One of the first challenges I took on after finishing the Bullet and completing the move to the new shop was to make a solid frame jig. I hunted down plans for adjustable jigs constructed out of box tubing and poured through catalogs to find fixtures that I might be able to re-purpose. It became obvious fast that I would have to take matters in to my own hands, because nothing that existed already was going to fulfill the many requirements for the nine remaining motorcycles... I was going to need nine unique frame jigs...

I wanted to be open minded about the design but extremely specific when it came to rigidity and adaptability. My friend Kosuke had told me about a field of decommissioned machinery owned by a legendary cam shaft maker, 20 miles south of here. I had a feeling that if I was going to create my unicorn of a jig, I'd find the starting point somewhere in this field of dr... NO... I'm not going to say if I build it, they will come.

Amaryllis, Kosuke and I made the trip over to meet the "Camfather" at his office and he couldn't have been nicer. He likes to collect things and doesn't sell them unless they are going to a good home, so I knew I needed to make a good case for my project if he was going to release one of his treasures.



He has other particularities as well. Before going to the machinery field, he needed to complete his daily ritual of lunch at the local burger joint followed by a return to the parking lot of his factory with a mysterious bag that he collected before leaving the restaurant. The parking lot was completely full so we just put the truck in park and waited for him to finish his business. What happened next is seared into my memory: He exits his cadillac clutching his bag, with the brightest grin I've ever witnessed on an 90 year old man, reaches into the bag and tosses white spongy chunks all over the parking lot. The parking lot was void of activity and the cars might have well been tumbleweeds. This was the foreshadow for the Hitchcock like tornado of seagulls that then proceeded to descend upon us out of nowhere. The Camfather stood in the middle of the bird swarm, lit up like a sixteen year old, his grin transformed into a (contagious) ear to ear smile. These were his friends and this was their special daily moment. Nothing (especially two men looking for access into his sea of metal) was going to take priority over this, which made me genuinely feel affection for him, and happy that I got to witness it.



After the feeding frenzy (if you own a car washing service, this parking lot is a gullmine) we were taken back to the yard behind the machine shop. Unbelievable. Dozens of lathes, mills, cars, motorcycles, busses, presses, and just about every piece of machinery you could imagine, sardined into a football field, or two. I was beside myself and started tunneling through an acre of metal bliss. After an hour or so, I went back to his office to speak with him about some pieces I'd found, in hopes that he would part with them. I closed the deal on a pirate wheel crank that would eventually become the die pressure control mechanism adapted to my English wheel... and found out about his second metal yard just down the road.



We headed over right away and I couldn't believe my eyes. This yard had ten of everything that existed in the yard we just left, and much more. A fleet of municipal busses, 10 Cadillacs, Lathes with chucks the size of a monster truck wheel, a monster truck wheel, an actual mountain made up of bicycles and most importantly, the lathe table that would eventually become my frame jig. It must have been a one trick pony and used for a very specific machining operation back in the day but it was a perfect starting point for what I needed to fabricate around it. it had a massive base, a straight bed, and a channel that I could start designing adjustable fixtures to. This is all well and good but it doesn't mean anything until its current custodian is willing to part with it. We had a very serious talk about what I was building and what the table would be used for. I showed him pictures of my work, granted his request for visitation rights and added an open invitation to come to the shop and check out how the table was coming along. This made him happy so a half hour later it was loaded up and I was on my way to creating my dream jig. I cant wait for him to make the journey up here and see it in action.



This jig has been critical in the creation of the Kestrel, the Black, and now in heavy use creating the white. It can be adjusted to fit any frame, make pretty much any frame from scratch that we can dream up with our custom fixtures, and it is calibrated within a tenth of a degree. The last stock bike frame I put on this frame jig was almost three full degrees off. It's really comforting to know that when approaching triple digit speeds or a high velocity turn, this metal contraption beneath me is tracking the same line I'm steering to and not the ditch on the side of the road. Sometimes it's good to buy new machinery but when it doesn't exist, look at re-purposing the well made machinery forgotten in the fields of the past and you may end up discovering your Unicorn, laying waiting in the grass.




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