The Gary Fisher Collection

So this fancy ad appears on the Fisher website today, touting the 'Gary Fisher Collection.'

'Literally a dream come true' it says.

I was intrigued - it sounded like had created an AMG-like brand within the Trek/Fisher empire. A special set of bikes where Gary was allowed to run wild and do whatever he wanted.

But no. It's nothing that good at all. From the press release;

Trek Bicycle and bike pioneer Gary Fisher are pleased to announce the Gary Fisher Collection, a line of Trek bikes that will replace the standalone Gary Fisher brand. The Collection will be distributed exclusively through Trek retailers.

So Gary Fisher the bike company doesn't exist any more. It's been reduced to Gary Fisher's signature on the Trek Rig, and the Trek Paragon.

It just doesn't sound right.

This just feels like a strange move for Trek. I felt like everything that was unique and cool about Fisher was simply brushed aside in '93 after Trek purchased them. Instead of bolted together CR-7s, we got Trek OCLV hardtails with Gary Fisher badges on them. They felt as much like Fishers as the Cimarron felt like a Cadillac.

But slowly, things changed. And eventually Fishers felt like Fishers again. They looked good, and they felt like unique and cool bikes again.

They felt like a company I could like and care about again.

In fact, I bought an '09 Rig recently. Because it was a 29er, because it reminded me of the old Supercaliber with the big squiggle graphic on the top tube, and because it felt like a cool bike.

But now, they're just Treks.

And it just doesn't seem to matter what Trek does, they're still dull, boring, corporate.

I swear Trek has some computer program that scans all of the most popular graphic design, and synthesizes it into the most inoffensive and vanilla thing they can come up with, and that what goes on their bikes. I'm sure you can tell from this that I'm not a fan, but consider that I've known of them since 1988, and not once have they put out a bike that I've looked at and thought; 'that looks good.'

Law of averages alone says that they should have come out with one aesthetically pleasing bike in 22 years - right?

And after this many years you'd think a company could come up with a damn logo to put on the head tube!

Fisher had a great logo...

ebay finds

there's always cool vintage action on ebay, but i found a really good one today;

a Porsche Bike S. these were made by Votec, and were showcases for top-line Euro components of the time. Sachs derailleurs, cranks, and hubs, Magura hydraulic brakes, and a crazy Votec double-crown fork.

this ad caught my eye because it that first image reminded my of the only time i ever saw one in the wild. rolling down Whyte ave was this woman in a pretty sun dress, matching blue deck shoes, and i think a basket, on her $4000 Porsche mountain bike.

anyway, i'll be very interested to see what this ends up going for. it appears to be in fantastic condition - and the seller's assertion that it's never been off-road definitely looks true.

2010 excitement!

cliff at redbike describes himself as an 'offroad tourist.'

i understand this completely now as i've ridden offroad 3 times in the last 3 years.

what interests me now would be buying something like this;


and then building it as a single speed commuter with a flat bar and maybe wood fenders...

anyway, that's the kind of bike i get excited about now.

and thankfully, it looks like i'm not the only one either - Rocky Mountain has the Metropolis line in addition to the RC line. i especially like the RC 50D and the Metropolis NRT with it's internally geared 8 speed Shimano hub.

but, even better than that, Norco has thrown their considerable weight at the Urban bike market. the Ceres is a steel frame, 8 speed internal hub, Gates belt drive(!!!) commuter bike.

i've been interested in the belt drive system since i saw pictures of a Lynskey from the handmade show last year. it requires a special frame design - specifically some way to get the belt through the frame since it doesn't come apart - so it's been pretty much a custom build to this point.

but Norco comes through with the flat bar 8spd commuter, a road SS (the Vesta), and a SS 29er (the Judan) - all at pretty reasonable prices.

i'm fired up about Norco building these crazy things!

i think my converted Klein hybrid is for sale...
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Now playing: Jay-Z - 99 Problems via FoxyTunes

Corratec revisted

they're still out there - www.corratec.de - and they still make the Bow with it's groovy curved dual top tubes/seat stays. they also rock the continental mountain king with the white sidewalls!

i heartily endorse any effort to bring back skinwall tires - but white?? i don't know...

the pictured Grizzly above is clearly not a high-end model, but there are Ti and aluminum versions of the Bow, and - the one i want - a 700c hybrid called the Super Bow Cross.

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Now playing: Cannibal Ox - F-Word
via FoxyTunes

The Hipster bike Revolution!

recently i've discovered a brilliant idea in new bikes; customizable singlespeed bikes that can be had for cheap. or relatively cheap depending on how you look at it.

they're usually fixed (more on this later), have tons of colour variations, and no graphics.

it doesn't sound like that complex of a bike, yet it's not something that is easy to come by. we talked about building something like this at redbike years ago, but we wanted to do it all canadian. unfortunately, it was just too expensive to fly.

the least expensive option for a custom build bike was a surly 1x1 or karate monkey - and that still came in around $1600 from the ground up. getting mass-produced parts, i think we should have been able to do it for $750 or less. it wouldn't have been blinglespeed at all, but that was the point.

so, along comes republic bikes, mission bicycle company, and not quite the same idea - but they claim to have invented the genre - norway's alta bikes; cheap, fully customizable 'hipster bikes'

the fixed gear roadbike as become the required mode of transport for the hipster. the only cool way to get to the gig on whyte, or roll down to the sugarbowl for coffee and cinnamon buns. which i find very odd because the fixed gear bike is not for the novice rider, and if there's one thing the hipster doesn't seem to be, it's an athlete.

and, the best of these bikes are home made by good mechanics. so most hipster's are probably on a bike built by a friend from an old japanese or euro road frames.

but now anybody with $394 can have one.

that's what republic charges for their aristotle ss. that gets you five colour choices on a hi-ten steel frame, matching colours for the chain, grips, and velocity deep-v rims (the only choice for a hipster bike). and best of all, the ability to have the website choose random colours for all of these items! most of the parts are no-name, and i have to be honest here, it's not a high quality frame. but the end result looks good.

the next step up the ladder is mission bicycle company in san francisco. it was really only a matter of time before frisco based shop started mass producing hipster bikes. the mission bike has a much higher quality frame (reynolds 4130), powder coat colours, and the option of building the bike with high end parts; chris king, thomson, nitto, brooks, and vittoria all appear on the option sheet.

of course the end product can run $1400 with all the bling, but can also go as low as $750. as always in bikes, you get what you pay for. for my money the mission is absolutely worth the extra expense.

and then there's alta. much flashier than the republic, and lighter for sure with an aluminum frame. it's got better wheels, sexy time-trial bull horn bars, and fancy euro-industrial design muscle behind it. they've only recently been available in north america, and i couldn't find a price, but a couple blogs i found seemed to agree on $1000. pricey, but again, sexy.

i personally really like the mission - good price, good parts, and SF is very cool. though me being me, i'd be more likely to piece together a fixie using an MTB frame and some leftover road wheels. but that's just me...

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Now playing: Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
via FoxyTunes

Bikes for Sale

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good:  Gary Fisher Sugar 3

Very custom - front triangle is from a Sugar 3, but the rear section is carbon from the Sugar 1, upgraded 120mm travel Fox Fork, Bontrager Race disc tubeless wheels, Vredestein Tiger Claw tires (new), BB7 disc brakes (new) with 203mm front rotor, Cane Creek brake levers, Deore shifters, XT deraillers, LX Cranks and Octolink BB, Easton EA 70 stem and bar, Syncros headset (new), LP Composites seatpost.

It's a 17.5 frame, meant for a 5-8 to 5-10 rider.  But, because of the very long top tube, it can fit a 6 foot rider like myself with the longish stem I have on there.  

Very lightly used, and that's why I'm selling it; I'm going hardtail instead.

Asking $1400

The Bad (ass) : Mosh Bagley 3 star

Dirt jumper; Mosh 14mm sealed hubs, Alex MX22 rims, Kenda tires, generic 3 piece chrome cranks, sealed BB bearings, Odyssey Modulever lever, Odyssey Evolver rear brake, Odyssey London Mod cable setup, Wellgo pedals.

May as well be brand new for as much as I rode it - no scratches, no nothing.  Probably $650 replacement value - yours for $300.

The Ugly : Nishiki (?) MTB

Says Nishiki on the dropout, but who knows what it is.  Converted to SS, pay no mind to the suspension fork on it, it doesn't do anything other than hold the wheel in place, genuine Rocky Mountain Bikes Hnadlebar, anodized purple bar ends, Onza ChillPill cable anchor.

It doesn't look like much, butI would ride this if it was bigger; it rolls pretty nicely.  $50, or $20 and a case of Stella and it's yours.

Singlespeeds

i love singlespeeds because of their simplicity; they're easier to fix (no shifters to tune), easier to spec (no money to spend on gears), and maybe even easier to ride (just pedal!). but i believe they're very personal. i don't believe that i would ever buy a singlespeed made by someone else.

because you have so much more latitude for part choice, i'd probably end up changing everything on the bike anyway. so I may as well start from scratch? i've built bikes around forks, around hubs, maybe even around saddles or handlebars. but when you do this, sometimes the rest of the bike is secondary, and that means there could be lots of parts on there that nobody else would want anything to do with.

at least for me.

for the kind of singlespeed that i most often dabble in - the poverty or near-poverty bike - it's much more about the acomplishment than the result. check out this kona i put together last summer to see what i mean;

kona humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a frame with a stuck bottom bracket
700c wheels
4 inch riser bar
shimano XT cranks with the spider
creaky rocky mountain hybrid fork
cantilever brakes (front only)

this bike was really pretty bad. i didn't have any cable stop for the front brakes, so i tried just looping the housing over the handlebar and zip tying it down with extreme prejudice. while terrible, this was an improvement over the internally geared 3 speed coaster brake hub that was the only brake on v1.0 of this bike.

but the crank was pure genius. because the 122mm BB wouldn't come out of the frame, and the low profile XT crank was the only 175mm crank i had, i needed to resolve an impossible chainline issue. this crank had a spider attached to the crank arm via lock ring that the chain rings attached to. i took this off, and reversed it, so that the big ring was now well inboard of the crank arm. it looked really weird, but the chainline was near perfect.

i rode this bike for about a week, then one day i needed the post out of it to put in another frame so i could work on it on my workstand. i put the kona outside the garage and forgot it there. the next time i went out to the garage, it was gone. without a seatpost, or seatpost collar mind you.

i wasn't that choked up about it though - if i was selling this bike to someone else, i wouldn't taken more than $40 for it. hell, i'd have given it to any friend that was interested. the parts on it were essentially useless, the BB was only held in place on the drive side. the idea was to ride it and hope that it destroyed itself so i could somehow cut it out, and then strip and paint the frame - make something nice out of it.

the fact that someone came into my yard to take that bike was what bothered me.

(by the way, if you're out there, and there's a hell, you're headed there buddy. you better have given away a couple working bikes in your day to make up for that karma cap hit.)

I guess for me, it's more important to put the bike together than to ride it.

Hampsten

Andy Hampsten was one of the first american cyclists to achieve success in the european theatre of professional cycling. most famous for his win in the 1988 Giro d'Italia - and his second place on the Passo di Gavia, a legendary performance in some of the worst weather conditions ever in a road race - he also won the Tour de Suisee twice and won the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 1992 Tour de France. and in 1999, he started his own bike company with his brother.

commence to drooling!

i've only been aware of Hampsten for a couple years, but everything i've seen has been gorgeous. there's a very good reason for that though; he has some of the best builders in the world putting these bikes together. the steel bikes are made by Independent Fabrications. the titanium bikes by Moots and Kent Eriksen - he started Moots by the way. carbon frames are made by Bob Parlee.

those are the builders of dreams my friends!


this is just the aluminum Gran Paradiso! i prefer compact geometry myself, but this is beautiful.

"Compounding the obvious lack of a ‘70s style road bike..." i'm sold right there - how cool is that? i'm not sure that i could ever ride a road bike as the riding position just kills me, but maybe YOU buying it for me is what would finally put me at ease...

I want YOU.... to buy me a COLNAGO

the other day i was thinking about a couple of the more famous 'warm and fuzzy' internet stories. warm and fuzzy is maybe not the best descriptor; they're the Internet Cool Thing of the day kinda thing.

one of them was 'One Red Paperclip.' in this one, some guy decided he'd try trading his red paperclip for something bigger and better, until he got to his ultimate goal of getting a house. it took him a year, but he did it. now the house he got is in kipling, saskatchewan so maybe i'm not that impressed, but still, it's pretty rediculous to think of it.

the other one i was thinking of was the million dollar website. this is a website with one million pixels on it, and each pixel was for sale for one dollar. you could (obviously) buy more than one pixel at a time, so the guy that thought it up didn't need one million takers, but he still needed a lot. look at the page source on that site and marvel and the gigantic list of URLs.

let's be honest though about what these two things are; they're scams. not malicious ones - everybody that got involved got what they were promised - but still scams. good ideas that got a lot of good press, and that press pushed them on to success. (although i gotta say, the guy running that paper clip deal is pretty charismatic...)

so i figured; why not me? everybody is getting all these free houses and money from the internet and all i get is russian cracks of Left 4 Dead that only have sound - russian sound - and offers like this for the bikes i try to sell on craigslist;

goodday seller, am interested in buying this item posted, but firstly i will like you to tell me in details the present condition and the last price before making any purchase and also my means of my payment is through a valid cashier's checks. So if this means of payment could be convinient for you, just let me know by sending me a mail now.
Hope to hear from you soon.

where's my million dollars?

well, i'm not asking for a million dollars, i want a colnago. not even a bititanio, just a nice steel one.

of course, my scam got as far as changing my facebook status to 'i want YOU... t buy me a Colnago.' none of my 12 friends knows what that is. so it didn't go very far. but, maybe the power of the blog can get me that finely crafted italian craftsmanshipness.

(i hear people talk about twitter though, maybe i need the power of the twit? sadly, i have no idea what twitter is, and i can't be bothered to find out. when you stay home and play lego star wars most of the time, social networking doesn't count for much.)

so here's the deal, the colnago fund starts here - with YOU. for $2, you can have your personal bicycle rated on this website. it'll get it's just deserts believe you me. i have tons of cynicism, anger, and carcasm available. and tons of exposure too. this website has one follower! and i might ask redbike to mention me - that'll drum up two or three more.

just send me some pics, and we'll get this done. everybody wins. mostly me though.

I'M DONE

i'm not done blogging of course, just done posting the old bikes.

after three years!

kinda sad actually, but there were a lot of them.

in fact, i found a bunch more in a folder that i never got to. i might post them in the future, but i wanted to get this done so i could talk about other stuff.

i've been buying cycling magazines, reading mountain bike forums online; adding fuel to the fire as it were. and i'll pick up a few of the bike companies that have popped up since i stopped the old bikeguide.

so, as a great man once said; 'let's get started shall we?'