Obviously by the lack of seat stays and chain stays, this picture actually was shot in the middle of the welding process, not after the frame was built. Car’s website says that the rig was used at the Schwinn/Paramount factory to align Waterfords before the factory got shut down. I never even knew that Waterfords were made by Schwinn. I asked Carl about aligning the frame throughout the building process. Here’s his response:
I align the frame about 10 times through the process in order to get it just right. I can’t align it all at once because each tube influences another so I try to do it in a series of sub-process’s. For example if I aligned an entire frame and the had to move the ST then the DO’s would move. Then when I moved the DO’s the ST would move back out of alignment and so on. It keeps me from chasing my tail.
Here’s the rear end getting aligned:
And here’s the finished product (no paint yet). Carl weighed it before the cable guides and such at 2.25 lbs. The estimate is between 2.3 and 2.4 lbs finished, but I don’t have a final weight yet. For comparison purposes, the Merlin ExtraLight is 2.5 lbs in my size and the Look 595 Ultra is 2.46 lbs in my size. As far as frames go, this is right there with other ultralight frames.
Carl works on one frame at a time. When he starts one, he doesn’t touch another frame until he’s done. He let me know on June 6, 2007 that he’s be starting my bike on June 7. 3 (work days) later, he was done on June 11.
Carl weighed the bike this morning. Looks like it came in at exactly 2.4 lbs. Still pretty darn light. If I decide to add paint, that will probably put on another 1/4 lb so I’ll be around 2.65 lbs. Here are a couple of pictures.
