First two frames…

In all my years of getting bikes ready for photo shoots, sales meetings, tradeshows…every thing always, always comes down to the wire. You can plan to have frames and parts months in advance, but something always happens that really pushes the envelope. I ceased stressing about deadlines long ago knowing that being stressed doesn’t make things happen faster. Being stressed doesn’t make things appear that you are waiting for. Being stressed only causes those around you to think you are a royal ass.

Biketoberfest happened in Marin last weekend and for the third year in a row, I signed up for a booth space. It’s a great event. Lots of people, good food, and lots of great tasting beer. I’ve been working and waiting for my own shop brand of frames since I opened my shop over 3 years ago. I’ve been riding on sample road and cross frames for over a year. With only a couple of very minor revisions, the production frames are the same as those sample frames. I’m very pleased in how the samples turned out and how they ride and am equally pleased how the first two production frames that I received for the event turned out. And it wouldn’t be a bike event if the bikes weren’t finished at the last minute, or in my case at 5:00 p.m. the day before the event. It always works out.

So the day of the event arrived and I got there super early to drop off the bikes and booth materials before heading out on a ride with Sean and his wife from Soulcraft, Paul and his girl from Paul Components, and Keith, one of Sean’s riders. They were all on single-speed mountain bikes, except for Sean’s wife. I rode my cross bike with 45 tires. I think that bike is just about perfect. It handled the single-track deftly and the rocks cautiously. But it was a superb ride.

So, here they are, the first two frames. The color for these two turned out great. Originally, I was only going to have the road frame in orange and the cross frame in brown. However, a couple of friends expressed interest in owning a champagne color road frame and an orange cross frame, so I ordered road frames in orange and champagne and cross frames in orange and brown. I think I like the orange cross frame better than the brown and the champagne road frame better than the orange. In any case, I think the bikes turned out beautiful. As they sit in the photos, the road frame with a SRAM Apex build weighed in at 20 pounds 1 ounce in the 56cm size. The cross frame with a mix of parts weighed in at 23 pounds 3 ounces in a 56cm. Both are weights without pedals.

Click on the photos to go to the flickr site for more photos.

(What’s playing: David Bowie Let’s Dance)