Minus Ten Review 2009-36

One of six ever made. Someday I have to get this back up and running again.

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was writing about spiders on the trails, more news on the ill-fated Big Wheeled Ballyhoo, and about some recent riding I had been doing. One thing I was reticent to discuss was the acquisition of a baby blue hard tailed single speed device that has sort of a rough story behind it.

It is a frame I have hanging on a peg these days and was fillet brazed by Badger Cycles for Milltown Cycles, at the time, owned by Ben Witt, a good friend of mine. It was supposed to have been a deal which would have been cool, had it worked out for Ben, but due to "issues" with the builder...... nuff said. 

Anyway, this particular bike was purchased by another friend of Ben's as new from Ben. The whole deal blew up then with these Dorothy bikes and after a while of riding this bike, this fellow, notorious for flipping his rigs after a while, decided to part ways with it. I got a contact from the seller who told me that Ben had informed him I was the the only guy that could purchase the bike from him.

Yeah, weird AND awkward. 

So, anyway, I negotiated a price and the bike came to me. Now there were, (maybe still are) a LOT of bad vibes surrounding this builder, and I used to get e-mails from upset folks every time I posted images of this bike or of my other Badger I have, as if there were anything I could do about their issues. I never did understand why folks felt compelled to regale me with their tales of venomous feelings and what not. (So, just don't, ya know?)

Anyway, the other thing that struck me about this time in my life was how busy I was! Holy cow! No wonder I was feeling the urge to bail out of some things I was doing back then in 2010 and subsequent years. It took me until 2014 to cut ties with a lot of this nonsense, but eventually, I did get out from under some of this pile I was under in 2009. That whole Big Wheeled Ballyhoo deal being a great example right there.

Minus Ten Review 2009-36

One of six ever made. Someday I have to get this back up and running again.

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was writing about spiders on the trails, more news on the ill-fated Big Wheeled Ballyhoo, and about some recent riding I had been doing. One thing I was reticent to discuss was the acquisition of a baby blue hard tailed single speed device that has sort of a rough story behind it.

It is a frame I have hanging on a peg these days and was fillet brazed by Badger Cycles for Milltown Cycles, at the time, owned by Ben Witt, a good friend of mine. It was supposed to have been a deal which would have been cool, had it worked out for Ben, but due to "issues" with the builder...... nuff said. 

Anyway, this particular bike was purchased by another friend of Ben's as new from Ben. The whole deal blew up then with these Dorothy bikes and after a while of riding this bike, this fellow, notorious for flipping his rigs after a while, decided to part ways with it. I got a contact from the seller who told me that Ben had informed him I was the the only guy that could purchase the bike from him.

Yeah, weird AND awkward. 

So, anyway, I negotiated a price and the bike came to me. Now there were, (maybe still are) a LOT of bad vibes surrounding this builder, and I used to get e-mails from upset folks every time I posted images of this bike or of my other Badger I have, as if there were anything I could do about their issues. I never did understand why folks felt compelled to regale me with their tales of venomous feelings and what not. (So, just don't, ya know?)

Anyway, the other thing that struck me about this time in my life was how busy I was! Holy cow! No wonder I was feeling the urge to bail out of some things I was doing back then in 2010 and subsequent years. It took me until 2014 to cut ties with a lot of this nonsense, but eventually, I did get out from under some of this pile I was under in 2009. That whole Big Wheeled Ballyhoo deal being a great example right there.

Minus Ten Review 2009-25

The Badger Dorothy. Not many of these around, and it is a sad tale.

Ten years ago on the blog it was Summer in full swing. Green was everywhere, and so were the skeeters. Hmm....2019 seems about the same, ya know?

But there was this one thing I had going on back then that I didn't say a whole lot about at the time. Probably still won't. It has to do with this baby blue beauty pictured here. It's a Badger Dorothy. One of six ever built.

And I got to ride two of the six. The first one I tested for the old "Twenty Nine Inches" site was a hard tail with verticle drop outs. That was a magical handling bike. Man! That thing could slice and dice Mid-West single track like nothing else. Then that had to go back, and well, that was that, or so I thought, until I got a strange e-mail one day in 2009.

The current owner of the rig wanted to sell it, and supposedly, the only person he could sell it to was me. Stipulation of the original owner of the Dorothy brand. apparently, and so, I was quite puzzled by this. Of course, remembering the previous ride of the Dorothy, I did want the bike. It was set up as a single speed and had Paragon sliding drop outs, a blinged up spec, and one bad thing- It had a dent about the size of a half dollar on the underside of the downtube. I maybe posted about this bike a few times, then I dropped it. The story was just too volatile and personal at the time.

Well, the price was negotiated and I ended up getting it. I rode it maybe three times, but the ding in the downtube weighed upon my mind, and I ended up stripping it, using the parts on other bikes, and hanging the rare bird from a peg in the Lab. "Someday", I thought, "I'll get that fixed."

Well, "someday" still hasn't come. I need to get that taken care of, but yeah. It's a pretty bike. I love sky/Robin's Egg, powder blue colors and the combination of that and the sparkly panels in deep blue. To die for. Plus, no one makes anything like this anymore. This is a hand made, fillet brazed frame and it does ride really sweetly. I should get it back together again, but..... Too many projects!

Minus Ten Review 2009-25

The Badger Dorothy. Not many of these around, and it is a sad tale.

Ten years ago on the blog it was Summer in full swing. Green was everywhere, and so were the skeeters. Hmm....2019 seems about the same, ya know?

But there was this one thing I had going on back then that I didn't say a whole lot about at the time. Probably still won't. It has to do with this baby blue beauty pictured here. It's a Badger Dorothy. One of six ever built.

And I got to ride two of the six. The first one I tested for the old "Twenty Nine Inches" site was a hard tail with verticle drop outs. That was a magical handling bike. Man! That thing could slice and dice Mid-West single track like nothing else. Then that had to go back, and well, that was that, or so I thought, until I got a strange e-mail one day in 2009.

The current owner of the rig wanted to sell it, and supposedly, the only person he could sell it to was me. Stipulation of the original owner of the Dorothy brand. apparently, and so, I was quite puzzled by this. Of course, remembering the previous ride of the Dorothy, I did want the bike. It was set up as a single speed and had Paragon sliding drop outs, a blinged up spec, and one bad thing- It had a dent about the size of a half dollar on the underside of the downtube. I maybe posted about this bike a few times, then I dropped it. The story was just too volatile and personal at the time.

Well, the price was negotiated and I ended up getting it. I rode it maybe three times, but the ding in the downtube weighed upon my mind, and I ended up stripping it, using the parts on other bikes, and hanging the rare bird from a peg in the Lab. "Someday", I thought, "I'll get that fixed."

Well, "someday" still hasn't come. I need to get that taken care of, but yeah. It's a pretty bike. I love sky/Robin's Egg, powder blue colors and the combination of that and the sparkly panels in deep blue. To die for. Plus, no one makes anything like this anymore. This is a hand made, fillet brazed frame and it does ride really sweetly. I should get it back together again, but..... Too many projects!