Walking toward the shop from our ritualistic AM stop at Sherman Cafe with coffees in hand and laughing in the late morning light, we spotted a distinguished-looking gentleman wheeling what was obviously a classy track bike down the train bridge. Waving the fellow down, we were introduced to Tim Dixon, bike-lover, furniture-builder, and Imron-sprayer extraordinaire. Hailing from California and the heyday of West Coast craft builders, Tim was dropping in to show us this extremely elegant Sam Cotten track bike and chat a bit about his new wet-paint operation in Boston.
Sam Cotten, he explained, was a friend of his who had a part time framebuilding operation in Hollywood, as well as being an actor and amateur philosopher. Tim cut some Cinelli lugs into delicate shapes and had Sam build him this frame, which Tim then painted. The result, with the perfectly-matched C-Record kit and Cinelli bar/stem combo, is about as classy as they come. Yes, that is an extremely rare semi-sloping Cinelli track fork crown. Yes, those are Record Crono tubular rims. No, we’re sorry, but you can’t ride it.
Tim is starting up his spray operation again here on the East Coast, and we’ll be offering his services through the shop. Please do drop in to gawk at his ‘90 Cotten and start dreaming up your new paint scheme.
So we’ve been working round the clock to get this build out complete and it’s so close we can taste it… or maybe that is the taste of sawdust and paint fumes lingering in the air and making us a bit light headed. As we put the final touches on the space and begin to see our vision gain more clarity with each new day we are hopped up on anticipation (and paint fumes).
Here are a few hints as to what you will find very soon when we “OPEN” to the world!
My first taste of these came when Ian handed me two pieces of mitered steel and said the words “aero” and “bars,” which got me insanely excited. Finally, last night, I held the finished prototypes and my love affair became a little more serious. Ian jumped through hoops jigging these bars, hand-bent the drops and finished it off with a polished stainless Icarus feather. As each project starts and finishes, I become more and more impressed with Ian’s attention to detail, creativity, impeccable execution and passion for doing things the way they should be done. You should all ride an Icarus, just ask me how. (Yes, that is a hint)
…but by the time Zack & I left the shop, our favorite grocery purveyor was closed. All we had was an empty parking lot, the monotone glow of the sodium lamps, and fresh snow on the ground.
Nothing to do but enjoy the last of this long winter:
The last of the meting piles of exhaust stained snow will be gone soon, to be replaced by semi-warm evenings, spring BBQs, and hopeful-if-still-unseasonable shorts-wearing. See you all out riding!
The weather here in our fair city has been amazing this weekend. Zack and I got a taste of it riding around a bit today, between powering though the final stages of OPEN’s build-out and a well-received bike swap held in Metro Ped’s space behind our shop. This new video from some Vegas riders reminded me of the warm summer evenings rapidly approaching and the opportunities for exploration, comaraderie, and simple joy they offer.
I mentioned that I ran into Jeremy Dunn, resident Embrocation publisher and globe-trotting playboy, when I was out in Portland last week. It turns out he was actually working out on the Left Coast, not just being a unemployed tourist like myself. Rapha has been releasing stage videos of their latest Continental project- their elite team of cyclists clad in high-end clothing assiduously slaying stage after stage of the Tour of California. Here’s Stage 2- Jeremy is the “studiously edgy” gent with the scruffy beard. No, the other one. Enjoy!
