February Was Frostbike Time

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

February was always the month for several years that I went to the Frostbike event in Bloomington, Minnesota. Frostbike was the dealer-only show put on by Quality Bicycle Products, one of the, if not the, largest bicycle parts distributors in North America. Originally this event was called an "Open House" where the idea was that QBP would invite dealers to come up and see their operation, explore opportunities to do business with QBP, and basically get a bit of wine-and-dine, schmoozing to woo the dealers over to the QBP way. 

Attendees were invited to explore the facility where you could see the latest in warehousing technology. QBP offered a lunch as well during this open house. Later on vendors started appearing on the floor showing off their latest wares. This expanded in time until Frostbike became a de-facto trade show replete with more various brands distributed by QBP. Many were showing off their latest product introductions, and with the addition of the QBP brands like Salsa Cycles and Surly Bikes showing new stuff, it was a show not to be missed.  

Later on there were dealer education and mechanic seminars offered. Then QBP shifted all the Salsa and Surly product intros to Summertime with their "Saddledrive" event, which took some of the steam away from Frostbike. Finally, the seminar/education part pushed out the trade show part until Frostbike was essentially a conference and then it petered out. This ending was hastened by the management that clamped down on the partying and extra-event offerings some of their brands were doing which were more social get-togethers and really did not enhance the company's bottom line. However; they were attractions to dealers to show up to the event.

Mike Moyer of the former business in Northfield, Minnesota, Mike's Bikes, holding my old Gryphon Mk1 frame.

I probably started going to Frostbike in 2003, for sure by 2005. Somewhere in there, and it was always because I was a shop rat at the shop I used to wrench for in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Back then I was still pretty much a nobody. But then Trans Iowa, this blog, and the whole 29"er thing swept me into a different part of my life. 

Frostbike became something quite a bit different for me. I became friends with Ben Witt, who at the time was the owner of Milltown Cycles, a shop in Faribault, Minnesota. Through Ben I was invited to visit Mike's Bikes in Northfield, the shop where Ben cut his teeth in the business under the watchful eye of Mike Moyer, who just happened to have been a life-long cyclist and bicycle mechanic. 

Greek pizza and beers at Mike's circa 2010.

Mike had a lot of surprises up his sleeve. The uninformed person would have taken Mike for an ordinary shop owner with a super laid-back attitude running a shop that was an eclectic mess. And I mean that with all the love I can give behind that description. There really was no other way to describe Mike's Bikes. 

The sharp-eyed cyclist with a mountain biking background might have soon started picking out some oddities about the shop. Old vintage pieces could be spied in corners, up on racks in unassuming places, and if you were allowed to get into the back room, your mind would have been blown away. 

See, Mike was an OG of the Marin klunker group. He was right there, in the thick of it all, during the birthing of what we now know as the modern mountain bike. He knew all the principals involved and had even laced up wheels for many of them. But Mike wasn't about those tales and he never really was one to trot out stories or drop names. I loved that about Mike. He was as real as it got. 

Some promotional shot at Frostbike for the Fargo. I think that is me!

I adored and cherished every moment I spent with Ben Witt, Marty Larsen, some of the old employees of Mikes, Stuart, Mike's son, and Mike Moyer at Mike's Bikes. Those were some of my very favorite and most fun experiences in life and in cycling. I reported on Frostbike, and Mike's Bikes, every time I went there, here on this blog.  I wish that I could have brought all of you there to Mike's at least once. I don't know if any of that ever came through in my postings, but I truly felt that way and still do. We lost Mike last year in May. I have to say, this time of year will never be the same for me again, but I thank Mike Moyer for all that he did, because without him, my life would have been much less rich. 

Having a chat with Ben Witt, then of Salsa Cycles. Image courtesy of M Larson.

Then there was the whole "media" thing and my attendance at Frostbike. I never went to Frostbike as a media dude, as I always tried to use my shop mechanic credentials instead. More stealthy and subtle under that guise! 

It was hard though, and adding in my status as the director of Trans Iowa, it usually meant I would walk into Frostbike and get stuck at the Salsa Cycles booth for hours. Then there were a few times I was able to get into places I shouldn't have been with the help of some QBP folks I won't name here. 

I was able to get into the cubicle farm on several occasions, a place I wasn't supposed to be in. Ironically Frostbike used to be an "open house" gig, but that ceased to be the case after awhile! On one occasion I snuck into a super-select group of high-end dealers which QBP was having a separate party for upstairs and where the plebians were not allowed. That was fun! 

I couldn't divulge all the details then, and I still probably shouldn't, so a lot of Frostbike did not get reported here, but I told the stories I could tell. Oh, yeah, and images. I've got tons that haven't ever been seen here. 

Frostbike was a thing on the blog for a solid ten years. My last trip was in 2015, and what a way to cap things off! That was the year I walked all the way from downtown Minneapolis to the 494 Interstate loop South of town in the snow with just a hoodie on. It was something like 17 degrees and I had on tennis shoes as well. Four hours and 12.2 miles that adventure was! Anyway, you can read about THAT here. 

I got a finger poked into my chest the next day by someone dear to me that once worked at QBP who was rather upset I didn't call for a ride. But that's the sort of shenanigans I used to get into there, and well, it is probably just as well those days are gone. I never got into any real trouble, despite some numbskull antics like getting a car impounded or nearly crashing in a blizzard getting to Frostbike, but I am sure my luck was about all used up. 

To have had the opportunities I had then are amazing to me and to have met all the people I got to meet was even more amazing. It is a part of my life in the cycling world that almost doesn't seem real, but it did all actually happen. 

Thank you to all involved in those times. 

This post is dedicated to Mike Moyer (Image by Marty Larson)

Remembering Shenanigans

From 2010's Frostbike 'show'- Back when Frostbike was cool.

 From about 2003 until 2015, I attended the annual Frostbike dealer open house, as it used to be called, every year. In the beginning it was merely a day-trip with my former boss to go see what was new for the coming year in components, mostly, from vendors that Quality Bicycle Products distributed. 

These first few trips to Frostbike were mainly boring affairs as my former boss wasn't very socially adept and really shied away from interactions with 'strangers' that weren't interested in giving him the limelight. Now on occasion he would find a willing subject which he would then assail with half-baked tales of 1980's era crit racing. That was always my cue to escape and ferret out new friends, new stuff, and to just generally poke around. 

Then things changed around about 2006 when I started attending Frostbike on my own. I got the shop invite and just drove up myself and did whatever I wanted. Blogging here and my association with Trans Iowa and "Twentynine Inches.com" gave me access to more people and places. During this time I met Ben Witt, Marty Larson, Jason Boucher, Mike Reimer, and several other QBP people. This was the start of the "Years Of Shenanigans" at Frostbike. And let me tell ya....it was insanity! 

Frostbike generally happened mid-February, so last weekend would probably have been about right, except this year that was Valentine's Day, so maybe this weekend would have been the weekend? I don't know, of course, as I haven't been to Frostbike since 2015. I'm sure QBP's legal and PR departments are quite happy that I no longer come up. Especially after that last year I went! 

Mike, of Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota, checking out my new Singular Gryphon in 2010

Of course, most of my shenanigans weren't at Frostbike at all, honestly. No, they happened in Northfield, Minnesota at a bike shop which no longer exists anymore called Mike's Bikes. Mike, the owner, was a former resident of San Francisco, (or that vicinity) back in the 70's and worked as a bicycle mechanic during the days of the early klunker experiments. He rode with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly and had a few great stories about them. He even had his own klunker which he grafted old Shimano disc brakes to! (I saw the pictures)

You may have seen that reproductions of these are available now. Well, these are The Originals! Seen at Mike's Bikes in 2009.

Mike's Bikes was the Center of Shenanigans. Ben, Marty, myself, and usually a few others would gather there on the Friday evening or Saturday evening of Frostbike weekend. Greek style pizzas and lots of beers were brought in. Old collectable bikes were brought out, and a 'track' of sorts was set up. We could speed through Mike's from the front, retail area, through the shop, up a ramp, make a hard left into the storage/office/back room, another hard left through a doorway, down a ramp in a hallway, through another door that was propped open, and then down a longer hallway to the final hard left and back into the retail space. Mike's was all concrete flooring, so grip wasn't an issue and carpeting wasn't going to hold us back either. 

Food + beers + bicycles + inebriated riders going waaaaay too fast = mayhem sometimes. You wouldn't believe how fast we'd get going! It was a blast! Between sessions we'd repair to the back room and drink and yak until we'd all had enough and we would wander off to our beds, for far too little sleep and an early morning. This happened several years and was a big part of why I loved Frostbike weekend.

I got to attend the Grand Opening night of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop.

There were extra-curricular activities as well throughout those years. I was honored to attend several functions, like the opening of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop, and a few "Cutter's Ball" events which were held in various venues. One being the Peacock Groove headquarters. The final shindig was a big affair at a motel in downtown Minneapolis. I remember crashing one shindig for QBP's top dealers held upstairs in the QBP facility. I was snuck in and had to 'hide out' in the cubicle farm with some other "Q" folk until the coast was clear. Good times! 

There were late nights at bars in Northfield, walking around at night through snowy streets as we went from place to place attending affairs and parties. There was the infamous night when I illegally parked Jason Boucher's Honda Element across from One on One Bicycle Studio and got it towed, which cost hundreds of dollars to rectify. There was the assault on the parking ramp, where myself and several others were risking life and limb to short-cut a way to somewhere we thought we needed to be. All at the risk of falling several stories in a concrete jungle. There was the one year when Mrs. Guitar Ted and I ended up driving on a closed to traffic I-35 during an all-out blizzard. But the most notorious dumb deed has to be when I attended Frostbike the last time, and this one ended up being my swan song of sorts. 

About halfway back- I started on 7th downtown Minneapolis!

That would have been my infamous "walking tour of Minneapolis" which I undertook during a snow storm at night in 17° weather wearing nothing but a stocking hat and a red Raleigh Tamland hoodie besides my normal street clothes. 

The situation was that I was to meet Ben Welnak, my then new partner in RidingGravel.com, at the downtown Minneapolis motel where Frostbike was having a big dinner/awards ceremony.  My family came along and we had a motel procured near QBP just off of I-495 in Bloomington, quite a ways South of the 7th and Nicolette area where I was dropped off early in the evening. The family went back to the motel, while the plan for me was to get a ride from Ben after the evening's activities were done.

Well, drinking ensued and Ben had more than enough, and wandered off with a group of folks somewhere when I wasn't looking. I was left with a few acquaintances and figured I better stay put until Ben came back to find me. Well......that never happened. One thing led to another, 'bar time' came and went, people went to their rooms, and I was left alone in a lobby of a strange motel at about 3:00am with no Ben, and no way to get home without incurring the wrath of Mrs. Guitar Ted, who was most likely sleeping by this time. 

So, using my much clouded powers of wisdom, I determined by looking at my dying iPhone with its map app, that I could "easily walk that distance back to the motel!", and so I memorized a basic route, and set off a walkin' South on Nicolette Avenue. Snow, cold, and time to come to my senses eventually shocked me to the reality that I had gotten myself into quite a pickle. My tennis shoe clad feet were getting frozen, my body was in early stages of hypothermia, and the Sun was broaching the Eastern skyline. I was within about a mile or so of my destination by this time though, so I gutted it out and went as far as the infrastructure of interstate roadways would let me. Finally, I had to declare 'no mas!' and I called my wife with my last bit of battery power on the phone. She retrieved me, with a stern scolding,and I got back to the motel by around 8:00am and went directly to sleep. 

I missed the entire first day of Frostbike, since I slept in till about 6:00pm, and I went in on Sunday. People found me and I had several concerned folks giving me what-for and reminding me that I could call for help anytime. Jason Boucher being probably the most adamant in this regard as I remember him poking me in the chest as he admonished me for my previous evening's shenanigans. Word had obviously spread far and wide about "Guitar Ted's Walking Tour of Minneapolis", an approximately 12 mile hike of dubious wisdom overnight in the snow and cold. 

 Yeah, that was a good way to leave it. No more shenanigans at Frostbike for me!

Someday I'll have to do a more thorough retrospective of things I saw at Frostbike. That can wait for another time....

Remembering Shenanigans

From 2010's Frostbike 'show'- Back when Frostbike was cool.

 From about 2003 until 2015, I attended the annual Frostbike dealer open house, as it used to be called, every year. In the beginning it was merely a day-trip with my former boss to go see what was new for the coming year in components, mostly, from vendors that Quality Bicycle Products distributed. 

These first few trips to Frostbike were mainly boring affairs as my former boss wasn't very socially adept and really shied away from interactions with 'strangers' that weren't interested in giving him the limelight. Now on occasion he would find a willing subject which he would then assail with half-baked tales of 1980's era crit racing. That was always my cue to escape and ferret out new friends, new stuff, and to just generally poke around. 

Then things changed around about 2006 when I started attending Frostbike on my own. I got the shop invite and just drove up myself and did whatever I wanted. Blogging here and my association with Trans Iowa and "Twentynine Inches.com" gave me access to more people and places. During this time I met Ben Witt, Marty Larson, Jason Boucher, Mike Reimer, and several other QBP people. This was the start of the "Years Of Shenanigans" at Frostbike. And let me tell ya....it was insanity! 

Frostbike generally happened mid-February, so last weekend would probably have been about right, except this year that was Valentine's Day, so maybe this weekend would have been the weekend? I don't know, of course, as I haven't been to Frostbike since 2015. I'm sure QBP's legal and PR departments are quite happy that I no longer come up. Especially after that last year I went! 

Mike, of Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota, checking out my new Singular Gryphon in 2010

Of course, most of my shenanigans weren't at Frostbike at all, honestly. No, they happened in Northfield, Minnesota at a bike shop which no longer exists anymore called Mike's Bikes. Mike, the owner, was a former resident of San Francisco, (or that vicinity) back in the 70's and worked as a bicycle mechanic during the days of the early klunker experiments. He rode with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly and had a few great stories about them. He even had his own klunker which he grafted old Shimano disc brakes to! (I saw the pictures)

You may have seen that reproductions of these are available now. Well, these are The Originals! Seen at Mike's Bikes in 2009.

Mike's Bikes was the Center of Shenanigans. Ben, Marty, myself, and usually a few others would gather there on the Friday evening or Saturday evening of Frostbike weekend. Greek style pizzas and lots of beers were brought in. Old collectable bikes were brought out, and a 'track' of sorts was set up. We could speed through Mike's from the front, retail area, through the shop, up a ramp, make a hard left into the storage/office/back room, another hard left through a doorway, down a ramp in a hallway, through another door that was propped open, and then down a longer hallway to the final hard left and back into the retail space. Mike's was all concrete flooring, so grip wasn't an issue and carpeting wasn't going to hold us back either. 

Food + beers + bicycles + inebriated riders going waaaaay too fast = mayhem sometimes. You wouldn't believe how fast we'd get going! It was a blast! Between sessions we'd repair to the back room and drink and yak until we'd all had enough and we would wander off to our beds, for far too little sleep and an early morning. This happened several years and was a big part of why I loved Frostbike weekend.

I got to attend the Grand Opening night of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop.

There were extra-curricular activities as well throughout those years. I was honored to attend several functions, like the opening of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop, and a few "Cutter's Ball" events which were held in various venues. One being the Peacock Groove headquarters. The final shindig was a big affair at a motel in downtown Minneapolis. I remember crashing one shindig for QBP's top dealers held upstairs in the QBP facility. I was snuck in and had to 'hide out' in the cubicle farm with some other "Q" folk until the coast was clear. Good times! 

There were late nights at bars in Northfield, walking around at night through snowy streets as we went from place to place attending affairs and parties. There was the infamous night when I illegally parked Jason Boucher's Honda Element across from One on One Bicycle Studio and got it towed, which cost hundreds of dollars to rectify. There was the assault on the parking ramp, where myself and several others were risking life and limb to short-cut a way to somewhere we thought we needed to be. All at the risk of falling several stories in a concrete jungle. There was the one year when Mrs. Guitar Ted and I ended up driving on a closed to traffic I-35 during an all-out blizzard. But the most notorious dumb deed has to be when I attended Frostbike the last time, and this one ended up being my swan song of sorts. 

About halfway back- I started on 7th downtown Minneapolis!

That would have been my infamous "walking tour of Minneapolis" which I undertook during a snow storm at night in 17° weather wearing nothing but a stocking hat and a red Raleigh Tamland hoodie besides my normal street clothes. 

The situation was that I was to meet Ben Welnak, my then new partner in RidingGravel.com, at the downtown Minneapolis motel where Frostbike was having a big dinner/awards ceremony.  My family came along and we had a motel procured near QBP just off of I-495 in Bloomington, quite a ways South of the 7th and Nicolette area where I was dropped off early in the evening. The family went back to the motel, while the plan for me was to get a ride from Ben after the evening's activities were done.

Well, drinking ensued and Ben had more than enough, and wandered off with a group of folks somewhere when I wasn't looking. I was left with a few acquaintances and figured I better stay put until Ben came back to find me. Well......that never happened. One thing led to another, 'bar time' came and went, people went to their rooms, and I was left alone in a lobby of a strange motel at about 3:00am with no Ben, and no way to get home without incurring the wrath of Mrs. Guitar Ted, who was most likely sleeping by this time. 

So, using my much clouded powers of wisdom, I determined by looking at my dying iPhone with its map app, that I could "easily walk that distance back to the motel!", and so I memorized a basic route, and set off a walkin' South on Nicolette Avenue. Snow, cold, and time to come to my senses eventually shocked me to the reality that I had gotten myself into quite a pickle. My tennis shoe clad feet were getting frozen, my body was in early stages of hypothermia, and the Sun was broaching the Eastern skyline. I was within about a mile or so of my destination by this time though, so I gutted it out and went as far as the infrastructure of interstate roadways would let me. Finally, I had to declare 'no mas!' and I called my wife with my last bit of battery power on the phone. She retrieved me, with a stern scolding,and I got back to the motel by around 8:00am and went directly to sleep. 

I missed the entire first day of Frostbike, since I slept in till about 6:00pm, and I went in on Sunday. People found me and I had several concerned folks giving me what-for and reminding me that I could call for help anytime. Jason Boucher being probably the most adamant in this regard as I remember him poking me in the chest as he admonished me for my previous evening's shenanigans. Word had obviously spread far and wide about "Guitar Ted's Walking Tour of Minneapolis", an approximately 12 mile hike of dubious wisdom overnight in the snow and cold. 

 Yeah, that was a good way to leave it. No more shenanigans at Frostbike for me!

Someday I'll have to do a more thorough retrospective of things I saw at Frostbike. That can wait for another time....

Frostbike 2013: Part 4

Skinwalls!

Sunday was the closing day for Frostbike and I awoke at Ben's home to get ready. We then peeled out to his folks place for poached eggs and toast with some fresh coffee on top and then we hit the road northward.

I didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. A few things that I needed to hit up, then I just needed to wait until 2pm for a meeting with a Salsa rep concerning the shop. The pre-order for 2014 was on the agenda. My boss from the shop was supposed to show up for it.

Interestingly, there was a good, long conversation in the Challenge Tire booth with their rep and a person very high up in the chain of command at QBP. The overall feeling I got was that gravel road and fat bike segments were very high in focus and priority with QBP. It doesn't take much to see that is true when you check out some of Q's brands and how they have refocused over the past few years.

Salsa Cycles threw out that Mukluk in late 2010 and when the bike sold out, they brought a three bike line up the following year. 2013 saw the addition of a full on race bike in the Beargrease, and I thought that was pushing the limits. Nope! Now for 2014 we're going to see a high technology, super-fat bike in the Carbon Beargrease. Amazing! Add in those Warbird gravel road racers, the Vaya, and you can see a focus on those categories quite easily.

The new All City Macho Man Disc gravel/cross rig.

Another brand, this one switched up to cover cross and gravel riders, is All City. I remember when that brand was just Jeff Frane and a bunch of fixie-hipster componentry.

All City then branched out to offer urban bashers and fixed gear frame sets. But then one day this single speed cross bike appeared called the Nature Boy. It was touted as a cross rig, which it is, but gravel riders were attracted to it in significant numbers.

Then came the Mr. Pink all-road bike, then the Spacehorse, which really hit the gravel riders as a good rig, and then the geared version of the Nature Boy, the Macho Man appeared. Now when you walk into an All City booth at a show, it's hard to find a fixed gear selection. Sure, they have one hanging on in the line, and a couple of frame sets, but this brand has gone completely in another direction. Gravel and cross. The all new Macho Man Disc will only further that feeling.

So gravel and fat bikes are certainly where the action is at with the Q brands. Foundry, the oddly named carbon bike brand, is all cyclo-cross, for the most part. There is a token 29"er there, but whoop-de-doo. It, (and the other Foundry bikes),  looks like an overpriced refugee from a Chinese manufacturers catalog. Surly? Well certainly they are, (pardon the pun), the odd man out, but with the seminal Cross Check, and two very popular fat bikes, they have their bases covered already. Add in the 29+ Krampus, and you just may have a whole nuther segment created right there. Surly may be "anti-establishment", but they can't be blamed for not being at the front end of most of these niche cycling categories. Cutting edge misfits, those fellers!

Gravel grinding: It's the new black...

Well, I had all those conversations at one point or another during the weekend that I can tell you about. However; there was more. A lot more that I can not speak of......yet. But mark my words here- fat bikes are being fast tracked and what you see now will be prehistoric in terms of tech and performance in three years tops. I know gravel grinding stuff may see the same treatment. Fat bikes will be first though. It's going to be super exciting to see how it all comes down.

After jawing all that time, a guy can work up quite an appetite. Fortunately Jeff Kerkove put a bug in my ear to go to lunch with  him. We caught up on things and had a great time.  For those who haven't been along here for the entire ride, Jeff used to work at the shop with me and was the co-founder of Trans Iowa. Now he's with Ergon, and riding bikes all over the place. We get to see each other very rarely, so it was good to sit down with him.

And that meeting I was supposed to have at 2pm? Well, my boss changed the timing but neglected to inform me of that small detail. So I found out at 2pm that Ben and I could have been gone already, and my wife could have seen all of the Academy Award ceremony, and....... Meh!.......

Communication........it is sort of important. 

So Frostbike came to an end for 2013. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and I had a lot of fun. Seeing many people I don't get to see very often, and meeting new folks too was certainly the highlight of the time spent there. Bikes were the added icing on that cake.

Thanks! I wanted to give special shouts out to: Ben and Meg, the Witt family, Mike's Bikes: Mike, Stuart, and Jon- Salsa Cycles: Mike Riemer, Tim K, John Gaddo, Aaron Stehly- QBP: Jason Boucher, Mary, and all the staff- The Vendors: Jeff Kerkove, Morgan Nicol, Chris Clinton, Donn Kelogg, Matt Ruiter, and all the good folks there to show their wares. Friends old and new, and everyone that made the weekend what it was. Thanks!

Frostbike 2013: Part 4

Skinwalls!

Sunday was the closing day for Frostbike and I awoke at Ben's home to get ready. We then peeled out to his folks place for poached eggs and toast with some fresh coffee on top and then we hit the road northward.

I didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. A few things that I needed to hit up, then I just needed to wait until 2pm for a meeting with a Salsa rep concerning the shop. The pre-order for 2014 was on the agenda. My boss from the shop was supposed to show up for it.

Interestingly, there was a good, long conversation in the Challenge Tire booth with their rep and a person very high up in the chain of command at QBP. The overall feeling I got was that gravel road and fat bike segments were very high in focus and priority with QBP. It doesn't take much to see that is true when you check out some of Q's brands and how they have refocused over the past few years.

Salsa Cycles threw out that Mukluk in late 2010 and when the bike sold out, they brought a three bike line up the following year. 2013 saw the addition of a full on race bike in the Beargrease, and I thought that was pushing the limits. Nope! Now for 2014 we're going to see a high technology, super-fat bike in the Carbon Beargrease. Amazing! Add in those Warbird gravel road racers, the Vaya, and you can see a focus on those categories quite easily.

The new All City Macho Man Disc gravel/cross rig.

Another brand, this one switched up to cover cross and gravel riders, is All City. I remember when that brand was just Jeff Frane and a bunch of fixie-hipster componentry.

All City then branched out to offer urban bashers and fixed gear frame sets. But then one day this single speed cross bike appeared called the Nature Boy. It was touted as a cross rig, which it is, but gravel riders were attracted to it in significant numbers.

Then came the Mr. Pink all-road bike, then the Spacehorse, which really hit the gravel riders as a good rig, and then the geared version of the Nature Boy, the Macho Man appeared. Now when you walk into an All City booth at a show, it's hard to find a fixed gear selection. Sure, they have one hanging on in the line, and a couple of frame sets, but this brand has gone completely in another direction. Gravel and cross. The all new Macho Man Disc will only further that feeling.

So gravel and fat bikes are certainly where the action is at with the Q brands. Foundry, the oddly named carbon bike brand, is all cyclo-cross, for the most part. There is a token 29"er there, but whoop-de-doo. It, (and the other Foundry bikes),  looks like an overpriced refugee from a Chinese manufacturers catalog. Surly? Well certainly they are, (pardon the pun), the odd man out, but with the seminal Cross Check, and two very popular fat bikes, they have their bases covered already. Add in the 29+ Krampus, and you just may have a whole nuther segment created right there. Surly may be "anti-establishment", but they can't be blamed for not being at the front end of most of these niche cycling categories. Cutting edge misfits, those fellers!

Gravel grinding: It's the new black...

Well, I had all those conversations at one point or another during the weekend that I can tell you about. However; there was more. A lot more that I can not speak of......yet. But mark my words here- fat bikes are being fast tracked and what you see now will be prehistoric in terms of tech and performance in three years tops. I know gravel grinding stuff may see the same treatment. Fat bikes will be first though. It's going to be super exciting to see how it all comes down.

After jawing all that time, a guy can work up quite an appetite. Fortunately Jeff Kerkove put a bug in my ear to go to lunch with  him. We caught up on things and had a great time.  For those who haven't been along here for the entire ride, Jeff used to work at the shop with me and was the co-founder of Trans Iowa. Now he's with Ergon, and riding bikes all over the place. We get to see each other very rarely, so it was good to sit down with him.

And that meeting I was supposed to have at 2pm? Well, my boss changed the timing but neglected to inform me of that small detail. So I found out at 2pm that Ben and I could have been gone already, and my wife could have seen all of the Academy Award ceremony, and....... Meh!.......

Communication........it is sort of important. 

So Frostbike came to an end for 2013. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and I had a lot of fun. Seeing many people I don't get to see very often, and meeting new folks too was certainly the highlight of the time spent there. Bikes were the added icing on that cake.

Thanks! I wanted to give special shouts out to: Ben and Meg, the Witt family, Mike's Bikes: Mike, Stuart, and Jon- Salsa Cycles: Mike Riemer, Tim K, John Gaddo, Aaron Stehly- QBP: Jason Boucher, Mary, and all the staff- The Vendors: Jeff Kerkove, Morgan Nicol, Chris Clinton, Donn Kelogg, Matt Ruiter, and all the good folks there to show their wares. Friends old and new, and everyone that made the weekend what it was. Thanks!

Frostbike 2013: Part 2

Mike's Bikes: Home of Real and Fictional characters.

Now it is time to back up and tell the story on the Frostbike adventure from the beginning. Friday normally is kicked off with the Mike's bikes events. But this year it was different.

Mrs. Guitar Ted and I went up during the day Friday to try and get me up to the Salsa Cycles 2014 dealer presentation by 1pm. The issue here was that we had gotten a fresh dump of about 7 inches of snow overnight. I had to clear that away, then we waited on the roads to clear up a bit, as we watched the D.O.T. updates.

We got off to a bit of a late start, after we were assured by direct reports that the roads were good. (The D.O.T. site said they were packed in yet!) Wish we would have gotten the good word earlier, but oh well!

The trip up was uneventful, and due to our late start, I was going to miss the first 45 minutes or so of the 3 hour presentation. No big deal, until we got to the fringes of the Twin Cities' suburban sprawl.This would have been around the Lakeville area. That's when we came up on three lanes of 20mph traffic. It took awhile to figure it out, but then I saw it.

John and his "beaver skinning gloves". Don't ask...

 The reason why was that there was an echelon of snow plows from ditch to ditch ahead of us, and no one could get by. This was really going to mess with my timing!

I waited until we crossed the Minnesota River, then I got off and took city arterials to get to the area where the motel was that had the Salsa presentation. I was really, really late now!

Funny thing was that almost immediately after getting inside I ran across Ben, I got updated, and got in to peer at some really cool machinery. Obviously, I didn't have long to stick around and when it was over, Curtis, Ben, myself, and a few others hit the motel bar. Initially the plan was to go to a Korean restaurant with Ben's wife and Mrs Guitar Ted later, but Ben's wife was a bit under the weather, so we determined that we were on our own. 

Ben coming in hot at the repair area

After a while we determined that we should head back to Northfield and get to Mike's Bikes. We picked up some "adult beverages", set course for Mike's, and got there a bit later than usual, but in fine shape.

There was the usual Greek pizza, beer, and riding shenanigans. I got to talk to Mike for a bit, which is always a highlight of the trip for me. Good stories about the early Marin scene at the birth time of mountain biking as we know it.

But while all that was good, it was all tempered by abit less excitement and a bit less craziness than previous years. Still- it was a good time. We stayed up fairly late, but this may have been the earliest end to a Mike's Bikes party yet. Ben and I headed back to his place, got settled, and hit the hay to rest before a big, long day of Frostbike.

So that was the day of Friday. Stay tuned for Saturday's saga and the rest of the Frostbike story coming tomorrow. 

Frostbike 2013: Part 2

Mike's Bikes: Home of Real and Fictional characters.

Now it is time to back up and tell the story on the Frostbike adventure from the beginning. Friday normally is kicked off with the Mike's bikes events. But this year it was different.

Mrs. Guitar Ted and I went up during the day Friday to try and get me up to the Salsa Cycles 2014 dealer presentation by 1pm. The issue here was that we had gotten a fresh dump of about 7 inches of snow overnight. I had to clear that away, then we waited on the roads to clear up a bit, as we watched the D.O.T. updates.

We got off to a bit of a late start, after we were assured by direct reports that the roads were good. (The D.O.T. site said they were packed in yet!) Wish we would have gotten the good word earlier, but oh well!

The trip up was uneventful, and due to our late start, I was going to miss the first 45 minutes or so of the 3 hour presentation. No big deal, until we got to the fringes of the Twin Cities' suburban sprawl.This would have been around the Lakeville area. That's when we came up on three lanes of 20mph traffic. It took awhile to figure it out, but then I saw it.

John and his "beaver skinning gloves". Don't ask...

 The reason why was that there was an echelon of snow plows from ditch to ditch ahead of us, and no one could get by. This was really going to mess with my timing!

I waited until we crossed the Minnesota River, then I got off and took city arterials to get to the area where the motel was that had the Salsa presentation. I was really, really late now!

Funny thing was that almost immediately after getting inside I ran across Ben, I got updated, and got in to peer at some really cool machinery. Obviously, I didn't have long to stick around and when it was over, Curtis, Ben, myself, and a few others hit the motel bar. Initially the plan was to go to a Korean restaurant with Ben's wife and Mrs Guitar Ted later, but Ben's wife was a bit under the weather, so we determined that we were on our own. 

Ben coming in hot at the repair area

After a while we determined that we should head back to Northfield and get to Mike's Bikes. We picked up some "adult beverages", set course for Mike's, and got there a bit later than usual, but in fine shape.

There was the usual Greek pizza, beer, and riding shenanigans. I got to talk to Mike for a bit, which is always a highlight of the trip for me. Good stories about the early Marin scene at the birth time of mountain biking as we know it.

But while all that was good, it was all tempered by abit less excitement and a bit less craziness than previous years. Still- it was a good time. We stayed up fairly late, but this may have been the earliest end to a Mike's Bikes party yet. Ben and I headed back to his place, got settled, and hit the hay to rest before a big, long day of Frostbike.

So that was the day of Friday. Stay tuned for Saturday's saga and the rest of the Frostbike story coming tomorrow. 

Friday News And Views

Cielo's new "Overlander"

NAHBS: 

This weekend marks the NAHBS opening in Denver, Colorado. Likely some fancy-pants, outlandishly priced rig will win the "Best of Show" award, and similar rigs will take home the other traditional prizes at NAHBS, but this Cielo offering would be my pick.

Dubbed the "Overlander", you could easily say this is a high-brow steel Fargo of the Gen I variety. Cielo says" Informed by our love of gravel adventures, back country exploration, bike packing, long road tours, and urban commuting, the Overlander is constructed with the same attention to detail and elegance that is the hallmark of every Chris King product."

It isn't suspension corrected, and the fork was specially constructed for this bike. It accepts mini-top racks, low rider mounts, and even has water bottle braze ons- one on the outside of each fork leg. The bike accepts rear racks, fenders, and has a full compliment of water bottle braze ons as well. 

I like the color combo here!

Finally, Cielo also installed a swinger drop out for single speed and IGH compatibility. See that Salsa Cycles? The Fargo sorely needs this added! 

While Cielo shows it here with Jones bars and some flat bar or another, I would drop bar this bike and if it handled as well or better than my Gen I Fargo? Well, I'd probably let that old Fargo go because the one thing that bike misses is the versatility of a swinging drop out.

And I gotta say, that reddish-orange hue is killer! Love the white tire look too, but in practice, white tires don't tend to be the best quality tires for what I'd be doing.

Anyway, all that to show that adventure/gravel bikes are definitely a theme for NAHBS this year. Glad to see that too. Now- I wonder if Cielo is going to send one of these down Tour Divide? Might be a good marketing move there.

Ardennes Plus

Also getting introduced at NAHBS will be the HED Wheels Ardennes Plus that I reviewed recently here and here on Gravel Grinder News. The wheels will be getting a new set of tires soon, and then I will be doing a longer term update on them at some point this summer.

It will be interesting to see and read about the details on these wheels from other cycling media and fans at NAHBS. I think they are an interesting product and a different take on what gravel grinding wheels should be. But you never know- maybe I have that all wrong, and the fall out from the "official launch" will tell me one way or the other.

Frostbike:

While NAHBS might be fun, and it is located closer to me than ever this year, I can't go when Frostbike is going on. This is the dealer only show by bicycle parts supplier giant, Quality Bicycle Products, located in Bloomington, Minnesota. But first-

I  have an appointment to see Salsa Cycles, in regards to the shop  where I work being a dealer, (that I won't be talking about here or anywhere for awhile, I suppose), and then its on to the "annual" shindig at Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota. It should be a scene. Usually there are three things. Okay.....four! Good friends, beer, Greek pizza, and indoor bicycle riding shenanigans.  It's more fun than a grown man should be allowed to have, however you slice it, and I look forward to it every year.

Alrighty then. I have a canned Trans Iowa post for tomorrow loaded with info, so look for that. Otherwise, get outside, have some fun, and we'll see ya soon!

Friday News And Views

Cielo's new "Overlander"

NAHBS: 

This weekend marks the NAHBS opening in Denver, Colorado. Likely some fancy-pants, outlandishly priced rig will win the "Best of Show" award, and similar rigs will take home the other traditional prizes at NAHBS, but this Cielo offering would be my pick.

Dubbed the "Overlander", you could easily say this is a high-brow steel Fargo of the Gen I variety. Cielo says" Informed by our love of gravel adventures, back country exploration, bike packing, long road tours, and urban commuting, the Overlander is constructed with the same attention to detail and elegance that is the hallmark of every Chris King product."

It isn't suspension corrected, and the fork was specially constructed for this bike. It accepts mini-top racks, low rider mounts, and even has water bottle braze ons- one on the outside of each fork leg. The bike accepts rear racks, fenders, and has a full compliment of water bottle braze ons as well. 

I like the color combo here!

Finally, Cielo also installed a swinger drop out for single speed and IGH compatibility. See that Salsa Cycles? The Fargo sorely needs this added! 

While Cielo shows it here with Jones bars and some flat bar or another, I would drop bar this bike and if it handled as well or better than my Gen I Fargo? Well, I'd probably let that old Fargo go because the one thing that bike misses is the versatility of a swinging drop out.

And I gotta say, that reddish-orange hue is killer! Love the white tire look too, but in practice, white tires don't tend to be the best quality tires for what I'd be doing.

Anyway, all that to show that adventure/gravel bikes are definitely a theme for NAHBS this year. Glad to see that too. Now- I wonder if Cielo is going to send one of these down Tour Divide? Might be a good marketing move there.

Ardennes Plus

Also getting introduced at NAHBS will be the HED Wheels Ardennes Plus that I reviewed recently here and here on Gravel Grinder News. The wheels will be getting a new set of tires soon, and then I will be doing a longer term update on them at some point this summer.

It will be interesting to see and read about the details on these wheels from other cycling media and fans at NAHBS. I think they are an interesting product and a different take on what gravel grinding wheels should be. But you never know- maybe I have that all wrong, and the fall out from the "official launch" will tell me one way or the other.

Frostbike:

While NAHBS might be fun, and it is located closer to me than ever this year, I can't go when Frostbike is going on. This is the dealer only show by bicycle parts supplier giant, Quality Bicycle Products, located in Bloomington, Minnesota. But first-

I  have an appointment to see Salsa Cycles, in regards to the shop  where I work being a dealer, (that I won't be talking about here or anywhere for awhile, I suppose), and then its on to the "annual" shindig at Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota. It should be a scene. Usually there are three things. Okay.....four! Good friends, beer, Greek pizza, and indoor bicycle riding shenanigans.  It's more fun than a grown man should be allowed to have, however you slice it, and I look forward to it every year.

Alrighty then. I have a canned Trans Iowa post for tomorrow loaded with info, so look for that. Otherwise, get outside, have some fun, and we'll see ya soon!

Still Trying To Figure It Out

My latest trip to Northfield, Minnesota, (which I talked about in the post previous to this one), was an interesting reminder about wheels for off road bicycles. Mike of Mike's Bikes up there was right at the epicenter of the Marin developments as he wrenched at another Mike's Bikes out in Marin County. Mike has some great stories about what went down with the riders and the scene back in the day, right down to some personal nitty-gritty stuff, that would be best left to lie, but is definitely interesting to hear.

It coulda been you....

But leaving the personal tidbits aside, (which may or may not be true anyway), it always comes out in the conversations I have with Mike about the early days of mtb that nothing was "sacred" as far as "standards" as we learned them for mountain biking. What it was about, and this is paramount, was what would work best.

As an example, I give you this anecdote from my latest conversation with Mike. Now Mike isn't one to hang out on internet forums and whatnot. (Which is something I think we all could do less of so we could ride more.) So, I knew he probably hadn't heard that one of the 10 original Breezer bikes, the first purpose built for off road, batch produced bike series, had come up for sale recently. Mike was astounded. He was familiar with the first series, and had seen them back in the day.

Mike wanted to know if it had aluminum rims on it, or the originally spec'ed Schwinn S-2 steel rims. See, the S-2 rims were horrid for braking, since the chrome plated finish was so slippery. When aluminum rims became readily available, all the original Breezer owners had their wheels re-laced to them in what Mike referred to as a "wheel building frenzy". Oddly enough, all the rims that came in were of one anodized color, which wasn't the case later on. Ukai and a few others did several different anodized hues. So anyway, all the rims were a gold ano color on the re-laced set ups for all the Breezer bikes of the day. But what did that matter? The thing was, the aluminum rims worked better. Much better.

And the whole rim deal came down to the tires necessary to do "proper off roading" with, which were all 26" kids ballooner tires from Schwinn cruiser bikes. If those tires had been, say 650B- well then we'd be talking about a whole 'nuther story now. They could have been 700c based as well. Just like the wheels from the late 19th Century were.

But they weren't, and now, with all the available choices, we're still trying to figure out what is best for mountain bikes. In fact, if you think about it, we are still trying to figure out what a mountain bike is in the first place. Whatever it is, I don't think it will ever be as simple as it was in 1977, nor as technologically deficient as it was then. Obviously, a mountain bike is going to have multiple definitions depending upon who you talk to these days.

Maybe we'll never really figure it out!

Still Trying To Figure It Out

My latest trip to Northfield, Minnesota, (which I talked about in the post previous to this one), was an interesting reminder about wheels for off road bicycles. Mike of Mike's Bikes up there was right at the epicenter of the Marin developments as he wrenched at another Mike's Bikes out in Marin County. Mike has some great stories about what went down with the riders and the scene back in the day, right down to some personal nitty-gritty stuff, that would be best left to lie, but is definitely interesting to hear.

It coulda been you....

But leaving the personal tidbits aside, (which may or may not be true anyway), it always comes out in the conversations I have with Mike about the early days of mtb that nothing was "sacred" as far as "standards" as we learned them for mountain biking. What it was about, and this is paramount, was what would work best.

As an example, I give you this anecdote from my latest conversation with Mike. Now Mike isn't one to hang out on internet forums and whatnot. (Which is something I think we all could do less of so we could ride more.) So, I knew he probably hadn't heard that one of the 10 original Breezer bikes, the first purpose built for off road, batch produced bike series, had come up for sale recently. Mike was astounded. He was familiar with the first series, and had seen them back in the day.

Mike wanted to know if it had aluminum rims on it, or the originally spec'ed Schwinn S-2 steel rims. See, the S-2 rims were horrid for braking, since the chrome plated finish was so slippery. When aluminum rims became readily available, all the original Breezer owners had their wheels re-laced to them in what Mike referred to as a "wheel building frenzy". Oddly enough, all the rims that came in were of one anodized color, which wasn't the case later on. Ukai and a few others did several different anodized hues. So anyway, all the rims were a gold ano color on the re-laced set ups for all the Breezer bikes of the day. But what did that matter? The thing was, the aluminum rims worked better. Much better.

And the whole rim deal came down to the tires necessary to do "proper off roading" with, which were all 26" kids ballooner tires from Schwinn cruiser bikes. If those tires had been, say 650B- well then we'd be talking about a whole 'nuther story now. They could have been 700c based as well. Just like the wheels from the late 19th Century were.

But they weren't, and now, with all the available choices, we're still trying to figure out what is best for mountain bikes. In fact, if you think about it, we are still trying to figure out what a mountain bike is in the first place. Whatever it is, I don't think it will ever be as simple as it was in 1977, nor as technologically deficient as it was then. Obviously, a mountain bike is going to have multiple definitions depending upon who you talk to these days.

Maybe we'll never really figure it out!

Mini-Vacation Time

My attendance at "Reveal The Path" was followed by an extended weekend stay with Ben Witt up in Northfield, Minnesota. Obviously, being that it was Friday, Ben and his wife were working, so Mrs. Guitar Ted and I hung out for the day.

Shopping in Northfield

Now Mrs. Guitar Ted is a book nut, kinda like I am a bike nut. Used book stores are like a magnet for her. Northfield actually has a nice one called Monkey See- Monkey Read. Oddly enough, I happen to know the proprietor of the establishment, Jerry, who himself is a bike nut.

Weird, huh?

Well, it gets weirder, in a good way. See, Jerry got involved in selling the  AfricaBike , which are made and distributed by Kona and involves a project to help Africans with bicycles. Jerry had sold several of these over the past few years from his used book store, but only had two left. He is getting to the point where he is going to end his involvement with the selling of bicycles out of a bookstore, so these two bikes had attractive pricing on them as well.

Okay, so the other part of this story is that Mrs. Guitar Ted has always, always wanted a Kona Bike. Didn't matter to her what type of bike, as long as it was a Kona. (I have no idea why Kona. It is what it is, as far as I know!)

Mrs. Guitar Ted on her Kona

Well, Jerry and I get to talking and next thing ya know, we're leaving with a Kona AfricaBike for Mrs. Guitar Ted.

It's pretty cool. Single speed, bolt on hubs, coaster rear with linear pull front brakes, integrated rear rack, a front basket, and of course, it is steel. Oddly enough, the flat black paint job is my wife's second favorite color for a bike as well.

The integrated rear rack has a  four bolt pattern of braze ons that you can mount a platform deck, or a basket on. That's our next project for this bike, which I hope will be getting a lot of use real soon.

Now that wasn't all we did, and the entire day was fun. We walked everywhere we went. Had a ton of fun. In the evening, Mrs. Guitar Ted wanted to go shopping with Ben's wife, so Ben and I planned on hanging out down at Mike's Bikes, kind of like we do every February.

That entailed a bunch of tom-foolery with beers involved. My favorite part of the evening was getting to hear more early Marin clunker stories from Mike himself. I learned more about the Koski Brothers, Joe Breeze, the switch from steel Schwinn S2 rims to Ukai aluminum rims, and early disc brake experiments.

Yesterday was spent mostly at Ben's shop hanging out where I got to see Ben's Big Dummy- Fat-Lite set up. He has Marge Lite rims shod with 2.4" Bontrager XR-1 tires which yields a width of 70mm on the tires. I rode it around and it was really smooove. 

Then we came back home and hung out with our family to see some fireworks. A great way to cap off a nice, relaxing time off. 

Mini-Vacation Time

My attendance at "Reveal The Path" was followed by an extended weekend stay with Ben Witt up in Northfield, Minnesota. Obviously, being that it was Friday, Ben and his wife were working, so Mrs. Guitar Ted and I hung out for the day.

Shopping in Northfield

Now Mrs. Guitar Ted is a book nut, kinda like I am a bike nut. Used book stores are like a magnet for her. Northfield actually has a nice one called Monkey See- Monkey Read. Oddly enough, I happen to know the proprietor of the establishment, Jerry, who himself is a bike nut.

Weird, huh?

Well, it gets weirder, in a good way. See, Jerry got involved in selling the  AfricaBike , which are made and distributed by Kona and involves a project to help Africans with bicycles. Jerry had sold several of these over the past few years from his used book store, but only had two left. He is getting to the point where he is going to end his involvement with the selling of bicycles out of a bookstore, so these two bikes had attractive pricing on them as well.

Okay, so the other part of this story is that Mrs. Guitar Ted has always, always wanted a Kona Bike. Didn't matter to her what type of bike, as long as it was a Kona. (I have no idea why Kona. It is what it is, as far as I know!)

Mrs. Guitar Ted on her Kona

Well, Jerry and I get to talking and next thing ya know, we're leaving with a Kona AfricaBike for Mrs. Guitar Ted.

It's pretty cool. Single speed, bolt on hubs, coaster rear with linear pull front brakes, integrated rear rack, a front basket, and of course, it is steel. Oddly enough, the flat black paint job is my wife's second favorite color for a bike as well.

The integrated rear rack has a  four bolt pattern of braze ons that you can mount a platform deck, or a basket on. That's our next project for this bike, which I hope will be getting a lot of use real soon.

Now that wasn't all we did, and the entire day was fun. We walked everywhere we went. Had a ton of fun. In the evening, Mrs. Guitar Ted wanted to go shopping with Ben's wife, so Ben and I planned on hanging out down at Mike's Bikes, kind of like we do every February.

That entailed a bunch of tom-foolery with beers involved. My favorite part of the evening was getting to hear more early Marin clunker stories from Mike himself. I learned more about the Koski Brothers, Joe Breeze, the switch from steel Schwinn S2 rims to Ukai aluminum rims, and early disc brake experiments.

Yesterday was spent mostly at Ben's shop hanging out where I got to see Ben's Big Dummy- Fat-Lite set up. He has Marge Lite rims shod with 2.4" Bontrager XR-1 tires which yields a width of 70mm on the tires. I rode it around and it was really smooove. 

Then we came back home and hung out with our family to see some fireworks. A great way to cap off a nice, relaxing time off.