Building the Black Ship Monster X Cross with Campy Athena EPS

Oh bother. This post was started months ago and got erased in the cyber-nethers. Let's crack a beer and see what happens:

Unassuming pile of Chromoly tubing

Monster X Cross

 (Or how to turn an unassuming pile of chromoly tubing into a sweet ride)

Design and Drafting: David and I collaborated on the design for this one. As an avid rider and owner of many custom bikes, he could tell me exactly what he wanted out of  the frame. in this case, fast, aggressive but still comfy position in drop bars with Campy Athena EPS.

After drafting the soon to be frame, the appropriate tube set is ordered. in this case, Nova Cycles made a custom Monster Cross kit for Black Ship Cycles that used lighter 29er tubing with the same rear triangle as the Icebreaker.

Part 1 - Cutting, Fitting, Welding: Once the tubing showed up, the cutting and filing began. Rough cutting main tubes began with a chop saw, then mitered with bi-metal hole saws in the vertical mill. Once the tubes were notched, I perfected the fitting by hand filing and cleaning the joint. This was also a good time to drill out the enlarged bottom bracket holes to accommodate the electronic shifting wiring.

We marked all of our spots for the EPS wiring and drilled them out, then cleaned'em up with a hand file. This took a while, as neither one of us was very familiar with the group, but we found all the info we needed and it was a rewarding accomplishment to put a sweet custom spin on this bike.

As soon as everything fit up properly and snug in the fixture, the front triangle is tack welded into place in sequence.

The piece then comes out of the fixture and onto the table for the finish welding, also done in sequence to prevent heat warpage and misalignment.

Once the front triangle is check on the alignment table, the rear triangle gets cut and fit, same as the front. The tubes are slotted for dropouts using a rotary cutting wheel and hand file, then the dropouts are inserted and aligned. Everything is tacked in the frame then welded in sequence on the table. The frame is then checked for alignment and clearance.

The next step is to cut, fit, and weld in the fender mounts. After that, the brazing will begin.














Part 2 - Brazing, Finishing: First, all of the brazed on small parts get dry fit and marked on the frame with sharpie. Holes are drilled for threaded mounts and other mounts are filed to match the curve of the tube. Once they are all set up and clean, each piece is clamped, fluxed, and brazed into place with either silver or bronze using an oxy/acetylene torch. The flux is cleaned of and all braze-ons are thoroughly checked, any adjustements are made.

Finally, the seat tube is notched and reamed, any inconsistencies are filed down, then the final alignment and quality check is done. Once everything passes inspection, it's off to the paint shop! 

The Monster X Cross!

AK's 'Dirty Gold' Track Fork

Building AK's fork

   Designed for a 700c x 25 track style for a 2008 Giant Bowery. I used chromoly blades, a 1/8 steer tube and plug style dropouts from Nova. Everything went together really well, and, it was really fun working with those tight clearances.

Here are some shots of AK's fork after paint. AK picked the 'dirty gold' color. I love it.

Of course I had ran out get coffee right before she stopped in to pick it up!

painted by AP Paints

November Sale! 26/27.5/29er+ Frameset Sale! $1000 w/ Paint!

Made with the

ZONA OS MTB TUBESET with Slider Disc Dropouts

Frame options:

frame size options: 46-60cm frame

tire size options: 26x2-3", 27.5x2-3", 29x2-3"

bottom bracket options: 68mm or 73mm

custom fitting & geometry

to match your body and riding style

& custom powdercoat

only $1000!!

to set up a fitting and designing appointment
email blackshipcycles at gmail dot com

order must be placed by or on December 3rd

to get this low pricing passed on from

nova cycle supply

Adjusting a 27" frame for 700c wheels

Will wanted his touring bike to fit 700c wheels. 

Here's how we made it happen:

There were other options; different brake combinations, etc. But, Will had made up his mind; we would move the mounts to fit a 700c.

First I got the bike and cleaned off most of the paint around the cantilever bosses with a flap disc, and sanded out the rest.

Then I used the torch to heat up the old filler metal (aka de-braze) and pulled the old canti's off with pliers.

Next, we filed/mitered down the new bosses to better fit his frame and forks.

Shimano recommends spacing your mounts at 65-75mm, center to center. His old mounts were more like 45mm, hard to even get a big tire through. Since the mounts we had were cut for wider frames, and we were already better off than when we started, we went with a 60mm gap and saved some time and work.

I first set up a wooden jig, that i used to tack weld on Roody's bike before brazing. Since I don't have a welder in the shop yet, that didn't wotk (re: burning wood jig) so in a brainstorm I asked around at work the next day and Tom suggested using a rack mount to hold them in place.

Brilliant! Also, adjustable. I had to file out the slide to fit the M6 bolts that are required for mounting your brakes, but after a little elbow grease it all came together beautifully!.

The first couple of times I mounted them I used the filler metal that came with the mini shop Oxy-Mapp brazing kit I had just gotten. That stuff just peeled right off (I should have known better) so after asking around, I discovered Jesse found 54% silver filler wire at the Welna's Hardware store!

After re-cleaning and re-brazing with proper filler, They stuck like they should. Permanent-style.

And Will rode off into the sunset on the way to St. Louis, forever. Bye Will, hope you had a great trip!