Monthly Archives: July 2017

My Interview on the Locked In Show! 

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Here is the interview Mike from the Locked In Show on YouTube did with me! 

Let me set the scene here for you. Mike came up to my garage (shop if you will) and I gave him a little more rear end clearance. His rims are really wide so it made the 35mm wide tire both wider and larger in circumference. So he got a seat tube dimple! Now he has 3 mm of clearance! 

Mike uses the same pedals I do so I tossed my shoes on and took it for a little rip. First thing to note was the weight, 18 lbs with 29er wheels and 35mm tires. Acceleration was WOAH! Second thing of note was the smoothness when seated and the stiffness when out of the saddle! IDK how that’s possible but… Columbus Spirit I guess. The third note is how cool eTap is! 

Oh, also, it was 110°F before we closed the garage door to do the interview. So, call it 115° during. 

Well, without further adue, click the pic below! 

Two things for me to take away from this.

1. People tell me I really sound like this! 

2. Mike is rad and it was really fun doing this! 
The bike came out bitchin! Just wait till you see what he has in store for the paint! 

Till next time, hug your kids, adopt your pets, do good shit like donate a few bucks to your local food bank when you can (some of your neighbors rely on that), wear a helmet, turn on your lights, buy something little for your partner to say you love them just be-freakin-cause, eat desert and say “Hi” and smile when you see people! Anybody! Doesn’t matter who or what they look like, what they’re riding, (or not riding), what color, religion or country they’re from because a smile is a universal symbol of peace and we need a shit load more of that in the world! 

Wow, that got deeper than it was supposed to! 

Have fun!

Allan Varcoe

Gear Shift Lever Boss Replacement Sauce! 

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I got a message from Jorge that he needed help with replacing the DT shift lever bosses on his Surly.  I’ve never done gear shift bosses before so this is the perfect chance to make a fixture for doing so! 

Come to find out Jorge was referred to me by Jared Jerome of Jerome Cycles in Los Angeles. Jared builds some of the sweetest city bikes you’ll ever see so it was an honor to be referred by Jared. 

Jeorge came up to my place to deliver the victim and we had a nice chat. Turns out this guys got a ton of bikes. My kinda guy! 

When it comes time to design and build a new fixture you don’t have to twist my arm. Hopped onto Solidworks (which I am JUST starting to get a handle on the very tip of that iceberg) and put my ideas down on pixles. Came up with this little guy. 

Took the model over to Mastercam and blasted out some high speed tool paths!

Then since our 4 axis was busy, I stood the part up and drilled the holes. First with a normal length drill and then took it up to level obserd with the really long drill! 

Whalah!!!

Now onto the real thing! Here are the mangeled bosses. 

Fluxed and heated the old bosses came off nicely. 

Then I soaked off the flux and filed the brass off. Now for the new fixture! Cleaned up the tube and bosses, refluxed and rebrazed! 

It held great! The bosses are colinear and level! Exactly what we want! 

I posted a few pics of this on Facebook and IG and got some interest in this fixture. So I plan to knock out a handful or so more of these in the near future. Probably the last week of July (2017) so if you’re interested, shoot me an email.

allan@varcocycles.com 

$50 shipped in the USA (little extra for the rest of the planet)

So, as always, till next time, keep your frikin’ head on a swivel, turn your lights on day or night, wear a damn helmet and go have some fun! It’s summer!

Allan Varcoe