In process welding non-drive side chainstay to bottom bracket..Tacks..cut, mitered and ready for the jig.. First I bend and form both chainstays. Then I miter the dropout/chainstay junction and tack those in place. Once that is complete, these two sub assemblies get loaded into the jig for the mitering of the chainstay to bottom bracket …

Been working on refining the overall logo of 44 for a while. Slowly but surely getting there-kind of like the cobblers kids have no shoes scenerio… I do this sort of thing for a living, but naturally, when it comes to your own stuff it takes 10 times longer to figure it out. But I’m …

Went for a ride on some unmaintained roads the other day. Great ride. Nice to be out on the Snake Driver and soak in the sun / cool air. Starting the new 29er for the spring. Should be interesting. Subtle changes again with a slightly lower bottom bracket, steeper head angle and a cockpit of …

So the story starts like this with my dad’s friend, Marshal. We spent much of our time at Marshal’s house as kids. He always had something going on in the shop and always had the best / craziest stories. His spirit is a memorable one of ‘this is good but how can we make it …

Finally back from paint Stainless photo-etched badges for the head & seat tubes..

Clearance for 2.5+ tires, 16.75″ stays and an additional 2″ of top tube clearance from the previous version..Welds are starting to come together. Not happy with the heat effected zones here-but as Ted Jokes “It’ll be ah-right.. It’s just your frame.” Still have to add the jewelry and disk mount as well as shorten the …

So after close to a year of riding the 1st prototype 29er… I’ve gathered sufficient feedback to feel confident to put that to good use in a second revised version. Revisions include a slightly tightened head angle, lower bottom bracket height, longer tt to increase the cockpit just a bit, shorter chainstays, custom formed chainstays …

I had to make a lot of these… To get one like this. But I can repeat it. So that’s a good thing. Can’t wait to miter this and build the mainframe. This will be the seat tube. Stoked.

As in brazing. Steel is very different from silver/gold (I was a goldsmith for a number of years before I went back to school for an industrial design degree.) So I’m finding I’m re-learning what I already know in terms of silver brazing/soldering with steel. Always great to learn new things, to refine your process …

I wrangled a Bridgeport J-Head a year ago and have been slowly getting it prepped. But in the meantime, its in storage so I’ve been rustproofing all the dials, handles etc. to protect it against moisture and corrosion. Enter LPS 3.. Spray on, wipe clean, let dry. Apparently you can let the part out in …