Ramblers Getting Closer

The next round of Ramblers is getting closer to delivery!  Fifty is a lot of bikes, while I dream of batches way bigger than this, I am pretty happy to be cutting my teeth on 50.

So what does 50 bikes look like on a production rack?

6.13 50-1And that is not all of them or the 50 forks too.

So far there are about 20% of the bikes spoken for.  I need your help to get that number up.  The more of these I can get out the door the faster we can start the next round.  Even then it will be Fall or Winter before there are more in the works.  So if you have been considering a Rambler for Summer now is the time to claim yours.

As an incentive I will be updating the storefront to reflect free shipping on all Ramblers with deposits in place prior to the completion of the powder coating process.  Fulfillment will be throughout the month of July.

What makes a Rambler different from some of the other options out there?

  • Choices of color: US Blue, Sunflower and Orange Soda
  • Provisions for integrated dyno lights, front and rear
  • Paul Racer Brakes INCLUDED in the package price, with brazed on mounts
  • Double Butted steel with tubing spec optimized for the frame size
  • Made in the USA, coated in the USA with US made powder
  • Sized in 2cm increments over a range from 51 to 63, there will be one that fits for most riders
  • Rack and fender mounts, front and rear
  • Highest levels of quality control

As an expansion on that last note.  In general production frames are held to a slightly lower standard of tolerance than some of the highest end custom bikes.  Quite often the imports are far enough out of spec that the bike you get is delectably different from what you may have ordered from a spec sheet.

6.13 QC-1The Ramblers are made in Portland by guys that care, guys that ride and love bikes.  The spec and tolerances are much tighter than you will see elsewhere.  Many Ramblers will be rolling out in Portland, a good number of you may even know the guy confirming the alignment of the rear dropouts in this pic.  He, and all the team at Zen, want you to be as stoked with your Rambler as I do, and never hear a complaint.  This all matters so that your frame set builds up quickly and easily, then goes on to provide years of faithful service.

So what are you waiting for, claim your Rambler now, these are unique bikes in the market place, delivering most of what you would want in a custom Rando bike but at production prices and delivery.

 

Wednesday Coffee on the Beach

Made it out this morning on m own for the Wednesday ritual.  Pretty gloomy out, but warm, light breeze and super low tide fun.

6.12 Coffee -4It was still pretty close to dark when I set up at the edge of the rocks and sand.  At first I noticed just a few sand fleas, then a few more and then there were swarms of them, more than I have ever seen burrowing out of the sand.

6.12 Coffee -3For me, they are more of an annoyance and something to avoid getting in the mug.  In some parts of the world they will bite like crazy and leave you with a rash.  I am guessing that I am either lucky or the ones we get here are just not that bad.  Still, it was either move camp or walk around a bit.  I chose the latter since, as we all know, a watched pot never boils.

6.12 Coffee -1

6.12 Coffee -106.12 Coffee -6 6.12 Coffee -7As the tide was dropping, the limpets or bigger sand fleas, started their migration to the edge of the surf zone.  This is when I noticed something completely new after a lifetime spent on the beach.

6.12 Coffee 2-1

The swarming sand fleas were ganging op on the limpets and taking them down.  These things are all so small I was wishing for my macro lenses.  But here is a gang of them on the back-end of a limpet trapped on its back.

6.12 Coffee -14Getting back to the task at hand, the water had boiled, coffee grounds were stirred in, and is was time for a couple of quick taps on the pot to get them settled.

6.12 Coffee -12Another successful morning ride.  I missed having company this week, but end up taking more pictures when I am alone.  As for the war of the Limpets and Fleas, that is something I will never forget.

6.12 Coffee -11

Battery Light Bracket

I have made a few successful light mounting bracket out of upcycled chainrings.  They work quite well for something that would normally be thrown out or recycled.  The upside is that they come pre-drilled, are easily cut to size, easily cleaned up with files, sufficiently rigid to support most lights and are relatively light weight.

6.10 light mt dyn-1I have a similar solution that I have used with battery mounted lights as well.

6.10 light mt bat-1 6.10 light mt bat-2This one has served me well, but as I get ready to switch this bike over to a dynamo lighting system, I thought is was a good time to share the set up.  There is a lot that the home hobbiest can do solve challenges like this with basic hand tools and a trip to the local hardware store.

Here is a sneak peak of the mount I am working on for the upcoming dyno system.  First step is tacking and filling with epoxy.  Next up is a composite wrap.  Conventional wisdom is that something like this needs to be brazed.  If whole bikes can be built with bonded metal and composite systems, I am sure light mounts can be done just fine.

6.10 Light Mount-1Next steps are to smooth the filler, clean it up and wrap it with a resin fiberglass matrix.  More on that soon.

Matilija Creek S24O

This past weekend I was able to coax a couple of buddies out for a quick s24o camping trip up in the mountains behind Ojai.  Not an easy feat for most of us to pull off as life gets too busy, but a few emails, a month of lead time and I had two out of 6 invites along for the ride, thanks Mike and Mike.  We headed out Saturday afternoon towards the Murietta Camp near the end of Matilija Creek Rd.

6.9 MC T WP-1

Weather down on the coast was foggy all day, and I was looking forward to getting some time in the sun.  About 6 miles in we could see the end of the clouds, and then it was clear all the way to camp.

6.9 MC T WP-2 6.9 MC T WP-3 6.9 MC T WP-4 6.9 MC T WP-5 6.9 MC T WP-6Up around Lake Casitas and through Miner’s Oaks we stopped in at the Farmer and the Cook to pick up some last-minute energy snacks (peanut butter cookies) and then it was out of town an up HWY 33 into the Santa Ynez mountains

6.9 MC T WP-9The turn off for Matilija Canyon Rd comes up quickly.  Mostly uphill to get past the most useless damn in the region, and then down into the canyon.  This is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever been through.

6.9 MC T WP-11 6.9 MC T WP-14Just over 5 miles of empty rolling hills heading back to some dirt and creek crossings.  The sun would be giving us light until 7:30 or 8, so we were taking our time getting to the trail head

6.9 MC T WP-15 6.9 MC T WP-16

I theory we were almost there.  The campground should be less than a mile up and easy to spot.  Twenty minutes of single track, and a creek crossing and it was becoming painfully evident that Plan A was not going to be as easy as we thought

6.9 MC T WP-17The trail was well marked, and a heck of a lot of fun, but the campsite was a bit elusive.  Plan B was to head back towards Matilija camp, and or the first workable flat spot before it got too dark.  Two miles back the other direction, one dry riverbed, 3 creek crossings and a whole lot of hike a bike and we found our home for the night

6.9 MC T WP-18Tired, hungry and needing a rinse in the creek the camera went away until morning.  While the Matilija camp sees a fair amount of traffic, it was fairly quiet this summer Saturday, there were a couple of other camps to the south, but by no means crowded.  The night was clear with bright stars and no moon.  Sleep came easy.  Fog had rolled into the valleys by morning, bringing some chill with it.

6.9 MC T WP-19Dinner Had made it evident that I had left my spoon at home.  There is a good bit of humor to be found in that in consideration of all the camera gear and other stuff I had dragged along.  It was not that big of a deal, by morning I had thought of a work around for my oatmeal.  Have I mentioned how much I like my Soma tire levers?

6.9 MC T WP-21The sun was starting to break through, it was time to break camp and enjoy the ride out.  A mix of single track, and hike a bike, with creek crossings, plenty of poison oak, and did I mention poison oak?

6.9 MC T WP-266.9 MC T WP-246.9 MC T WP-25 6.9 MC T WP-316.9 MC T WP-226.9 MC T WP-32The time in the sun was short lived and we were flirting with the edge of the fog the rest of the way back towards home and the ocean.

6.9 MC T WP-33 6.9 MC T WP-35After a look back we crested out of the valley and back out on the HWY 33, tempting us to head north for a bit.

6.9 MC T WP-37At least it was tempting me.  The rest of the afternoon committed for all three of us though, it was back to town.  Trips further North will have to wait for another time.

6.9 MC T WP-406.9 MC T WP-39The trip was a success, even had a little adventure thrown in.  Total time away was under 19 hours with about 60 miles of riding.  All of this is just to the North of the comforts of home.  Everybody wants to do it again.  Time to start planning the next round.

 

 

 

C Line 700×38 Poll

I have been talking with the great folks at Merry Sales about bringing a new 700x38mm tire to market fora while now.  IMO the best platform is to use the existing Soma New Express mold and casing from the 700×37 tire they currently sell and have a batch made up without the hypertex casing.  This has worked with great reception on the 650b version of the tire.  Having put many miles on both versions of the 650b tire as well as the relatively new 700×37 New Express I am convinced that a “C Line” would be my Goldilocks tire.

At this point I need your help in picking a color for the first run

[polldaddy poll=”7161169″]

As with all projects of this nature there will be one color for the first batch, once consumer reception is felt out we can move to have batches made up in more than one color.