John had fortunately started the process and had already had the rear wheel modified for single sided mounting by Jack Berger of JAB Engineering who engineered the axle. John had also had the main tube bent up by U-neek Bending in Dandenong, pretty sweet curves here! He bought a carbon/kevlar seat from Flying Furniture to mount in the frame, a cool handlebar stem and a Barcroft front wheel drive fork that was disc brake ready. John had been busy making a full size chipboard mockup of the frame, certainly makes it slightly easier to be able to just put the tubing on the board to make sure they fit!

I started with the rear axle and working a way to hold it securely, so I modified it to lock in with no movement. Tried to make a sculptured bolt to sort of match the other side that was beautifully created by Malcolm Martin to match the hub. Not as sweet looking as Malcolm's work, but seemed to work a treat. All that is needed is a 6mm Allen key to remove the wheel.

Then there seemed to be a huge gap in the middle of construction, think I was swamped with other stuff (as per usual ;-) but then got back into it with both feet running. The main tube was the biggest noggin scratcher of all, it took probably half a day to work out just how to cut it where the headtube goes through, was happy with the result though. With more holesawing and jig making, I managed to get it setup on the bench, jeez, what a bitch!

John and I had many meetings along the way to discuss design changes that I thought needed addressing. John showed up whenever required and was extatic to see the progress no matter how small it had been since his last viewing. I was initially scared about the 50x0.9mm main tube, but with 4,000+ km's under his belt, I think we designed it to cope with the rigours of daily use.

S&S Couplings were used to make it pack down into a case that John had acquired. I also designed a set of handlebars that could be adjusted in a multitude of ways and could also be removed from the bike without the need of removing grips/shifters etc.

I added a few sculptured details here and there to try and strengthen the very flowing look of the bike, much to John's approval :-) The seat was also made adjustable for angle and for quick removal.

John appears to be more than happy with his "Xevon" and has been spotted all over the place and bailed up many a time for a Q&A session. The "Xevon" has proved awesomely stable at any speed, and is very fast on the flat, proving it both stiff and aero.

John has a number of new designs pencilled in, stay tuned...4 Apr 05