This is the first bike frame I made, a steel mountain frame with a Surly Trekker fork. October, 2020 (yay, pandemic!) Linnea and I went to Ashland, Oregon for two weeks so I could go to the steel bike frame brazing class at United Bicycle Institute (UBI). The SARS-CoV2/COVID pandemic might not have been the best time to fly from Ohio to Oregon, or stay in an AirBnB, but we did it and stayed healthy. Actually, I think it was super healthy to go, as I reconnected with my tribe–the cargo shorts wearing, sandal wearing, tee shirt mechanic tribe. It is weird to see the connection to my pre-military life by hanging out with bike mechanics. I say pre-military, but since I grew up as a military brat, I don’t actually have any part of my life that was totally separated from the military.
This frame is going through post-brazing cleanup and shaping of brass. It kinda has been neglected, but since I still cannot get all the parts I need to build it yet I am not in a hurry.