i ain't no engineer

so, i had two goals for the new brake mount that i was getting mike to mill and and put on my 29er frame: one, allow me to use the full range of the paul dropouts on my bike; and two, allow me to remove the rear wheel without taking any bolts out of the rear brake bracket. based on a photo i saw of the fisher superfly singlespeed, i tried to find a brake mount similar to what i saw in that photo. since i could not find one i asked mike if he knew of anything, he told me he could make something as long as i provided him with a drawing. cool - all i had to do was come up with an sketch and i would get my brake, one that would allow the brake to pivot on an arc which would allow me to do the things i wanted with my rear wheel.

after some time fooling around in the with the brake on the frame i came up with a design and sent it off to mike. on monday mike sent me the photos of what he did based on the drawing i sent.



















the first photo looked pretty good, showing the mount that he had milled for me.



















the next photo - oops. seems like i forgot to take into consideration the cylinder for the brake and as you can see in the next photo i don't quite get all the use of the slot i designed for the brake mount. this is why professionals get the big bucks for what they do, they take into consideration things like this and design and build systems that have taken these things into account.



















the good thing though, i had put in a longer arc than i needed. mike saw that, and positioned the brake mount in such a way a that it works - thank god for people who help me solve problems that i create for my self.

the picture is becoming complete

while in squamish i was lucky to stay with mike truelove, the builder of my 29er frame. while i was there i put down a deposit for a cross frame, the final (well - nothing is really ever final, but definitely final for the next few years) bike in my collection. after some research and discussion with tom, i sent mike an email with details of how i would like the frame built, here are some of the particulars:

A. Specs
1) Seat tube - 600 mm
2) Top tube - 595 mm
3) Chain stay - 425 mm
4) Head tube - 220 mm* (11/8"dia)
5) Rear spacing - 130 mm
6) Bottom bracket drop - 70 mm** (68mm shell)
7) Head tube angle - 72.5
8) Seat tube angle - 72.5
9) Stand over height - 850 mm

* I would like the head tube to be a little higher coming up from the top tube - sort of sticking up a bit if that make sense.
** I will be using 180mm cranks (most likely SRAM Rival). My Surly travel bike has a drop of 66mm - plenty of pedal clearance with the 180's I have on there, would this be too much?

B. Features
1) Paul dropouts with a hanger added
2) Canti brake bosses - circular guide stop coming from the seat stays if possible
3) Brake guides on top of top tube
4) Rear derailleur stops on top of top tube. Just two stops on the top tube and two guides on the seat stay - I plan on using a full housing from the top tube to the drop out.
5) Front derailleur, regular number - but fairly high on the seat tube.
6) Water bottle bosses on the seat and down tube

I was thinking of all True Temper tubing if possible, but if there is some good Reynolds kicking around I would not be opposed.

i decided to give myself the option of gears, but will initially set it up as a singie speed.

on another note: tinker tim, kev b, jane and i spent an evening out in the sadilands with some of the body driven riders trying some of the other trails in the area. the trails were good and there were some excellent flow to some sections. they are hoping to be able to create a new race course since they lost 70% of the old course to fire earlier this spring (damn atv riders).