I want to start doing periodic features on FODs (Friends Of Deliverance). First up is Jason Burton, who is an engineer and father of two. He's a quiet, un-assuming guy with smooth style and lots of bike control. Here's a shot of his custom-made bike and the specs, straight from Jason:
Frame: I designed the frame and built it at Brew Bikes in North Carolina. I picked the tube sizes/thickness, set up the jig how I wanted it, cut the tubes and fitted them, and cut the dropouts. They did all the welding on it. It's got a 74.5? head tube , 21" top tube, 13.75" rear end, and weighs 4.6 lbs. There are more specs on it in one of the older blogs on this site.
Fork: Hoffman Bikes Flash Race Fork (Used off and on since about 1998. Even though it's a race fork, this fork is probably beefier than some of the lightweight forks built these days such as Pitchfork XLT's or Odyssey race forks.)
Stem: Cardboard Lords (small rider owned company from OKC that made number plates primarily. They also made frames, forks, and stems for a little while. This is one of them from around 1994)
Bars: S&M Dive Bars (circa 1998, cut down to about 25 inches)
Grips: Eastern O.G. (I got them because they're dark blue and remind me of DK Vice Grips, which I like)
Bar Ends: Plastic
Brakes: None
Headset: Kink Integrated
Cranks: Profile Race 177mm (I'm wanted to drop down from riding 180mm's and couldn't commit to going to 175mm)
Sprocket: FBM 6013 33 tooth
Bottom Bracket: Eastern euro
Spindle: Profile Titanium
Pedals: XS (Shimano DX copies made by Schwinn's parts company XS around 1998. The spindles have been replaced when they've gotten bent. The reason I keep using these pedals is they've got a small raised ridge in between the pins that allows my feet to move around easily with light pressure but they still grip well with heavy pressure)
Chain: KMC 410 (red box)
Front Tire: Tioga Comp III 2.125
Front Rim: Araya 7B (circa 1978, 7B's remind me of motorcycle rims)
Front Hub: Shimano DX (loose ball bearing, circa 1978)
Rear Tire: Primo Dirt Monster 1.95
Rear Rim: Araya 7B (circa 1978)
Rear Hub: Shimano DX cassette w/ 12 t Odyssey cog (hub is loose ball bearing circa 1978)
Spokes: DT Swiss (I'm guessing they're 14 gauge. Again circa 1978)
Seat: Selle Italia Flite (I got it because I like racing saddles and it's blue, but I think I need to get in line with modern bmx seats that are shorter don't get in the way as much)
Post: Generic micro-adjust from Nashbar (Like a poor man's Thomson but only cost $20 back in 2003)
Clamp: Integrated with frame (I'd always wanted this feature on a frame but heard that it doesn't work well. It didn't at first but I took care of that. See mods below)
Mods: Seat post is cut. Bars are cut. A little bit cut off the outer flange on the grips near the bar ends. The front axle is 5/16" so I made spacers to locate it in the fork dropout. Primo Andy's Nuts hold the rear wheel in place in the 14 mm dropout slot. The integrated seat post clamp just wanted to pinch as I tightened it and didn't hold real well when I first built up the frame. I added some real small shims just behind the allen bolt where it pinches and now it holds much better; on par with the single clamps around today. Almost everything is painted dark blue except for the wheels.
I think that the bike weighs around 23 pounds. I like the way it rides and it holds up well to my wimpy riding.
I realize this bike check is insanely long and detailed, but I can't ride right now due to injury so typing this is my BMX fix for now.
Look for more of this kind of thing in the near-future. There are a couple more posts below...