I am finally back to work after months away from the shop. We have been
very busy with kids activities (swimming and hockey) and a couple of
non-bike related projects. It felt great to get back to framebuilding. I am
currently working on a frame for myself. It is going to be my new commuting
bike. It will have a Shimano Alfine 8 speed internally geared hub and will
be Gates Carbon Belt Drive. I got quite a jump start on this frame due to
the fact that I had a front triangle already available. The first front triangle
that I built for Wayne's 29'er Single Speed was too short in the top tube
due to a mistake on my part. I went with an inacurate chart for the dimensions
of his previous frame instead of measuring his actual frame. I won't make
that mistake again. Anyway with the front triangle mounted in the fixture I
mitered the chainstays and brazed them to the sliding dropouts and the
bottom bracket. After finishing these joints I bent and mitered the seatstays
and they are almost ready the be brazed in. Now I just need to design and
fabricate some type of breakable joint on the right seatstay so that the drive
belt can be installed.
