When I turned 18, my mother bought me a bike… it was probably the most expensive birthday present I’d ever received, and it cost over $300.

Reading this article, I learned that that was hardly anything.  If my mother had chosen to buy me a custom-made bicycle (which she wouldn’t have, because that just wasn’t in the budge), it would have cost upwards of $2000 when fully constructed.  The frame alone normally costs at least $1000.  But, evidently, it has to be worth it, because there are many, many custom bicycle shops out there, and they still appear to be doing well, even in the midst of this economic climate.

Handmade Bicycles: The Custom Experience- Meet The Aluminum Frame Builders

March 10th, 2009 by Guitar Ted

Editor’s Note: In this series, Grannygear introduces us to some custom frame builders and takes a closer look at the process of making and delivering a custom, handmade bicycle to a customer. In these e-mailed interviews, you will learn a lot about some of the best frame builders in three different materials.

We continue our series on the Custom Framebuilder Experience with a talk with two of the premier builders in aluminum. Aluminum….it is not just for beer cans anymore.

The Aluminum Guys:

The Master – Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles.

“Let’s see if we can get America building stuff more than importing stuff from far away places.”

Twentynineinches.com – So, who are you? Please introduce yourself.

Paul – Who am I? My company is Rock Lobster and I am Paul H. Sadoff. I built my first frame in 1978 and went fulltime in 1988 as a framebuilder in Santa Cruz, California. At the time I started I was racing on the road and was working in a bike shop as a sales/service person. I wasn’t much of a racer but I did win one race in 1980.

TNI: Who is your typical customer?

Paul: Most folks who come to my shop for a frame are avid riders and/or racers. I don’t get collectors or the folks looking to have some sort of ‘object du art ‘….trophy bikes as I like to refer to them. Arty bikes are really great and I initially thought that was what I wanted to build but the riding was much more important. The idea that I could build a bike that would put smiles on people’s faces when they rode won out. Fulfilling a need in your cycling community is the framebuilder’s first job and that is what keeps me employed.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Bring it On! California sets the standard again for innovation and job creation. I look forward to working with the contractors, engineers and fabricators that will build and maintain the new plants needed to produce alternative fuels of the future.

From facilities complete with tubing, piping, valves and more to the equipment needed to transport the finished product you are looking at a big opportunity for the metal fabrication market.

From Today’s LA Times:

As the state moves to reduce the carbon footprint of fuel, an engineer hopes to build a plant in Lancaster that will convert garbage into an alcohol-based mixture.
By Margot Roosevelt. April 22, 2009

Arnold Klann has a green dream.

It began 16 years ago in a sprawling laboratory in Anaheim. This year, he hopes, it will culminate at a Lancaster garbage dump.

There, in the high desert of the Antelope Valley, Klann’s company, BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, plans to build a $100-million plant to convert raw trash into an alcohol-based fuel that will help power the cars and trucks of the future.

It’s just the sort of improbable concoction that California is now demanding. On Thursday, the state is expected to adopt the world’s first regulation to reduce the carbon footprint of fuel. And, just as California created the first market for catalytic converters decades ago, this rule, a likely model for national and even global calculations, could jump-start a huge demand for new technologies.
CONTINUE READING LA TIMES ARTICLE–>

We’re ready… are you?

Recently I headed up the road to the Tulare Fairgrounds for the World-of-Outlaws Sprint Car Race!

Tulare is located in the Central Valley of California, “the nation’s bread basket”. They call it that because of all the agribusiness. And I have some history in Tulare, my family farmed in the valley for generations — they had several big ranches and dairy barns, that’s where I learned to love the dirt.

I know it sounds strange, but growing up I always looked forward to going to dirt race tracks with my family. I began amateur motorcycle racing and that passion for competition ultimately lead me to build my own cars and form a Sprint Car Team. I still love the dirt and I ride my mountain bike at least 3-days a week in the local mountains.

I took Matt with me — he’s Arc-Zone’s Director of Video and Graphics. We brought all the gear to video the action. I wanted to share some of the things I love about motor racing and show how it relates to the welding/metal fabrication market.

At the track we met up with “Hollywood” Mike Sweeney my friend and former driver in the CRA Sprint Car Series (I talked about him on a previous post). We also met long time friend World of Outlaw driver Jac Haudenschild a superstar in the dirt racing world. Picture below: That’s me with Jac– Driver of the City Wide Insulation # R19 Owens-Corning Outlaw Sprint Car in front of his transporter (nice toolbox!)

We talked about the new cars and old friends. Jac told me he is putting a winged Sprint Car team together for his son Sheldon and he has been fabricating some of the parts needed to get him on the road.

Jac mentioned our mutual friend and former driver– now TV personality (and part time welder) Brad Doty (also a Hall of Famer) was having trouble finding the right remote amp control for his Lincoln TIG machine. Jac suggested I contact Brad and get him dialed in… That will be another post!

And if you like fast cars look for the video of our trip– we’ll have that ready soon…

Lincoln Electric Introduces the Chip Foose-Designed
Vista(R) Hemisfear(TM) Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet
Legendary Car Designer Models Helmet After His 500-HP Hemisfear(TM) Hot Rod

Cleveland – Lincoln Electric has teamed up with Chip Foose – award-winning custom car designer and die-hard Lincoln Electric enthusiast – to introduce Vista(R) Hemisfear(TM), an auto-darkening welding helmet inspired by Foose’s 500-HP Hemisfear hot rod.

The latest edition to Lincoln’s Vista(R) series of welding helmets, the Hemisfear welding helmet captures the essence of Foose’s limited production hot rod, a classic car that gave Foose one of his initial claims to fame in 2006. The helmet features the hot rod’s three distinct colors: neon green, black and orange with a custom silver stripe on the side. Other embellishments to the helmet include Chip Foose’s signature and the Foose Design(TM) logo.
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