Hello everyone thanks in your interest in the shop. I moved in this week and we will be ready to sell and service bicycles in about two weeks.
The food side will take a bit longer however I will have my coffee I roasted to sample and share with you.
Until then we will be busy with the store setup, cleaning, painting and other stuff.
Hope to see you soon!
This frame for a lucky winner at my kids high school. He entered a bid for a frame I donated to her HS for a benefit. This is the first time working with these lugs and they are sexy! The curves and lines are nice. This will get a nice copper headbadge and canti stops.
This frame will be a lugged frame for cross/ touring hybrid.
It should be done this next week.
Here is a 29er I started this week. This is a project I have been meaning to get to. I made a couple options for it, canti bosses and a seat stay bridge with a cable stop underneath. A disc brake is tacked but not fully brazed yet. The stays are also new for me to work with. The seat stays came out nicely, the brass wraps around the seat tube and looks sweet!
The coffee samples I have been roasting are 115g of Costa Rica Vida and Ethiopia Sidama.
Who wants some coffee?!!!!!!!
Bent chain and seat stays
Dat fillet braze!
A cable stop is underneath the bridge for the canti stops.
Sidama
Costa Rica
I have setup the coffee store for my coffees however I have not made the page live yet for ordering. It should be in a couple weeks. I plan to offer at least 5 -8 different coffees and blends. As a coffee master and roaster, I take pride in my coffees and I think you will too. I look forward to bringing you some excellent coffees from around the world.
My pour over stand is for sale. You can have one for your home or business, see the Pour Over Bicycle Stand to order.
I was undecided about selling it however it's been a hit overseas and locally. My website has gotten alot of hits and people are talking about it. If you want one you can now order from this website. It's not cheap however it uses high quality parts, construction and of course love (most expensive part).
Lastly I have been thinking about my cafe plans. Do you think a custom bicycle frame and coffee deal go well together?
I think so! Hell yeah they do!
Who wouldn't want copious amounts of coffee with a new bike?
More details coming soon!
Till next time!
vincent
It's been a while since I have posted any new bikes and projects but here it goes!
Since I got back from training I have been working hard to perfect my technique and process for both bicycle frame building and coffee roasting. I have since made 3 bikes this month and a coffee pour over stand for my shop. With the exception of FVK all the projects are now hand mitered. I prefer this now ( even though it takes longer) since it allows me slow down a bit and really get my miters fitting tightly. I also made the pour over stand with hand miters.
If you haven't heard I am roasting my own coffee now and will be offering my coffee for sale soon. I have completed about 13 small roasts of offerings from Sweet Maria's.
I thought I drank too much coffee when I was with SBUX, but now it's obscene!
I'll post when my coffees are ready and I will be selling here on this site as well.
This is my wife's frame I made with Dave Bohm. It's a fillet brazed road frame with Sachs dropouts. It's simple and clean with a custom sleeve for the top tube/ seat post. The seat stays are a curved wraparound top eye.
This is a project bike I made for a guy in Texas that really really tall. He's 6'8". As you can see the bike is huge. So big that the dimensions almost did not fit my jig. This frame is also a fillet brazed with tabbed dropouts. I put my wife's bike next to Wichita Falls for comparison.
This next bike is a single speed fillet brazed bike with hooded dropouts. I wanted to change up the look a bit and decided on stretching the seat stays and make a unique stay bridge. Since the dropouts are horizontal, I should be able to fit a cross tire on although I haven't tried it.
This is F.V.K built up
Lastly I made a coffee pour over stand using tubing. It took me all day yesterday to get it together but it came out nicely. I made this in anticipation for opening the cafe. This stand can hold 4 pour overs at a time. I used my Alex Meade fixturing set to make this on my surface plate. The hardest part making this was the legs. I want an element that employed the bike angles.
I got a small home roaster this week! I am using my learning from Boot Coffee to get better at roasting coffee. I plan to offer my special blends soon.
Looks I forgot to upload some pictures of my bike from the show. Here are some from about a week after I got back from Denver and the snowstorm.
The bike is on it's way to Turin Bikes in Chicago for their grand opening. They asked a couple of NAHBS builders to have them on hand to display handmade builders.
I've learned alot in these last couple weeks I have been gone. From learning new techniques with fillet brazing to managing the beans after the exothermic stage, my learning has been accelerated.
The frame I made with Dave Bohm will be for my lovely wife. It's a fillet brazed steel frame with tabbed dropouts and a fork I made while I was in Tucson.
As with any new training I now need more tools, which mean more $$$. Always fun right?
As many of you know I want to bring my bicycle frame business and extensive coffee experience together in one place. Starting a new business is alot of work but 4 is crazy. My experience as a multi-unit manager helps. I hope to bring you more news on the cafe this week.
Until then my next frame is 18th St. v2.
The guys at Bike Rumor came by did a quick interview about me and the bikes I have been working on this last year. It's nice to see pictures from the show.
Hey friends if you happened to take some pictures of my bike while at the show, please forward them to my email vrbicycles@outlook.com.
I was so busy talking I didn't have a chance to take more pictures.
Thanks!
Hello friends its been a long couple of days since the start of the show. I was delayed by Storm Q in Hays for a day and half and arrive late to the show. I had to ride the bike to the back entrance. I didn't intend to ride it yet but it was a fun ride. The shifters and mustache handlebars make this a fun bike to ride.
The show itself is a bit overwhelming. This was my first show and first showing of a bike. Being the "new kid" I was worried that my entry would be lost in the carbon and Ti bikes but many many people loved the classic look of the lugs and steel frame. The modern components worked well. Thanks again to Britton and Groody Bros. for their support.
The most commented features of the bicycle were the color, copper head badge and retro/modern look. Those who noticed the seat stays were quite surprised and really liked how they came out. Overall it was a fantastic show with lots to look at and interact with. Next time I will need a crew to support me. Interested?
Soon I will be asking for "volunteers" to create the KC Collective. More info coming...
I'm still Denver due to weather but when I get back ill post all the pictures I took.
Thanks!
I arrived late to the show due to the delay with the snow but I made it finally.
The quality of handmade bicycles here are extraordinary. I am excited and overwhelmed at the craftsmanship and camaraderie. Two more days to go.
Groody powder coated this frame in a matte black. I was working on this frame as I was finishing up San Jacinto for the show. The copper head-badge looks really nice against the black. This is a smaller frame with a 466 ST and 545 TT, a slack STA of 71, 130mm spacing. Tight!
One more day to go before I leave for Denver. I might not make it with the storm coming but I gonna try!
As in the words of H.R.
Better watch out for me. I'm a member of the F.V.K.
Things have been fast and furious around here getting things ready for frames to show. Lots of sanding, filing and last minute connections to make this happen. Thanks to Britton at Volker Bicycles and Groody Bros. for their support.
Here's a sneak peek of the modern dutch.
More pics coming soon.
I made these today, they are a mitered seat stay top eyes for San Jacinto. These are made with a curved miter then I brass braze a piece of tubing to the top, then file down.
After some filing and sanding they ended up looking better than I thought they would.
Matt took his F.earless V.ampire K.iller today for a test ride. It's going to be cold tonight! More pics of the build coming soon.
I started on this frame for the show this afternoon. It's going to be a cross frame with, you guessed it, Sachs lugs, 858 tubing, 1 1/8 HT, 73 ST and 72.5 HT.
One thing that's different is the .9 degree rise in the top tube. This means its going to be nearly level TT giving this frame a clean straight forward geo.
I only had time to miter and complete an initial fit of the tubes tonight I do this to ensure the notches are fitting correctly before brazing. This jig rocks!
This frame is done and ready for it's super awesome kit. This is the first frame I made with the Anvil Jig. I was able to get this together much quicker since I completed all the brazing at once rather than one at a time. It was a certainly a different pace, I like that I can knock out a frame now in under a couple of days. Now on to my NAHBS frame!
It was in the low 70's today in KC.
I worked on a prototype today for something I'm working on. The fillet braze piece is a nice showpiece to display how a fillet braze looks up close.
