This is the second installment of a three-part series on the development of the All-City Space Horse dropout.  Today, we go from the physical sketchbook to the virtual 3D modeling program.

From the 2D sketches shown in the last post, I created this very rough first 3D model:

This is a good opportunity to point out that our axle interface is shorter than many (but certainly not all) semi-horizontal dropouts of this type and all track ends.  Track ends, such as our Hennepin Bridge dropout, are designed around the user’s need for several gear configurations without having to adjust chain length.  As a result, that style dropout tends to have a lengthy axle pad.  The Space Horse dropout was sized so that a single-speed or fixed rider would have sufficient tensioning capability in a single-gear configuration without having to use a half-link in their chain. 

The overall shape of the dropout was driven by its need to be as visually and as structurally compatible as possible across all sizes of Space Horse frames.  Below, there are several quick screen shots of the dropout applied to geometries across the size range.  

46cm

55cm

61cm

For the next step, I dropped in the rack and fender mounts and added a web between then to make them more robust.  Also, I re-surfaced the dropout to add the indexing stop at the front of the axle pad (to be discussed more later).

Before prototyping the dropout, I rendered the dropout on a complete frame.  In case you were wondering, all of the steel frames and frame parts I render are shiny red with stainless accents.  Like any reasonable human being, I have always wanted a shiny red bike (I have never had one).

Here are some emotional photos of the resulting rapid prototype:

After a few minor tweaks to the design based off of the rapid prototypes, we started to collaborate with our dropout supplier.  

In the next episode I will discuss the tooling process and final development.  

Here it is, another round of look-see-drool.  These are builds sent in to us by folks who own and love their All-City.

Let's get to it.

Kevin O, sends us this rad photo of his Nature Boy

Chris W, sends over photos of his custom powdercoated Dropout

I think it may glow in the dark

In a shot after my own heart, here' s a snowy Nature Boy with a super hot build kit on it from Charles M

• velocity a23 rims with all-city new sheriff hubs
• nokian hakkapeliitta 40c studded tires (they fit with plenty of clearance - probably enough to add fenders)
• cane creek scx-5 brakes and scr-5 levers
• salsa cromoto stem and bell lap bars
• ritchy wcs seat post
• brooks swift saddle with Ti rails
• white industries eno crank set and freewheel (42X18)

 And finally from David, comes a dual duty Airwolf for getting rad at the indoor MTB park or kicking ass at polo.  Bonus points for the horse! 

All-City Product Development works tirelessly to bring to you, the people, the raddest product possible.  We thought it would be cool to give some insight into our design process through the blog.  We obsess over details- sometimes to the point where they become projects of their own.  

So begins the story of the Space Horse dropout...

We chose semi-horizontal dropouts for the Space Horse because of their versatility and functionality- they are the “choose your own adventure” option of the dropout world.  You can run them geared or not, typically mount racks and fenders to them, and you can easily get your wheel out without taking off full coverage fenders. 

We were pretty disappointed by the off-the-shelf dropouts options available.  Since the vertical dropout has dominated much of the upper end of the geared steel frame market for the past few decades it seems that frame part companies have stopped designing and producing functional, classy dropouts of this type.  If the dropouts met requirements for frame geometry, rack/fender compatibility, wheel tension capability in a single-speed configuration, ten-speed compatibility, etc., they tended to be of low quality or just not classy enough. 

Anything around that was beautiful and functional was proprietary.  So, for all of these reasons and because our customers have the finest tastes, we decided that we would design one for ourselves.

All-City was no stranger to proprietary frame parts… our iconic Hennepin Bridge Track End designed by my engineer predecessor, Adam, would be a hard act to follow.  Also, gears and racks were relatively new territory for us at the time.

To help illustrate the process from this point, here are some pages from my personal design notebook.  (I apologize in advance for the sketches.  I draw like an engineer.)

This spread is from the first few days of exploration, where the dimensions first appear, and notes from our first meeting on this dropout.  We are a small, very close-knit group here at All-City Cycles so, as you can see, Jeff appears in various forms and moods in my notes.  

We were also looking for something that would work across all of our sizes and, because we are huge nerds who like to bring back classic hits to the world, we wanted to draw from a functional strategy that hasn’t been done in a minute. 

After a crap ton of obsessive research (paging through bike geek blogs, bike museum books, old catalogs, frame part databases, etc.) and exploration into dimensional requirements, we arrived at dropout strategy where chainstay interface would be more of a lugged socket-style and the seat stay interface of the dropout has a more flexible interface, based off of a Japanese dropout we found from ~40 years ago.

This sketch is modeled after that style… it is the first sketch of anything for this project that looks like a dropout.

Next, you can see a section of the dropout/seat stay interface (bottom right).  As you can see from the drawing, we were looking at a domed (as opposed to cylindrical) interface for this area but we were concerned that the more complex geometry would be challenging for proper and consistent seat stay preparation- straight-up mitering would give us the most consistently well-built frame.

This final sketch shows what would end up being the visual direction that we would carry through to the final product.  We initially had a single eyelet, which is functional on its own, but we eventually added a second eyelet because of the range of rack and fender options and configurations possible.

Here you can see the initial placement of the drainage holes for our stays.  We like drainage holes integrated into dropouts because it kills the need to have holes in tubing close to the dirty areas of the bike.  This way, if water gets into the bike, it drains though the stainless dropouts instead of pooling in the bottom of the stays.  Also, extra holes, especially near dirty areas of the bike, promote rusting opportunities (we ED coat the inside and outside of all our frames to help prevent rusting too).  We eventually moved them to the back of the dropout to keep the outside surfaces of the dropout cleaner.

In the next installment we will move to the three-dimensional process (lots of renderings!)… with neato pictures of the final product brazed/welded to a naked frame.

Earlier this week we received our first batch of the new O.G. kit, and they turned out even sweeter than we had hoped.  These are our second collaboration with Minneapolis' own Twin Six, and we couldn't be happier with the results, check it out.

Jerseys

and the bibs

They are available in men's and women's jerseys and men's bibs. 

The Long Beach guys, including Corey, down in Austin

WOLF DRAWN: LBC 2 ATX from Matthew Spencer on Vimeo.

Our latest advert featuring photos from a crazy weekend down in MKE.  Staying at the Mansion and getting mega blasted.

Jonathan sent over this rad photo of him barspinning on his Def Wish.

And check out this clip of him, Alec,  and Cole Ruffing
 

Ryd X All city from Cole Ruffing on Vimeo.

AC Team is killing it. 

It's been a little while since I posted images from my daily ramblings and explorations in this fine city of Minneapolis, so here are some randoms from what I've been up to as of late.

last few images from dumping Iphone for the first time (photos from fall)

"Vinyal to get Toto and Badfinger!"

We are both stoked and excited to support our homie Amanda's newest event creation. 

If you're in Portland, you better be there.

Since we like to ride our bikes a lot and when you ride your bike a lot you need to drink water, here's the new All-City water bottle.

And it just so happens to match the new O.G. kit.  Crazy right?

Obviously we're excited as hell to once more support our hometown event, the one and only Stupor Bowl. 

It's the second longest running messenger race in the world and typically 400+ people show up to throw down on the cold February streets of MInneapolis. 

You can bet I'll be there representing the set. 

As we move into geared bikes it only made sense to continue with our tradition of creating our own signature dropouts.

For most companies these are unnecessary expenses but we feel that it's these frame details that make an All-City standout from the crowd and give our bikes their character and archival quality.  When you're looking at a vintage frameset and see that Campagnolo dropout you know you're looking at a quality piece.  It's our love for these sorts of bike geek moments that leads us to making the investment in our own stainless steel forgings. 

These will be used on our Mr. Pink and a soon to be unveiled project that we've been working on.

Bike Rumor published a little interview I did with them on how to break into the bike industry.

Go check it out

If  you've been following along, you know that our man Corey is down in Texas with Prolly and the crew from Long Beach. 

He's been absolutely killing it down there as these photos that have popped up on Prolly is Not Probably over the last week have shown.
 

Well yesterday he was doing an over rail to fire cracker and got hung up on his second attempt (after making the first)

Corey went to the hospital last night with internal bleeding, information is incomplete, but he posted in the comments on Prolly that the bleeding has  slowed and the doctors now believe that he won't need surgery.  He will be in the hospital for at least a few days for observation.

Corey,  our hearts go out to you as we wish you a speedy recovery. 

Please send your good thoughts his way. 

All Photos: John Watson

Some clips from AC Rider J-Ball

Our man Corey San Augustin is down in Austin Texas hanging out with Prolly and the Long Beach peeps. 

John keeps posting photos from their visit so keep checking Prolly for more

photos John Prolly

We've got a new kit in the pipeline. 

We wanted to compliment our "racer" kit the original Twin Six X All-City with a simpler more understated ensemble.  Behold the second fruit of our partnership with Minneapolis' own Twin Six, the O.G. kit.

The O.G. Jersey

It's simple clean timeless and badass.  We borrowed the lettering style from our Wool line and Cutters t-shirt for this elegant throwback.  Available in both men's and women's cuts.

O.G Bib

For the bib we wanted something that would look great with our Wool line as well as working with either of our lycra jerseys or for that matter, any jersey you already own.  The bibs are available in men's cut only.

Both of these pieces are proudly made in the U.S.A. and will be available at the end of the month. 

Photo by Brian Vernor

Our buddy Prolly recently did a nice post on Ty from Golden Saddle Cyclery's Nature Boy Zona for his blog Prolly is not Probably.  The photo above was from a separate post and was shot by Brian Vernor.  It's of Ty in action on this lovely machine.

Here are the photos from Prolly
 

real pretty.

So as you may know, I organize a bunch of grassroots illegal cyclocross races throughout the year in Minneapolis.  Recently the video crew from the QBP mothership asked if I'd be interested in making a video about the series.  As this is something that I deeply love and wish to spread the idea that any a-hole can throw a race and do something positive for their cycling community, I of course said "Yes."  The full length (for a short) isn't done yet, but they just released this little trailer. 

If you're wondering about the title, it's a phrase coined by Stevil Kinevil of AHTBM in regards to his experiences with people who take cyclocross seriously. You see at first there were a bunch of naysayers from the "legit" racing community who said that we were going to stigmatize and ruin cyclocross.  Fortunately we just wrapped up our 2nd year and there has been nothing but good vibes and great times.  Many folks who can't afford to race "legit" cross have come out, and many people who were too intimidated to try it anywhere else have fallen in love with cyclocross and moved into organized racing.  And still others who don't give a shit about "real" cyclocross racing, but do love to have fun on their bikes with their friends show up every time. 

For me Bandit Cross has been a truly transcendent experience, I was a bit burned out on the whiny and pissy attitudes of people at the alleycats and Bandit Cross' no prizes, no money, no nothing but pride aspect has once more allowed me to see the goodness in the community.  Everyone's invited, everyone's welcome, just show up and bring a good attitude.  That is what it's all about. 

Long live Bandit Cross!

pop some corn and get into it.  

Bandit Cross: Ruining It For Everybody Trailer from Quality Bicycle Products on Vimeo.

Back from break and ready for business. 

Here are a few shots from my time off.

let's do this.

And Jonathan Ball is back with a quick little clip

Quick Clip: New Years from JBall on Vimeo.

The California kids are off school and out riding.  Check out these videos.

First JBall's got a quick line

Quick Clip: Christmas from JBall on Vimeo.

And Corey and others hit Campus

Campus Creepin ~@Christmas edition!!!! from Fixed LovE on Vimeo.

From all of us at All-City.

Also we will be out of the office next week, and will attend to all correspondance upon our triumphant return.

We just received our shipment of limited edition Peugeut inspired long sleeve wool jerseys in black.  Like our short sleeves, these are made by Woolistic from the finest Merino wool available.  

In addition to my normal shots on the picnic table out back, yesterday Josh and I took advantage of the ridiculous temps (40's in December) and lack of snow to once more do the ever awesome Low Road to Sibley route.  We took the shortcut that I found last week and knocked at least a half hour off our time.  Door to door we banged it out in about 2 hours including photos and a beer stop.  Along the way I had Josh snap some shots of me in the new jersey.

First, here are the photos from the ride.

Totally taking my product modeling to the next level with this one. 

I can't tell you how amazing the weather was yesterday, we've got a Portland winter going the last week.  It's crazy.

Josh was out on his first ride with his recently built up Nature Boy Zona.  Always stoked when a buddy does himself a favor and gets on a sick ass bike.  

And when we hit the other side of the river, we ran into Jason from Salsa who snapped these photos of us

So now that you've seen it in action, let me formally introduce you to our new wool jersey, when I first saw it unboxed I started whooping and doing a little dance, this thing is so classy. 

All-City Wool Limited Edition Longsleeve Jersey

Merino wool, chain stitched "All-City", three back pockets

Back

These are a limited edition of one batch of 90 pieces, MSRP is $140, and they are available now.  In addition we found out that Woolistic had made some extra of our short sleeve white jerseys, so we bought the remaining inventory and have a few of those in stock as well.  Check the Wool Jersey page for part numbers and sizes available.

It's time for another round of builds from the people.

Up first I've got a Dropout from a gentleman known only as "The Duck"

Next is this heartmelter two speed kick back Big Block from Mauro in Switzerland

and finally this blinged out Nature Boy build from one of the dudes at Zipp
 

As always keep the photos coming!

Yesterday I updated our front page images for the first time on the new website.  Here are my selections.

this lovely shot of the Nature Boy by Milltown Cycles

some abandoned building goodness

the obligatory skyline shot

my Big Block and Kopish's Dropout in the Milwaukee Mansion

crashing on the floor of the Mansion

bro throwing down on the NB in Seattle

my winter Big Block

Shea shot by Rick Anderson

and my Zona NB out on an exploration mission.

This Sunday I headed out my Nature Boy to explore an area of the river that I'd never checked out before. 

I've been super into the river as of late, there is so much decaying structure, man made tunnels, and 18th century left-overs down there.  And being able to easily shuck the city and get into the unknown is one of the things that I really cherish about living in Minneapolis and riding a bike.  I want to know every detail, every nook and cranny, and it's most often my bicycle that takes me there.

During my ramblings I stumbled and crossed onto some forbidden areas, found a skate spot, and the best group of graffiti pieces that I've seen in a very long time.

crossing into the unknown and unlawful

Then I had to cross through this section, which I found a bit disconcerting.

But eventually I made it here, and discovered a treasure trove of art.

Also down there was this sweet little ditch skate spot

Our partners over in Thailand, Brothers Bike, sent over this video of one of their riders cruising the streets on a Big Block. 

check it out!

My name is Yai by Brothesbike Thailand from brothersbikethailand on Vimeo.

Our courier in Richmond, Stu, clued us in to this project by Carytown Bicycle Company and Need Supply Co. written up in GQ online.

Here's the article:

Bikes are everywhere these days in the city, but sleek, understated, and stylish bikes? A rarity. And you're never going to fulfill your European-sartorial-commuter-biking fantasies on that mountain rig, dude. That's why we're digging designer Gabe Ricioppo (from Richmond, Virginia's Need Supply Co.) and Tim Mullins', (from Carytown Bicycle Company) take on an outrageously cool city cruiser. At the beginning of the project, Ricioppo didn't know jack about bikes, and Mullins and his team weren't exactly fashionably-inclined. Now they both know everything about everything, there's this rad, super functional, fixed-gear bike on the roads of Richmond, and the world is ultimately just a better place. THE END.

And some additional photos of the project from the Need Supply Co. site

In case you are wondering how we feel about this, let me assure you that we're always glad when someone likes our stuff, and fully encourage them or any of you to go out and customize your All-City.  Carrytown are our homeboys, and we're always glad to see them repping AC. 

I will also say that I find it hilarious that the model is wearing boots in all the photos, except in the one he's actually riding the bike, where he wears shoes because they fit the clips. 

AC all up in everything!

hey hey, check out this nice shot of our team rider Shea Hardacre on his Airwolf, shot by Rick Anderson

Shea's proto black Airwolf

All-City's lawyer Matt Moore rocking the Nature Boy at Bottle Cross. 

Photo by Kelly Mac.