Good to hear Stickel's getting some business! He hacked off the vertical drops on my road frame and put on track ends. Great guy. I drove out to Harrisonburg, dropped my bike off, walked around, and got the frame same day.

order it ,he will get ya in the door..

S/F,
CEYA!

cmon let see those pics! I know alot of you are holding back!1 LOL

S/F<
CEYA!

So... I just asked Jon to put me on the list for a frame, and he says he's now backed up till December or January. Dang. At least I'm on the list now...

Remind me to tell you 'bout the saddest thing about custom frames. A sob story if you will.

....ok, I'm interested. Do tell!

Do tell.William ..do tell.

This is not my first and will be my last track frame..period!

I had custom frames and got 2 track keirin frames on order and will get a road soon.

S/F,
CEYA!

I aspire to your level of perversion

I have problems and need help. I been away from bikes for too long and got bitten again. it needs to stop.

fight the powers that be...???

S/F<
CEYA!

Well this is extremely subjective. I’m not rich, nor am I poor. But I went from just having my road conversion getting track drops to getting a custom frame in about 2 months. It was a chunk of change to be sure. The experince of having someone who knows about bikes ask a million questions, feel through what you want and are looking for, and putting that to a practical working frame is pretty cool, and eye opening. I think that the cost, including all the ground work, sizing, etc, is pretty reasonable, at least through who I dealt with. Again, I’m not rich, nor am I poor. The cost represented the single most amount of money I’ve ever spent on my self.
The frame arrived and I was/am impressed. I had seen pictures of the frame unpainted; it was unique, and had the qualities that I had wanted appearance wise. In my hands it was EXTREMELY light weight, beautifully painted, and looked of quality. Plans were made for all the components.
Here is where I may differ from many people here. Cycling, and more over, fixed gear riding, is a combination hobby, mode of transportation, exercise and stress releif. But all in all, pratical counts. This frame could almost never be locked up anywhere. If I were a track racer, perhaps it could serve as a track bike.
But as of now, I’m building a bike I will surely never ride to work for the next 2 years (where I HAVE to lock it up out side), would never ride in an alleycat due to the aggressive nature of the races, and the bikes thin wall tubing. This relents it to weekend rides and special occasion rides. It’s a lot of change for a superflous bike. And I still have the drop out problems on my Bianchi.. but with money tied up in building this one, I’m forced to spending money on the Bianchi only for maintance or needed upgrades (currently nursing a wheel on it’s last legs).
Do I have regrets now on buying the frame? Would I do it again? I do have some regrets.. I try to be a pratical person. The frame is beautiful, I expect it to ride great and will surely out preform me. But it doesn’t fit the riding I do. The best analogy would be buying full suspension MTB with 48 gears. And only riding street… A good bike with out a good cause. Would I do it again? The deal on the frame was that it raised money for Torrin’s AID’s ride. So, no regrets in that respect. Also, I’ve learned once again to think through decisions instead of going with gut and some extra cash.
So, yes, I’ve babeled. So, if you’re having a track frame built by Johnny for the track.. you’re probably doing the right thing. If you’re having frame built because you dig riding fixed and want a dedicated frame for that.. think twice about the beauty and single beauty of custom frames.. Having it locked to the railing, banging it up in traffic, might not be the dream you want to live…
Ironically, I continue to skrimp and save and build the bike I bought. When it’s done, it will surely be pretty awesome. But it may never receive the love of bieng used and worked hard like my current worker does. That’s the sad part.

awwww COME ON ... this is killing my happy thoughts !!!
i don't want to hear this rambling rational concern for financial responsibility from you for one more second!!

can't i just dream a little longer? pleeeeease !?
five more minutes ma,, just five more.

Just wait for the first time you drop it, thats when a bike loses its virginity. You'll cry the first time, and gingerly touch the chipped paint as though it were a scrape on your own skin. But with time you'll heal emotionally, and from there, its all down hill... Each drop after that painful first will be easier and easier, and pretty soon you'll be bombing down flights of stairs, locking your bike to moving vehicles and riding into the lake to cool down. Just like me, as soon as my bikes loose their precious maiden heads, its all fun and games!

Basically, don't worry. Give yourself a few years of precious virginity (you only get that once in your life, after all), and enjoy the weekender garage queen. But with time it'll get more and more comfortable, and you'll take more and more liberties until it is a daily rider. And thats fine! Bikes aren't meant to be stroked, they are meant to be ridden!

If you know you are going to be doing that eventually, you can even request that your frame be built up a little stronger, heavier tubing, etc, or with a few horrible eyelets or something. Let it be cool, but let it ride too!

peace,
sam

totally,
ride what makes you happy.
i'd rather ride a sweet ride into the ground, than hang it up in the house.
you're only riding so much of your day, might as well enjoy it fully.
i'm in no way rich, i just love being on my bike. and sub par bikes make me feel, that way.
t

William, I always learn to pick the right tool for the right job or some where close along time ago. I have a bike I had for years and never ridden its new custom fork and it recently it broke. i don't know why but it freaking did just that.

It was my last one til recently,now I have alot of bikes. I ride high class track bikes as well as low end but I have some for the right job. My custom will see the road not to messenger on like the one from years ago. I have one for racing ,messenger (if needed to//retired now) , weekly rides..etc..

People learn like people turn pages in a book.. some fast other slow..

good luck with your project .. mine may come or never ..we will see soon.

S/F<
CEYA!

im planning on getting a custom frame and i've thought of the problem that william is talking about. then i realized, what's the point of having an amazing bike if you aren't gonna ride it. bikes aren't for show, their to go! they might be pretty while they're goin, but the main point is riding it, not keeping it immaculate.

Yeah, I'm a slow learner.

Good luck on yours too. Those bikes do look pretty sweet.

The Thylacine isn't lugged, isn't track geomtry, isn't traditional by any means. But that wasn't really the idea. It's pretty original.


Hubbs are next for me. I e~mailed Level components yesterday to inquire about powdercoated hubs/cost. We'll see what they say.. no response yet.

BTW,

The Johnny bikes look sweet.

Yes they do!

S/F<
CEYA!

I too am having a bike built, and it is going to be friggin' SWEET! But, back to the topic at hand, if bikes aren't meant to be ridden, then they're useless in my book. Am I going to work on my new bike? HELL NO! That's what the other bikes are for. But I can gaurantee you that once I ride it to the store or school or somewhere that I have to lock it up for the first time, it'll be just that much easier to do it again. Then, once I come out of school to see that someone dinged it, I'll probably go ballistic and push over an old lady and punch her dog in his stupid little dog face ("QUIT LAUGHING AT ME DOG!") but I'll get over it on the ride home. Poop happens. . . make poop juice and ride.

as for the picture. . . 'zactly

I love how beat up that Vanilla looks and yet you can still see that it's a beautful bike.

Love those Vanilla dropouts.

I like the look of a high quality item that has been used HARD, but is still asking for more. I like that more than I like the look of the brand new thing on the shelf.

In some ways, that determines if something really is a quality product. You can go to Walmart and find bikes just as pretty and shiny as any other, but after a few months of hard riding, you'll know who's crap and who's for real. Then several years down the road you really start to separate the wheat from the chaff as bikes start dropping like flies, and the well-made bikes just keep on kicking.

I don't want to see your pretty customs all shiny from the paint shop, I want to see them in 5 years, looking like a REAL bike.

peace,
sam

Nice:


Nicer:


m.

[drool]mmmm... sonicyouthjazzmastah...[/drool]

oh wait. bikes. we were talking about bikes. ne'mind...

You got it, mcatano!

I thought the Chub Hubs were crap?