thing. I really like the stem on this one too, with the small plate of stainless on the front.

Also some teasers of Will’s OOS roadie beast, rad patina action, black black black.

And The Cannibal. More bicycle metaphors for life really.