It has been a busy and energizing trip up and down the coat to Seattle and now back to Oakland, with a few days left to go. I will start digesting a full report once I get home. At the Seattle Expo we had a drawing going for one of our leather
single pocket Makr wallets, and the lucky winner appears to be Kevin O..., I sent email and waiting to hear back on confirmation. These wallets are heading out as fast as I can make them, a good sign.
This whole trip has been incredible, so many positive people, tons of interest, laying the groundwork for retail placement of the Ramblers. It is going to take me at least a week to recover and tell the story in bite sized chunks. Until then, get out and ride! If you are in the bay area and might want to see the Ramblers before I am out of town again, drop me a line. In between sales calls and business there will be some riding time here in the East Bay.
Lunch Date February 21 2013, 0 Comments
The wife and I carved out a little time to enjoy the great weather and grab some tacos.
Pretty close to perfect day for a ride, and a chance to start shooting a new lens too!
it has been a year and a half now since I
gathered the walnuts, and a year of aging in the bottle. This is my first time tasting Nocino, and it is good, very good!
Great to sip on and even better over a little bowl of vanilla ice cream. Be assured, I will be gathering more young walnuts this year and every year I can from here on out. I am certain the walnuts, as do many things, gathered by bike taste better as well.
Along those lines I have been talking with friends for years now about how much better things like coffee can taste when you are camping. But why limit it to camping trips or even overnights? Tomorrow I am going to get up a little earlier, and make the coffee on my morning ride, take the time to enjoy the sunrise and have some extra fun. Lets see how many of you can join in too, share pics on flickr, instagram, facebook etc. and get your buddies stoked on it too. I am pretty sure anything that gets that outdoor experience in the day is a good thing, even in bite sized chunks.
Medium Boxes February 11 2013, 0 Comments
I make 90% or more of my trips to the post office by bike. The smaller boxes are easy enough to fit in the saddle bag or panniers. The big ones, think surf boards and bikes, end up on the xtracycle for drop-off to UPS and FedEx. The medium ones are the challenge.
Today I had a vintage rack in a light but bulky box and improvised with some cord. It worked fantastic and had me thinking of some rack ideas
John Cutter had designed a couple of years back. How are you getting the medium sized loads around by bike?
A while back I had read about the Bicycle Coalition up near Marin, Ca starting a program where members would help to mentor those flirting with the idea of bike commuting, but still tentative to try the water. I liked the idea, and am pretty sure it would help get a bunch more people out of their cars and onto bikes for the ride into work. This week I was able to get my buddy Aaron back onto his Rambler (No.2). He has been an occasional bike commuter, but usually drives the 8 miles or so into work when he is not out to sea. We had the chance to ride in together this morning, shake down the most recent build on his bike, talk about what makes a bike commute work for him, and hang out a bit.
The ride in was cold, cloudy and just a light mist at times.
I am pretty sure he is completely stoked on everything from the fit and ride to the ease of integrated lighting. Dealing with battery lights for riding at the margins of the day or night is not that hard, but often a complaint by commuters. Aaron's Rambler is set up with a dynamo hub and high-powered LED head and tail lights. The wiring is neatly tucked into the fenders and inside the frame reducing the chance of damage. All he needs to do is get on and ride, no batteries, increased visibility for him and oncoming traffic is built right into the package. Starting your bike build with a frame-set like the Rambler, having integrated provisions for easy and secure mounting of racks, fenders, and lighting can really be a game changer, not needed, but sure makes the bike a full package ready for getting places near and far, with the load on the bike not on your back.
Sales pitch over...we had a blast, I will likely ride in with him once a week while he is in town. Having someone to ride with helps keep us both pedaling in the mornings
I just added the newest version of the leather Makr / Touring wallets to the store front.
These wallets, like most things here at OAC, were an organic progression. Both designs are rooted in traditional leather craft patterns. I wanted a simple wallet for a couple of cards and a little cash, and the single pocket version was born. Then I needed a business card holder and the two pocket version entered the scene. A couple of year's worth of refinements and it is something that is ready for debut.
Both are made be me here in our workshop with high quality 4oz leather from Herman Oak, stitched with V92 sailmaking thread, and the up-cycled chain link is stitched on by hand. I treat them with a healthy coat of Obenauf's leather treatment to keep the look natural. The pockets will each hold a few credit cards or a stack of 15 business cards. The slot can take some cash folded in half, then in half again.
The leather will take on a shiny deep brown tone that only gets better with age.
$40 + 2 shipping and handling will get you one to your door.
Another chilly, but pretty close to perfect day to go get the veggies.
Riding is fun, riding and getting you food for the week is rewarding and fun!
I recently picked up a new
stove to lighten my outdoor cooking load a bit. I have been wanting a Trail Designs Ti-Tri Caldera cone for years now, but prefer a wider pot, and it is primarily meant to work with mugs. In the last year or so, the TD guys came out with the sidewinder and a was back to dreaming. With a bit of extra cash I splurged and bought myself the Sidewinder kit.
The kit comes with the alcohol stove, windscreen / cone, tent stake / pot supports, fuel bottle, fuel measuring cup, pot lifter and a basic aluminum 2qt pot. The whole package fits neatly into the pot.
The cone acts as both a windscreen and pot support with the ventilation optimized to get the most from their stove. It is in credibly simple to use. load the measured amount of denatured alcohol into the stove, light with a match, set the cone over and then set the pot on top.
I headed out early this morning to start putting it to good use. I was able to bring about 1qt of water to boil with 35ml of alcohol in a little over 15 minutes. This was with the sea breeze just starting to pick up.
I brewed up a bottle of tea for the road and enough left over to enjoy while things cooled off. I am impressed with what is really their most basic stove kit designed to boil at least a quart of water. Simple to use, quiet, clean, light weight and efficient with the fuel. The stove will also work well with Esbit fuel tabs. For a bit of a bump in price their titanium kits can burn wood as well.
The only down side to this kit is the size. While quite clearly described on their website, it is bigger than I envisioned. That is not really a problem, just what it is. I am sure that this stove is going to see a ton of use.
Low Tide January 10 2013, 0 Comments
Yesterday was starting off pretty normal, the task list was more than a day could hold, but the plan as always was to bite off as much as possible. One thing I was not giving up was my regularly scheduled errands ride around own. With all the short stops I can usually get it all done in the same amount of time as the car, and the bike is just a hell of a lot more fun.
The skies went gray for the first time in few days and the fog was rolling in on the coast. With temps in the 50's it was crisp, but still pretty perfect to ride and barely break a sweat. Everything was going pretty close to routine, and I decided to swing by the beach on my way home.
The tide was super low and dropping fast. I knew this was going to happen, but not so early in the day. This was a perfect chance to seize the moment, do something not on the schedule and grab back 30 minutes of pure fun, and yes you can almost see the idea forming in my mind above.
And so the diversion started, I figured it would just be a quick toodle on the sand. It turned out I had over a mile of beach for an out and back. Even with 20lbs in the panniers the 38mm tires did just fine on the hard packed sand. I found a few small pieces of green beach glass, crossed paths with dogs and their owners reveling in the extra playground space, and had a fantastic time
As always, getting there by bike is highly recommended, and always make a little time for the detours, you will never regret it!
XtraHills January 08 2013, 0 Comments
Yesterday I had a couple of quick stops to make, with Grant Park in the middle. If there is time I try to make it a point to go over the hill instead of around. I was on the xtracycle, dropped it into low and set to spinning along at a comfortable pace.
Even the pitches steeper than 10% should not be that big of a deal with the low gearing on my heavy hauler
About half way up and at the top of the steepest stretch I could still crack a smile.
The next couple hundred yards had me wondering if this was such a good idea in jeans and a fleece. Not terrible, but thinking I should probably stop, but that would break any sort of rhythm I had managed to get going. Then cresting the top, the fun begins.
It is just a matter of picking a route down.
This whole trip has been incredible, so many positive people, tons of interest, laying the groundwork for retail placement of the Ramblers. It is going to take me at least a week to recover and tell the story in bite sized chunks. Until then, get out and ride! If you are in the bay area and might want to see the Ramblers before I am out of town again, drop me a line. In between sales calls and business there will be some riding time here in the East Bay.
