By blackmountaincycles,
Filed under: Uncategorized
For me, 2020 was pretty much business as usual. Except not. And except for the fact that 2020 and the coronavirus pretty much destroyed people’s lives and the economy (no, the stock market is not reflective of the actual economy where people rely on jobs and small business).
Within the bicycle industry, demand shot through the roof and created unprecedented shortages of parts. There were a few months I couldn’t get tubes in popular sizes, or pumps, or chains, or cassettes, or 26″ tires… I sold my last $40 floor pump in May, 2020 and haven’t been able to source one since. Those shortages continue, but I’m working to make sure I have essentials.
And it is essentials that I will be focusing on more in terms of available inventory. I keep creating posts about focusing. Have been for almost the whole 13+ years the shop’s been open. In fact, Focus by Al Reis is a book I’ve read multiple times over the years. It reinforces my continued decisions to constantly reevaluate my business and try to make decisions that will benefit it and me. The key is to constantly adapt. Be on your toes. Read it if you own a business or just want to know more about, well, anything.
In 2020, I reduced the footprint of the retail space by erecting a wall to cordon off a section of the shop into a sort of warehouse space for framesets. Much more efficient and it feels just a bit more homey. Bonus.
I have a whole slew of new frames arriving just in time for the new year too. More Road+, MCD, and Monstercross frames. There was an informal pre-order that kind of took off like weeds in summer and now I need to play catch up on builds and frameset shipping. As soon as I get a handle on that, I’ll open the webstore for frameset purchases. If I open it now, I feel I won’t be able to turn around orders on a timely basis. I’m not a great multi-tasker so, I need to get the initial pre-order sorted out before I move on to taking regular orders for frames. (Edit: I wrote this at the end of December and now it’s the beginning of February. How did that happen? The frames arrived and what’s left over is available to purchase in the webstore. Road+ frames and the rim brake Monstercross frames were more popular than I anticipated. Rim brakes – who knew they were going to be such a big thing still in 2021?)
The new La Cabra frames were scheduled to be shipped in the 3rd week of January. It’s now February 1 and the frames are ready to ship, but there’s no available space on containers. So they wait for space. In the mean time, I wait. Patiently.
Patience. That’s pretty much all that’s manageable these days. The only thing that you can manage about any situation is how you react to it. I hear people’s comments about how they get so angry when they come up on a cyclist who is riding on a narrow 2-lane road and the driver can’t pass right now because of on-coming traffic. So they sit behind the wheel and fret and fume and get mad at the cyclist, who is only riding along. The only thing getting mad does is get you all worked up. Getting mad will not move the cyclist out of the way. Getting mad only raises your blood pressure. The only thing you can control about that situation is your reaction. Why get mad? Just take a moment and back off the accelerator. It’s going to be less than 30-45 seconds before you can safely pass. What’s 30 seconds? You can hold your breath for 30 seconds. Patience, grasshopper, patience.
I’ll leave this post with some shots of recent builds of the new frames and a story. When I dream, the people in my dreams are not real. Just made up people, I suppose. However, last Wednesday night, in a dream, I was hanging out with John Doe of the band X. We were in some house watching TV. Maybe we were talking about Mike Ness. But just hanging out watching TV. You know, one of those dreams you wake up from and go, well ok, and get on with your day. The next day as I’m getting on with my day, there’s a knock on the front door about noon. The guy behind the bandana says “hey Mike, it’s John.” Yep, John Doe. We chat for a while and I relay the dream I had. His comment was “next time dream that you got a million dollars or something like that.” The truth is, John’s a really good guy, worth a million bucks, who belies his punk rock heritage and because of my involvement with the local radio station, KWMR, his showing up is not totally unprecedented as we’ve met in the past when he’s been in town and on the air for Bakersfield & Beyond.
Dream big. Dreams do come true. Could happen. Now, about that million dollar dream…
(What’s playing: Peter Frampton It’s a Plain Shame)
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9 responses to “Rolling Out The Red Carpet for 2021”
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Mike I always enjoy your blog and Facebook posts! Bummer I missed the boat on the Eddy Orange road frame ! Rim brake road frames are done right ?
Thank you. Yes, the last of the rim brake road frames was sold months ago.
add mine to the voice that is sorry he missed out on the road frame. now I am scouring the internet for anything like it. if you come across a 58 in the Eddy Orange, please keep my email close by
Wet sand looks great on the frame!
Seeing as you are a glamorous bike mechanic and are learning to build wheels, I thought you would sneeze at such a paltry sum as one million dollars. I mean, it doesn’t go that far nowadays anyhow.
Yeah, when Bezos has a hole in his pocket and looses a million dollars, that’s like me losing a quarter. Probably more like a penny.
DUDE! Thought i would check out the availability of frames and… LA CABRA!?!?! That’s the bike I drew on a cocktail napkin back in 2015! A drawering that came about after a lengthy discussion of shifting performance, life of chains and this exact sentiment – “By biasing the crank chainline inboard compared to the rear hub spacing, the chain runs quieter in the larger cogs, has less cross chain, and will result in longer chain and chainring/cog life.” I’m gonna watch this site like a HAWK for that frame – gorgeous design work as usual!
Thanks for embracing tech, AND staying true to our roots!
Mike Ness, John Doe. How many people even get that? haha, had to be there. I saw x play a “semi-acoustic” set at a very small venue (maybe a church?) in Noe Valley many many years ago. One of the best bands ever and John absolutely rips on the guitar.
I’m lovin’ the bikes. How about more pictures of built bikes? Would love to see some of the la habra, one with a flat bar set up please. I mean, now that ‘flat bar gravel bike’ is the new old thing. I’m looking for a worthy replacement for the old cross check but its a pretty high bar!
The La Cabra frames haven’t arrived yet, but should be here within a week or so. I’ll post pictures of built bikes on my Instagram after I’ve built one up, but right now I don’t have any flat bar builds scheduled.