Bicycles and Gear for Going Places Near and Far Self Propelled With Comfort and Speed
So Close
Heading off for powder tomorrow…
Thank you all at Zen for making my ideas into a reality, looking forward to a good year.
5 thoughts on “So Close”
Great to hear that the project is coming along. It’s been fun to follow your progress via the blog over the past few months.
Can you share any details with us about when we might be able to order a frame, and about pricing? I’m trying to make a decision about a new frame for the upcoming season and I’d like to have a sense of whether the Rambler is something I should consider for this year or next year.
Matthew, Thanks for you interest in the project. These will be ready this year for sure. I am planning on cutting a PO for the production run in about 3-4 weeks. By then I will have an idea of the final adjustments to the design. There will still be a bit of time for adjustments as well when production begins, but the PO will keep all material procurement on track. The samples took a while so that all production tooling would be in place as we moved to the next step. The deposit delay is on my end. State paperwork to for m the company is taking much longer than I planned. As soon as I have all of the official business stuff in place there will be a flurry of activity around here with things like a mailing list, storefront, deposit mechanism etc..
It is coming soon, my whole supply chain and I are armpits deep, fully committed, and we are almost there.
Wow, the frames looking good! I’m really impressed you made this happen. Very cool you went with Zen here in pdx. Are you still using the Paul centerpull bosses? I wondered if the return of the Dia-compe bosses swayed you at all. I understand the desire to support Paul’s US-made brakes. Still, the DC 750s are pretty nice and a couple hundred less! Either way, I love that bringing a braze-on CP bike to market. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the prototypes.
Thanks, I am really stoked on how the bikes have come along have come out so far. This whole process has been incredibly rewarding, and it is just getting started.
I knew about the DC braze on bosses when I was getting started. I want to use the Pauls out of the gate. I think they have a longer lifespan and possible availability that will out live the forging dies of the DC750. It is not clear if the market will ever bare the cost of new center pull brake dies again. Also the pivot bushings on the DC750 will never last as long as the Paul brakes, and in the long run, may lead to maintenance issues that the average modern mechanic is not ready to deal with. That being said, the way we have production set up I can switch to almost any boss that the market will demand, be it the Paul Racer, canti bosses, DC Centerpulls or no boss at all. I estimate that the reach from the brake hole to be about 70mm which would allow for a bolt on DC750 or extra long Tektro with no other modification than leaving the bosses off. I think people will really like the Paul racer once they try it, hard to go back to cheap brakes.
Thanks for the reply, Rob. Sounds like you’ve thought it out well. To be honest, I’ve never regretted buying a quality part in the long run, even if the up front price makes me cringe a little. Ideally, there’d be an “entry-level” option, but the Pauls really seem to fit your vision of the bike. Here’s hoping for a smooth ride the rest of the way to market!
Great to hear that the project is coming along. It’s been fun to follow your progress via the blog over the past few months.
Can you share any details with us about when we might be able to order a frame, and about pricing? I’m trying to make a decision about a new frame for the upcoming season and I’d like to have a sense of whether the Rambler is something I should consider for this year or next year.
Thanks!
Matthew, Thanks for you interest in the project. These will be ready this year for sure. I am planning on cutting a PO for the production run in about 3-4 weeks. By then I will have an idea of the final adjustments to the design. There will still be a bit of time for adjustments as well when production begins, but the PO will keep all material procurement on track. The samples took a while so that all production tooling would be in place as we moved to the next step. The deposit delay is on my end. State paperwork to for m the company is taking much longer than I planned. As soon as I have all of the official business stuff in place there will be a flurry of activity around here with things like a mailing list, storefront, deposit mechanism etc..
It is coming soon, my whole supply chain and I are armpits deep, fully committed, and we are almost there.
Wow, the frames looking good! I’m really impressed you made this happen. Very cool you went with Zen here in pdx. Are you still using the Paul centerpull bosses? I wondered if the return of the Dia-compe bosses swayed you at all. I understand the desire to support Paul’s US-made brakes. Still, the DC 750s are pretty nice and a couple hundred less! Either way, I love that bringing a braze-on CP bike to market. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the prototypes.
Thanks, I am really stoked on how the bikes have come along have come out so far. This whole process has been incredibly rewarding, and it is just getting started.
I knew about the DC braze on bosses when I was getting started. I want to use the Pauls out of the gate. I think they have a longer lifespan and possible availability that will out live the forging dies of the DC750. It is not clear if the market will ever bare the cost of new center pull brake dies again. Also the pivot bushings on the DC750 will never last as long as the Paul brakes, and in the long run, may lead to maintenance issues that the average modern mechanic is not ready to deal with. That being said, the way we have production set up I can switch to almost any boss that the market will demand, be it the Paul Racer, canti bosses, DC Centerpulls or no boss at all. I estimate that the reach from the brake hole to be about 70mm which would allow for a bolt on DC750 or extra long Tektro with no other modification than leaving the bosses off. I think people will really like the Paul racer once they try it, hard to go back to cheap brakes.
We will see soon though, won’t we…
Thanks for the reply, Rob. Sounds like you’ve thought it out well. To be honest, I’ve never regretted buying a quality part in the long run, even if the up front price makes me cringe a little. Ideally, there’d be an “entry-level” option, but the Pauls really seem to fit your vision of the bike. Here’s hoping for a smooth ride the rest of the way to market!