Monday, March 30, 2009

Six is in the Mix

Fork number six was made to replace a stock fork on a Trek 520. For the 520 fans out there who probably aren't following this blog, it is one of the elusive non-green 520's that this fork was made for. There was barely enough room to run a 32mm tire and fender on the existing unicrown. (Unicrown construction really limits tire clearance in this application.) By switching to a lugged crown and adding 5mm of axle-to-crown distance, there is now room for a 52mm tire and fender. The only other detail changed was adding fender mounts to the inside of the fork legs so the rack and fender wouldn't have to share an eyelet anymore.






























Number six will soon be able to "see Russia" from it's temporary home in Alaska with this guy.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

NAHBS: the War Axe Perspective

While War Axe didn't set a booth up at NAHBS, we were certainly in attendance for more reasons than to simply look at well-made bikes.

Sam attended a wide variety of seminars, some helpful, some not.  We also introduced ourselves to vendors whose services might come in handy from time to time.

One of the more interesting seminars we attended was the "Business of Frame Building" presentation put on by Carl Strong.  While I won't bore you with the particulars, it was informative and affirming for Sam and I.  With little exception, we found that we'd essentially followed along the path that Carl recommended.  Smart or lucky, it's hard to say, but either way, it was nice to hear.

Our expectations remain reasonable but our excitement remains.  Expect a UFO sighting in the no-so-distant future.

Sam and Skip