Pictures hit my inbox this morning of the forks in progress, thank you David.
Things are starting to build speed and momentum as we move through the prototyping. The braze-ons and main frame fabrication should be through tack up this week. I will be in Portland towards the end of the week for inspection, and to help work out any bugs so that we can hit this with one pass on the samples.
I am looking forward to the trip in many ways. I will be meting many of the people face to face who have only been email and phone calls, I get to see "my" designs in progress and it will be my first of many trips to Portland in the coming years.
You may have also noted the not so subtle shift in the name from Masu to Rambler, there is a bit of final work on the issue, but it looks to be the way things are heading as we close in on the final product.
I am not sure winter ever really happened this year. I am sure we will pay the price in the coming dry months, but for now it is 68 degrees and gorgeous outside. A perfect day to hit the farmer's market and take the long way home through the hills.
I really should be taking rides through the hills more often, once a month is marginally (nice way to say not really) enough to stay in the level of fitness I would like. Today the weather and new pedals did the trick, I got out there, and it was worth is.
I have some art ideas in my head for the logo on the upcoming bike. I still like the name Masu, and am trying to make sure the steelhead trout connection can be made. Here is a sketch of what I am thinking,
This would be on the top tube, drive side a little bit back from the head tube. It wraps about a third of the way around the top tube. The color would match the Ocean Air Cycles logo on the down tube with the body of the fish transparent so the bike color shines through. Subtle but there.
Let me know if you like it, could care less as long as the bike works, or think it is a horrible idea. As always I value your input.
I have narrowed down the color range and am working the details out on the powder color options. It is my goal to offer all three options. The renderings are representational of the combinations. It is harder than I thought to get things to move through all the digital flaming hoops and onto your monitor they way the will look when baked onto the steel. Still I would like to solicit your opinions on the color choices.
First up is a blue reminiscent of the early Stumpjumpers, a light navy with fine silver flake:
The yellow is slightly towards the orange side, with a fine gold and silver flake. Think somewhere between sunflower, traffic sign and an old Porsche:
and the Red, It is a true red with a fine silver flake. Think Italian sports car here:
I am still working with the powder coater to finalize these options. There will be some variance from my color chips once applied to the steel bike tubes. I will share samples as soon as I have them.
Let me know what you all think. There is still time to change my mind, but I am pretty sure these will be the options for the first few rounds of production.
Update: I did the best that I could with a picture of the color chips. This should help you at least move in the direction of the final colors in you mind's eye. I real life, the blue as just a touch more gray to it, The yellow is a touch more orange, and the red is pretty close. As above, these are just the chips, next step is color Samples on steel
One of the really fun parts of this adventure is managing the daily tasks of getting this whole thing off the ground and managing all of the dynamic aspects while I alone am the chief, cook and bottle washer. I know I am not alone with this aspect of the entrepreneurial world, but it feels like it at times when you are chest deep. I will admit there is a whole lot of learning going on while I convert the things I do know how to do into a business. Every little step forward is an incredible reward on the long path to making this real. As always I appreciate your readership and support as I am pushing this along.
Transparency is one of my goals, without giving away what business advantage I may have in the open market, I want you all to have an idea of what is going on, what and why I have things going on, and to do my best to document and share the steps as I move along. If it were not for the others who have gone before me, and shared their experience this would be a much darker path. I look back at old Rivendell readers and see Richard Sachs helping Grant out with packing parts, Grant openly sharing his challenges, bicycle builder forums where the masters of the craft openly share much of the technology and technique that they developed over the years, and then the overwhelming amount of information available outside of our niche from the entrepreneurs that have come before and continue to blaze trails. This blog will always be my outlet for photography, a little bit of advocacy and a place to share the challenges and news aspects of the business. I hope that my documentation may someday be part of the better map that the next guy is putting together. The key is pulling all the desperate pieces into a unique and cohesive plan. I believe that widening the pond is a good thing for all of us, and the other end of the spectrum, ladder pulling, will only lead to stagnation in the market place.
Getting back to the biggest project in the pan at the moment, the name "Masu" is sticking in my mind more than the others. For now that is what the sport touring bike will be called. I have my first round of color chips, some are close, others were way off, and I should have it narrowed down enough to share in a week or two. For now I can say that it will be a dark blue, a true red and a dark yellow. All will have a fine metallic flake of some sort, that part will be worked out as I hone in on the base colors. There will be a head badge, it will look something like my previous draft art, and I am doing everything I can to make this work with a U.S. vendor. Like wise the decals are also coming from a U.S. vendor, and I am working on the final art revisions now.
I have been talking with many builders and engineers that I trust while I re-evaluate my original math and tubing design spec. I can say that there will be a running change to a slightly thicker tube set for the smaller sizes. This is a result of balancing the variables of production cost, bike durability and the overall performance of the bike for the designed task and market. My target remains a fast and light sport bike, made in the US and delivered at a reasonable price. When I make these changes I will let you know in a new post, update the product page with the most current data, and annotate the old post as changed, but leave it up for a historical record of my progress. I want you all to see where I was and how I made it where I am, no smoke and mirrors. You can expect to see the changes in this part of the project in the next few days.
Time to pick up the munchikin, I hope you all are finding time to ride with the mild winter. It has been tough on the Ski business, but easier on the winter bike commuter
Things are starting to build speed and momentum as we move through the prototyping. The braze-ons and main frame fabrication should be through tack up this week. I will be in Portland towards the end of the week for inspection, and to help work out any bugs so that we can hit this with one pass on the samples.
I am looking forward to the trip in many ways. I will be meting many of the people face to face who have only been email and phone calls, I get to see "my" designs in progress and it will be my first of many trips to Portland in the coming years.
You may have also noted the not so subtle shift in the name from Masu to Rambler, there is a bit of final work on the issue, but it looks to be the way things are heading as we close in on the final product.
