Velocity faux Wood Rims

Velocity just released their new fake wood rims....deep v style for fixie projects. And since i'm a sucker for such simple marketing strategies i just HAD to order a few for the shop.

faux

the real thing

nice ride

had a great ride this morning as i had to pedal into town to pick up the van, which was having new brakes and rotors installed. The temperature was around 20d but i did have a nice tailwind pushing me along. I love how tailwinds make you feel good about your conditioning.....and since i was feeling so good i decided to take the long cut and hit the local river park singletrack stash. The trail was decent and there wasn't too much snow, but what the trail lacked in snow...... ice more than made up for the difference. After about 30 minutes of ice covered trail i headed in to pick up the van. All was well until they handed me my bill.....damn volkswagons are expesive to maintain. Oh well.....had a good ride though.

destination....Reliance Auto

townie

out of a box of old parts.....a new life created.

Frame from a mid nineties KHS Cruiser
Fork, truss rods, and handlebar from a prewar schwinn

Profile 3pc crank from a early nineties GT bmx

Specialized stem

well worn Flite saddle

RH Avid lever running Koski brakes

Schwinn foam grips

OEM Singlespeed wheelset with WTB tires

4 Sale....inquire within

RB headbadge

subtle new Red Barn Headbadges. Let me know if you'd like one...i think i can get a few more.

topic...beans

Turner blend

thanks Cris !

Cris headed home to visit family for the past holidays last month and while he was there also kind enough to feed one of my true vises in life.....good coffee. Cris has been claiming that Costa Rica has some very fine coffee beans and roasters. Well, it appears he was correct as i've been loving the black bean from CR.

400 grams of black goodness.

ski pics

Skied Ward mountain on saturday with Jeff and Lance right before the temps dropped into the negatives and we had a nice outting. Made it to the summit but only briefly as it was cold and windy up on top. I know it's not about bikes but here's a few pictures anyway.

a long and steady 5000ft climb

Lance looking over the edge...at summit.

the view westward

Jeff

posters hung

I managed to hang a couple of framed posters on the wall today. These beauties have been sitting around since christmas, a gift from my in-laws. Man, they sure hit the nail on the head when they picked out this gift. It's a wonderful addition to the shop and i was speechless when i opened the package. The frames are aluminum with a brass colored finish and topped off with a glass cover. I did think it was kinda funny that of the two pics they chose...one had a bunch of drinking cyclists and in the other a bunch of smoking cyclist. Just who in the heck do they think their daughter married ?

Thanks a ton Con and Randall !

Schwinn Twinn completed

Here's a picture of the completed Schwinn Twinn overhaul. This bike had tons of corrosion going on inside, places that were'nt appearent from the outside. Once we opened up the bearings we quickly discovered lots of rust. Also, take an inside look of the Atom Drum brake before we cleaned out the old brake shoe residue and rust from the original ball bearings (which were all replaced with new 1/4" bearings). The atom drum is cable actuated and the brake arm expands the two brake shoes which puts pressure against the inside walls of the hubshell. The side shot of the hub shows how thick the braking surface is.....no weight savings attempt going on here.

I think the bike turned out nicely and so did the owners.

Atom Drumbrake with 5spd freewheel (with 30yrs worth of corrosion)

1954 JC Higgins Colorflow

photo request....had a customer ask me about a bike that he saw hanging in the background of the shop...seemed he had a Colorflow of his own that needed restoration. He wanted to use this particular one as an example of color and what it looked like in original shape. Wish granted.....a few pictures of our 1954 JC Higgins Colorflow. How about that skirt gaurd....eh ? I know a few gents that could use this feature on their mountain bikes ; )

PW

A small Phil Wood order came into today, and it was a perfect day to smudge the hubs all up with some greasy fingerprints (sorry Chris, but don't worry i wiped them all off ). Beautiful equipment these fellas make. The hubs are easily some of the most beautiful being made these days, bomb proof too. If only they weighed a few grams less then the masses would probably enjoy them also. We also got in a few extra fixed gear cogs (which are stainless steel) and a half dozen more bearings for the external bottom brackets.

night ride

snow - check

cold - check

fat tire bikes - check

lights - check

crown royal - check

campfire - check

---------------------------------------------

equals the ingredients to a damn good night ride. Thanks Rick.

in the stand

1978 Schwinn Twinn with 5spd rear and atom drum brake, in for a full overhaul and clean/detail....(Navy Jelly is the cats meow for removing rust from chrome, just don't get this crap on your hands as it'll remove'em....yeah...your hands). This bike must have spent a little time in outdoor storage as there seems to be a little bit of rust here and there and the bearings were all in pretty rough shape. A thorough cleaning and re-greasing of the bearings brought them all back to life and none actually needed replacement. We also had to replace all of the cable/housing as they were corroded badly (to be expected for 30yr old cables). Pretty cool to see how tough these old bikes were.