Things and Stuff

• T-shirt sales have been coming along just fine. If you’re going to buy, you should do it soon! Orders close on Friday the 11th. I’m in a position where I’ll turn a little bit of profit, which will be rolled over into some equipment. You could also help spread the word by sharing on Twitter or Facebook.

• You know what else would help? Selling those two frames that I posted about on Monday. Maybe I’ll post them on Pedalr or something.

• I’ve “discovered” 8020 extrusion, and I’m highly intrigued. It’s an aluminum product that has channels cut in it. Those channels are a standard size and allow you to attach other 8020 components, or machined parts to the frame. Think of it as an industrial version of an Erector set. I’ve got an idea for how to build a custom stem fixture that would be pretty minimalist, so I may take a shot at that in the coming months. We’ll see. I’ve got some other very interesting (to me) ideas in mind for the stuff, including using them as workbench frames. That might be priority numero uno for this.

• In the part of my life where I contribute to the economy (other than the new house we purchased this year, and my occasional order from Enco, Home Depot, or wherever for framebuilding gear), we purchased a new car this weekend. The primary reason, of course, was the baby that’s on the way, but I’m not going to complain about it having a ton of space for bikes. While I refer to the silver monstrosity as “Babystar Galactica” or “the Family Truckster”, it is going to be nice to have around. It gets much better mileage than my WRX did, doesn’t eat premium-only gas like the WRX, and with the roof rack coming (2-3 rails) and a trailer hitch, I could probably get everything to a trade show in pretty short order.

• Also, bike has been added to the queue — the AGRS men’s winner was formally announced last week, and Jim Bell will be the proud new owner of a custom Pallas Athena, per my sponsorship of that event. Congrats, Jim! Now answer the email I sent you!

How Could I Forget?

I somehow managed to mention it on Twitter and Facebook, but not here. What? Oh, only that I, and Three Stars Cycles, are sponsoring the AGRS (Almanzo Gravel Road Series) this year!

The mens’ series winner gets a custom steel frame built by me, and the womens’ series winner gets a custom steel frame built by Josh!

For those unaware of the gravel racing scene here in MN, a good place to start is with the Almanzo 100, a beautiful, challenging hundred mile race over nothing but gravel roads.

(Formal announcement of the sponsorship is here.)