Groovy Cycleworks

[edoz]

Oh man, those Hot Rods are gonna be ready soon. I an stoked!
I need to get moving on a frame to put my set on!

[Rody]

Thanks Ohio Magazine...

A Bicycle Built for You | Articles | Ohio Magazine

In other news...

After watching repairs pile up over the winter months, I've spent the last 8 days fixing, painting, and sending stuff back out. One of the disadvantages to have a long career...lots of well loved and abused children to rehabilitate :)

cheers,

rody

[edoz]

That's a great writeup, congrats!

[Tman]

Excellent write-up! I may have missed/or forgotten your connection to Grove. That explains your version of the cranks.

[Rody]

...not gonna make it as a male model anytime soon.

Philly Bike Expo 3.jpg

Been a crazy run the last few months as I've had my head down, pushing hard to complete some long projects, move forward on custom builds, and fight with some health issues that have forced me to slow down.

Looking forward to a better 2017.

cheers,

rody

[Too Tall]

Funky fresh always Rody.

[Rody]

Spent the better part of the last two weeks knocking out January/February bar orders and crafting up some tasty titanium cranks...

Much like welding a frame, the bars have a systematic welding process to keep them aligned and flat, starting with the linear ends of each miter

Titanium Luv on the way 2.jpg

The bars are the only titanium item I single pass weld, as the additional heat of a two pass process becomes a bit more problematic with alignment. To ensure complete penetration, a higher energy setting is used with a brief pulse to drive the arc deep into the substrate and feather out a bit wider than normal...

Titanium Luv on the way.jpg

These titanium cranks are ran through the blast cabinet so that it will provide a mechanical surface for the ceramic to adhere to...

Titanium Hot Rods in the cabinet.jpg

Colored and ready for action 3 hours later...

titanium Hot Rods and Luv.jpg

[Rody]

Each year I try to give back a week of my time to a professional who wants to take their skill to the next level; learn paint, tig, new materials, etc...

This year I had the pleasure of hosting Daan from www.11antsbikes.com. The owners have focused their bicycle design on Pinion and Rohloff builds in titanium, a market segment that has room for growth in Europe. Their builds for the last three years have been commissioned in China, but due to the stresses of working long distance and inability to control quality, spec, and manage expectations, they want to move the production home to Holland. Daan came to me with 20 years fabrication and machine shop experience, but no bicycle work. It was our goal to expose him to the fabrication process and begin to understand the unique difficulties in working with Titanium.

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Over the next 5 days, we worked through language and machine familiarization barriers to reach a level of competency that will build a strong foundation for this companies future success.

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Bill and I were also able to get an Accuset fixture into their hands, only the third fixture we've sent out, nice to see it go to a good home that can truly use it's accurate set up, repeat-ability, and massive access for joining.

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Best wishes to Roy, Jeroen, and Daan as they move to the next step in their journey...Made in Holland!

[Eric Estlund]

Rody, you are a saint. As a beneficiary of the yearly kickback, thank you.

[Rody]

From this weeks toil...


and the finished product...

Titanium Hot Rods.jpg

Race season is in full swing, as I come out of my last season of race promotion I'll be heading to the Philly Bike Expo and then to Hartford for 2018's version of NAHBS. Hope to see you at one or both of the shows.

cheers,

rody

[Rody]

My son recently graduated from college and I wanted to give him something special.

I've always enjoyed watching evolving technology and have wanted to incorporate some old tech into new projects, so I built Kalten a Nixie tube clock.

Nixie tubes were developed in the 1950's, a precursor to digital displays. It is a cold cathode electrode inside a glass tube filled with neon gas and just a touch of mercury. The numerical cathodes are stacked using ceramic insulators and when electricity is passed to the electrode, it reacts with the neon gas and glows, displaying the number.

There is still a small supply of these tubes in the Eastern Block countries, as they manufactured them into the early 80's.

I sourced the tubes from Russia, the board from a gentleman in the Ukraine, and then got to soldering.

The clock allows for 12/24 hour time display, date, and alarms. I placed RGB Leds under each tube and the color changes during use.

The case is built out of sheet metal and was finished in an antique/distressed paint theme.

Came out pretty cool, makes me want one for myself :)

nixie clock.jpg

PS..also started on another ti mountain bike and did some riser bars, but I found this more interesting!

[Gattonero]

That is fantastic!
Your son is very lucky

[edoz]

That is sweet! I've been eyeing nixie tube clocks for a while now, I'm going to build one eventually.

[Rody]

Something a little different and fun; a collaborative project with my buddy Drew....

Groovy Cycleworks 33-988-537: Gary's Ripscale ceramic finish...

[mjbabcock]

Good God, that is amazing.

[Gattonero]

Woah! Fantastic job!

[Rody]

Thanks guys...it was fun