Author: Rob

The most recent shipment of Rambler frame sets has arrived and I have made it through the initial QC on about half of them.  Some are as close to perfect as I could hope.  A few missed the mark.  I consider the Rambler a premium product, as should all of our fans and customers, and hold the bar pretty high for finish work.  One was beyond hope as seen in the previous post, but a few are mechanically perfect, and only minor flaws in the powder coat.  I did not want to release these as firsts, but the risk is too high that they may end up in worse shape then better if we send them back again for re-paint.  These end up as sale bikes that can be found here at $1350.  Some examples of the minor flaws or scuffs in handling

I honestly believe most customers would not have seen the flaws, but I did, and that is what counts before they leave the shop.  The frames are strong and true to design and function.  This is a great chance to pick up a Rambler at a deal, ride the heck out of it, and forget which beausage was the original and which was yours.

At times it may appear dreamy getting to tinker with bike frames all day, making, designing and testing gear, but it is still work.  And then there are the real bummers, lost packages, time delays and cost overruns that are part of the business.  The thing I hate to most though is this

All of the man hours and resources that go into it, from the ore to make the steel all the way to powder coating.  Then a moment of inattention renders it unsellable.  It will end up an a corner for a while, possibly end up as a store display or fixture to salvage some aspect of it.  But as a sellable bike it is a total loss, and that is really a bummer…..

In the ongoing quest for improving all possible Rambler build variants, as well as being able to answer customer questions with first hand knowledge, we recently acquired a set of Hunter Nugs from Rick at Hunter Cycles.  Thank you Rick for the samples, as well as the generally awesome things you bring to the bike world.  These cool little pieces of engineering move the cable adjustment point to the end of you brake straddle cable.  A side benefit is using the cut off end of the standard double ended road brake cable as the straddle cable. Having the ability to adjust your brake cable length, and thus brake pad position is a critical part of building up the bike.  The Nugs add an option to the list of possible adjustment point: the lever, inline, the stops or the Nugz.  Once I had the Nug in hand it became apparent that these were not going to allow for proper clearances with the standard Racer brake.  The height of the adjustable stop ends up in conflict with the pivot.   These pictures show the brake in the open position.  Even with the arms in mid swing as they would be in use the clearance is just not there with proper set up for a 23mm rim.  As shown, the drive side pad is in contact with the A23 rim.  The spacial conflict occurs with the Nug and pivot in two planes.  I have a couple of other ideas that have sprung out of the test fitting, but until then, I can not recommend the Nugs for use on the Ramblers.

There is a chance that these might work with the Racer Mediums do to the upsweep in the upper brake arm.  I can neither confirm or deny since I do not have the Racer Medium on hand at the moment.

I made it out more times than I would like to admit in the last 10 days in an attempt to get some “Summer” coffee outside pics for potential publication in a magazine.  With that  kind of potential on the horizon the fog set in, thick fog, every morning but one.  The clear day I had the pleasure of a company, Tony was out from the east coast on vacation.  In spite of the weather  it is still one of my favorite ways to increase the bike fun in the mornings.

Update – We are letting the sale Roll through Monday 4/21 1:30 PM wets coast time in hopes of playing a major role in your Monday Morning Work Avoidance Program

We don’t do sale often, the prices on our goods are already at a low point that makes no good business sense, and the big idea was that volume would balance it out.  So who do you call people to action, other than having awesome stuff?  Free shipping all weekend with code EasterShipFree at checkout.  This applies to all in stock items, kerchiefs, caps, wallets, etc….and Ramblers Too!

Thanks – Happy Easter – and Play Outside!