The Redbones party has been postponed to May 19th! This is a picture from 2 years ago.

Chris H’s Club Racer getting out of the jig tonight. I had hoped to get the frame welded too, but it is late I am tired and want to ride my bike home. It is suposed to rain tomorrow…and then I think everyday for a week?…oh yea..it is “Bike to Work week”..it always rains on bike to work week

The Redbones Bike to Work Week street party and fundraiser is Monday…be there.

As you all have seen I am using the blog as a website, linked to my old website. The blog is so easy to use compared to the site, but the site does look much nicer.

When I get the new photos up and linked to Flicker the blog site will be very useful. More on that later…I am out for the night.

I finally got John B’s frame powder coated! Not much to show since it is a partial build. John is going to finish it off with parts he has hanging around. This a 700c fat tire fixed gear bike with 52mm Velo Orange fenders, do most things kind of bike along with a rear bag rack. Like a lot of fixed gear bikes. They start out as a single purpose bike, but often found to be so fun that end up riding them everyday for a few years John is a all round rider, commuter and Brevet rider etc…lots of miles with him and now with this bike.

I will have a new post soon about the new blog, site and bikes. Just wanted to get John’s bike up.

Welding up Jon B’ bike…not be confused with John B’s bike that I have ready for powder coating [just waiting for the powder]. The weather just keeps getting better around here. Not a usual Spring for New England and it is really good for my attitude, though we could use the water if it did rain.

As of today [4/26] I have 4 posters left.

Short post, just wanted to get a shot of Jon’s bike up

Handmade and numbered ANT posters made by ANT rider Dave Publow [Club and a Frontal]. Dave made these for NAHBS 07 and I kind of forgot that I had them. If anyone wants one they are $70 with shipping. I have 8 of these…well 9 but I am keeping one I know Dave needs the money. He is a starving artist in Madison WI.

 

I have been testing out some new products that I was interesting using on my bikes. First was the Sella Anatomica saddle. This saddle is great, really soft right out of the box. The only reason I bought it is because it is made in the USA. I was pleasantly surprised with the ride. Not as classy looking as a Brooks and not as many options [with width etc...], however I think this is the new way to go and will be promoting it with all my bikes [Other saddles will always be an option].

The next item is my new headlamp. I am completely sold on LED lights. No more Halogen lights for me. I bought a B&M IQ Fly N Plus [switch and standlight]. This is the best light that I have ever used [even better than my Inoled]. Great beam pattern that lights up the whole road, takes very little effort to make work [you can walk very slow with it and it works at full!] and the stand light is a real light…not just some lame glow. I will now be specifying these on all my bikes now [along with the fender mounted wired 4D Lite taillight].

The other item I have been testing are now ready to use on my bikes is the Maglight mini LED [2 cell]. I always use a battery LED as my 2nd light. I position my Dynomo light for the down the road light and my LED battery light for right in front of the front wheel and it also serves as my back up light [for road repairs etc...]. I have been using cat Eye LED lights, the latest being the 5 led HL200…a great light still, but this new Maglight LED completely blows it’s doors off! Again I just bought the Maglight, because it is made in the USA, but have been very surprised with the quality. This light is brighter than the Dyno light, but not as good as a beam pattern for going all the way up the road. However it is so much better than any bike LED headlight [battery] that I am going to buy these in bulk and use them as my new battery light on all my bikes. I will make a special pivoting mount that will fit on my new racks.

On rack and light notes. I have made and get a lot of request for making dual light racks, equipped with the Schmidt hub and dual E6 lights. A very nice set up. However I think that the new combination that I am using on a Shimano dyno hub along with the B&M IQ Fly and the mini mag LED is the better option AND will cost less too….much less.

In the coming weeks and months I will be posting pictures on new models and new equipment that I think will be a very good mix. I am out to specify more and more USA made parts on my bikes and I fell the best way to promote this is to make the bikes and post pictures of them. I have some people in the build Que that are up for this, so stay tuned for the bikes.

I have not started the last list of bikes that I posted last, but will be getting to that this weekend. So again it is John B, Jon B, Chris H….and of course many more after that, but this is that is next.

Sincerely Mike.

PS I am trying to make this blog a lot about the work being completed in the shop and not so much about bikes, parts and life philosophy, but it is hard not to want to go in that direction. I would like to, but that would take too much time away from making your bikes

David’s bike is all ready now. I got to thinking about this well ridden bike [daily]. This bike was my first order of the year for 2004 [early Jan]. At that time I was still fresh out from Boston and did not have a lot of orders or money [from moving]. This bike along with another LR order in the following week really saved me. The next month the orders were coming in and have not stopped yet [Thank you]. In case you did not know before David was hit by a car, got his fork flattened, wheel bashed, rear rack mashed, front brake broken. ut best of all he is ok. Got his knee pretty sore, but he is back on the bike.

I was just interviewed by Amy Walker at Momentum Magazine. This is going to be a pod cast. I am not sure how to acces that. I went to the site and did not see any pod cast links, but anyway check out Momentum Mag…my new favorite bike culture magazine 9I still like Urban Velo too

John B’s frame set is next. He has been waiting a long time and has since changed his mind to a fixed gear bike. He has many bikes and rides a lot of miles each year, commutes daily, ride brevets, BMB and PBP etc…

After that will be my next Jon B! Jon B in Hawaii is going to have a very interesting Roadster built with welded on plates on the rear dropouts for a banna seat struts and a 3 speed stick shift on the downtube.

Cold, rain, snow,rain, cold Nice and warm in my shop though However I am not looking forward to the floods coming tomorrow. I got David T’s Club Racer together. Everyone that has come into the shop has liked the color. David is going to like his new bike a lot. He was riding an old Motobecane[sp?], that was way to small and with skinny tubes, old parts. This is going to be like a rocket [with fenders].

I sent a drawing off to Paragon Machine today for some new slider dropouts. I am really tired of dropouts that do not fit in the stays, do not have eyelets where I want them and have 5 x .8mm threads for eyelets [I like big 6 x 1mm for racks]. I am always drilling and taping out eyelets to make 6 x 1 threads. These droputs will look similar to the Paragon sliders with windows. I have some that I will modify [as prototypes] to look like the ones I will have made for me. These will be my new universal dropout for all my bikes rear ends and will work for any drivetrain. I recieved a small batch of Shimano Alfine hubs and shifters a few weeks ago and I am excited to finally get them. I wish more of the Alfine group would work for me, but it does not cut it. I would like to use the crank and BB, but it only comes in a 170mm legnth. This is one reason I use the Sugino cranks that I can get in 165mm, 170mm and 175mm to better fit people on my bikes.

Once I get these dropouts modified I am going to come up with a new prototype bike for production. I took my fist order from someone in Ohio! He has been riding the same mtn bike for 12 years for commuting and now want a Boston Roadster with some upgrades on it [Front rack, Inoled light, Honjo fenders], my kind of bike.

I am going to get going on Shivs bike and build it up and will post pictures in a few days.

Next up will be John B {MA}, then Jon B. {HA}, Chris H {MA}, Billy {CAN}, Jeff B.{CA}, Tom H.{CA}, Bob G. {MA}