Disc-ville SOLD

Folks, I hate to do it, but I am still holding onto the Disc-Ville porteur and as the winter approaches in the PNW, this bike needs to be ridden.

 Actually, it is on display in Portland, OR at Velo Cult bike shop and available to be ridden and asked about by their knowledgeable staff. The original photo set with all sizing and specs can still be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapcycles/sets/72157629461788261/

This is a once in a lifetime bike at a very very good price. As always, feel free to contact me directly at:
530.566.9438 or info@mapbicycles.com

Happy trails.
Mitch

A new home!

After the past 9 years in Portland, Oregon and 5 years at the 108 N. Page St. shop, MAP Bicycles is starting a new chapter. I am very excited about my move to Chico, CA beginning in late September. A great cycling city in its own right, Chico is home to Paul Components Engineering , a lot of great food, some noteworthy beer, many many miles of great riding, not to mention a lot of my family and 300+ days of sunshine a year. Boy, it's going to be rough, but what can I say? It just feels right.

Oregon's list of builders is hard to match, but I'm looking forward to joining the ranks of other Northern California builders, many who are good friends, and many who I look up to and hope to get to know better. The new shop below has little character (yet), but a lot of potential and I have a good feeling a lot of great bikes are going to be rolling out of this shop very soon. Thanks to all of you who have helped me thus far. I feel like I'm just getting rolling. -Mitch

MAP 650B disc-ville FOR SALE: $6800 contact: info@mapbicycles.com

A truly unique build, this bicycle is a modern take on the classic French porteur. Many many details, including original porteur fenders, as seen on some of the best that were built in the 1950's and 60's.

The basic frame specs are:

56.5 ST 

57 TT

81.5 standover 

130 mm MAP stem

16"x12" MAP porteur rack

73 deg ST 

72 deg HT

65mm fork offset

The shortlist of components:

Grand Bois Hetre tires 650B x 42mm

Supernova Infinity S dynohub

Supernova E3 Pro headlight and fender-mount tail light

Ideal 90 saddle with "Dura-Aluminum" rails

Shimano XTR rear hub

Grand Bois rims

Avid BB7 road cailpers

XTR rotors

NOS CLB inverse brake levers

NOS unknown chainguard

Phillipe porteur handlebar

Cane Creek headset

TA Pro 5 crankset with 42T ring

MKS Touring Lite Compact pedals

Shimano 105 rear derailleur

Shimano 8 speed DT shifter

SRAM 11-30 cassette

Nitto touring bottle cage

Topeak Masterblaster framepump

brass Universal spring bell

More detailed photos can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapcycles/

Contact me at 503-285-0446 or info@mapbicycles.com with any questions. 

Time-lapse

My shopmate Joseph of Ahearne Cycles has been making time-lapse videos of a lot of his work in the shop lately and last week he made this video of us both at work. I especially liked this video because although it captures us each doing our own thing, towards the middle, Joseph lends me a hand for a few hours while I'm building racks for the Randonneur Project bikes. We really don't miss a beat, and Joseph starts setting up sub-assemblies for me to braze, so that I can keep the torch going. It's great to have a skilled helping hand so close and made for a really productive day. Thanks Joseph!
 

650B Project update

Built up the first of the Project bikes and thought I'd share some photos for those patiently waiting for their own. The build came together really well. The fit of the rack, fender line, lighting, and proportions are all just right for my taste. The first ride put a big smile on my face to be sure and I can't wait to put the rest into the hands of their owners. I predict a lot of big grins. This one is heading up to Seattle to be ridden by the editor of Bicycle Quarterly. Details on the build and can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapcycles
Feel free to contact me at info@mapbicycles.com if interested.

Why paint?

Back in the day, it was expected that if you were a framebuilder, you were also a painter. Not really the case today. I would be interested to see a show of hands, but my guess is that maybe 90% of small custom builders outsource their paint today. It's a matter of time, resources, skill, space, etc. and I'm in this camp entirely, but it has always kind of bugged me. I've developed some good painter relationships and some bad ones, but ultimately, I still have to cross my fingers whenever I send a frame off. There's something I don't like about getting a bike 90% of the way there and then having to explain the last 10% to someone else. I'm pretty particular. There are some amazing painters out there that will put forth the effort to see your vision through, and builders know who they are, so they are busy folks and the line is long.

I had the opportunity to get my hands dirty and paint some bikes, so jumped at the opportunity to learn what I could. Here are some photos of the process (the rest can be seen on my flickr page ):

I'm nearly finished, and am happy with the results so far. I should have some photos of the finished product in the next day or two.

Paint

Choices...
Originally uploaded by mapcycles

I'm in Michigan for 10 days learning to paint - wet paint. Doug Fattic (who I built my first frame with) invited me to glean what I can and paint a bike in exchange for some grunt work on my part, helping him with some of the frames he's painting at the moment. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, especially since I feel doing ones own paint is the final frontier for a framebuilder in terms of seeing your vision through to the final product. Not many builders out there can paint as well, and I'm not going to be painting my own bikes for a while, but even just getting a better understanding of the challenges a painter faces will help me refine the work that I do as a framebuilder. That's important to me. I'm excited to be here. Check back over the next week as I post photos and tidbits from my time here.