Category: Uncategorized

Shirt and Bag Art Draft 1.0

I am so lucky to have friends and friends through my wife that are gifted artists and designers.  I have a heavy tilt towards the analytical side and  while I can conceptualize what I want an art project to be, it is awesome to throw out a range of ideas and to get something like this back on the first try.  Gigantic thank you to all of you who have helped me.

This is very close to what will be the shirt and bag art for the Kickstarter rewards.  There will be options of this or the porteur build, as well as a couple of color options.  Now to get the Kickstarter part launched, stuck in a holding pattern waiting for approval.

 

Votational Ride

Even with the kickstarter project submitted for review things have not backed off a bit, but I took a 30 minute break to ride over to the local polling place and drop off the votes.

You voted, right?  I am sure you did.

Then the hustle home to keep the prep for the SF Expo under way.  I have had my idea and materials for the back drop on hand for a month now, but figured it would be a good thing to do a dry run before SF.

I am pretty stoked with how it came out.  The banner hangs ahead of the backdrop for a slight shadow box effect.  the string disappears on the canvas.  I need to make a couple of adjustments to keep it all tight, but I am happy with the plan.

Next up is cleaning up and re-cabling my blue Rambler.  Decals will be coming in overnight, thursday is going to be a busy morning.

One Rambler Done

Getting everything ready for the SF expo, a week from now, has been nuts.  That said the 51 porteur build on the sunflower Rambler is done.  I finished off the grips this morning, headed out for a test ride around the neighborhood and then back to the computer.

Now to wrap up the Kickstarter video, get the posters ready, finish detailing out the blur 63 Rambler and what I can of the red 57.

Never a dull moment, but still squeezing in rides where I can, just short ones.

Lesson No. 21,987

I am one of those sorts of people who learns by doing.  Sometimes by book or example first, but usually but jumping in and doing it.  Todays lesson?  Never audition a new coater on bike or part that you need, particularly soon.  The call came last evening, the blaster had shot a hole in the fork ?!?!?  The fork was in for a chemical strip, light blast only if touch-up was needed and then a new single coat of red.  The goal being a complete red 57cm Rambler for the SF Expo.  The first attempt at red had gone on too thick and yellow, and it was in for a re-do with a local.  He was not happy with how thick it came out and was going to do it a third time.  I figured the fork would be a good audition for having a local option to do custom color requests.

I went by the shop this morning to see the “hole”:

I am still not really sure how a blaster could do this exactly.  Obviously this fork will be retired.  We are currently working on a resolution, and I am sure between the blaster and the coater this will be made right.

With the cup being half full, I am in shock and awe that the wire guides are intact.  Also, it is clear that my guys in Portland are getting good brass penetration into the dropouts.  And last but not least, one less bike to transport to SF.

Trick or Treat?  I am hoping for the treats, this was not how I planned for the day to start.

Porteur Makeover

This last week I was able to get the 51 Rambler switched over from its original drop bar build:

There was nothing really wrong with the way the bike was built up, and it fit my wife well.  The thing is, it just was not how she wanted to use the bike.  She prefers to sit upright, be able to put our minpin in a front basket of sorts, but still have the bike preform at a high level.  I sourced some new parts, others were already on hand, and set to work on the conversion.

It came out fantastic.  Some details worth note.  The Wald bars work just fine with bar end shifters.  The newish Tektro city levers are stylish and work great with the Paul Racers.  The Pari Moto tires were swapped for a set of Soma B-lines to add a bit more durability as well as the look of the red tires.  The Porteur rack is a Soma Fab offering as well.  I modified it slightly so that it worked more gracefully with the front dropouts as well as having a couple of struts welded on for mounting the top end to the crown bosses.  The whole thing is rock solid.  The cherry on top is the new Crane mini hammer strike bell.

Only a few test ride miles in so far, but all smiles.  I still need to do a final wrap on the grips and work out a basket or box for the dog, but it is pretty close to her dream bike at this point.