Hey Green Eyes!

Celeste. There is just some thing about it.

Some say it's the color of the Milan sky, some a mixture of military paints, and others the color of the former queen of Italy's eyes. [Thank you Wikipedia!] This is a timeless color that's been in our line for a number of years on our Deep V, Fusion, B43, Blunt, Aero, VXC, Aeroheat and Aerohead rims.

Regardless, all I know is our celeste comes from Australia.

Some of you have probably seen our new ad in Urban Velo. Sporting how versatile the Bottle Trap is and since we know how you love matching colors, yesterday we received the first batch of the Bottle Traps in celeste. Numbers are limited now but more are on the way!
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This Saturday is also a big day here in Grand Rapids, as it is the ribbon cutting/Mayor's Ride/'official' opening of the GR Bike Park. Join Ryan, J-Bolt and a slew of others at 9am for a trail day, then at 11am let the riding ensue!

Then Sunday, I'll be heading back to my homeland [Cedar Falls, IA] for an extended weekend and will be putting on a little urban ride with a few people; and yes, I'll be rocking the 16" folding fixie! It looks to be a good weekend here in the Midwest, so get out and ride!
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Finally a few videos for the weekend. The first two are from the Velo City 2010 Tour, the first is a recap of sorts followed by a teaser from the past LA event

The final video is from a film project in it's early stages of development. 'Career Courier' is a documentary on, you guessed it, career bicycle messengers. We're excited to be a part of this project and look forward to seeing Kenton put together his vision for the film. Share the love, click on the widget below to see the video and help support the cause.

Hey Hon, can you get me a fixie?

There are some things that are necessary and many things that are not.

A bicycle? Yes.

A folding bicycle? Arguable.

A fixie? No

A folding fixe? Absolutely.

That's right. I'm not the first to pull off such a feat nor will I be the last. For the last year, I have joked with friends that I wanted to build up a folding fixie to have when I traveled and to simply to keep in my car to always have a bike with me. Sure, I could have kept it kosher and rocked it single, 3, or 7 speed like many that come stock but there was simply some allure to making it fixed.

This was the second folding bike that I got my hands on but the first that I made into a fixie. The first was a 20" wheel Dahon Speed D7, that I ended up trading my former co-worker, Brent, for my Karate Monkey frame. I got this 16" wheel folding bike, a Hon, precursor to Dahon from another former co-worker at my old shop for a pair of Oakleys. Check out an old post on the No Drive website to see what this started out like.

I did do a few modifications to the bike to be able to make it work. Since I am all legs and arms at a little over 6 foot. In order to get proper leg extension and reach to the handlebars, the first thing was to cut off the attached flat bar that was on the steering column. Without putting much thought as to what I would do after removing it, I soon discovered that the it was extremely close to an 1 1/8" steer tube. Grabbing a stem, it confirmed it. I then, added a pair of mustache bars that had been floating around on a couple of bikes but had never found a good home.

The bike then sat for a good month or so. I built up the wheels once I found the Maxxis Hookworms, then I knew I wanted to change the color of the bike. Originally, I was going to black out the bike but ended up changing my mind after taking it completely apart. Raw seemed to be the better way to go. The bike sat in pieces for 2 months as I explored how I was going to extend the seatpost.

Enter, a good friend of mine, Bob Hammond [who happened to do all the photos in our current catalog], who is a bit of a machinist and took up the challenge of making a post that would not only be long enough for my leg but also strong. What he ended up using was steel, machining it down to size for a seat clamp and the notched properly to keep the seatpost in line; even going a step further to drill completely through the middle to lighten it up a bit.

The last week I've spent clear coating the bike after having it sandblasted, cleaning/polishing all the parts and attempting to remember how it all went together. In the end, the bike came together great and I even discovered that one of the old Velocages worked remarkably well on the old reflector mount on the steer tube. I topped the bike off with a rear rack that was made specifically for the Hon, the Pedro's Trixie [carefully placed I might add; see picture below, right side] and some hipster cysts for good measure. There a few things I'll be adding but for the most part, it's all done.

Here's a few of the specs on the bike:

Frame: 19?? Hon 16" Folding Bike
Wheels: Velocity [349] Aeroheat 32H, Radial Front, 2x Rear on Velocity Solid Axle/Cutout Flange Track Hubs
Tires: Maxxis Hookworm 16 x 1.95
Gearing: 46 x 13 [roughly 59.7 gear inches]

Introducing Halo

A few months back we began to look into redeveloping a new reflective surfaced rim. Our previous design, the ELVS, had been an extremely popular rim and we have been very pleased with them. In our desire to continue to innovate and improve, we set out to find an equally durable reflective process that allowed for us to machine the braking surfaces with better precision and ease.

Enter the Halo Reflective Powder Coating Process. The Halo rims get it's name from our partnership with Halo Coatings, who have developed this powder coating process for a number of different applications including: highway safety, bicycle, motorcycle, and fishing applications, fencing solutions, and a number of other industrial applications. The powder coating process allows us to traditionally machine the sidewalls of the rims for braking and provide a surface that will hold up to the normal wear and tear of riding.

Part of the beauty of launching this new reflective rim is being able to offer it has a specific wheelset. As with all of our wheels and builds we can customize them to your specific needs and desires. Our standard build for the Halo series is offered with black Velocity hubs [track, road, mountain, all depending on application], black brass nipples, and black 14g spokes with one white spoke going through the Halo reflective sticker [shown to the right] which is offset 1 spoke hole from the valve.

Below is the second Halo set built. This is a Fusion track wheelset, with our upgraded Hollow Axle, Solid Flange Hubs with the standard Halo build of one white spoke. Sharp to say the least:

Shown below, are the 7 different models of rims offered with the Halo Reflective Design. The first 2 showing the rims in natural light, appearing black graphite to the eye:



The following 2 photos show how the reflective powder coating works. When direct light is shined on the rim, the rim shines bright white, providing an eye catching rim that helps to alert fellow riders and automobiles of your presence:



The 7 rims [Model : Size : Drilling : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall] offered in with the Halo reflective powder coating go as followed:

- Dyad : 700c : 32H 36H : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall
- Fusion : 700c : 32H : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall
- Deep V : 700c : 32H 36H : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall
- B43 : 700c : 32H : Nonmachined Sidewall
- Cliffhanger : 26" [559] : 36H : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall
- Aeroheat : 20" [406] 26" [559] : 32H : Machined Sidewall/Nonmachined Sidewall

All of these models are instock and available through your local bicycle shop.

Jacobi's Tandem

Some of you might remember back in November our post from Ryan and Jacobi on their Iceman experience. For this weeks '...because we ride' post we have their Iceman Tandem rig. Jacobi was kind enough to do a nice little write up on the one race this bike competed in:

So this was going to be the year I get my wife out and do the Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Rice. It's a 28 mile point-to-point race in northern Michigan. It's a lot of fun and a great place to see old friends and meet new ones.

Well, it didn't work out with my wifes work schedule. So I hired a surefire animal to be my stoker. Ryan Olthouse a.k.a. the bear. He is a short guy not much taller than myself but boy does he pack a punch. Out of the gate we were in the thick of a heated battle between 1-5 place. There were a total of 25 tandems racing that day and we were out for blood.

About 10 minutes into the race we were in second place behind Dan 'The Man' Janson and his wife, Tara. They were more focused on training than us, considering they have been riding the tandem all summer; compared to Ryan and I only squeaked out 5 good rides on the thing. Just as we thought we had a clear shot at second place here came Matt Gaffner pulling up on our rear. We battled with him for about an hour, pulling away at the end to take secure second place by a mere 30 seconds. Hats off to you Matt.

We finished strong and vowed to never do that again! It was a hell of a race. My Cannondale held up flawlessly and here is a rundown on my Cannondale Street Tandem Highly Modified:

Big Shock
Big Breaks
X9 Shifter
X9 Deraileur setup 1x9 [I custom made bash guard plates to guide the connector cranks so we wouldn't throw the chain]
Custom Velocity 20mm Blunt Front wheel
Custom Velocity Aeroheat 40H tandem disc in the rear.

*Every part was scrutinized for weight [~37 lbs race day] and comfort
Foam Stoker grips, oh yeah!

because we ride... Polo Time.

This week we have our fearless GM's, Matt, polo bike. We've got a nice little write up for you, enjoy:

'A winter commuter turned polo rig.'

The frame is a Specialized HardRock that I got from Doug Koster in the spring of 2005. I don’t know where he got it and that’s probably for the best. It was stripped bare and rattle canned in the basement of 2208 Godwin in Grand Rapids. The fork is a RockShox Quadra that came from Doug at the same time. The steer tube was extended and re-welded to fit this bike. Shimano STX headset and stock Specialized stem and bars. Lefty style Altus 420 brake lever to a Tektro rear cantilever. Brake housing is routed through a top tube pad purchased by Bob Zeilstra during a holiday in Japan. My future grandchildren will thank me for the Raceface stem pad. Specialized seat post, Schwinn saddle, Salsa clamp.

The front wheel is a 26” Deep V ATB (OG Chukker) laced to a Velocity ATB hub with butted spokes. The rear wheel is a 26” Aeroheat rim laced to a Velocity cutout flange track hub with 14 gauge spokes. 32 spokes each and both are 3 cross.

The rear hub has been re-spaced to accept a 5 speed freewheel which is the only way I could get the chain line and length to work out. Gearing is 27x21. Cranks are 170mm Shimano Alivios…black on one side silver on the other due to an unfortunate bike chucking incident. Rear tire is a Continental Town and Country from Jacobi’s tandem, front is a Specialized Crossroads that was probably on the bike when I got it. She’s a real gnarly bitch.

For those of you who need a little 'how to' on the ins and outs of Bike Polo, I found a video for you below. Come this spring if you're in the West Michigan area and want to try your hand in the sport, on Sundays and Wednesdays under the S-Curve there are matches normally going on.