My Custom Waterford Rando Bike - BIKE CHECK! 

Jealous. Pandemic made me too busy, waited too long and now can’t get a Gunnar frame. And all city being stopped by qbp, reasonably affordable good steel frames aren’t available any more

I've been on a gunner single speed for 23 years. I wouldn't have any other way. Really sad to see water for go away

I raced on a Gunnar Rodie for 15 years, until I hung up my numbers.

It’s a Tompson Masterpiece. I have setback posts on all my bike. It just feels right that way 🤷🏻‍♂️

TIG welding on tubing this thin is not easy so the fillet of the weld is indeed smaller than what you would see on a Taiwan made late 1980's robot welded bike. Anlun factory made Nishsiki's Cunningham's designed MTB's and their welds were almost perfect but still had a bit of an outwards bulge, true, precision hand welded TIG welding look like it flows from one tube to the next.

Yup, wheels, tires, saddles and stems and H'bars are the best things to upgrade. Your connection with your bike or it's connection with the ground... Bearings and hubs in particular are what we roll around on. Proper bearing function is imperative to the smooth operating, efficient vehicle. I recognized this as a 9 year old child when I first overhauled my coaster brake hub, merely because I knew it would make me go faster. Ironically, I see consumers constantly ignore bearing components and never bother to inspect them, much less, MAINTAIN them. This is a large part of my job security'! 🤑 NOTHING lasts forever and DIY maintenance is what my father and grandfather taught me. They both said "LEARN how to fix that or you'll be walking." They wisely recognized how much I loved my new found freedom! I bought Chris King hubs when he first started making them in the '90s. I'm a machinist and mechanical inspector by trade. Ive also worked in the medical and aerospace industries. Ive machined bearings used on satellites, aircraft, spacecraft, defense hardware and surgical devices. Highest quality on earth type manufacturing . I can also recognize, measure and assure manufacturing quality. I own the tools to measure within .0001". Ive got access to much more accurate equipment. Ive built, overhauled and repaired custom wheels for over 30 years as a small business. As is my trained machinist/mil spec habit, I ALWAYS measure new cartridge bearings and their bores before new bearings are installed. Proper interference fit tolerancing is what makes bearings last a proper long service life and perform their best. Bearing manufacturers ALL offer recommended tolerancing specs and it's well known engineering and design data. This also applies to all the cheap Chinese cartridge bearings many overpriced bike components are specced with. I've found many colorful anodized blingy and overpriced aftermarket hubs with poor tolerancing leading to rough bearings and short bearing life. The bearing wearing out is MOST OFTEN not its own fault. This is a huge problem with all sorts of pressfit $hit bottom brackets. That's got to be one of the most idiotic designs on production bikes. ALL done in the name of profit and corporate greed. Lots of these hubs are what people consider the very best on the market. DT has even begun to suffer from some of these issues in the last few years with their latest EXP hubs. Their problem has involved anodizing thickness. A common problem I've encountered with many engineered components over the years. It's not a difficult problem to solve IF you're doing proper QC and testing BEFORE products go to market. The entire larger bike industry (big corporate interests) seem to be devolving the last several decades. It's obvious to me. As someone familiar with QA, (quality assurance) standards, I find this unacceptable and shameful for products which are supposedly the 'cream of the crop'. Not to mention, they're very OBVIOUSLY overpriced. I had already used a King headset for over a decade of very hard abusive use, mtb and 'cross racing. This one headset outlasted one broken frame and got installed on another. So I went to a local shop (a Chris King dealer) and asked the owner (old friend) to disassemble this then brand new King rear hub while I watched. I'd been waiting for these to be released to market for a couple years. I brought my precision measuring instruments. THIS was the type of hardware I'd build, everything was perfect, well within tolerances. So we put the hub back together and I bought a pair of Classic hubs there on the spot. In 30 years and well over 100,000 miles ridden on those particular hubs, I've never needed to replace a single bearing. Ive bought numerous CK hubs used, some ignored and trashed for waaay cheaper, overhauled them, relaced them and sold them as built wheels. I've NEVER replaced a bearing on even quite abused hubs. I've only heard of or read about issues with them. It generally involves big abusive riders, negligence or tandems. Chris King offers stainless cassette bodies(maybe Ti) for these sorts of riders. These hubs will last much longer if you regularly do some fairly simple service. I do charge a bit extra, because I'm servicing and overhauling the very expensive bearings rather than merely throwing old bearings in the trash. I really don't see any point in paying retail or buying new CK hubs any longer. Not many people realize Chris King builds his own proprietary bearings, even the individual balls. I don't know any other bike manufacturer (maybe Royce) who does that. These bearings are very expensive, but they're designed to be serviced simply by removing a circlip and rubber seal, so they can be serviced and will truly last almost indefinitely given regular maintenance. You can accomplish this while the bearings are still installed in the hub or on an axle. There is a beautiful and special press tool available to remove bearings entirely. I own it but rarely need to use it. Ive attended several bike trade shows over the years. Every time I went to the Chris King booth, I asked him or his reps to build me a double sided track hub, but they always refused due to the small market. So I bought 2 of his angular contact bearings and made my own shell and axle. It's a glorious hub, that rolls seemingly forever. These wheels are on a fixed gear cyclocross bike I ride on muddy trail all winter. I also commute on this bike almost every day. As far as I'm concerned, CK makes the highest quality bike gear on the planet. Check out his custom steel bike frames called Cielo.

I will definitely be doing more of these videos!

That is too bad they closed. Was always on the someday list. 😢

Look up Zukas cycles. He's in Augusta Ga.

@@scottraines4254 Keep your eyes open for Trek's midrange to higher end Reynolds tubed bike frames from the early to mid 1980's, which Waterford contracted out.

Forgot to add this, it's lovely, beautiful, hope you enjoy some epic rides on this,

Paramount made at Waterford?

The bike you have i always the best bike for you.