Filed In: Process

Father/Daughter Project - Part 20

April 03, 2020   |   Chris Blandford

Here are the highlights from the adult-sized build:

This one came together pretty quick, while Mathilda's bike was out for paint. I used the same dropouts/track ends as on the little bike. I also tried to finish them in a similar fashion--rounded over tabs, etc. I ended up indenting the chain stays on this one, though. This bike is going to run 700c x 38mm tires--needed a bit of clearance with the straight, oval chain stays. I'd never indented chain stays before, but it went fine. Made a quick die from a wooden tubing block I had lying around. I also raked the ends of the chain stays, so that the slot in the track end would end up horizontal without having to angle anything. I'm not sure if most track ends are pitched on purpose or what (as my quick Google search seemed to indicate), but this is what made sense to me.

Filed In: Process

Father/Daughter Project - Part 19

March 13, 2020   |   Chris Blandford

Mathilda and I drew up this bike's paint scheme together. We sat at our coffee table one evening, went through paint swatches, and clicked around in Illustrator/InDesign. I think I blew her mind--manipulating the look of a bicycle drawing on a computer screen. I hadn’t realized that she’d always equated creativity with paper and crayons; this was her first experience with computer-based design. Pretty fun.

Here’s what we delivered to the guys out at Black Magic Paint. I told them we were flexible on everything, but didn’t want to leave them directionless. Pink and purple giraffe--have at it. (By the way, if you’re following along, you’ll have guessed that I missed Mathilda’s birthday by a couple of weeks. She ate an extra piece of cake and couldn’t have cared less. Father-failures... Maybe next time!)

Last week, I rode back out to Black Magic and picked the little frame up. They nailed it. It's bright as hell. The opposite of my own taste. Perfect. When I got it home, Mathilda freaked out. Hysterical belly laughter. Touching every inch of it. She couldn’t wait to show it to Nellie (her little, stuffed giraffe).

Filed In: Process

Father/Daughter Project - Part 18

February 13, 2020   |   Chris Blandford

All right, let’s get this little frame off to paint. To finish up:

…
22. Make and braze-on headbadge
23. Fill pin-holes (if needed)
24. Drill BB vent hole
25. Final soak and clean up
…


I designed this headbadge, primarily, so that it’d be easy to make and braze on. I cut these out of regular, .058” tubing (the same used for the head tube rings). I print the logo onto sticker paper, cut it out, and stick it to the tube. Cutting wheel, then small files.