New bike part 6: Eric's welds

Once the geometry is down and the components are selected, the fun part begins. Eric starts welding.

Unfortunately he's in Springfield Oregon and I'm in San Francisco. But one great thing about going with Eric is he enjoys the process, and posts photos of his progress. This alone is worth a lot to me, and why I think it's good to go with a builder you want, rather than whomever comes it at the lowest price. With me, while price was a factor, it wasn't the main factor, and most of all I was buying not just a welding job, but additionally judgement in putting together a full package which would meet my goals.

I have to say these photos are gorgeous. First the fork:

fork crown

front dropout

Here's the frame in the jig, showing the 73-degree seat tube angle:

alignment jig

The seat cluster:

alignment jig

Head tube.. simply amazing:

head tube

Bottom bracket... nothing to say:

bottom bracket

Pretty much done! No retro lugs here, just clean weld lines.

frame

It's almost a shame to paint the thing and cover up that amazing braze work.

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