New Website LIVE!

http://boxerbicycles.com

At long last, there is a new website up, with a blog attached, so please follow along there, rather than here as I'll no longer update this one.

I hope you like the new format.
The page is still under construction, so check back from time to time.

Holiday travels

We are going to be out of town for the next few days for a trip to the coast. We are going to stay in a cabin in La Push on the Quileute reservation, to celebrate with family and friends and enjoy some time from the day to day. A mini vacation of sorts.

We did this two years ago and had a great time. The cabin was as basic as you'd care to rent for any amount of time. Cold water, wood stove, hot plate, card table, one large bed and a bunch of slim foam mattresses in the loft above. Good, simple accommodations so you spend less time indoors and get out to enjoy the area. We took a long walk along First Beach and were granted a fine day with gorgeous weather.

Gorgeous weather? Yes. I've been out to La Push in July and experienced unpleasant weather. In '07 for Thanksgiving weekend, the sun shone brightly in a lovely blue sky. We had some drizzles and a little cloud cover too, but the temperature was mild and the scenery was breathtaking. One the morning we were leaving we took one quick walk along the beach and watched some hardy surfers playing in the waves amidst the dazzling sunshine.

This year the cameras are loaded with film, packed and ready for something good!
Perhaps we'll have a small taste of the nice weather this year. I hope so.

Back next week with news and updates!

Back from Oregon and back to work!

For Lisa C.:
These photos (and the associated build) are long overdue. Lisa, you have an angel's patience. This bike is gonna be great!

The photos are of the build process, starting with the fork and moving on to the lug preparations.

The photos are a jumble on the page because I don't have the best Blogger arrangement skills. I do, however, know how to build a bike.

First step is I rake the blades, basically bending the fork blades over a bending mandrel (form) one at a time to match the offset of the bike design. Since this bike will spend a lot of time as an urban porteur/commuting bike, the blades were offset a fair amount.

Next, I prep the blade ends and braze in the drop outs. I use the fork jig to hold things in place, though it is not set up for the final fork dimensions. It's just acting as a parts holder at this point.

Then I clean up the fork crown and prepare it for brazing. There's a before and after photo of the crown. I didn't take any pictures of the brazing process, since it really is a time sensitive procedure and I don't have any assistant. I don't have a timer on my camera either, so maybe it's time to pick up a cheap assistant. Ha.

I braze the fork blades and the steerer tube into the fork crown all at once to minimize the heat cycles the crown must go through. It may get a small touch of heating later on to install shoulder mounted threaded eyelets for the rack mounts, but this is a very minor amount of heat, so no worries.

Then I moved on to the lug preparation. They needed some clean up and I decided to reprofile the radii of the lugs so they have a better flow from one tube to its adjacent tube. There are some just brazed photos and a couple where I've begun the clean up. More to come on Saturday.

We are headed out of town again to have an early Thanksgiving celebration with family in Stanwood tonight and tomorrow. Then it's back to work work work. It felt really good to be back in the shop with the music blaring. I can't wait to get down there again soon.

Oh yeah, the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show, put on by the OBCA was great. We had a very simple booth, comparatively speaking, and enjoyed talking with many attendees and other vendors as well. I really enjoyed meeting some other builders from out of town, especially our booth neighbors, Wade Beauchamp and Co. from Vulture, out of Bend, Oregon. These folks had a great booth, the best costumes of the show and definitely the most fun attitude. Thank you Portland for hosting and attending another great Cycling event an extending the warm hand of invitation to Boxer Bicycles.

Thanks again to my wonderful wife, Katie who participated way more than expected and was always quick to give me a break when I needed to clear my head. I'm so lucky to have you as my partner.

A huge thanks also goes out to our friends and super gracious hosts, Joshua and Britt. Your house is so lovely and welcoming and the dinner was to die for. Our time in town wouldn't have been nearly as pleasant if we had stayed elsewhere. Their dog Sofie is a sweetheart, and probably the most rambunctious dog I've ever met, and that's saying alot. Her reaction to the friendly Halloween Trick-or-Treaters was hilarious!

OBCA Framebuilders show this weekend!

We're heading back down to Portland this weekend for the Oregon Handmade Bike Show. If you're in the area and feel like a trip to P-Town, don't miss it.
More info here. I am so stoked about this. Come check it out!

Info for the uninformed

Here's some pricing and order process information. I realize this is long overdue.
I'll put a link to it permanently at the right, so it's easily accessible.

Ordering
The ordering process is fairly simple. It starts by you sending me a note to let me know you're interested. I will reply with a few documents to begin the process, collect some information about you and your current favorite bike and gather more specifications for your new Boxer Bicycle. We then arrange a time to meet
and go over the forms together (or talk on the phone, for those of you outside Seattle) to clear up any questions before I create a proposal. If we meet in person, it's also an opportunity to take a short ride together. We can talk for hours about how to design a bike for you, but a 30 minute ride speaks volumes.

Upon your approval of the proposal and $1000 deposit, I begin the design process, including CAD illustrations of the proposed bike. After further discussion, and your approval, I create a full scale drawing and prepare an order for the frame and fork components. If your bike will have custom, handbuilt racks, I will also compile an order for these materials.

As things progress, I will provide updates on the status of your project and photos of the build sequence. If your project calls for a complete build, I will then require an additional payment towards the build kit. When the time comes near, I'll let you know to begin thinking about powdercoat colors and/or paint options. After that I build the bike up and you come for the first ride!


Please note, pricing is subject to change, based on marketplace variations.
Base pricing

• Custom lugged frame and fork $2000 and up
Hand-selected crome moly tubing, two sets of water bottle mounts, fender eyelets, standard brake bosses (cantilever) and pump peg or hanger included. Single color powder coat finish included.

Add-ons and upgrades

• Lightweight tubing upgrade (where appropriate) $200 and up
• Hand-carved lugs $200 and up
• Disc dropouts $200
• 3rd set of water bottle mounts $40
• Internal brake cable routing $100 per
• Internal lighting wiring $120 per
• Rack mounts $30
• Chain slap guard $75

Additional

• Custom chrome plated rack (with frame/fork order only) $200 and up
• Decaleur du sac (with fork/rack order only) $150 and up
• Custom LED tail light $200
• Custom chain rest $ Ask
• Custom chain guard for single ring configuration $200 and up
• Kickstand mount $100

Finish upgrades

• Additional color $70
• Wet paint $350 and up

I am happy to offer complete build kits for your Boxer Bicycle. Please inquire for pricing on all components, including custom handbuilt wheels and specialty items such as lighting and luggage (handlebar bags, panniers, etc.). Complete professional assembly is $200. If you require anything else, please ask.

PDX Cross photo gallery

I'm sorry , but I'll never get sick of this. PDX Cross has a photo gallery up of the Constructor's Race here.

Beautiful pictures by Mike Davis chronicle the race from pre-start to finish line antics and podium celebrations. I had the pleasure of chatting with Mike on the chartered bus ride up to the start in Vernonia. He gets the credit for the photo above.

Enjoy the gallery.

Happenings, man

There's a lot going down here at Boxer Bicycles central command. Namely, there are more events coming up in the very near to near to not so distant future.

This coming Saturday, 10/17, I'll be attending/participating in the Counterbalance Bicycles Demo Day. There will be a few tents set up along the Burke Gilman trail, just north of the University Village with bikes and products available for demo/test ride. Being right there on the trail does have its advantages so come down, or up, to check out Boxer Bicycles in the flesh, as well as other swell bikes and stuff. The street address is 2943 Ne Blakely, Seattle 98105. The number there is 206 922 3555 and the hours on Saturday are 10a - 6p. I'll probably cut out a little early (say around 5-ish) for a dinner engagement.

The following Friday, 10/23, Boxer Bicycles will participate in the Shop for a Mission Showcase at the Vulcan headquarters in South Lake Union neighborhood. We will have a couple bikes set up in a booth during lunch hour for Vulcanites to peruse. This showcase is being presented by Washington CASH (Community Alliance for Self Help), the entrepreneur development and training non-profit organization. WA CASH was super helpful in getting Boxer Bicycles off the ground last Spring. Dig, Washington CASH. If you are a Vulcan employee come on by and check us out.

Lastly, the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association (OBCA) is presenting the 2009 Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland (where else?) October 31st and November 1st. Check out OregonBCA.org for more info. I'm excited about this event because it's a great follow-up to the Oregon Manifest Design Challenge and Rapha Constructor's Race. In fact, the OBCA show is part of the month-long Oregon Manifest extravaganza. For more info about that, see Oregon Manifest.

Good times to come. See some of these bikes in person and take something for a ride, perhaps?

Oh yeah, there are more photos of my Oregon Manifest Design Challenge entry on flickr. I especially like these.