Rattlecan...

[vladamir]

Rattlecan... (http://www.dirtragmag.com/forums/member.php?u=1367)whatcha been up to? (http://www.groundupdesigns.com/)

[Teamfubar]

It's funny you ask that...I was wondering the same thing myself. He is building some custom legs for me for a 29" fork. You see, I had this wild hair up my @$$ and decided it would be a good idea to make a 29" version of a Bontrager Switchblade to turn my bike into a 69'er. The trick was that my bike had a 1 1/4" steerer tube, so I found a nice Manitou III crown on eBay and took it over to EB at GroundUp to make the legs for it. The steering is a bit quick/twichy so I figure slackin' out the head tube a bit won't affect it to adversely.

Anyhoo, it was last spring when we discussed this. I realize he is a one man operation and I am not in any way speaking negatively about him...he makes some nice stuff and it is getting better looking all the time. The other thing is my project is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things for him. What would you rather do, build a $150 fork or a custom track frame? Yeah, I thought so...it is just that I am just jonesin' for my fork. You know how it is, when you don't have it, you want it in the worst way. :D When it is done, I'll post for the world to see!!!

[BMAC]

I have a 1 1/4" Manitou 4 crown and headset,I should still have 1 1/4 to 1 1/8 reducers also,and a stem.If you need any of these send a pm.

[Tman]

He just got his computer setup again. Should see him online in the near future. :)

[Tman]

maybe we can get Eric to at least update his blog...........I sent a carrier pigeon, I hear he has some cool projects.;)

[rattlecan]

hey there everyone!

thanks for the shout out...

yes i have been very busy doing some intricate projects-->

first of all-
in september i took a part time job in denver welding tandems for da Vinci designs. i just welded my 40th tandem for them yesterday. my tig welding skills have really improved.

next thing-
i updated my website- groundupdesigns.com is now live and i think you will like what you see.

and...

next week is NAHBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im bringing four bikes- three to display in my own booth and a road bike to ride in the rain. im traveling with daVinci (i welded them a tripple for their display) and black sheep(thank you james for bringing my tig skills up to the master level) and we are leaving colorado wedneday morning... bring your camera. i cant wait for you all to see my presentation.

oh and team- i diddnt forget about your fork, i actually made a similar fork as a prototype that is on one of my display bikes at the show--- i know now what i will do different for your fork. thank you all for your patience and support!!!

eric.

[rattlecan]

here are a few pics from my new website.

[rattlecan]

ok, two more...

[robcycle]

As alway, HOT:eek:

Maybe when I get a Nurse's salary ;)

-Rob.

[Teamfubar]

in september i took a part time job in denver welding tandems for da Vinci designs. i just welded my 40th tandem for them yesterday. my tig welding skills have really improved.

next thing-
i updated my website- groundupdesigns.com is now live and i think you will like what you see.

oh and team- i diddnt forget about your fork, i actually made a similar fork as a prototype that is on one of my display bikes at the show--- i know now what i will do different for your fork. thank you all for your patience and support!!!

eric.

RC,

Congrats on the daVinici job. They also make some sweet stuff, you'll definitely be an asset.

I did check out the new site, nice work.

And as for the fork, you know how it is...just jonesin' for the new stuff. Cool that you used the idea for a fork at the show. Recycling at its finest! Can't wait to see it!

[tryandgetme]

god, beautiful welding....

[Tman]

Nice to see you coming back up here. I will add street gears to the SS and drink a couple less Guinness!

[Mauriceman]

Nice to see you at NAHMBS!

[rattlecan]

titanium pixie.

[robcycle]

titanium pixie.
That bike puts me in the mind of bombing the nearest parking deck and riding under the arm at the end :p

Hot bike. What was the inspiration?

-Rob.

[rattlecan]

tuesday night pixie racing at my shop!

we meet at my shop at 630pmish and race the sweet downhill trail behind my shop until dark then we party in the dizzydrome in front of my shop while the band plays.

this coming tuesday is week 7 of the
Tuesday
Awesome
Moto
Pixie
Outdoor
Nightly
Series.

inspiration?, fun.

bring a friend.

eric

[rattlecan]

tonight my friend and customer jon csakany came over on his vespa to pick out a steel tubeset for his new 650b singlespeed that i will make for him in the next weeks...

i took this pic about an hour ago.

[RepublicanSS]

?????


i do have a vespa like your friend. living downtown they are awesome, i get 75 mpg as opposed to my titan le at 13 mpg. plus i can just pull the vespa up on the sidewalk like my bike. when i had my ktm 625 supermotard the cops would've ticketed me for parking on the sidewalk.

what's your website for rattlecan bikes? i'll google it. i have spot 29er now, one made here.

[rattlecan]

this ran on thursday here in the local ap


Bike builder gains esteem with each handcrafted frame

July 2, 2008 - 10:24PM
BY DAVE PHILIPPS
THE GAZETTE

On a recent afternoon, the Ground Up garage suddenly filled with an eerie lavender glow that meant Eric Baar had started building another frame.



He leaned over a web of metal tubes, welding mask down, nose inches from a tiny snake of lightning jumping between the metal and an arc-welding torch in his right hand.



Zap ... Zap ... Zap ....

Each tiny bolt melted the metal in front of his eyes, joining two tubes at an angle measured to the tenth of a millimeter.



Baar is custom-bike builder. His one-man factory, Ground Up Designs, crafts bike frames from scratch, by hand with precision and flair that have built him a reputation as one of the best framemakers in the state.



Track bikes, road racers, tandems, burly mountain bikes, even midget-size racers called pixies - Baar builds them all.



"Nothing is stock. Everything is custom. The only thing I always start with is the customer's needs," he said after he flipped up his mask.



Baar, 31, has been making frames for nine years. He has a long brown ponytail, big mutton chop sideburns and librarian glasses. He tends to wear pants cut off midshin with fat-lace sneakers, and while working he likes to listen to a mix of hardcore death metal and classical concertos.



His welding is solid, precise and fastidiously neat. His small, cinder block workshop is anything but. Old frames dangle from the rafters with dismembered bike parts of every description and vintage. A 70-year-old lathe powered by a leather belt, which slaps rhythmically when turning, is almost buried in fine aluminum shavings left from handmade parts. Every flat surface is flooded with heavy metal tools, cigar boxes of assorted metal bits, and lengths of raw tubing waiting to be turned into bikes. The windows are covered in dirt. A calendar of "lovely ladies and beautiful bikes" hanging on the door is a month behind.



"My favorite thing in the world is to see dawn coming in the windows and realize I've been working all night," Baar said. "That usually means I've done something really creative.

"

Baar, from South Dakota, went to engineering school to become a machinist. If he'd followed that path, he'd be using a computer to make precision parts. Instead, in 1999 he went analog. He decided he would take a few files, a torch and some tin snips and make a bike. Things grew from there.



"I love bikes and I love to make stuff. It was natural for me," he said.



He moved to Colorado Springs in 2000 to build bikes for Tomac, a small bike company that was based in the city at the time. He made his own frames after hours, mostly for friends, and got a reputation for solid, cool designs.



In 2001, Tomac closed, he decided to go off on his own, and Ground Up was born. He's now made 183 bikes - about as many bikes as a Chinese bike factory could churn out in an hour.




No.

1 priority

In a lot of ways, custom bicycles are like microbrews. They are made locally by a handful of people obsessed with craftsmanship. And while the vast majority of the population is happy with the mass-produced versions, true aficionados gush about the variety and quality offered by the smaller artisans.



And like microbrews, there is a hefty markup. Mass-produced frames rarely cost more than $1,000. Custom frames never cost less. Baar's start at $1,200 for a basic steel road frame and climb to several thousand for elaborate titanium. Relatively speaking, his prices are a bargain. A custom Moots frame, made in Steamboat Springs, will set a rider back about $3,500. A custom Black Sheep, from Fort Collins, costs $6,700.



Baar's price includes $300 to $400 worth of tubes and other materials. The rest pays for Baar's labor and expertise. Even so, he's not getting rich. He gave up driving years ago because he couldn't afford to stay in business and maintain a car. He lives in almost monastic simplicity.



"I've made a lot of sacrifices," he said looking at the machinery that clutters his workshop. "Not driving, not doing a lot of things people do, even to the point of not really looking for a girlfriend because I'm afraid of losing all this.

"

Not that Baar doesn't have fun. Friends are always stopping by to hang out while he works. He is part of the social glue that holds the city's bike community together. When he wanted to quit building bikes a few years ago and get a real job after losing his lease, local bikers wouldn't let him. They pleaded. They lectured, then they found him a new shop and helped renovate it.



Crowds come over to the shop every Tuesday night to race pixies - tiny BMX bikes intended for 5-year-olds - on a special downhill track he built on the hilly lot around his workshop and house. The track drops through a tight hairpin turn, cuts around a 22-foot-long 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood that Baar parked for good when he gave up driving, and dives down in front of his house to a steep tabletop jump where, Baar said, "people regularly wreck themselves.

"

After the downhill race, riders head to a banked, circular dirt track Baar built in front of his shop. It's only about 14 feet in diameter, and Baar calls it the "Dizzydrome." Packs of pixies race around and around. The last rider standing wins.



There is often live music accompanying the race.




Amateurs to Olympians

Baar doesn't advertise.



People seek him out when they have a need. The way to his shop is hidden, though. It's a wonder anyone finds him. A tiny sign off a quiet suburban street directs people up a steep, rutted dirt track. A small, pink cinder block garage sits in a clutch of elms with crickets chirping lazily in the heat. The only sign it is a bike shop is an artistic installation of a handful of bike frames half buried in the dirt near the front door.



Still, people find him.



Joanne Kiesanowski, an Olympian who races for her native New Zealand but lives in Colorado Springs, has had two track bikes built by Baar. Often at competitions, she has to ride sponsors' bikes, but said nothing beats her custom bike.



"I love it, it's awesome," she said.



She may get to ride one of his bikes this summer in Beijing.



Baar has made a lot of toplevel bikes for top-level riders. Photos of them winning races hang on the walls of his shop. But he also crafts bikes for regular guys.



Allen Beauchamp, an amateur rider in Colorado Springs, made a pilgrimage to Baar's shop for a beginner track bike to ride in the velodrome.



"It was pretty cool," Beauchamp said. "We talked over what I needed. He got me all measured, then he started scribbling numbers on a scrap of paper. You could see the gears turn in his head.



"I said to him, ‘You're seeing my bike in your head aren't you?' And he said, ‘Yeah, and it's cool.

'"

They selected a combination of tube that would be sturdy but light. A month later, Beauchamp had a bike.



"It's a missile. An absolute missile," Beauchamp said. "It's stable, forgiving and as responsive as I could imagine.

"

He's already scheming about the next bike he wants Baar to build.




A perfectionist's plight

The bike Baar is building right now is for himself. It's a titanium road frame. The first titanium bike he's ever built.



Titanium is hard to work with, he said. When heated about 800 degrees, it reacts with the air, becoming brittle and oxidized in seconds, so Baar has to weld the tubes in a bath of inert argon gas.



"And you have to have it spotlessly clean. You can't even touch it," he said as he wiped the tubes down wearing cotton gloves. "I've had these tubes cut for a month, but I've been too chicken to try welding them because I'm afraid I can't make it perfect. Now, I guess I'll find out.

"

He slipped his welding mask back over his face and leaned in over the spotless metal. He tends to be obsessive about perfection - always wondering what he can do to make a weld or an angle just the slightest bit better. To get his mind off it, he plays guitar badly. He says when your work demands perfection it's important to have a hobby "you don't mind sucking at.

"

Zap ... Zap ... Zap ... The little lightning from his torch danced over the molten metal. After a minute of complete concentration he lifted his mask, inspected the weld, and said "That's pretty much as good as it gets.

"


GROUND UP DESIGNS

Styles: Anything you can dream up
Cost: Starts at $1,200
Construction time: 1 month
Information: groundupdesigns. com, 213-9148

[robcycle]

Awesome write-up!

Congratulations. :D

-Rob.

[Tman]

Great writeup Eric! BTW, the Eric Bars are doing well. Still have them on my 1x1

[rattlecan]

the cheshire cat...

titanium single speed road bike, steel fork, 120mm spaced, i ran a 45t chainring and a 15t fixed, 16,17,18t white ind freewheels. currently on display at the smokebrush art gallery here in colorado springs.

stay tuned for more projects... i just sponsored a couple trackies and am planning on attending elite track nats in los angeles early october. just finished one of their race bikes, his first race on it will be in barcelona spain...


eric.

[fudgedit]

Rattlecan-That, along with all your bikes, is very nice looking. I just really wish you would pay attention to the details though!!;)

[robcycle]

Why are there freewheels on the front wheel?

Is this a Pugsley thing?

-Rob.

[rockhound]

Why are there freewheels on the front wheel?

Is this a Pugsley thing?

-Rob.

120mm spacing front and rear for more gear combos...

AWESOME!

[robcycle]

120mm spacing front and rear for more gear combos...

AWESOME! So it is a Pugsley thing. :D

AWESOME!!!

-Rob.

[PutAwayWet]

That thing is awesome! How much work was it to polish the tubes in that pattern????

[PutAwayWet]

I had a question, too - on your website you have an upcharge for filet brazing. What advantages does that have over tig welding?

[rattlecan]

not much strength wise but you get another day of my short sweet life built into your bike frame. you do the math.

here are some pics of my friend jon hurly's ground up, 2007 6th place finisher of the great divide race. he lives at the bottom of the hill from my shop. we just made this bike and are currently working on the stainless steel rack. it is tig welded and set up as a single speed.

[PutAwayWet]

not much strength wise but you get another day of my short sweet life built into your bike frame. you do the math.


Ah, gotcha. I'm definitely no metallurgist :) Ever since I saw Jeff's bike in the Rag, I've been wanting to give you a call. Maybe this winter if the snowplow gods are kind...