Consumer day one

Saturday harkend the first opportunity of the show for consumers to get out and engage in sensory overload...an easy task to accomplish as there is sooo much cool stuff out there.

Talking with the show organizers, they anticipated over 10000 people to come through during the next two days. A few of the folks that spoke with me said they had to wait almost an hour at the door before being allowed to enter because the hall was at capacity; as one person came out one person could come in. Totally crazy.

Despite Portalnd being a great city that has embraced and supported cycling, the attendees came from all over; Germany, Japan, Spain, Canada and as far as the east coast of the United States. I've got to admit, some of my favorite people were from Japan. I had about seven guys crowd into the booth and begin to pour over the bikes. They would begin to shout to the others, excitedly pointing out little features here and there...there enthusiasm was infectious. They spent about 40 minutes just hanging out like kids in a candy store, very fun.

The number of people made for a long day in that there were often so many folks in the booth at once I could not talk to them all, and believe me, I tried :)

The media was back in full force as well; I gave interviews to BikeMagazine, Mountain Bike UK, and a slew of smaller Web based rags...bikes kept rolling out of the booth for pictures all day long. It will certainly be interesting to see just what ends up in print or on the web in the next couple of weeks.

The pics are courtesy of Bill and Hubby as I've not had a chance to even look around yet :(

I'm totally whooped but excited about the final day tomorrow, so I'm going to sign off...

cheers,,

rody

Set up and industry day...

Wow, lots went on the last day and a half, so let's get to it...

Thursday afternoon our baggage arrived at the Portland airport so Bill and I jumped back on the train and went on a retrieval trip. I was so relieved to see that the stuff came through without further incident.

Once I lugged all the stuff over to the convention center the set up began. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the first box. One of the show bike boxes that was loaded up with a a very expensive parts box had the bottom of the box all torn out with some packing tape all wrapped around it...oh no!

Inspection found that at some point during shipping, UPS tore the crap out of the box, the parts box fell out, and nothing was ever put back. Gone was about $2000.00 worth of equipment. Not good.

Fortunately, that was the end of the troubles. I got set up with a few parts missing off of some of the bikes and an entire build for another, but stuff still looked pretty good.

Industry day was a hoot. Lot's of familiar faces came by as well as new aquaintences. One of the special opportunities of a show like this is to put a face to the names you deal with all year. It was really good to meet Lynette of White Industries and her boys...great folks; Gary Prange of SSSink, my supplier for those NOS Fat decals for restorations that are coming up; Maurice and Eric from Dirt Rag, Richard Cunningham, and the list goes way on.

Got to do a couple of video interviews with MTBR and Spains Mountain Bike magazine.

You can check out the MTBR vid here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnbPquV3OtU

Got a lot of work to do today before the public show opens...they are expecting over 10000 people in the next two days...whew!

I promise I'll get some pics up tonight, I'm just going to hit the sheets for a bit.

cheers,

rody

An epic day of travel

The plan was to fly out of Pittsburgh International airport and have a leisurely trip to Portland for the show...unfortunately, God had other plans with the weather.

Terrible storms with tornados inundated the country on the day we were traveling, causing a rash of delayed/cancelled/and missed flights. Ironically, the bad weather was covering where we were leaving and our final destination...the rest of the country was peachy keen.


We started out with a 2 hour delay, which was ok as we would still be able to make our connection on time. Then the bottom fell out.

Long story short, I saw many of Americas great airports, dozing on carpeted floors and saggy lounge seats, in the 23 hours it took us to get to Portland. The good news is, we arrived safely, our luggage, including all the Luv Handles and two frames, did not. They were somewhere in the not so friendly skies, winging their own path across the country :(

Once here, the first order of business was to "get some grub on" (get something to eat for our foriegn readers). I love to eat, especially at the little out of the way diners and restaurants that have a lot of character. I met up with Steve and Denise of Coconino Cycles, Bruce Gordon, Brian Bayliss and a pretty hip chick, Yahee (hope I spelled it correctly :) ) who is a good friend of Denise. We had a fantastic breakfast of hash, blueberry cakes and fresh orange juice...yummy!

It turned out to be a popular place as some of the Dirt Rag crew, the brothers Sycip, and the Ingalls of Retrotech were also enjoying the atmosphere and food.

Great conversation and banter was punctuated with the joy of hanging out with folks of like mind. Working as an independant builder, you do not have the opportunity to really talk with others about ideas, methods, and just generally bullshit. It was a pleasure to really engage.

Show set up and media day info will follow tonight...hope everyone is well.

rody

Off to NAHBS...

Well guys, I'm off to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show to represent all things good and retro inspired. I'll be taking Bill Grove with me and giving him free reign with the camera while I tend to the masses at my booth.

I'll try to update my blog nightly with some cool pics, happenings, and what not.

I'll be taking three retro inspired show bikes, one modern 29er, and the first road frame I ever built back in 94, now refinished and destined for my son.

Without giving away too much of what is in store, one of the bikes is a tribute to one of my all time favorite vehicles; a 1958 VW Bus painted in chestnut brown and sealing wax red. I built a special stem for this one that pays tribute to another one of my favs...the Potts. The stem turned out very nice and it matches the lines of the bus well too.

I've always enjoyed the Ross Schafer Jelly bean rasta paint and wanted to do a variation on it as well...kind of a neo-retro classic build. Here's a quick hint of what is happening with it...

Had the shop full of folks this last couple of days working to get it all ready...even had Big K rubbing his nubbins to the bone on some of the Aluminum parts. Thank goodness for Mother's polish!

As for the contest puzzle, looks like Eric was first on the pickup...the piece was an adjustable sliding stand to hold the show bikes by the chain stay. They got a nice coat of flat black, some comfy foam and a D-ring buckle system to fasten everything tight. Eric, send me your mailing addy and I'll get some stickers out to you after the show :)

Looks like I'll be able to get at least a couple hours of sleep before heading to the airport...you can rest when you're dead, right? ;^)

Talk to you all soon,

rody

Puzzle of the day and kickin Tees...

All right folks, spent the day fabricating some of my last items necessary for the North American Handmade bicycle show and they are a dilly of a puzzle for you to figure out.

Here's a chance to get yer self a sticker sent right to you in your own living room, that's right, it's better than a 70's game show!

The first one to click on the little comment link below the post and correctly tell me what this gadget is for will get some Groovy Lovin sent to them.

Put on yer thinkin' caps and giver what fer...

Despite the last pic, they are used individually and have something to do with our favorite form of transportation, the two wheeled velocipede.


I'll give out the correct answer Monday night and announce the lucky winner :)

On to other buisness...

Tees are in!

The last shipment of tee's went out of here like nickle beers at a county fair (that's like, really fast, for you city dwellers ) so here's your chance to pick up the latest version.

It is a 50/50 cotton blend ringer tee with heather brown shirt and chocolate brown rings on the collar and sleeves. The perfect colors for your after ride lounging as dirt and grease will blend right in and won't even look like it needs washed for like, I dunno, 6 months at least (if you can stand the stink that long) ;)

Printing on the front and back for peoples pleasure as you come and go.

A shot of the front graphics.


And below is the back...

Cost is $17.50 for the shirt and 5 bucks shipping in the US, 10 dollars overseas.

I'll be taking them with me to the show, but if you want your's before they are gone again, you can send the money by paypal to rody@groovycycleworks.com .

If you have not yet checked out NAHBS, looky here; http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/ , lot's of good stuff :)

cheers,

rody

The Griswalds head to the handmade bicycle show...

that's what the locals guys at the shop said it looked like once I had the trusty old Volvo wagon loaded up with show goodies heading for UPS yesterday :)

For those that may be unfamiliar, the Griswalds were a family in National Lampoons Vacation that traveled the bredth of the US in a heavily loaded station wagon. Unfortunately, Christi Brinkley did not flag me down like she did Chevy Chase in the film. Regarless, despite the critisism my poor old car takes, she still delivered the goods like a champ.

I had to chuckle once I got to UPS...the customer area of the local distribution center is so small, once I got all the bike boxes inside you could no longer open the door. It got pretty cold for the folks who got there after me and had to wait in the 12 degree weather until the clerk had processed enough of the boxes to start moving them. I did not make too many new friends that day ;^)

The actual loading was preceeded by a flurry of activity; bike building, disassembling, and packing.

When time is of the utmost importance is when small things always seem to go wrong. Who was it that said "adventure begins when circumstances no longer follow the plan"? I did not have much "adventure", but it is a bit frustrating when you think you've got it all figured out just to have reality smack you in the face.

Example...

finishing up Roy's build I realized that I had overlooked a small part spec...the US distributer of Rohloff hubs does not include an OEM axel plate with the hubs. Instead, they give you this awful looking torsion armiture that extends under the length of the chain stay and attaches in place with a hose clamp...ick! Usually, I have to order one directly from those gifted German engineers myself, somehow in the midst of activity of late, I forgot this small detail. Now that the shipping deadline for the show was critical, I had to act FAST! So, two hours on the mill, one minute on the TIG welder, and a quick trip to the paint booth and we were back in business. Silly me, I'll never forget that again (fingers crossed :) )

I did a quick build of the polka dot bike, less the Rohloff cables attached, and thought I would share a few pics as this will be the conclusion of this neat process.

Your standard side shot...ummm, where are the cranks you say? Bill has been busting his bum to get the new Hot Rods just where he wants them. I'll likely see them at the airport, just in time to put them on the bikes for the show. These first sets will truly be show pieces, as the heat treaters could not get us the tempered spindles back in time. If all goes well, the functional products will be waiting for us when we get back, then we'll be able to ship these out to all those who have been waiting sooooo patiently.

I really like how the stem/bar binder came out. So much cleaner than having those ugly pinch bolts protruding out the back of the stem.

Some headbadge lovin...

And a little "made by" credit...

I got a special delivery tonight. Know what it could be? Here's a little hint, a lot of people have been asking for the one off my back.

More info tomorrow morning.

cheers,

rody