Setting up shop: Jamison's Framebuild #1

Alas, some crude shots of mitering and filing the tubes for Jamison's South Side Single Speed:

Finally, a heated space to work in the winter! I'm stoked to be working with Alex of Prairie Crow; he's mastering the torch, and doing a great job of it from what I can see.

The mill is set up for mitering tubes at a good pace, and the jig helps with putting everything together. Starting with the seat tube, the whole front triangle is mitered and fit together. The next step steps are to miter and fit the rear triangle, shore up the head and seat tubes, then drill some breather holes before welding.


We are working out of the Real Resources building next to the Midtown Greenway and Brackett park in S. MPLS. Feel free to email or call to set up a visit or appointment for designing yer next bike!

Black Ship Shop & new Custom Rack Project

 Here's a sneak peak of the new shop in Minneapolis and the first big fabrication project here; speaker rack mounts for Tipsy Bike.

The Black Ship Shop:
   is coming along. I finally have a TIG welder set up and working! A shop partner and I got it from an acquaintance that had intentions to use it but never did. We have access to a brazing setup and a small MIG as soon as i get time to set them up.

   Black Ship is ready to start brazing frames and welding custom frames, trailers, bikes, and whatever else we feel like (or you want!) We are still looking for bike building & tubing jigs, a pro bender, a drill press, bench grinder, cutoff saw, and some other stuff. Let us know if you've got something for sale/trade/loan.


Wanna see older projects by Black Ship (and that we're super-proud of??) just flip back through the blog for pics of bikes, trailers, etc we've crafted & built! Oh, and subscribe for future rad projects & info!

Speaker Mount Racks
   T.K. has two 25lb speakers (in the backround of photo) that he needs to mount to his already crankin multimedia bike: Tipsy Bike

We want the prototypes ready for the great Bill Murray Mobile Dance Party Ride of 2012 

After many long meetings and much deliberation, the prototype design was finalized and the rack started. The initial prep work and first tacking is done. We'll be working everyday to see how far we can get by Tuesday's ride..

Video Demo of homemade steel tube bender!

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!