old tool with a release on a new life

i'm an emotional kind of fella, and i had to shed a tear the day that my old Park Tool crank puller broke but i made a promise to turn her into something more beautiful. That day finally came today.... cold winter days has a way of doing that to the souls inside of a bike shop. Oh well.....i guess i can't say that i ever have a problem finding a project to do around here.

my new park tool bottle opener:

Whatdidjudo for thanksgiving ?

Me.....i spent the last 6 days kicking around the Bighole Valley of Wisdom MT, a nice place to go if you're looking for a desolate and quiet place. I like those qualities in a vacation spot even though it's only 2 hours from my front door and the temperatures in Wisdom are typically the coldest in the country during the winter. We saw the temps hover 10 below a couple of mornings, and the crisp cold air had a bite on any exposed skin. I've come to enjoy that bite over the past years and i get a little gidy when this time of the year comes and my father in law Randall and i head over to the Lewis Ranch for a little hunting and male bonding : ). But of course i couldn't bring myself to vacation without the bicycle so we threw in both Surly Pugsleys to pedal behind gated, snow covered roads. I took a few pictures this year just to share, here's a bird eye view of life on an 1800 acre cattle ranch minus the calused hands.

The Lewis's Place

our home for 6 days

my old bronco

the paycheck

scenery

Felt Solo 29

Felt's 2008 Solo 29er. $1599

cassette hub, Avid Juicy 5 hydraulics

Eccentric BB for chain tension....adjustment kept by set screws.

Truvativ Stylo SS crankset w/ GXP bottom bracket.

King headset

On the subject of Portland.....You know Chris King's HQ's are located in Portland as well. And check out this little treat we just recently rec'd. It's their new 1.5 Devolution Headset to convert frames with a 1.5 head tube so they can use a suspension fork with 1.185" steerer tube, same bearing deign on a larger scale, a preload shaft to keep things taut up front. I also really like the subtle black on black lettering. Price is $179.

videos 4 sale

we've got a few of the Klunkerz videos left over from the little shin-dig at the barn this past weekend. Video's are running $25.





it's a damn good flick that really gives us an inside view of what transpired in the heyday of early mountain biking. The folks that really jump started the evolution, the bikes they fell in love with, and the trails they rode them on. I've been meaning to turn one of my old balloon tired bikes into a clunker, and this vid has really put the coals in my pants to get'er started. I've just got to decide which lucky bike will recieve the transformation.

friday night showing

stop on out at the barn tomorrow night (friday) for the showing of KLUNKERZ. Beer and chips will be provided. 7pm

Bike Town USA

Here's a pretty good read about the cycling culture over in Portland OR., this was forwarded to me by Warwick this morning (thanks buddy!). Click here. I've only been to Portland once but it was pretty obvious from my one trip that the indy rock, bike messanger, commuting, bike scene was alive and well. I thought the city was much nicer than the neighboring city to the north known as Seattle......and i'd say Portlands love of caffiene and micro-brews easily rivals the big brother. Matter of fact Portland claims they have more breweries per capita than any place in the US of A. I can believe it from my short stay last year as there wasn't a corner street business in the downtown area that wasn't either a coffee shop or a brewery. I found load's of websites directing hops and barley lovers to the wide selection that the city hosts......Here are a few links.


Portland Beer. ORG

The beer blog


And you know......i've just got to put in the research since we'll be heading that direction come Feb. 8-10th for the fourth annual NAHMBS , yessir...that's right. We're going back to lay witness to some of the finest crafted bikes put on the earth. Artisian style. And i'm looking forward to it.

one of my favorite pics from last year's show taken from the Sycip camp:




last years bro (will hopefully be this years bro's)

full moon fridays

happy friday folks ! Anyone get any night rides in during the past couple of nights ???? If so, count me as being one of the jealous because here in Hamilton the sky was absolutely clear and the moon was extremelly bright, would have been just perfect night ride conditions. On the dirt roads last night i didn't need a light so i just plugged away at the pedals and took in the cool, crisp evening air with the aid of moon ray. Speaking of lights ..... anyone seen the LED Trinewt from Niterider ? If i were to purchase a new light right now i'd suppose it'd be the one to consider.



Thanks Rick for dropping of the new music today.... some ol' classics from Neil Young (massey hall 71'), goodness his voice sounds so young. I still need to pick up the Chrome Dreams II album, and i'd suggest you do the same if you like Neil.




Finally.....our Felt rep, Zach stopped into the shop today and we sat around and b-s'd about bikes for about 3 hours. Felt's bikes look outstanding for the 08' season and we're stoked to be selling their bikes. Their entire line looks to be very solid. They've added upon the full suspension line and added two more series of bikes....the 5.7" travel Compulsion line and the 6.5" travel Redemption line. Personally, the bike that i'd like to purchase from them this year....the XCity , which is a sweet little Shimano 8spd internal geared commuter or errand type bike that retails for $799. I just like the clean lines and simplistic looks of it and will have for myself soon enough. Zach also has with him some killer road bike eye candy, a Pinarello FP5 that retails for $3200.....for the money it looked very well equipped and we'll be considering adding pinarello to our line of bikes.



Thanks for stopping out Zach !



Carli over at Mavic also stopped out this past week and had more goodness stuffed into the back of her Volvo then should be allowed. Every wheel bag was better than the next and by the time that she left the shop we needed mops to wipe up the excess drool left on the floor. Thanks for coming on out Carli and for spreading the mavic goodness.



all for now, have a fantastic weekend folks !

Rolling Thunder

kind of a silly name for a CX race, but still i knew it would be an excellent event so i loaded up the kids, my good pal Rick and his son too as we headed up to Missoula on saturday night for the second annual cx race hosted by the U of M and under the lights of the Missoula Osprey baseball field. You couldn't ask for better conditions than the rain and 38d temps that we've been having for the past few days and it made for muddy and very slippery conditions come race time, perfect CX conditions. You can read up on Shauns blog for a better race recap than i could provide. Thanks Shaun for the fantastic evening entertainment !

pics of the mens A race

Gunnar Rock Tour...w/ big wheels.

Loaded mtb touring (sounds fun doesn't it ?? )..... my plan is to build this 29er Rock Tour up as a shop bike and parked on the floor, hopefully it'll spark a customer into the desire of an off road touring bike. The tentative plan is to build it up with the new Shimano XT, Old Man Mountain racks, a set of handbuilt XT/DT-Swiss 7.1d wheels, Schwalbe Marathon tires, some Avid BB-7' brakes, a WTB dirt drop handlebar, and barcon type shifters. We'll keep ya posted as the project moves along.

frame pics

seasonal

i suppose it's that time of year already. Time to stoke up the stove. High of 49d today.

Knolly Endorphin

we just recieved two Endorphin frames and thought we'd share a few pics. For those of you that aren't in the know...these are the long awaited framesets designed by the infamous and a gentlemen, Mr Noel Buckley. I'll tell you straight up that his frames are simply incredible. Solid designs built to take a whopin'.

5.5" of travel at 7.8 pound

weekend ride pic

sign-in sheet

steep switchbacks 101

DIY switchbacks...but with snow, and lots of exposure.

This lesson was brought to you by-JP.

come on in !

come on in lil' buddy !!

Chicken Crit

Chicken Crit recap and final results. Well, it's been a few days since my last entry and it's not because i've been avoiding the blog. It seems that we've had a little spurt in the action at the shop here and folks have been coming in to visit and to get their last doses of riding before the snow settles in for the long haul. Today alone we had visitors from Missoula, Great Falls and someone passing thru from california and actually bike shopping in Montana (sounded kinda bizarre to me too ), but anyway during the last few days it's allowed the fun to sink in from last weekend. The Chicken Crit, in it's second year of carnation has been embraced and we'll certainly have a third if you all would be kind enough to come back again. What is the CC ?? Well very basically it's an end of the year celebration and a party with the same company who we spent lots of time out on the trails this past year with. We grilled, fried , and baked just about every type of meat plate you could imagine. We drank great local beer, and some not so local Tequila (Mag, thanks for making the margaritas) . We sat around and enjoyed damn good conversation, which VARIED greatly dependeding on which circle of friends you stumbled into. We also had a slide show that highlighted 2007 in review....lots of new trails were ridden and new friendships were made along the way. The chicken crit is my way of bringing all of these good folks together and saying " thanks for the g-times". And then.....finally .....to cap off the evening we have adults on tyke bikes racing for glory and pride. A pretty damn good night by my own personal definitions.

fried salmon

slide show

and finally....the result (time penalties assessed...yes you brother George, you drip and the time gets nipped)

1. A Riley

2. Chaybo

3. Brother George

4. No-way T-Buhl

5. Walt finely representing the tues night brethren

Wmns catagory we had two fearless females take the plate and it was a close race for sure.

1. TD

2. Sassie Cassie has some fine a#$ boots

and finally...in the b-day suit division

1. and much to the surprise of us all

2. No way T-Buhl who kept a little something- something extra left in his reserves

3. Brother George

4. and last but not least, inspiration for the newly added catagory, L Physer.

Chicken Crit Duex

It's midnight....i'm flippin' tired, g'night. but here's a few crazy pics from the 2nd Annual CCC for your enjoyment:

mrs devall:

your's truely:

a disaster in the making

The Highline

it's been just like a candy shop in here since we've returned from Vegas


the Turner Highlines are starting to ship, we waited in a long line to recieve ours and it was well worth the wait. We've already spent the entire morning pouring over the details. Just so many pass over, such detail. Turner really created a beautiful 7.1" travel, 10.65 pound frame.




intricate cnc'd detail, a 12 X 150 rear axle...check out the built in derailleur hanger.



infamous Turner bushing design and also grease injectable.