Originally Posted by
indyfabz
I am having the builder's shop build up the bike as I don't have the tools or the skills. (The builder make his own brand of bike and also owns a full service bike shop.) His workshop is amazing. One of his lathes (He has a different machine for each part of the frame.) is from the Navy and was likely used to make artillery shells.
A couple of my riding pals who have seen the photo say I should leave it naked, but I like color. Some of it may end up bare brushed Ti. This is the road bike the builder recently built for himself. I have seen it in the flesh. The photo doesn't do it justice:
Cerakote Coatings: Custom Mix of H-137 Gloss White and H-169 Sky Blue
I put down my deposit in late October. Normal wait time is usually 6 months or a little more. Since I am a valued customer, I was promised it would be ready by mid-April, if not sooner. I am also curious as to how long it takes to build a frame once it's started. I may stop in the shop on Saturday. If I do, I will ask. While I believe the builder has one person who helps with finishing completed frames, the bike building end of things is otherwise a one-man operation. (Painting and ceramic coating is farmed out to a guy in central PA.) Not bad for a guy who also runs a LBS and who is married with a young child.
I'm sure 99% of your wait is just backlog and people walking into the LBS to have their inner tubes changed.
OK, the navy doesn't have artillery (fine, I'm a hair-splitter) and it's highly unlikely they turned shells, those are probably pressed anyway - larger ships, tenders & shore repair facilities did maintain machine shops on board for repairing the 9 million mechanical parts that seem to break whenever they're exposed to salt water. Motor shafts and that sort of thing were the likely items, but it's also highly likely the machine was used for unauthorized things like baseball bats, personal car parts and whatever else they felt like doing when there were no officers or chiefs around.
I tell you what though, it doesn't seem like they build machinery like they used to - those old things were monsters and last FOREVER.