Minus Ten Review 2009-11

Gravel bikes in titanium are hot now. ten years ago it was 29'ers in Ti.

Ten years ago on the blog I was talking about a few forward thinking designers of bicycles that were working with 29'ers. one of those, "Shedfire", (Brant Richards, of On One fame and now involved in making trousers great again) was designing a rig in titanium back then which never really saw the light of day as a titanium rig. But it was realized in aluminum under the Ragley Bikes name.

The other thing I was yakking about was how the economic collapse of 2008 hadn't really affected the bicycle business. Record sales were being recorded and the outlook for 2009 wasn't bleak, and so it was looking to be a great year.

Not so ten years down the road. The shop I work at has been struggling. Many other shops are as well. Some I know of have closed. Things look bleak, and to be honest, I wonder now whether or not I'll be wrenching on bicycles at all by the end of the year. I mean, it isn't like there are a lot of bike shops around!

Anyway, the only constant is change, and whether or not I am working in a shop in the next few weeks or the next few years is anyone's guess at this point. I know I have no idea at this point.