One Down, One To Go!

<===The Shadowy Conspiracy behind Misfit's "Fe" hard tail stands to the left.

One of the coolest things about Sea Otter is the people you meet. I got to chat with Peter Keiller who is the Emperor Of Misfit Toys for awhile about his newest toy that is about to go to all the bad little girls and boys out there- The "Fe" version of his aluminum hard tail single speed. It will be a True Temper OX Platinum rig with the Misfit style sliders done in steel, (of a sort yet to be determined). This frame is made of American sourced steel, welded by hand in Canada, and powder coated in Canada as well. (Kind of sounds like hockey to me). Whatever! This bike is going to be cool and it should be a great addition to the Misfit family of toys. (Not recommended for children under the height of 5' 3")

Oh yeah, and Peter is a cool guy too. I was glad to have met him. It's always nice to see and hear from someone with vision and passion in the cycling industry. Gets me inspired, it does.

<===Under that classic orange paint is a skin of grey!

Another inspiring guy in the industry is Greg Matyas, owner/operator of Speedway Cycles up there in Anchorage, AK. Greg brought yet another titanium Fat Bike with him to Sea Otter. This beauty is now being produced by Lynskey Performance Design in Tennessee. Greg has a highly massaged down tube spec'ed for lateral stiffness and really cool details like a bent top tube for stand over clearance in snow, no offset in the frame, yet a totally usable range of gears, cool rack mounts, and wide tire clearance, of course! Greg has a titanium handle bar to go with this, but he sold the last example to Mike Curiak and is waiting on more to re-stock. The rims are the ever evolving Speedway Cycles rims that are drilled for lighter weight. To top it all off, the hubs are special Phil Wood high flange and custom width to accommodate this design. Trick!

Did I say that topped it all off? No......wait! Greg gifted me a "he-mans" bottle of Midnight Sun Brewery's Meltdown Double IPA. Yes! That did top off the meet up just right!

Another Sea Otter fades into memory........

So another Sea Otter is over. I made it home and I'm back in my familiar environs. But........Trans Iowa V5 lurks in the near future. Out of the frying pan, into the fire!

So, last minute details will be the order of the day. Look for thoughts and concerns to populate the blog posts in the coming days that reflect on my current deteriorating mental state.