Don't Stop!

Life at Stinner Frameworks has been hectic. A good kind of hectic though. There has been lots of bike building. I recently finished a lugged commuter that is currently at paint.

I also finished re-building a Hetchins Fork. That proved to be overly challenging. I am very happy with the result but it took entirely way to long to figure out how to match the original. Looking back on it now I should have got in touch with Peter Weigle and asked for his advice on things, but I didn't think about getting in touch with him until the project was done. It took making several different bending mandrels using wood, steel and even plastic. I was finally able to achieve the bend I wanted with a 5" radius bender that tapers to a 15" radius bend. It took a long time to come up with this and by the time I got the form made, with some help from my friend Dana Anderson, I had to rig up a stop to hold the blade in place. So out came the welder and flat stock and away I went cutting and welding pieces to come up with the best way to hold the blade. The final product I came up with will probably be improved but I was happy with where it got me given the hours I had put into the project. I don't think I will be doing any more fork refurbishments in the future. I could have built 10 forks in the time it took me to re build this one.

Two size benders I made. The one on the right is the Hetchins bender, the other is a normal 12" radius bender.

CX racing is in full swing. Lots of training time in the dirt. Which I love. After all summer of riding the road bike, its nice to get out and ride in the dirt. I hope to build a 29er MTB for myself sometime soon, but I have other bikes to build in the mean time. Up next is Nick M's SS coupler road bike. Its going to be a really nice build and I am looking forward to getting it started. I will also be starting John Jones belt drive touring bike this week as well. Hopefully all things go well. After these bikes I will start Chris E's 29er (my NAHBS bike) and D^2's belt drive commuter. It's a good lineup of bikes and I am really looking forward to getting the ball rolling.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall. I really enjoy it when it gets colder outside. It makes me want to work in the shop, race cross, eat good food and drink great beer! I had a few friends in town the last couple of days. Two of my good friends John and Jeff. They are brothers that live up in SF. These kids can shred on a BMX bike. I had the joy of hanging out with them, doing some riding, talking about bikes and enjoying life. Here is a video of them riding this spill up in Nor Cal. The video was taken by some good people that run a great site called the Full Frame Collective. Check the video below:


Full Glory from WEREHAUS on Vimeo.


I also got a chance to see Blitzen Trapper last weekend. They rocked! I posted a video of there's last blog. Here is another song that has been buzzing my speakers and keeping me rockn'. More soon!