The first official sale.........

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by the wife of an admirer of the first DMO Element frame, this was followed up with the picture below - a mock-up frame she gave to her husband for his 40th - how cool is that!!!

Frame builder in the making???

Following on from this email I met up with Andy and conducted my first demo ride yesterday. 

This really is the way I like to sort a frame out for someone, you can't beat going on a ride with them, seeing how they ride the bike and how they interact with it - plus it's a great excuse to get out and go riding! 

So Andy and I set off and did quite a varied loop of the Ashton Court and Leigh Woods trails in brizzle - I spent most of the time trying to keep up with Andy (probably because he was on the Element and I was on my Zesty ;) ).

All in all the ride went well and it has resulted in Andy putting in an order for a frame - happy days! 

Now I really need to start to focus on the Bespoked show next year (where I will be sharing a stand with Beth and Ian from Wildcat Gear) - I'm hoping to have Andy's Element, my rather battered Element prototype and something a bit different on the stand for people to see - watch this space for developments over the coming weeks and months. 

The jig MK2 - up and running.......

It's taken a few weeks but having designed and manufactured the components for my MK2 bike frame jig I finally got around to assembling it and trying out setting it up.

All the parts went together pretty well however I think I'm going to have to do a bit better with the mounting to the bench - I can see me knocking up a bespoke floor standing structure which I can bolt down to the workshop floor.

The Mk2 Jig in all of its glory!

The headtube mount

The bottom bracket mount, pictured below, is the datum for the whole jig - everything pivots around this point.

The bottom bracket mount

Seat-tube Jig

Chainstay and dropout jig

All in all the jig took me about 20 hours to make and cost me about £100 - it should tide me over until I can afford to buy a proper one - and will certainly be a whole lot better than the 'expanding' wooden one I used for my first frame.

The Barebones 200 ITT.....Job Done!

The weekend of the 12th and 13th of October saw the running of the Barebones 200 individual time trial by Stuart at Forest Freeride.

This was my final target event to take part in on the Element this year (the other two being the Highland Trail Race and the Trans Cambrian Way).

With the Highland Trail Race not going to plan, being made up for in a small way by the Trans Cambrian going so well, I was really looking forward to this event.

I approached it with the ethos of enjoyment not being compromised by trying to "set a time" - this is a handy philosophy when one is not fast on a bike and likes to sleep in random places!!

Upon arriving at Stu's place it became immediately obvious to me that the event had a certain air of seriousness about it, unlike the now hugely popular 'Welsh Ride Thing' held here earlier in the year, there were many very lightweight looking setups - no trailers or bottles of whiskey here!

To describe the event to the uninitiated, it (turned out to be) a 213km individual time trial, no support, no food stashes and no prearranged accommodation. Competitors are encouraged to complete it in less than 24 hours for a black badge, less than 30 hours for a blue badge and for simply completing the route they are awarded a green badge.

Having completed the 106 miles of the TransCam a couple of weeks ago in 29.5 hours my target was to try to up the pace a bit and sleep a bit less and complete the BB200 in a similar time.

PP, Keith and I had planned to ride together - they both had black badges already and kind of fancied a slightly more chillaxed event (having slept/collapsed in a public toilet on the previous event).

So we started out, and the first bit of the route was predominantly on road, Keith and I pulled out a bit of a gap and it started to rain. I stopped to put my jacket on, signalling to Keith my intention - to which he replied "I'm going to keep going - you'll catch me up" - this was the last I saw of Keith until Sunday morning!!

The main obstacle on day one was the 537m of Carnau I knew this bit was going to be tough both physically and navigationally but what I hadn't accounted for was having an off! On the descent off Carnau there is a ford you have to cross - seemed straight forward enough - I approached it as any other - speed is your friend, however I hadn't accounted for how slippy the rocks leading up to it would be. Before I could even consider bailing I was over and in. This in itself wasn't ideal, but then it could have been worse I reasoned as I pushed my funny sounding bike out of the ford. it was only when I went to ride off that I noticed I had in fact bent the rear mech completely into the rear wheel - fail!! The only thing I could do was bend it out and carry on, on closer inspection it turned out I had bent both the mech and the sliding aluminium dropout.

The original plan was to stop at Moel Prysgau bothy, the half way point of the route, so essentially I just plugged on to this meeting point. The terrain was hard going but far from impossible (and far easier than the Highland Trail Race) - I eventually arrived at the Bothy at 6.15pm. It was at this point that I recalled a conversation I had had in the week leading up to the event with PP. He had mentioned that you can access the Bothy from a fireroad above it - meaning you can avoid the very wet marshy bit to get to the Bothy.

So, as discussed, I cycled up and around behind the Bothy, expecting to find a bit of a bank which I could descend to the Bothy - unfortunately what I was confronted with was what can only be described as a bloody steep rocky bank - it was at this point I cursed PP!! It was only upon turning around that I spotted a footpath which led me to the Bothy.

Upon arriving I was greeted by four walkers who had the fire going and were making their evening meal. With it still being light outside it really didn't make sense to stay - but it was very appealing none the less.

With a heavy heart I bode the walkers farewell and continued on, with the aim of getting to Pontrhydfendigaid - there was a pub there.

I got the Black Lion Hotel at about 7.30, having ridden up the 7 splashes out of Moel and with it now raining and dark it was a welcome sight.

I quickly bought a pint and some nuts and sat with 3 other competitors. While sitting at the table one of the waitresses came to clear the plates and I found myself asking her to leave them so I could finish off the chips someone had left - I thought "Stu would be proud of me"!!

The pub was only 10km from the best bothy ever - Claerddu. Leaving the pub was not made any easier by the landlord who came over and offered B&B for £30. But again, I politely declined and went out into the now very blustery and wet night.

The climb out of Pontrhydfendigaid is predominantly on road, and albeit a bit of a slog (not made easier by the headwind and driving rain) it really wasn't too bad. The road turned into more of a track and it was at this point that I was overtaken by a VW transporter - which I thought nothing more of.

Arriving at the left turn for the Bothy I also came across the, now parked VW. On riding to the bothy I overtook 5 walkers - who it turned out had driven up in their car!! I got there, pretty wet and tired, only to be pampered by the walkers who not only got the fire going but also made me a cuppa and gave me a mince pie - now this is what I call roughing it!!!

I decided to get up at 5.30 and be back on the bike for 6, which all worked out ok - especially knowing that the trail around the reservoir was easy to follow.

I made pretty good progress and before I knew it I was skirting Penygarreg Reservoir - at which point I came across Keith - having a brew and some breakfast. It was at this point that we decided to ride the last bit together - which was nice.

We knew from reports of recces etc that the last 15km were not ideal - with some pretty conceptual pushes - which is why, when at 192km in, I got worried because i had so little energy left. My "rational" fix for this was to eat my last ham and coleslaw roll, half a malt loaf, an entire chocolate covered kendal mint cake, half a pack of raw jelly and two lumps of Yorkie - I had now gone from feeling low on energy to feeling sick!!!

The final push didn't disappoint - but to be honest it was kind of nice to be out of the saddle for a bit using different muscle groups.

We eventually rolled back in to Stu's place a little over the 29 hour mark - happy days!

So all in all, 2 of three targets for the new frame have been achieved - now its all about getting more miles on over the winter to try to hit the 1000 mile mark for the Bespoked show in April.

More of the mk2 jig........

Here we have my new headtube support tooling, this will eventually slide and rotate on a long plate giving me loads of adjustability for just about any frame. 

I

I have finished machining the other plates to size next up is to machine the relevant slots in them and the jig will be compete. 

The Trans Cambrian Way - At Last!!!!!

Its been a while since the last post - two months in fact - but a lot has been going on in the world of DMO Frameworks - more on that over the next couple of weeks.

But for now I just had to write a bit on the blog about my recent attempt at a sub 30 hour, solo, Trans Cambrian Way ITT.

Epic rides like the Trans Cambrian Way were right at the essence of my first build - I wanted a bike that would be comfortable for long hours in the saddle but at the same time responsive enough to really attack the often too rare bits of singletrack on these types of rides.

Well, with the first frame having ticked over the 500 mile mark a couple of weeks ago and an opportunity in the build schedule arising for me to take some time out and have a go at the TCW.....and here's my brief story.....

I got to Knighton at 9.45am and eventually got under way at 10.30, having taken the obligatory photo at the station...

Having mowed down a corned beef slice it was time to head off, the plan was to get to Rhayader and then assess how realistic or otherwise it was going to be to make it to Claerddu bothy.

I had in the back of my mind that the track around Claerwen Reservoir was a bit harsh and that was from riding it on my full susser last year - riding it on a fully rigid 29er was going to be a completely different experience - hopefully no worse, but none the less I definitely wanted to save something in the tank for that section.

With this in mind I just tried to keep a steady 10kph pace and not get too carried away - the target was to get to Rhayader by 4pm - but as it happened I got there shortly before 3 - which was nice!

At Rhayader I treated myself to a can of coke, a hot chocolate, a coleslaw and ham sandwich and some welsh cakes. I have found that ham and coleslaw sandwiches appear to be my "endurance comfort food" - there is only so much raw jelly, gels and malt loaf I can handle!!

Having arrived at Rhayader early I knew Claerddu bothy was well doable - so I set off at 3.15 with the aim of getting to the dam at Claerwen by 5pm. 

What I hadn't accounted for was the roughness of the final track that leads you to the dam - this was easily the toughest bit on a rigid bike of the route for me.

It took me 45 minutes to get around Claerwen and then another 30 mins to get to the bothy - I think by this point I was certainly starting to flag - I seem to remember singing out loud "we're on our way to Claerddu" over and over again.......anyway all of this joviality was treated with the following view:

What a sight for sore eyes!!

Once here I settled in, and the weather joined me - at one point I couldn't see the retaining wall around the bothy from the front door!!

As it turned out I stayed at Claerddu for 14 hours!! 9 of which was spent sleeping the rest just cooking, eating, reading and checking over the bike. My original plan was to get up early doors and head out while it was still dark - but I had somehow miss-place my light.

One thing which did freak me out was, when going to the toilet in the night, I was stood there outside the bothy and you literally couldn't see 5ft in front of you - the mist was that bad - I kept imagining something flying out of the mist towards me - needless to say I didn't waste much time in getting back to bed!!!

I eventually left the bothy at 8.15 Sunday morning reside to the fact that I probably wasn't going to make the sub 30 hour initial target, as such I just set off at a steady 10kph pace and surprisingly quickly got back into the swing of things.

It was at this point that I had the most harrowing moment of the ride - while riding on the road towards Ysbyty Ystwyth I came across a cattle grid with 5 sheep next to it, so, as standard, I slowed right down and all the sheep seemed fine until I got onto the cattle grid. It was at this point that one of them legged it - so they all legged it. Two made it over the cattle grid, one ran in the other direction and two got caught in the cattle grid - one of which managed to make its way under my bike!!

It turns out there is no capacity for a sheep working out how to get off a cattle grid - they just panic and scramble around - I was pretty worried they would injure themselves in doing so but having checked on the two which eventually freed themselves all was well.

The next section of note was the Hafren Forest - on approaching the forest all I could hear were motorbikes - it turns out that as luck would have it I had chosen the weekend of the Hafren Forest Rally to do the TCW. Fortunately a friendly Marshall kindly offered to chaperone me against the flow of the race - he even pointed me in the right direction and warned me of the slippery ford - which I duly ignored only to find out exactly how slippery it really was for myself!!!

One common theme that ran consistently throughout the ride was that the 4th weekend in September must be the weekend for farmers to trim all their field hedges - the amount of bits of hedge which punctured my tires was silly - its just as well I was running tubeless!

Without wanting to give too much away about the final 20km of the route (for fear of spoiling it for those yet to give it a go) - it was a bit of a roller coaster.

In the early stages of the ride I got a bit annoyed every time I came to a road section - from my perspective the more off road the better. However as the ride went on I found myself looking forward to a road section for a break! I found myself asking "is this the last road section to Dovey" a lot. However after each bit of road came another bit of off road - it was at this point that I really realised just how many ace bits of the remote welshland I had ridden - see below:

All that remained now was to roll into Dovey - as it turned out I had 8 minutes to spare before the train  - happy days!

Job Done!!

So all in all I can thoroughly recommend the TCW, in the end it took me just under 29.5 hours to make it from Knighton to the Dovey Junction - not too shabby. The Element performed really well and ticked over its 650th mile with relative ease - the aim now is to hit the 1000 mile mark before the year is out.

The next major ride will be the Barebones 200 followed fairly shortly by the Real Ale Wobble.

The DMO bike frame jig Mk2.......

Well its been nice and sunny all weekend, but I figured before it got too warm outside I would try to finish off the main aspects of the new frame jig so that I can order the material next week.

I tried to finish it off last night but it was about 30 degrees and I'd had a couple of beers so it probably wasn't the best time to make design decisions!!

Anywho, I digress, please see below for some screen shots of the new frame jig. I'll get all of the main secitons rough cut to size so that all I have to do is mill in the slots and we're laughing!!

The DMO Element Frame on the new frame jig

Plan view of the jig - hopefully there is enough adjustability to suit most frames

Everything rotates around the bottom bracket as the datum

I forgot....here's a bit of a teaser for you regarding frames 2 and 3.....

I completely forgot to tag onto the end of my last up-date a little teaser I have for you guys.

It just so happens that two people who have seen (and like) my frames have (rather fortunately for me) asked me to make them something rather different from the bikes you normally see out on the trails.

Here is a little teaser for you guys, over the coming weeks more of the details of the frames will be posted here on the blog with production due to start just as soon as I have finished manufacturing the new frame jig (hopefully by the end of August).

Anyway there is a prize in it if anyone can guess the format of frames number 2 and 3 from the following spy shot below taken deep in the DMO R&D workshop ;)