Month: January 2012

Masu – Managing Changes and Colors

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

Radio Silence Ending

It has been a long 10 days or so in the household.  One of the widely known fringe benefits of childcare, the germs, hit hard.  We have been adapting to the low level persisting cold bug over the last couple of months, but this one wiped us all out.  Fevers all around, like  dominoes we all had are turn, I even got my chance twice.  We are all on the upswing now and finally am catching up on last week, getting this week going and working in a few surprise developments.  I wrapped up the day with a trip to the post office,

Then it was off to get the munchikin, who brought the party home and was first to feel better.

We headed off to meet mommy at the beach before heading home.

Really a fantastic way to cap off the day.  We are all looking forward to a more productive week.

Regular posting and bike news to follow.

Vintage Silver Economy Vehicles

Only mine is powered by kale, eggs and dates.  Made it out between winter storms to grab some veggies at the farmer’s market.  Great weather considering we had an inch of rain yesterday, and there is more on the way tonight.   I ran into some friends, there was a tailwind on the way home and got to check out some giant surf at the harbors en route.  All in all a fun mid day ride.

Hope you all were able to squeeze in some winter miles too.

Another Fantastic Day

To get outside and run some errands by bike

Nothing extraordinary, just more fun than the car, easier too.  One thing of note, is loading up the Wald basket with 20lbs of stuff.  The Wald factory hardware is lacking in so many ways it could and might be its own post someday.  That said, it was actually passable for the ride home.  Nowhere as nice as when mounted to a solid stiff rack, but with a little attention, the handling was still leaps and bounds better than my bikes with high trail front end geometries.  Putting this old Trek together was one of the better ideas I had last year.

Sport Tour Naming Process – Nijimasu

I am looking for your input on the model name for this bike.

I have been brainstorming for months now to come up with a name not only for the first bike in my line, but a pattern of names that could work across future bikes as well.  People give the guys at Rivendell a bit of grief for some of the more recent model names they have chosen, e.g Hunquapillar, Samuel Hillborene etc.  I am now walking my mile in their shoes on this issue.  Every time I think I have hit it, A quick trademark search reminds me how many other people hit it first.

I want to avoid names that are straight up descriptors like “Sport Tour” and the derivatives like ST-1.  I have looked into local place names, but feel that there is not as much broad appeal or catchy-ness.   I am leaning strongly towards fish names, tying into the “Ocean Air” theme.  I have a rough idea of what I would like, and they can easily be analogous to the propose of the product or bike model.

Many of the common fish names have already been taken already.  Moving on to the Hawaiian and or Inuit names, many have been used in the past in the bike business by the likes of Gary Fisher and others.

I have narrowed it down to the common Japanese names for the fish of choice.  My first pick:

Sport Tour – Rainbow or Steelhead Trout – “Nijimasu“:  This not only fun to say, but has regional significance as well.  These fish  swim the coastal waters and move up the local rivers to spawn.  The routes you have seen me riding for the last couple of years parallel the routes these fish swim during their life cycle.  They play an important role in the coastal ecosystem.  The current threat to their natural existence, is a bit of a canary in the coal mine for our coastal watershed’s health.  I can start by helping to draw attention to this single piece of the environmental crisis, a baby step, and grow from there.

So, I want and need your feed back.  Does “Nijimasu” ring in your ear and memory?  Any other names for trout that you like?  Other fish names or names in general?  Let me know.