Zanconato

[e-RICHIE]

hey zank atmo are you doing any 'cross teams or similar support this fall?
man you were like sooooooooooo buffed at noho atmo...

[DCT]

mike,

whats your current wait for a frame? i need a road bike to match my cross bike

[zank]

hey zank atmo are you doing any 'cross teams or similar support this fall?
man you were like sooooooooooo buffed at noho atmo...

Richie, you know I love the scene. My "team" kind of fell together on its own, with pals who wanted to buy kit and race in my colors. I was pretty lucky. This year, we're hoping to earn some good results out on the course and use them as backing for proposals I am putting together for suppliers that I want to build long term business relationships with. I view the way you run your team and business as the perfect model. You team up with sponsors that you live and die for. You become partners and are an integral part of their business as well. I look at what you've done with Cole, for example, and it just seems like a home run for both of you. That's what I want. I don't want to go to these guys just looking for a handout. I want a partnership that helps both parties grow.

I think at last count, I will have eight riders in New England, including one elite woman, three or four in Portland, one in WI, one in OH, and one in NY all wearing the kit. It's shaping up to be a great group.

I will also donate some cash to a couple of races. Sucker Brook Cross for sure and I'm hoping another one of my favorite races in the middle of the season. We'll see how that pans out. I like to support the events as well as the racers.

I'm already looking forward to your team email updates. I sense the time is near for the first one. Can't wait!

[zank]

mike,

whats your current wait for a frame? i need a road bike to match my cross bike

Yo D! I'd love to put together a road bike for you. Lead time right now is about 10 months.

Speaking of your cross bike, have you got it back from Keith yet? I can't wait to see the repaint.

[zank]

we are waiting for pics.

Here are a few...















Geez...how did that picture of super-hottie Charlize Theron get in there? I think toots edited my post and pasted it in.
No way, TT would never do that. xxoo, Josh

[e-RICHIE]

Click here to enlarge atmo.

[Jonathan]

Mike,
one thing I've always been impressed with since I've been noticing your frames is how the decal or branding features such as engraved Z's help your bikes look complete. How long did that process take and is there any insight on how it happened? The Belgium themed cross bikes were pretty cool and a great way to have fun being different. Any plans to do more of that kind of stuff?

Jonathan

[cement shoes]

Mike,

You mentioned earlier in the thread you are using a Meco Midget torch. Is this your exclusive torch used for the whole build now or just the small bits? I recall people debating that torch on the frame builders list a few years back, some saying it was great and other saying it's too small.

Thanks,
Tom

[Roman]

Mike:

I'll tag on to Jonathan's question here a bit, and ask

what do you think are the things that make a frame a complete whole, versus a collection of braze ons, suspension devices, fancy head tube badges, or specially bent tubes-

You really can't add or remove from the best shaker furniture, and that stuff fetches quite a price these days in your neck of the woods.

In other words, looking back on old frames, what would you do differently again, and what would you retain as you- what are the things that distract, and what are the things that disappear seamlessly into the whole?

[davids]

Mike,

I know you’ve got a few distinct frame genres in your repertoire already – Cross, Road, and the occasional Mountain.

Do you see yourself sticking with these, or are you interested in other kinds of frame? If so, what?

[Freddy]

You mentioned earlier in the thread you are using a Meco Midget torch. Is this your exclusive torch used for the whole build now or just the small bits? I recall people debating that torch on the frame builders list a few years back, some saying it was great and other saying it's too small.

Torches depend on flow and tip jets, Pros just silver on a tip to make exactly what they want.
Reverse flow handles backfire more that though flow so maintaining them is important if you don't want a crisp thumb.
Mike knows what he is doing and uses learned skill to optimizie his joining work.

[datas_brother]

snip... I want to control everything, but I know that's not possible. I can only trust that my decisions moving forward are the right ones based on what I've learned so far.

I hear you. This is something I sometimes take to excess and point beyond reasonable sense. There is always something that others can do better if for nothing else than experience. Are those skills i.e. painting and engraving something you would like to add to you skill base in the future? If not, why?

[e-RICHIE]

jeez h crist atmo you have nearly 8,000 views.
rawesome.


ok. back to whatever is scheduled...

[zank]

Mike,
one thing I've always been impressed with since I've been noticing your frames is how the decal or branding features such as engraved Z's help your bikes look complete. How long did that process take and is there any insight on how it happened? The Belgium themed cross bikes were pretty cool and a great way to have fun being different. Any plans to do more of that kind of stuff?

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,
I suppose my style has evolved from being leery of doing too much. After I did my fifth bike or so, I enlisted a pal from UMass to do the drawing for the current logo. We went through a bunch of iterations with different symbols and more elaborate fonts. None of it worked for me and I told him to just do something simple. The only guidance past that was the little swoosh from the "o" to the "t" at the end because that's how I signed my name. What he came up with has made me happy ever since. The Z is a little bigger than the rest of the characters for a little more impact and the top of the Z is aligned horizontally with the top of the "t". It just worked for me. But when we isolated the Z for the head tube, it looked odd. It was too wide and short. So we made it taller and all was right. So if you take a close look, you will see that the single Zs on the frame are different than the Zs in the full name. It's the little things that count and that has been my theme all along.

I knew early on that I wanted the bikes to have an identity when stripped of their paint. It started with engravings on the brake bridge and fork crown. I was happy how they looked, but the bikes looked a little unbalanced and they needed a few more little splashes of color in other spots. That's when I started doing the engraving under the BB, on top of the DT lug, and on the sides of the ST lug. I am happy now with the balance of simple flourishes that don't distract from the complete bike build.

Yeah, I have a lot of fun doing some of the theme stuff for some teams. I want the bikes to look interesting but not gaudy. The Belgian stripes and the "Shoulder Here" decal have ended up on quite a few bikes in other colors, which I think is pretty cool. I'd like to do more national stripes because I think people would appreciate showing a little love for their family heritage or their heroes on the bike. I've always wanted Italian Tricolore stripes incorporated into a paint job. I suppose I should get on the horn with Screen Specialty.

[zank]

Mike,

You mentioned earlier in the thread you are using a Meco Midget torch. Is this your exclusive torch used for the whole build now or just the small bits? I recall people debating that torch on the frame builders list a few years back, some saying it was great and other saying it's too small.

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom,
As Freddy mentioned, you can tune the tips a bit and get the results you want. I don't have the longer neck on mine and have never thought the torch was too hot, even after fillet sessions. I have a few tips that I have drilled out to get a little more heat, but the torch has always put out enough heat to braze bike stuff or make a few tools with silver or brass. I really like it. You can get flashback arrestors and check valves for it. I'm very happy with it.

[zank]

Mike:

I'll tag on to Jonathan's question here a bit, and ask

what do you think are the things that make a frame a complete whole, versus a collection of braze ons, suspension devices, fancy head tube badges, or specially bent tubes-

You really can't add or remove from the best shaker furniture, and that stuff fetches quite a price these days in your neck of the woods.

In other words, looking back on old frames, what would you do differently again, and what would you retain as you- what are the things that distract, and what are the things that disappear seamlessly into the whole?

The whole is the whole. Sorry, couldn't resist.

I don't look at frames much; I look at and admire bikes. And I don't want any one thing to distract me. The details should disappear seamlessly until you want to go looking for them. That's why I like to do the little engravings and the little Zs in the panel bands. They blend in until you look for them. And this goes for weird components that look out of place on the bike as well, stems in particular. A stem can kill the look of a bike. I've had decals come and go too. At one point I had decals on the top tube. They were distracting and annoying when the bike was built up, so they went. Make sense?

[zank]

Mike,

I know you’ve got a few distinct frame genres in your repertoire already – Cross, Road, and the occasional Mountain.

Do you see yourself sticking with these, or are you interested in other kinds of frame? If so, what?

Nah, not really. The bikes I build are the bikes I ride and know. For instance, I've never ridden on a track, so I have no business saying I can build a track bike. Yeah, I could build one if you told me what to build, but then it wouldn't really be a bike from me, would it? I've never been afraid to say leave it to the guys who are experts in that arena. It makes the most sense for everybody.

That said, I want to do more experimenting with 29ers. I have this need for my mountain bike to feel more and more like my cross bike. So I'm not saying I don't want to keep learning, rather I want to learn more about what I am interested in.

[zank]

Torches depend on flow and tip jets, Pros just silver on a tip to make exactly what they want.
Reverse flow handles backfire more that though flow so maintaining them is important if you don't want a crisp thumb.
Mike knows what he is doing and uses learned skill to optimizie his joining work.

Hey, thanks Freddy! That means a lot coming from you.

[zank]

I hear you. This is something I sometimes take to excess and point beyond reasonable sense. There is always something that others can do better if for nothing else than experience. Are those skills i.e. painting and engraving something you would like to add to you skill base in the future? If not, why?

Great question. Whether it's skill, experience, equipment, piece of mind, or just a good 'ole cost analysis, there are so many good reasons to use the services of an excellent vendor. I know that I can never do what Keith can do with paint. And I don't think the cost to purchase a pantograph is worth it for the small volume of parts I have engraved. I need to be doing the things that are of the most value to the business. But I'm at peace with that, as much I would love to learn to paint.

[zank]

jeez h crist atmo you have nearly 8,000 views.
rawesome.


ok. back to whatever is scheduled...

Yeah, I'm just blown away. Thank you to you and Josh for allowing this to happen. And thank you to all for being interested in the business and the bikes. This has been a lot of fun.