Blaze Bicycles

Blaze Bicycles is moving to Moab, UT

2010-11-11T05:38:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy for Blaze Bicycles. The decision to move to Moab is final and the task of organizing and packing is in progress. There are logistical challenges associated with living in the deep desert. For us the sheer beauty combined with epic riding condition for both road and mountain bikes are ample reason to join the Moab community.

Obviously Blaze will begin building mountain bicycles and 29er's along with the road bikes we currently offer. The move is scheduled to begin on November 18th.

Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show 2010

2010-10-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show was great fun. What a friendly and talented group of builders! Blaze was honored to be included. This year we shared the booth with Muse Cycles from Santa Barbara.

Getting to the show was a bit of a crunch. Lyle organized and setup a trailer to get us up there while I managed to paint 5 frames in the nick of time for us make the gargantuan 16 hour drive from L.A. to Portland.

While I wanted to show up with fully built up test riding bikes I was happy to show the painted frames in the buff. The Portland crowd was engaged and informed. Did I mention the Beer was flowing AND tasty.

Here is the booth. Note the killer Muse 29'ers that Lyle built.

There where loads of excellent bicycles to look at. Here are a few pictures.

A Tale of Two Bicycles.

2010-09-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Recently I took some time to build myself two new frames. I wanted to explore how far I could push stiffness on a steel frame. I was surprised at the results! I ended up with two completely different bicycles. It's a great to feel the difference practically rather take somebodies "word". You are welcome to test ride any of my built up frames and feel for yourself. (provided you fit!)

The first bike, a simple singe speed uses a "Standard Gauge" True Temper tube set. This tube set is very close to the classic Reynolds 531.

The specs for standard gauge are:
25.4 mm (1 inch) Top Tube
28.6 mm Seat Tube
28.6 mm Down Tube
1 inch Headset
The tubes are "double butted" . Thickness tapers from 0.9mm<->0.6mm<->0.9mm same as Reynolds 531.

This bicycle is flexible. A noodle some would say. Not surprising for a 62cm Seat Tube and a 1" Headset!
At first I was tempted to dismiss the bike as a bad experiment, but I got hooked on it 's comfortable ride. I love it. It still rolls swiftly and handles predicable every time. As a minimalist bicycle it's working perfectly.

The second is a road bike that uses Double Over Sized True Temper OX Platinum Tubes. Over Sized tubes have a larger diameter that allow thinner walls. This results in lighter bikes than the standard steel frames of the 70 & 80's. Additionally The OX tubes are heat treated to make them even stronger.

Double Over Sized Specs are:
31.8 mm Top Tube
31.8 mm Seat Tube
34.9 mm Down Tube
1 1/8 inch Headset
The Butting on these tubes is:
0.7mm<->0.4mm<->0.7mm

I like to ride this bike on weekend rides up in the Santa Monica Mountains. What can I say?
Is it Stiff? You betcha.
It is Comfortable? I can not feel this bicycle under my butt.
How's the Handling? Telepathic.

It's light at under 19 pounds while my personal weight is right around (censored!). If you went to a bike shop and they offered you a clunky Clydesdale, you want this instead. Try it for you self.

Both bicycles are build using lugs. The single speed is using classic "pressed" lugs from the 70's, the double OS uses modern investment cast stainless steel lugs. I customized both sets of lugs with large "Windows".

Well I'm back to the shop to build some more bicycles for the show up in Portland. I want to build more test bicycles for you guys to test ride. It's akin to developing a taste for wines. The trick is exposure to the good stuff.

Ride with "the Blaze"

How I got into building bicycle frames.

2010-08-20T11:21:00.001-07:00

Some time around 2005-2006 I decided I'd had it with off the rack, mass produced frames. Astonishingly, even after forking up several thousands of dollars for a frame, I was not impressed with what I was being sold. Apparently high quality, high performance, real world bicycles had gone out of fashion. Rather than wait for the situation to change, I decided to design and build the kind of frames I wanted to ride, plain and simple.

My background in Motion Capture and Visual Effect has given me considerable experience with bio-mechanics. Precisely measuring and mapping human motions for years has helped me understand how to fit bicycles with very good results. It’s very helpful to have full 3D visualizations of the bicycles in relationship to the rider before I start the physical build process

I spent years building up fabrication skills. I still consider every day to be a huge learning experience. Now I have a modest shop with a jig and an alignment table as well as a small paint booth. With this basic set up I can design, build and paint your bike from scratch.

The focus for me is to provide a better match between rider and frame than you will find elsewhere. It’s a challenge I’m proud to take on every day.

Making things shinny

2010-06-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

It used to be that bikes where chromed to create shiny highlights. These are typical seen on seat stays, chain stays and obviously lugs. Turns out the chroming process is very toxic and there are fewer and fewer "chromers" available to do the work. One "modern" alternative is to use polished stainless steel to get this shinny effect, at least on lugs and drop out. Here is a fork crown and dropouts that are starting to shine.

The results are beautiful. You need a polishing wheel and some rouge to get things going. Naturally the complex and relatively small crevasses that are common on bicycles make it tricky to do the polishing. All you need is time.....

Back from Zion

2010-06-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough good things about Zion Nation Park. In this case I got a chance to go hiking and spend some time with family.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm

I'm back in the shop with monster energy and desire to build even better bikes in the next few months. It's not surprising when you consider just how inspiring Zion can be. This year I was presented with clear skies, lush plant life and a ripping "Virgin" river. Yeah! Rip it up.

Welcome to Blaze Bicycles Blog.

2010-05-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Pierre Chastain. I design and build custom bicycles. Blaze Bicycles is a custom frame shop I created to provide you with a performance oriented, hand crafted, custom alternative to the mass produced "market" driven bicycles.

So far it has resulted in excellent road frames that have refined handling and sought after comfortable and accurate fit. You can see some of the results at www.blazebicycles.com, where you can also contact me and order your very own Blaze Bicycle.