Winter Rain November 29 2012, 0 Comments
It is that time of year again, and I am glad for a bike with fenders. A quick trip to the post office between storms is about to turn wet.
Ocean Air Cycles
It is that time of year again, and I am glad for a bike with fenders. A quick trip to the post office between storms is about to turn wet.
3 Years Celebrated November 28 2012, 0 Comments
It has been a long week, great, but between the Holiday weekend and all the other things life throws at you, Long. The most important though is my wife and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.
It has been three great years. We were able to take advantage of all the family in one place as babysitters and escape for a night away on the Central Coast. Of course we brought the bikes and made some time to explore the bluffs around Cambria.
Thank you to my patient and loving wife as I am getting the OAC venture off the ground, without her support this would never have made it this far.
New Production Started November 20 2012, 0 Comments
It has been a while coming, but the latest batch of Ramblers is into the fabrication phase. The forks started yesterday, and went into brazing today.
I am stoked to have Jonathon working on this batch, they guys at Zen are top-notch. Thanks Dave for the update and pictures, and thank you to the first five Rambler funders who have been waiting patiently for this to get under way. There will be more pics as they come in.
What a Difference November 18 2012, 0 Comments
a day can make in the weather. The storm has passed.
With the lowriders back on, it was time for the standard Sunday trip to the market. This time it was a heavy load stocking up on taters for the holiday. It was a great day to take a break and go for a ride on the Rambler.
New Bike Lanes November 16 2012, 0 Comments
My bicycle has been the primary mode of transportation around town for about 5 years now. One of the biggest hurdles getting other folks to jump on board has been the fear of riding in traffic. In the last few years though the city of Ventura has been making great strides. There are well marked bike routes that will get you to most parts of town. In the past the routes were a mix of neighborhood streets and bike lanes on the main arteries. The challenge was in navigating the jumble, often ending up on heavily trafficked 4 lane roads with the bike lane you were in just sort of disappearing. As part of our seasonal repaving, and thus re striping, I am really stoked to see new connecting stretches showing up every week now. The latest is on a stretch that I ride all the time, and used to be a sprint to get past.
I had long since given up trying to count the times that cars would pinch me to the curb right underneath the share the road sign. Thank you to the City for fixing this stretch. Hopefully it fuels the ever-increasing number of people I see choosing the bike over their car for getting around town.
Happy Friday! DO not forget to play outside this weekend!
Shirt and Bag Art Draft 1.0 November 08 2012, 0 Comments
I am so lucky to have friends and friends through my wife that are gifted artists and designers. I have a heavy tilt towards the analytical side and while I can conceptualize what I want an art project to be, it is awesome to throw out a range of ideas and to get something like this back on the first try. Gigantic thank you to all of you who have helped me.
This is very close to what will be the shirt and bag art for the Kickstarter rewards. There will be options of this or the porteur build, as well as a couple of color options. Now to get the Kickstarter part launched, stuck in a holding pattern waiting for approval.
Votational Ride November 06 2012, 0 Comments
Even with the kickstarter project submitted for review things have not backed off a bit, but I took a 30 minute break to ride over to the local polling place and drop off the votes.
You voted, right? I am sure you did.
Then the hustle home to keep the prep for the SF Expo under way. I have had my idea and materials for the back drop on hand for a month now, but figured it would be a good thing to do a dry run before SF.
I am pretty stoked with how it came out. The banner hangs ahead of the backdrop for a slight shadow box effect. the string disappears on the canvas. I need to make a couple of adjustments to keep it all tight, but I am happy with the plan.
Next up is cleaning up and re-cabling my blue Rambler. Decals will be coming in overnight, thursday is going to be a busy morning.
One Rambler Done November 03 2012, 0 Comments
Getting everything ready for the SF expo, a week from now, has been nuts. That said the 51 porteur build on the sunflower Rambler is done. I finished off the grips this morning, headed out for a test ride around the neighborhood and then back to the computer.
Now to wrap up the Kickstarter video, get the posters ready, finish detailing out the blur 63 Rambler and what I can of the red 57.
Never a dull moment, but still squeezing in rides where I can, just short ones.
Lesson No. 21,987 October 31 2012, 0 Comments
I am one of those sorts of people who learns by doing. Sometimes by book or example first, but usually but jumping in and doing it. Todays lesson? Never audition a new coater on bike or part that you need, particularly soon. The call came last evening, the blaster had shot a hole in the fork ?!?!? The fork was in for a chemical strip, light blast only if touch-up was needed and then a new single coat of red. The goal being a complete red 57cm Rambler for the SF Expo. The first attempt at red had gone on too thick and yellow, and it was in for a re-do with a local. He was not happy with how thick it came out and was going to do it a third time. I figured the fork would be a good audition for having a local option to do custom color requests. I went by the shop this morning to see the "hole":
I am still not really sure how a blaster could do this exactly. Obviously this fork will be retired. We are currently working on a resolution, and I am sure between the blaster and the coater this will be made right.
With the cup being half full, I am in shock and awe that the wire guides are intact. Also, it is clear that my guys in Portland are getting good brass penetration into the dropouts. And last but not least, one less bike to transport to SF.
Trick or Treat? I am hoping for the treats, this was not how I planned for the day to start.
Porteur Makeover October 31 2012, 0 Comments
This last week I was able to get the 51 Rambler switched over from its original drop bar build:
There was nothing really wrong with the way the bike was built up, and it fit my wife well. The thing is, it just was not how she wanted to use the bike. She prefers to sit upright, be able to put our minpin in a front basket of sorts, but still have the bike preform at a high level. I sourced some new parts, others were already on hand, and set to work on the conversion.
It came out fantastic. Some details worth note. The Wald bars work just fine with bar end shifters. The newish Tektro city levers are stylish and work great with the Paul Racers. The Pari Moto tires were swapped for a set of Soma B-lines to add a bit more durability as well as the look of the red tires. The Porteur rack is a Soma Fab offering as well. I modified it slightly so that it worked more gracefully with the front dropouts as well as having a couple of struts welded on for mounting the top end to the crown bosses. The whole thing is rock solid. The cherry on top is the new Crane mini hammer strike bell.
Only a few test ride miles in so far, but all smiles. I still need to do a final wrap on the grips and work out a basket or box for the dog, but it is pretty close to her dream bike at this point.