It's Raining Jacks

Mr. Jack Gabus is going to be documenting the build of his Jack Taylor on his blog, Echolon 133. Expect some cross posting in the near future. (Nice chairs)
Link to his blog.

Coincidentally I received this from Jon Guinea within minutes after receiving the note from Jack. It belongs to a Phil Van Valkenberg, whom I don't know, but it is very nice. 

Steel Is Real Milwaukee, Saturday, September 11 Special Appearance by Jack Taylor  Itself! This is What My Old Jack Taylor Looked Like The Taylor brothers, Jack, Norm and Ken, hand made bicycle in Stocton-On-Tees, England from the 1930s to the '90s.  They crafted a total of only about 10,000 during that time.  Jack Taylor frames were noted for workmanship and finish.  Tandems were a speciality as well as touring bikes with integrated racks. Road racing and track bikes were made too.  "Custom" was the norm.  Reynolds 531 tubing was used almost exclusively. Norm made the frames, Jack painted and stripped them and Ken built the wheels and did the packing hand writing on each box, "Have a nice ride."  Norm specialized in "magic hands welding," a method of joining tubes without lugs by laying down brazing metal smoothly around the joints.  He began doing it in the post-WWII days when there was a shortage of lugs.  It's said he was so good at it he never used a file. This photo is my Jack Taylor Clubman when I got it back a couple of years ago after hard use and years of storage in a barn.  It was in pretty rough shape. I had it restored at Waterford Precision Cycles.  They matched the paint, found replica Mondrian decals and duplicated the original box stripping.  It's a total babe magnet bike - good since I'm not. I plan to ride it at Steel Is Real Milwaukee this year, weather permitting.  Otherwise I'll try to have it on display at Cafe Hollander.  Maybe some lady will have the ultra beer goggles on and I'll get lucky (lol). Not to worry, I won't be entering it in the Best Steel Bike Contest.  Riders will vote at Cafe Hollander before the start for the best Road Bike, One-On-One, Balloon-Tired Bomber, Mountain Bike, Bagel Wheels (24" or less), Extemporaneous (high degree of creativity), and the coveted "Should've Taken 'er to Ziebart" award for the best rust bucket (must be ridden) that looks a few pedal turns from the junk yard.  We might do a best tandem award too if more than one shows up. At registration everyone will get stickers for each Best Steel Bike category.  You'll vote for your favorite by putting the sticker on the bike of choice.  We'll call up entrants for each category and if you've got one entered you can do the show dog routine and tell about it.  You can also buy votes.  Beer bribes and flirting seem to work best.