heres some of the projects we get up to

[compositepro]

just found the bits and bobs you might be interested in, we make lots of different stuff , kind of machine and fabricate stuff for others too links are here
http://instagram.com/mmc_engineer

https://www.flickr.com/photos/compositepro/

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[chunkolini]

Heavens above, bicycles made of steel. how quaint.
Joking, lovely looking bit of kit. I almost bought a Cotic Soul a while back, but my ancient Kona Kilaeauea would have sulked.
I have lost touch with the bike scene, a few years back it seemed that high end steel frames were making a comeback.

 

[FranV8]

Loving the pics. That welding up their is something to be jealous of.

Chunko, that's good news, my early 90's Specialized Allez (the steel one) must be back in vogue then!

 

[chunkolini]

Old school steel mountain bikes were starting to go up in value a few years back.
I think a mix of the fact that they dont make bikes like that any more and guys i their 40's reliving their youth,

 

[Pete.]

Lovely work there!

What's the reasoning behind the hit-and-miss shouldering on the sprocket teeth?

 

[normspanners]

I think it is to help the derailleur system work as the chain has to travel from one sprocket and be picked up by the other

 

[Wallace]

Lovely welding, machine like precision. The bench is cool too, imagine being an apprentice and being told to tap that lot by hand!

 

[Shox Dr]

Very nice work and good to see you guys still going.

 

[pondy]

Big cotic fan here, ride an early soul and hemlock. a real shame that cy has had many problems with the manufacture of the rocket and had to cancel all his pre orders on the second batch.

The chainring is called a narrow wide chainring, the wider teeth grip the the chain more to help retention. You can use a singld nw ring with no chain device or guide and a clutch rear mech without dropping a chain

 

[compositepro]

Big cotic fan here, ride an early soul and hemlock. a real shame that cy has had many problems with the manufacture of the rocket and had to cancel all his pre orders on the second batch.

The chainring is called a narrow wide chainring, the wider teeth grip the the chain more to help retention. You can use a singld nw ring with no chain device or guide and a clutch rear mech without dropping a chain

The thing I find really annoying I this whol feeling sore for Cy,BML is not cotics toy shop and with that concentrating solely on his project has actually cost the company dearly ,he had very little to do with its day to day running and as such hindsight should have been to treat it as a business when othe companies came asking for machining ir welding, rather than being told we are not ready, from what I hear now I actually speak with companies there was plenty that would have kept BML busy whilst actually earning money ,also after 18 months of not earning a wage my goodwill ran out amongst other things, if i go that company is basically dead in the water

 

[pondy]

I knew about all the problems he had before bml. then when you came onboard all seemed well then I was shocked when I read on the forums rocket ordered was cancelled but I never accually read why, good to hear from the man himself as to why.
Does this mean you have split was from cotic or just put it on hold till they are ready?

 

[compositepro]

It just took a lot longer than we were both expecting thats a given ,i basically run the entire shop had to set up every procedure design program write posts for cnc maintain machines cut cycle times to be competitive design fixtures cut materials, the actual time spent on the bike was maybe 6months tops with pressure to deliver to the public

when those first rockets appeared the first one was just tacked up as a geometry test for Cotic and to test powder coat, dealing with external vendors is a major PITA they are interested in earning the money but cant be bothered to work with you, so they say we can do blah blah blah thhen finally admit they cant its a constant firefight where i end up fixing a problem that if i had been given the facts from day one would have been able to be taken care of, it gets to the point where you just think bring every process in house ,we have had to adjust to a lot of suppliers doing this,then i end up fighting Cy because we cant really afford either the time or financial outlay of a paint system this late in the game so after 18 months of busting your balls you think **** it i aint putting out **** after going through all that lot

the only good thing is that that frame passed CEN testing by a long way and it was never even built to production standard ,even after building bikes for years i said this was not to be sent for test,I would have been happy for it to be used as a mule but was a bit shocked when not a single weld failed

There are a few other problems where hes under the kosh a bit with taiwanese frames but its maybe a good thing as it shows we make quality here,wont say what as its not my place but i think the pressure valve went and he decided basically to take a back seat, financially we both lose a **** load if it goes west and the work we are doing now he would be a fool to do so IMHO, we broke its back and proved we build absolutely grade A framesets and that was a huge milestone

As far as BML it might last, we have lots of companies asking can you do this and its not mega long runs but good prototype work and it keeps the lights on, lesson learned is not to have all your eggs in one basket and treat it as a buisness from month one ,not some big adventure to get a slap on the back on how you managed to bring a little slice of manufacturing back to britain

Mod: edited for language keep it clean please

 

[pondy]

thanks for the info mike. hope all works out for you and bml