Thanks Walt! You inspired me so I would love to return the favor!
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I guess this should if been in the introduction thread but here it goes.
So I have been a bike geek since the early 90s and a shop mechanic for many years. It put me through school for Computer Science. That’s what I do now.
Always dreamed of building a frame but school, money, time, and travel stopped me. So fast forward to August of 2020. Height of the pandemic.
Riding in Scranton PA since PA was open camping and mountain biking. Stopped for food and got stung by a yellow jacket. Did not think much of it since I have been stung in the past.
Walked away from the nest. 3 minutes later I said I did not feel good and went unconscious. Eye wide open and barely breathing. 30 mins for the EMT to arrive but was convinced it was an overdose. Did not listen to the 2 people I were riding with I just got stung by a bee. So after the ambulance ride and 5 hours of being unconscious I woke up in the ER. They sent me to the campground only if I pick up an EpiPen. So that’s what we did.
After that I started working on my bucket list. If I was not so close to the access road into the park I would not be here today. Next sting I can be taking my dirt nap.
I talked to a machinist at work to help build my jib so that’s what we did. With a huge help from Kris @44bikes that sent me his drawings.
Here is the first bike I built. A flat bar gravel bike. I need a lot of improvements but it works and rides nice. Next bike is in the jig. A mountain bike this time. Front is welded and OVERTHINKING the rear end. Yoke and CS have me overthinking it
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The current crusty steed. Built March 22. It’s getting retired soon for some geo tweaks, but overall I’m pleased with the ride and the patina. I think with a rigid fork this current geo would be good to go, but with the 120mm travel, it needs a bit slacker HTA and longer FC. Currently 67 HTA and 74 STA, 460 chainstays and somewhere in the low 800s FC, I’d have to check.
I honestly haven’t ridden as much as I’d like the past year, but this is the one I ride when I do. I’ve been pretty uninspired by what central CA has to offer after living in the UK for a few years. This bike isn’t really that well suited to the current location, but hey neither am I 
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When I moved to Pittsburgh, I boxed up all my bikes up except for this one. I built it for “mountain touring” but it’s a delight of a city bike too. I tend to ride 10-30mi a day on it, mostly errands and commuting, but with the occasional light-duty mountain biking as well. Fenders and slicks are the most recent incarnation - nice for the wet winter months. I’ve fit like 20lb of groceries in the front bag which is really sketchy with just a small support, but it’s good to push the limits! Geo is here.
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Here’s my mountain bike for 2023. I can’t guarantee it’ll look like this for the entire year as my bikes are always used to test new products and different set ups but I should at the very least be on this frame until at least the end of 2023.
Here is my Hummingbird from 2022, it saw an untimely end when it aggressively met a tree in June last year.
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Love the Ocho on that. Is it the 120 version?
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Tis merely a flesh wound!
-Walt
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It is the Ocho 120.
@anon91558591 one of these days I’ll get around to fixing it.
With all the cool 3D printing parts you and @Daniel_Y are using, it’s nice to see the pedestrian but so very functional ISO rear brake mount on the SS.
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This is the bike I built after the first trip to Japan and borrowing a rinko bike from Ikuo Tsuchiya at I’s bikes in Kyoto (Grand Bois).
It originally got a terrible rattle can paint job, which lasted thru PBP 2015. After that Adam Blumenthal from NYF paint made it so pretty in burgundy!
I rode that bike approximately a zillion kilometers, and then retired it when i made the newer bike for the concours des machines PBP2019. However that didn’t prevent it from coming to Belgium with me and just recently someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse for it. It’s great that it’s getting ridden a lot more now.
Hahn
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There is no need to over complicate something as simple as a brake mount.
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Well, hard to narrow it down, I have about 8 personal bikes that I’ve built over the years. My latest is a coupled Breakaway lugged 853 bike that I rode in PBP’19 (76 hours) - my first try at larger tires for road riding. It fits 700x42’s but I think I like 35’s the best. It’s long and stable, perfect for randonneuring when tired and sleepy. Got a new frame just built, waiting for paint, 73 parallel with Velo Orange Grand Cru brakes and 35’s, will be a very different ride. Pics to follow.
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Ouffff that purple is so good!
I own one bike and I set it up in different configurations that are mostly the same. 29x2.6, super boost
Current frame/handlebars, bike set up for a big trail day. Built in May '22 has ~2500 miles on it.
Current frame/handlebars, set up for the Oregon Timber Trail
Current frame/handlebars, set up for winter aka rigid and fridged
Frame #2, touring mode…baja trip 12/21-2/22 I had 11 liters water capacity
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This has been my sole MTB since January of 2019 and also the first frame I built. I have no idea how many miles are on it, I don’t keep track. It’s been ridden a few times a week for four years. It’s only recently (last month) been retired because I’m not as young as I once was and I wanted a full “comfort” frame, not just squish in the front. I’m slowly gathering parts to build her again as a backup bike. Hopefully be finished by spring.
Designed around a 150mm fork and 27.5 wheels. 65.5 HTA but has an Angleset currently at -1. 75 STA Reach is 475mm and can’t remember the stack. Chainstay is 418mm. Room for a 200mm dropper. About the only thing really special about it is the custom machined Paragon 44/49 headtube. This was done because that’s the size that fits a Cane Creek Angleset. Would not do this again. Custom $100 head tube + $150 Angleset + $300 49mm reamer = a lot of money for adjustability I’ve only changed once. Oh and the paint glows in the dark.
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Oh nice! I would like some of those.
I’m currently trying to make a 49/56 on a small manual lathe with a lot of chatter.
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For future reference Works and Wolf Tooth both make angelsets for 44/44 head tubes.
The Wolf Tooth one is newer, but the Works one has been around for a while and I’ve had good luck with it.
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I looked at the Works headset, but the Cane Creek had a package deal that came with+- .5, 1.0, and 1.5 degree cups and the $150 cost was cheaper than buying three Works headsets. The point of the exercise was to see how head angle changes affected the handling of the bike by only changing that one variable. Turns out, I’m not picky enough to even notice a 1 degree change in HTA 
Maybe I would if I went from -1.5 all the way to +1.5
I bet the Works headset would have less creaking issues
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Does that paint actually glow in the dark? I’ve always wanted to try that
Haha fair enough, the lure of adjustability is nice.
In my experience the Works headset is creak free. I’ve used the 1.0° in steel bikes and the 2.0° in carbon bikes without issue.
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