Sunday, June 26, 2011

Space chairs

Found some behind the scenes photos of the crew working on the movie that I built the space seats for...


One of the crew members sitting there for the camera man to do a shot focus.
Love movie sets because when you see them in real life it looks nothing like what you see on TV.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Flux Foundation - Oakland,CA

I have found true radness in Oakland

A group of women and men that are motivated to build, build and build crazy things.

The list of crazy builds goes on and on, but here is the last one they let me run the torch on.

The non-profit group is called The Flux Foundation , known for their crazy BurningMan projects.  Check this site !

The project -

Called Brollyflock

BrollyFlock, a renegade flock of umbrellas, creates a fun and inviting installation, producing light, shade, mist and fire. It is a dancing swirl of mixed materials, anchored by over-sized handles to a wide base. The lowest umbrellas feature periodic misting systems, while the highest hold beautiful flame effects. By day the BrollyFlock is a refreshing landmark, by night its internal glow and fiery top enliven its surroundings. - posted from Flux Foundation


As you can see by the person at the bottom - its massive


Jen and I near the middle where everything meets up
Laying some Dual Shield Mig beads on the main tubes.
The only place to build something this big is a giant old steel mill in Oakland


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Summer !!!!

Hey, its summer time and my machines are running non-stop around my shop.

Tons of prototypes for start up companies and some even for some Fortune 500 companies.

Game consoles,Electric motorcycles, 3 flaming 40 foot tall umbrellas, concept bicycles, and concept medical radness,

 I love it all !

Love to be any part of it...

Living the dream with Poe the dog
Welcome to Monkey Likes Shiny

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Father's day is coming up - Start building!


My dad kicks ass - Mad Fabricator



I decided to build something for my dad...

Couldn't really think of something...

The last 2 years I have built my dad customs bicycles only to them ending up at my house because they all were sized to big (some how my personal size ).. Then I tried a 1965 Fender guitar last year, which he seemed to like!

So I set the bar very high last year in gift giving, this year I can only go down in gift quality -

The Answer:

Because hes getting up there in age, why not build him a robot to help him with his daily tasks.

Just painted it, now I have to finish up his Titanium arm this week because he fell off the shelf and his clay arm broke, bummer.



If you are following the speed bike progress well your looking at some of the tubes...
Mark over at Paragon Machine Works works makes some nice stainless connectors

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Here we go...

Well, its time to start! This is going to be an odd ball so come along for the ride.

The idea concept came to me about a year ago after reading about "Mile a Minute Murphy" and his quest to ride a bike 60+ MPH in 1899 to promote the railroad, really the bike drafting off the rear of the train was just to get people to notice how fast and smooth the train could travel. They put down a lot of cash to build the 2 miles that Murphy would ride, a special straight section of track with smooth wood down the center for the bike to ride on.


The twist - develop a project that doubles that record and doubles everything used for the record, everyting from the design of the bike to the gear the rider uses.

I know your asking yourself " 120 mph on a bike !", its hard and so thats why we have a film crew!


So, I got on the phone with Peter Gilbert at Cane Creek and because everyone at Cane Creek is rad, they asked what do you need and how fast do you need it. Theres never been a project that Peter and his crew at Cane Creek have let me down on, there always seems to be wheels, headsets, shocks and stickers in the mail that day headed for my shop for my concept projects. I can't say a single bad thing about them or their products.




Next after locking in the parts I needed, was to go to the best design engineer I know - My brother Jason Tiedeken. The dude is off the chain when it comes to thinking outside the box and getting people to love it all. Hes got enough experience and education for a whole group of people plus why not have him design this machine, he is an engineer and my brother. Plus hes a hell of a bicycle designer.

A concept downhill project similar to the VPP of later years
 my brother Jason Tiedeken designed back in I believe 1999 or so
welded by Peacock Groove - Erik Noren in Mpls,MN


Ok, stop for a second because I am getting pumped posting this.

Ok, I am back

So the concept design made my jaw drop, something no one has ever seen, so different, so future, so sleek, so top secret I can't show you until its done. If any of the big dogs out there see this before its done you might see Lance's TT bike look a little different next year.
My new section of my shop devoted to welding bicycle frames
I seem to find my zen in this corner of the shop.
And for you kids out there 650 front 700 rear

You may have seen posts from me over the last months talking about building this odd project, and I will say its taken a lot longer to start then I planned but then again I wasn't expecting my life to change so much in the last year an a half as well, so come along for the journey of a completly 100% concept project that will twist your mind and have you asking for more!

Enjoy