After months of planning I have finally made my custom bicycle building business official.
Friday 07/03/09 - My wife Danielle and I - after several months of brain storming - finally decided on a business name - Muse Cycles. To me - Muse is synonymous with Inspiration and I can't think of a better word to associate with bicycles.
Saturday 07/04/09 - I was up early and realized that a machine shop vendor which I had been using to put together a list of tools that I need to get this business going was having a one day 20% off your entire web order sale. A 20% discount would pay for shipping and sales tax on most items - and their prices are the lowest around. We had plans to spend the afternoon and evening celebrating the Fourth of July - So I decided to spend a few hours purchasing machine shop tools for the new business.
Sunday 07/05/09 - Registered the domain name www.MuseCycles.com. Setup email accounts, and setup a temporary website at www.MuseCycles.com. I continued working on my first frame designs, as well as working out the details of getting my workshop and business going.
Monday 07/06/09 - I submitted a Fictitious Business Name with the County of Santa Barbara for Muse Cycles. On the way home I visited the local welding supply store and asked for a quote on a TIG welder I am thinking of purchasing for frame building. Continued working out the details on my initial frame designs.
Tuesday 07/07/09 - Visited my friend and mentor Channing @ Old Man Mountain right here in Goleta - and asked him for his advise and assistance on selecting a TIG welder as well as assistance in creating a base for the a 850 lb granite surface plate that I ordered on Saturday. Channing designs and builds his own line of full suspension mountain bikes as well as touring racks for all kinds of bicycles.
Wednesday 07/08/09 - I got a call at 6:30am from a freight company telling me that they were planing on delivering the 850 lb granite surface plate I ordered on Saturday. I was shocked and amazed. I had no idea a truck delivery would be so fast - I wasn't prepared for it. Turns out neither was the shipping company. The Muse Cycles workshop is in a residential neighborhood - I had specified a residential delivery with a lift gate - but that had been overlooked at the shipping company so delivering the granite surface plate is going to be delayed a until Thursday. The first boxes of tools started showing up at my home via UPS. Channing called with an idea to create a base for the surface plate out of some aluminum rectangular rod stock. It sounded like a great idea - we made a plan to meet at the Old Man Mountain workshop on Friday morning and build it up. The UPS boxes contain several useful items - one of which was a set of four casters for the base of the surface plate table.
Thursday 07/09/09 - The driver for the delivery company calls and asks for specific directions to the workshop to deliver the granite surface plate. I got to the Muse Cycles workshop just in time to welcome the delivery driver and direct him where to place the palette bearing the 850lb surface plate. For some time I have been wondering how exactly I am going to manage to get that 850lb slab of granite off a palette and up onto a stand about 38 inches above the floor. Now that the granite slab was actually here - I am better able to form a plan. On my way home - I went by the bank and setup a business checking and savings accounts.
Friday 07/10/09 - Spent the day at the Old Man Mountain workshop building the base for the surface table out of aluminum. The material - 3in x 2in x 1/8 in rectangular rod stock is great stuff to work with, and it is exactly what is needed for such a project. I cut up the pieces, and prepared it to be welded. Channing is very accomplished at TIGing aluminum - it didn't take him long at all to weld up the base for the surface table. I did my best to watch and learn and help him out in anyway possible so that he could get back to his own creations. The base of the surface table turned out terrific - it is very stout - and it looks great - it will complement the new black granite surface plate very nicely. Kent - a great guy who helps out at Old Man Mountain on Fridays offered to give me and the base for the surface plate a ride to the Muse Cycles workshop in Old Yeller - his 1960's 60's Chevy pickup truck truck since he nearby the Muse Workshop. We put the base as well as my bike in the back of Old Yeller and headed down to the Muse Cycles workshop. We unloaded the goods at the workshop and Kent and I briefly discussed the possibility of using a borrowed flat bed truck with attached hydraulic crane to lift the surface plate up onto the base. We both agreed - the flat bed truck with the hydraulic crane should be the right tool for the job. Next step will be to attach the casters to the bottom of the base, then find a time that works to borrow the flat bed truck and lift the surface plate up onto the base.
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