After years of design, and working with other high quality builders, Thom and I figured it was time to get our own hands dirty and build some frames.  This is something we have wanted to do for a long time but with the store and Steelwool we rarely have any free time, let alone enough time to travel and spend a week away from the shop.

(Tacking in the boomerangs)

I don’t really know what spurred us to do it, but in on a cold January day it was decided that we would take some time in February and get down to it.

(Hot Tubes workshop)

We were lucky to be able to squeeze into spots at the Hot Tubes frame building class in Shirley MA.  This particular course offers one-on-one instruction, and it is conveniently located on the east coast.  This saved us the hassle and cost of flying out west.

Toby Stanton owner of Hot Tubes would be our instructor for the courses, and both Thom and I got on very well with him.  Not only has he been building frames for years but he is a well respected painter, and he runs the Hot Tubes Development team.  Both Thom and I would recommend the course, although it should be noted that we both have a pretty intimate knowledge of the bicycle and bicycle design - which gave us an advantage from the start.

(Brazing in the chain stays)

Thom was the first to head down to the class – to get started on his 29er project bike.  Building a 29er is something we have been toying with for some time.  Any of you who know us would know that we both have a lot of mountain biking in our background and that we have jumped on the big wheeled train.  So our long-talked-about “Rook” project is now a prototype.

 (Look at those stays)

Since Thom spends a lot of his riding time off road on 29ers, he was able to tailor this bike to his specific tastes and to the type of technical riding we do around here.  Of course, the bike was going to have to perform extremely well, and to look trick too if it was going to live up to the Steelwool design aesthetic.   Well you can judge for yourself from the pictures, but I think he nailed it.

Some details of the Rook build:
Tig welded except for a lugged bb shell.
Nova Cycles custom 29er tube-set
Naked cycles boomerang dropouts
Custom curved seat stays
5 piece rigid fork (suspension corrected)

Does this mean that we will have a Rook in our line-up sometime soon?  That is still to be determined, but I’m guessing it will be hard not to if the bike lives up to Thom’s expectations this season.

(Mitering the tubes)

I headed down the week after Thom had finished to start on my project, a lugged city bike loosely modelled after a French porteur bike, pretty much the polar opposite of the 29er.

(Making sure it all fits)

For those of you not familiar with this type of bike, porteur bicycles were used by couriers who distributed newspapers in Paris up to the 60’s. You can read more about them here.  These bicycles are designed to carry large loads on a front rack without negatively affecting the handling.  This means that this type of bicycle has quite a short trail, a measure that significantly affects the handling of bicycles.

(Brazing in the headlugs)

For this design, I knew that I wouldn’t have a load on the front of the bicycle all the time and that I would be a bit more upright than a true porteur,  so I added a little bit to the length to the trail of this design.  This way the bike wouldn’t be overly skittish when unloaded.

(Nice scallops and point)

I also chose to design the frame around 650b x 42mm tires, another classic French tire size.  The larger width will provide a comfortable ride in the city, while the smaller diameter wheel will be stronger than a 700c.  To get a brake to fit around these larger tires and a fender I was limited to the option of cantilever brakes or Paul’s racer brakes.  I chose to try out the post mount center pull Racers which have been getting great reviews.

(Raking the fork blades)

(Full wrap seat caps)

eatures of my Porteur bike (dubbed the “Port”)
-Columbus Zona Tubing
-Pacenti Artisan lugs
-custom fender mounts
-custom brake hanger
-mounts for chain cover
-mounts for a front rack
-semi-horizontal dropouts
-lugged fork
-Honjo fenders painted to match frame
-New Steelwool logos
-Mafac style brake post mounts

(Artisan lugs)

(The final product).

More pics of the completed bike to come.  Also I have a rack project in the works for the front of the Port.

This past Saturday Steelwool’s home Tall Tree Cycles hosted an urban cycling fashion show, Velo Vogue. The show was a resounding success! While were totally at the shops capacity we could have filled another two shops with people who wanted to come. If you missed the show and would have liked to attended there is no need to worry a follow up show is in the works for this summer.

Live interviews can be heard here: http://www.mondayspecialblend.ca/Site/Home/Entries/2009/1/19_V%C3%A9lo_Vogue_Urban_Cycling_Fashion_Show.html

You can see some photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22453854@N02/sets/72157612760967500/and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hurricaneheino/

As you may have noticed there havn’t been a lot of updates in a little while. Well thats for two reason, the first being that we have moved to 255 Richmond Rd. Ottawa, and have a new phone number 613-725-BIKE (2453).

The move was quite an involved process, however now that we are set up we are really liking the new spot. Much more elbow room, if you have been to the old space you know what we are talking about.

The more exciting news is that we on the verge of launching a new website for Steelwool, it should be up and running in a week or so. It will feature all the 2009 models, although there may be a few late season releases……

Check out Dirt Rag issue 138 for Eric McKeegan’s review of our Tweed!

http://www.dirtragmag.com/print/article.php?ID=1189&category=stuff_reviews

Here is one of our latest custom frames. Super tight cross frame, with the new shell decals, and new custom head tube rings. All 2008 Pure Laine frames will now come with these new head tube rings.

All the

Here is a sneak peak at our first prototype stainless ring, designed by our intern Jacob Murray.

Steewool is pleased to announce that we are now offering an optional upgrade to Chris King headsets and/or hubs with any complete bicycle purchase. Please contact your Steelwool dealer for further details.

Just got a few shots of the new decals that will be available with Pure Laine Frames. The Top one will be an option with custom built Pure Laine frames. The bottom one will come with all stock Pure Laine frames, and as an option on the customs. They turned out pretty sweet!

We were just sent a couple of pics from Benny Zenga and Brian Vernor. These two are crossing Africa North to South with Canadian based Tour d’Afrique Ltd a bicycle race and expedition company. They will be documenting the trip on film and photograph, and they will be atop Steelwool’s, one equipped with an Extra Cycle.

We will have updates along their trip.

Here is a little background on the two, Benny Zenga is a director/producer and the Toronto producer of the Bicycle Film Festival. Brian Vernor is a cameraman/photographer and creator of cycling films “Pure Sweet Hell” and “We Just Work Here”

For more pics go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22453854@N02/?saved=1

This is the result of months of scavaging the all silver parts kit. It was a Christmas present for my girlfriend. She was pretty surprised, and was really into it.

I think she may have a little bit of the bike bug, and will no longer have to pester me about replacing her old Peugeot.

I have to say the Honjo fenders and VO rear constructeur rack are really nice, but time consuming to install.

You can check out more picks here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22453854@N02/?saved=1