Handbuilt Bicycle Frame

I have a handful of handbuilt bicycles, one made to my specs by Chris Kvale and none by Jeff Bock who makes and paints handbuilt steel bicycle frames in a cornfield south of Ames. He has been posting photos of this one as it progresses. There is a lot of sawing, filing and brazing involved in making a  custom bicycle at this level. Unfinished it looks almost sculptural. It almost seems a shame to cover it in paint, but Jeff's painting is damned wonderful too. He has painted one of mine from scratch and did an amazing restoration of another, saving as much original finish as was feasible. I included a photo of a previous frame he built and painted. 

- Gunnar

Friends, and Friends of Friends of Friends

I have fallen in with evil companions once again, this time in a morning online group gathering, "Ideas and Coffee".

This is for them, the location where I am setting up for my morning coffee. When you fellows have been spending your lives out in the world, moving and shaking, I have been quietly living in an Oakwood world in my garden and messing about with old bicycles.

The Growlery - "a place to retreat to when ill-humoured"
 - Chuck Dickens

The panel with the Sioux Warrior is actually the door to the beer cooler.

- Gunnar

Lilies