I can be really dumb!

First of all, I lied. No pics of the finished product sans paint. My digi-cam is on the fritz, so sorry Charlie.

Yesterday I took the frame to Troy for paint. It was nice to meet him, see his shop and swap info. He's working on a pretty restore of a Holdsworth. I liked the paint color so much that I decided on the spot to use the same. It's a deep blue metallic. Very nice.

I'll be using my French inspired decal set. If I can figure out how, I'll post some examples as pictures. Anyhow, they should work well with the paint.

Troy called me after I left. He said something like: "...You've got some mighty thin steerers. Is this some kind of new material?" Well, I thought that I only had 1 piece of 1" tubing (apart from straight gauge 4130 which is readily recognizable). So picking out the steerer when building the fork was a snap. I looked in the shop when I got home, but no missing steerer to be found. Hmmm.... I'm really dumb, and used the wrong tubing for a steerer.

I looked again today and guess what? The missing steerer is found. I'm not sure where the other 1" tubing came from, but I'll not make the same mistake again. So, I made a new fork tonight. It's made of Reynolds pre-bent (45mm) blades, and Walter touring crown, and some of Bringheli's fork tips with the axial breather holes. For (a custom front bag) rack mounting points, I used Troy's suggestion of H20 bosses surrounded with reinforcements. Using the Bringheli jig really makes the fit and build process go fast. I still have to mount fender eyelets and sand and file. But primarily it's done. My first fork took a week+.

Also, there is comparatively little silver to clean up. Several factors went into this, but the net is that managing the flow is getting easier. This is fun.

Troy has a vacation scheduled before he will be able to complete my paint. So, I'll be waiting impatiently for the next 2-3 weeks. This time, when it comes back, there will be pictures. Now its off to see if decal examples can be posted.