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

Get Your Shiny On :: SSR's

We've been doing stainless steel road bikes for over 5 years now, and they just keep getting better. At NAHBS we introduced a new tube-set option for our SSR utilizing Columbus' bi-ovalized MAX tooling. All of our available MAX tube sets were quickly sold, but if you didn't get yours, worry not, we've got more on order.

On Friday we saw a couple of SSR's go out the door that looked fantastic, and thus worthy of sharing. I posted them on our Facebook page, and Tweeted them, but just in case you don't go there, here are a few photo montages. Feel free to weave the word montage into some cocktail chatter this weekend, it will lend an air of international sophistication to the conversation. However, if the company doesn't lend itself to such displays, just say mash-up instead to lend yourself an air of hipsterish casual indifference.

First up is a red with white panel beauty. This is an SSR MAX. Look closely and you'll see the ovalized top and down tubes.

The other unique thing about this frame is the naked stainless showing through the logos. This is not an easy effect to affect, but Chris and Phil managed to perfect it after our man in Japan, Daisuke Yano, requested it for one of his customers a few months back (see below).

The other SSR that left us on Friday was this Dove Gray and Omaha Orange beauty. I'm going out on a limb and saying that gray and orange is the new hot bike combo, or color-way if you really want that air of international sophistication (spell colour with a "u" and you'll be all the way to bright).

PF30 BB shell, and an Enve fork custom painted to match help to make this frame-set a light and stiff machine while retaining the intrinsic sweet ride of steel.

All of the shiny made me pull out my SSR yesterday, and I'm going out on it again today. Here's to getting your shiny on.

Cheers,

G

Spring :: Sprung Saddles

Spring must officially be here. We've been busy, and folks are anxious to get out on their bikes.  A couple of recent builds stand out, and we've got some exciting events on the calendar

First up is a red and black steel Club Racer. The client wanted a classic steel ride, and the ability to run larger tires. The interest in running larger tires has increased a lot lately. The growth in dirt road riding seems to be driving demand, but also the realization that a bigger tire not only increases comfort, but the larger contact patch actually leads to lower rolling resistance (I know, it's counter intuitive, but look it up).

We were given a bit of creative license on this one, as long as we made it black with red accents.

We get to do lots of exotic builds with top of the line parts, but there is just something satisfying about doing a versatile steel machine with solid components. SRAM's Rival group is great value for money, and their WiFLi system allows you to run up to a 32 tooth cog, which when combined with a compact front crank gets you pretty close to a 1:1 gear ratio... perfect for long and steep gravel climbs.

A classic Brooks B17 provides the perfect perch to grind out the miles.

Another recent build is a bit more challenging to describe since it falls into the "adventure by bike" category. The client is an intrepid world traveler, often finding herself in less developed parts of the globe, so she wanted something extremely robust and very discreet in terms of branding and aesthetic.

If there was a HUMVEE of bicycles, this is it. Rohloff 14 speed internal hub for a virtually maintenance free drivetrain, heavy duty racks for loaded panniers, three bottle mounts, ergonomic grips, pedals and saddle for all day, day-after-day, comfort. The saddle even incorporates vents to provide air in strategic places.

Look closely and you'll notice that there is no paint on this frame-set. The client asked for naked steel, which is a real challenge because you can't simply spray clear coat over bare steel and expect it to hold up. Our normal paint process is a minimum of three stages; 1) a primer that chemically etches into the bare metal, 2) a base coat that carries the color, and 3) a top coat of clear to protect and shine. 

In order to have the bare steel show through, we had to find a clear epoxy primer that would chemically bond with the base metal, and then spray standard clear coat on top of that.

A White Industries crank transfers power to the Rohloff hub, mated to Velocity rims built by Cycle Monkey.

A bulletproof Phil Wood hub handles the duty up front.

The Selle Italia Respiro saddle features a ram air intake under the nose which vents through the center of the saddle, keeping everything cool.  The air suspension bladders look like something you'd find in a high tech running shoe.

Ergon grips and bar ends provide lots of flexibility for hand positions over varied terrain and long days in the saddle.

I'm sure that this bike will see it's owner through many miles of epic adventure.

If you are up for an epic adventure of your own, or at least a mini epic, mark June 17th in your calendar to join us for the inaugural edition of RAID Rockingham. Put on by Loco Sports, RAID Rockingham is a challenging ride that begins and ends at our HQ and takes you through some of our most scenic paved and packed gravel local roads. At just under 50 miles, it is challenging enough, but will leave you with enough in the tank, or at least enough taken out of it, to enjoy Smuttynose beer, tasty food, and lots of great bike swag at the after party.

Online registration is open until June 13th, and we hope to see you then.

Lastly, Rapha's new mobile cycle club, Hennie, will be joining us for a visit on June 21st.  Come on out and grab an espresso and check out their latest cycling apparel and gear.

Cheers,

G