No news is good news…

I guess no news is good news, but wouldn’t any news be welcome? However, sometimes there’s so much new news that it’s hard to get it all out.  Or rather, it’s difficult to figure out how to get it out.  Sometimes your “to do” list is so lengthy and every item is equally important, but getting started is difficult because where do you start.  You start by just diving in.  Head first.  

I have a new tumblr account.  Actually, I have two.  Yes, more things to manage.  Tumblr seems to be a simple, clean method of posting photos or words.  In the world of the internet, the way I see it, there is a hierarchical order of social media medium I now manage.  This here blog is reserved for writing more lengthy informational pieces (and for keeping my parents apprised of what I’m doing).  The Facebook page is used for posting links and/or photos of daily shop things.  The tumblr page will have a singular focus of highlighting “what’s in the stand,” hence the name of the page:  What’s In The Stand.  Not fully understanding what I was doing when signing up for tumblr, I also created a Black Mountain Cycles tumblr page, but probably won’t be adding much there.  It’s probably a good thing to keep for future use.  My Flickr page (what is it about misspelling a common word by removing a vowel?) is used mainly to host photos that I use in the blog.

In other news, 56cm road frames are sold out.  In addition to the 59cm road frames being out of stock, the last 56 left the building last week.  There are still several 50cm, 53cm, and 62cm frames in orange (and one 62 in champagne) available.  I did place an order for more road frames several weeks ago.  I’ve got a new color in the works and will dedicate a full blog post to the road frame order and color soon.  

The new cross frames have been selling like gangbusters.  I’m pretty surprised and excited at their popularity.  I’m sure there is big potential to ramp up production and marketing for Black Mountain Cycles and turn this thing into the next Specialized, but I don’t want to.  I want to remain small and keep doing what I’ve been doing.  I don’t need the headache of growth for growth’s sake.  

Regarding the availability of the cross frames, gray is sold out in all sizes except 65cm.  As of yesterday, the 50cm size is sold out in orange too.  There are only two 53cm orange and one 62cm orange available.  There still are a couple of 62cm root beer still available.  I really like the root beer.  There are a few 56cm orange.  I’ve got a lot of 59cm orange frames because they were the first to sell out during the first run, so I bumped up the quantity I had made by a few.  First to sell out in the first run, slowest mover in the second.  Go figure.  

The US made frames are moving along.  We are building one sample frame and fork to verify clearance – form, fit, function test.  The sample fork has been finished and powder coated and the frame will be finished next week.  It’s taken a little longer that originally intended, but it’s coming along nicely.  I’m really looking forward to building a new bike for myself.  

(What’s playing:  Howard Jones What Is Love)