Retirement

It was a nice day today so I decided to get my fat ass out on my bike and take the old prototype for it's retirement ride. I pick up my personal frame tomorrow and I should have it built by the weekend. It seemed like a fitting tribute to take the proto for a final tour around Vancouver.


I loved this bike and it was honestly the kick in the ass that I needed to start this company. My initial plan was to start with a full suspension design but this bike felt so natural that within 10 minutes on my first ride I had made the decision to start with this as my first model.

However. The parts kit really sucked. This bike is too heavy. The wheels are the most bomber wheels I've ever ridden, but they weigh a tonne. The fork is way too heavy, way too tall and just never felt right. The cranks are overkill. The brakes suck. There's just too much weight on this bike. My next build is easily going to knock 10 pounds off and won't give up much in the way of strength or suspension performance.

As well, I can't look at this bike and not see all the mistakes that I made. The new dropouts and gussets are cleaner. The slightly steeper angles are going to handle a bit better. The shorter seat tube is going to be nicer. The lower BB is going to kick ass. The machined head tube takes out a bit of weight and finishes things off nicely. I'm super, super pumped on the new bike.

And riding around Vancouver these days is always pretty exciting. I've been longing to take this photo for the last couple of months.


I call it Signs of the upcoming Real Estate Apocalypse. Hopefully.