Sunday, December 28, 2008

sit ski done/customer's bikes

making sure to get some anti-freeze in the system while skiing.
out on the trails at the Flagstaff Nordic center on our 1st. sunny day in awhile with Denise. my first exercise in weeks!
carving a turn on a well-earned downhill.
the snow wall where our front porch was.........we basically have a little catwalk around the house. it looks like we will have a break from the snow, we got about four feet here in mt. dell - flat roofed buildings in town have been collapsing - but our lows are below zero F. at night and around freezing during the day.
testing the rig for fit - sweet!
Doug Hall was indispensable to the build. he made the bending equipment, did the bending, helped with design, and sewed all the softgoods. he's taking over sit-ski construction, as i'm just too busy with bicycles. if you want one, contact me for details until he gets up and running.
here is the main raw chassis. over 30' of tubing and 30+ brazes! still, it's incredibly lightweight thanks to very thinwall 4130 tubing. high stress areas like the feet are .049, the bend are mostly .035, and all the straight structural members are .028. all the tubing diameters are either 1/2" or 5/8".
got these pics from George & ted in Yuma - they met and found out that they both have Coconinos and hooked up for riding!
custom frames for two different individuals - quite different!
George ripping his 29er! his review: Dear Steve, I finally hooked up with Ted. We met by total chance at a Christmas party. Ted and I went out to Sugarloaf for our premium desert singletrack. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy the bike. It climbs like a billy goat and so balanced and stable. Ted and I had a great time riding together. Here are some photos. Merry Christmas. George. Thanks, George!
and lastly, a photo from Jeff of his Coconino, it was one of the first 10, i'm not exactly sure which one, back then i stamped most of them with the date they were completed - rock on, Jeff!


that's it for now, ya'll. i'm gonna go clean the shop and get a good start on Mark W's frame as soon as it gets above zero out and i can heat the shop to a reasonable working temp. cheers, Steve.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome job on the sit ski! Man, that thing looks like it was fun to build! Looks like it's fun to ride, too. Post it up on the forum, I'm sure lots of lurkers will dig checking it out.

jasona

creighton said...

great work Steve!! Just wondering though why there is not a diagonal brace tween the back two legs that attach to the ski mount plate? Or diagonals cross frame at the same points? seems to me from this chair to be potential flexure/fracture points cantilevered like that??

Anonymous said...

Awesome sitski steve! Super stoked you're getting a piece of the fluff now! Salad Days man. Salad days.

steve garro said...

wade - i believe there are braces where you are talking about, they are just not visible.....i braced the hell out of it! that's why it's not painted yet - R&D, man! cheers, steve.

DMC said...

Great to see you out on the snow.. Looks like some good fun. Enjoy.

mtberfrombothell said...

That's a really great sit ski Steve. By the way I came across an article last night about you winning a frame builder award in spite of your accident. I have to say that I feel so bad that here I am feeling no pain at all and complaining about simple problems in my life and here you are in spite of what happened to you, you are still having so much fun helping people get the best bike that they could ever had. I will really save some money and get one of your frames. I really dig those curved top tubed frames you have with couplers. I will bring it back to the Philippines when I go back and visit my family. For now I'll just enjoy following your creations on this blog. I'm really proud of you man. You will be an inspiration always.

zanna said...

Great Steve,

my compliments again & Happy New Year

Z