Deluxe :: Redux

Chris Chance showed up at NAHBS in Sacramento this past March. During a conversation towards the end of the show he commented on how much things have changed, particularly with regard to mountain bikes. It was really interesting to listen to the perspective of someone who has contributed so much to our space, but had essentially pulled a Rip Van Winkle and removed himself from the bicycle business for over a decade.

Indeed MTBs have changed, some for the better (disc brakes, 29" wheels), and some for the worse (overly complex suspensions, too many sub genres, boring colors).

I reflected on this conversation while traveling home from California, and for some time afterwards.  The final impetus for the Deluxe Redux project were several discussions with folks about what mountain biking really is, or should be all about. It ultimately took us down the path of "remember when?".

The early days of mountain biking were lots of things, but the one common denominator throughout the birth of the new sport was fun. Because it was all new, and anti-establishment at that, there was no cultural baggage and no one took things too seriously.

Unfortunately, much of that irreverence has been "matured" out of the sport.  Gone are the crazy colors and small brands bringing forward an eclectic mix of innovation and character.

The whole thing got me thinking about what if? What if you took the best of old school and blended it with the best of new school? We're still a very small brand, so we can do pretty much whatever we want if the mood strikes us. We don't need to have a series of product planning meetings followed by corporate approval.

So, out of all of this reminiscing, and a bit of lamenting, we conjured up the Deluxe Redux.  The Deluxe has been our MTB platform for over 17 years.  It has been continuously refined and updated over the years in both steel and titanium to accommodate increased suspension travel and more recently, new BB standards and tapered steerer tubes.

For the Redux project, we wanted to go back to the essence of early mountain biking... simple machines designed to be quick and nimble and take some abuse.  So, we decided to make a fully rigid, steel frame with a segmented fork. Chris Igleheart was the fork maker at Fat City, and he's never stopped refining his skills. We asked him to make his best non-suspension corrected 29er fork, and he delivered.

The bigger tires of a 29er provide some extra cush and roll-over capability, so combined with some versatile New England geometry, we ended up with a light and strong bike that handles crisply.  Mated up with modern components like Shimano's excellent XT group, and this thing is basically a geared big kid's BMX bike.

We topped it off with three bright color combos and matching custom Chris King anodized hubs, head sets and BB's to make it visually distinctive and, wait for it... fun.  We hope that you enjoy.

This one we call "Bite the Lime":

This one is "Blues B4 & After":

And last, but not least, "El Fabuloso":

Yeah, those are custom bar end caps featuring flying monkey skulls wearing IF crowns!

We're pretty excited about how they came out, and struggle each day to pick a favorite color.  We're now officially taking orders for a numbered run of 12 in each color.  Sizing is custom, but geometry is not, and they are only being sold as complete bikes featuring the components that you see here.  Pricing is $5999 plus applicable tax and shipping.

Custom sized steel Deluxe Redux frame with sterling silver head badge
Igleheart segmented steel fork (425 build height)
Full Shimano XT 2X10 group with Ice Tech rotors
Luxe Wheelworks hand built wheels featuring Stan's tubeless rims and Chris King ISO disc hubs
Matching Chris King head set, BB and hubs
Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo tires
Salsa skewers
Fizik Tundra saddle
Crank Brothers Cobalt grips, bar, post, and stem with matching custom painted stem inserts
Custom molded IF flying monkey skull bar end caps

Please give us a call if you'd like to reserve yours, and even if you aren't in the market for a new bike, remember to have fun the next time you hit your favorite trails.

Cheers,

G

Rides :: RAID and Rapha MCC

It's a bit quiet this week after all of the recent visitors and special events. Kind of like the week after Christmas.

The inaugural RAID Rockingham was a great success. We had over 100 riders participate, and the weather was fantastic... sunny, low 70's, and no humidity. There was the occasional cloud sighting, and someone even felt a slight breeze. Folks came from near and far, and we are grateful for all of the support. Friends came up from DC, NYC, and Boston to experience our local roads and spend some time together.

The fine folks at Loco Sports did a great job with all of the event details and logistics. The course was well marked and the support was fantastic (thank you to the ladies at the top of Nottingham Hill making the PB & honey sandwiches!).

Here's a slide show from the RAID:

Later in the week we had a visit from Hennie, Rapha's North American Mobile Cycle Club.  By this time the weather had turned, and we were in the midst of an intense heat wave with temps that broke 100. We still had a great turnout for a ride that covered part of the RAID route.

Hennie's awning provided valuable shade in our courtyard, along with an IF pop up tent. The building in the background is Phase 2 of our mill complex renovation project, slated to be complete by the end of the summer.  We'll miss all of the construction crews, but it'll be nice to have it all finished.

After a brief pre-ride meeting, it was hike-a-bike up to Main Street. The stair scene has got me thinking about a mill yard cross race... hmmm...

You've got to love small town hospitality... the cars actually stop and let you cross!

Despite the heat, everyone enjoyed the ride and post ride refreshments, food and Rapha films.

So, if you find yourself out on the road and get behind a 30 foot gray motor coach with this license plate, follow it, for there is sure to be a good time wherever it is headed.

Cheers,

G

The Break is Away :: Big Gap to Close

Finally some shirt sleeve riding weather... it's been a bit like living in a cloud for the past four weeks here, so I can't blame all of the riding that I've been doing for the lack of content here. I had to drive all the way to Virginia to ride in the sun at The Ballers Ride V2.

We've been crazy busy... in a really good way. For those of you lamenting the lack of frequent bike porn here, please tune in to our Facebook page, since we regularly post pictures there. Yeah, they're not as nice as our studio pics, but hey, we've got to get bikes out the door.

The next few weeks are going to get even busier around here since we have a couple of great events lined up. One week from today is the inaugural RAID Rockingham, put on by Loco Sports and brought to you by us.  If you can make it to our neck of the woods, please sign up and join us for some good riding followed by great food, beer and company in our mill courtyard. Did I say beer?

Also, please join us on Thursday evening, June 21st as the Rapha North America Mobile Cycle Club will be visiting Newmarket.  Hennie, the motor coach that is home to the Club will be parked outside our door and features the entire Summer 2012 Rapha range as well as fresh espresso, publications, and cycling memorabilia from around the world. 

We'll roll out for a casual ride of our local roads at 5:30 and then head back to the shop for food, beer, a factory tour, and the screening of two Rapha short films. One features Italian frame builder Dario Pegoretti, and the other is a documentary of the Rapha Continental's five year quest to ride North America's best back roads. Did I say beer again? 

On the bike front, we've been shipping some beauties, and have a new, limited edition MTB launching in a few weeks that we are really excited about.

Here are a few recent builds that made it into the studio before they left us:

First up is a steel Crown Jewel for a local customer. Intense Blue Pearl and White with a painted Enve fork to match.

Next up is a familiar paint scheme, pulled from the Steel Factory Lightweight featured in the '08 catalog, a bike that I rode for awhile.  This one is a steel Crown Jewel with a Yellow to Red Candy fade and wrapped IF crowns. The customer was on the brink of buying a Trek when a good friend suggested that he come see us instead. Friends don't let friends ride boring bikes.

It wouldn't be Summer without a fresh batch of t-shirts. To celebrate the upcoming launch of the Deluxe Redux, we've brought back a couple of iconic images from our past; the IF Race Puppy, and the IF Trike.

We also have a new bright green on black classic logo.  Up and down box on the front, big IF crown logo on the back.

Order them online here, or give us a call at (603)292-5673.

In several weeks we'll be formally launching the Deluxe Redux. It will be a limited release; only 36 units will be sold as complete bikes in one of three color combinations. They will still be individually built to order, but we are purposely defining this bicycle in a specific way. 

I've been thinking about this project for some time now, and the concept was solidified after a conversation with Chris Chance earlier this year at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Sacramento.  Chris has been away from the bicycle industry for over a decade, and we discussed the breadth of change during his absence; some of it good, and some of it overwhelming in it's complexity.

So, if, like me, you are yearning for the simple fun that mountain biking represented in its early days, then I think that you'll like the Deluxe Redux. It's purpose is to take the best of modern know how and blend it with the simplicity and not-so-serious aspects of mountain biking's early days.

We've enlisted a few partners to help us make this project happen, including some custom Chris King anodization and Fat City's segmented fork master Chris Igleheart.  Here's a little teaser, from which you can gather where this is going.

Ride safe and hope to see you at the RAID Rockingham or the Rapha Cycle Club visit.

Cheers,

G

RAID Rockingham :: Race or Ride?

It's probably not much of a stretch to say that most of you here love and ride bicycles, or else you wouldn't be reading this.

So my question for the day is how do you ride your bicycles?  There's a wide range of sanctioned races in just about any locale if you're inclined to pin on a number and fire your pedals competitively, and the last several decades have seen a wave of charity rides sprout up to benefit just about anything.  But what about the person that just wants to go out and ride harder than the costumed enthusiasts riding to save/prevent/find-a-cure for whatever, but doesn't want to bump elbows and bars (and jeopardize their ability to be at work on Monday) at the local town center crit for bragging rights and a chance for the coveted gift certificate to Big Bill's Bowlarama?

Queue the rise of Grand Fondos, Cycle Sportives, unsanctioned races like the Rapha Gentlemen's Races, or as some like to call them, organized challenge rides. Grand Fondos and Cycle Sportives have been popular in Europe for some time now, and like most Euro cycling things, have belatedly made their way to our shores with events like next weekend's Grand Fondo New York, and Levi Leipheimer's Grand Fondo.

In our neck of the woods we've had the Deerfield to Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee, which splits the difference between being an organized challenge ride and a charity ride (e.g., it's really frickin hard, and it benefits the Franklin County Land Trust, a group that works to protect much of the land that the ride traverses). D2R2 as it is called, is a can't miss event on our calendars, but it is not until August, so what do we do?

Well, our good friends down the hallway at Loco Sports organize and promote just about every road running event in the general area that is worth attending, so we partnered with them to create a local challenge ride, the RAID Rockingham on June 17th.  Is it a race? If you want it to be, then you can feel free to ride against the clock. Will it be fun? Well, there's beer, bikes, and bike swag involved, so... yeah, kind of hard for it not to be.

The route is short enough at approximately 45 miles, but challenging enough for you to leave plenty on the course. We roll out in the morning, so you'll still have the balance of the day to spend on other activities, or better yet, join us for the after party featuring Smuttynose Beer, good food, and lots of swag to give away.

The course is a mix of our favorite packed gravel and paved roads, so a cyclocross bike or a road bike fitted with larger tires is the perfect ride. Don't have a CX bike or a road bike that can take 28's? No worries, we're offering 10% off any Ridley CX bike at our shop, The Bike Factory NH, with your Raid Rockingham registration.

So... sign up, ride hard, drink some beer, tour our shop, and generally have a great time. We'd be honored to show you our local roads and secret stash of packed gravel.

Cheers,

G