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.
As the frosts approach, we here at Open are looking to bring in new seasonal product to keep your fingers warm and tires on the ground… which means making some room in our little shop. We’ve got a nice assortment of Chrome product, from the all-new (and toasty warm) shoes, with in-sole stiffeners and ballistic Cordura uppers and laces, to a lineup of the SF brand’s bags and hip packs. Bags in stock are 15% off and shoes in stock are 20% off until the end of the month!
From the website… “Since launching these pants in October, the response has been tremendous — no, ridiculously, mind-bogglingly tremendous. Most every day, a new blog talks ‘em up and we keep cranking out production run after production run to keep up with demand. A sampling of this growing pants phenomenon: Gizmodo, Bike Hugger, Tree Hugger,Boing Boing, Eco Velo, Thrillist, and more. Best of all, they’ve inspired fun things like this instructables contest and the great (though wet) Rollin’ Lightnin’ time change ride. Seems like we’re on to something here, and we look forward to expanding upon this idea. As always, we love your photos and feedback. “
In the words of Lupe…
“We tryna go up in this club
Show a little love
Get a few drinks
Holla at some girls Snatch up a pair
Leave outta there
Put some dro in tha air
And then go and get some grub.”
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)
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’ve been catching bits and pieces of the Tour of California on the Versus channel this week. It was great to watch Cervelo’s team work together and take stage 3.
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard much about the Mash crew, who is riding the Tour on track bikes – yes, fixed. I’ve heard and read a few different things, such as they’ve been leaving a few hours ahead of the peleton, skipping bits and pieces of the routes and doing incredible amounts of doping to ride this thing. Kidding on the doping part, of course. (Photo via Mike Martin)
The 6 member team, which I believe started as 8, has an enormous amount of corporate, friends and family support for this tour. While they’ve received some mixed reviews, I think its great to see a group of city riding friends and do something a little more serious with their passion. If you want to keep a close eye on them, some of the guys are checking in via the Mash blog, Incase blog and Arkitip blog.
I was catching up on the last leg via Josh (aka Kadisco) and he shared their ratio secrets, riding double-fixed to help satisfy the climbs, as well as the flats. Here is what the team members are riding:
Garrett: 44×20 and 44×15 Blake: 44×22 and 44×14 Walton: 47×19 and 47×17 Josh: 44×21, 44×17, and 44×15 Rainier: 46×21 and 46×17
I generally ride a 48/49×15 around the city, so I can’t imagine running a 44×15 on the flats – thats still a whole lot of spinning. The 44×20-ish ratios probably make sense for the hill climbs, but I’m sure some of them are standing up on those pedals late in the climbs. Also, I must say its impressive to see Walton’s ratio’s, he’s not playing around! Stage 5 should be a nice relief for these guys, its around 135 miles of flats, with two sprints worked into the course.
I assume this is a photo of one of Walton’s power snacks – he’s eating like Joshua has been while we’ve been pulling long days building out the shop. More updates on the Mash crew and Tour of California in a couple days! Now go ride your bike!
