Month: June 2010

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Tony’s Smitty CDS

We delivered Tony’s Smitty built with the Gates Carbon Drive System a couple of weeks ago and he is already sending in glowing comments!

Tony’s Smitty was built with Paragon’s Sliding Drop to allow us to tension the belt and because Paragon makes the mount with a break at the stay necessary to install the belt.

We used the Shimano Alfine 8-speed IGH along with a 46T front belt wheel. Gearing is great with the Schwalbe Big Apple tries. The bike is just a total blast to ride.

Direct from the Cat’s mouth:

A friend of a friend at MREA just rode the bike and said he had an out of body experience. Freakin hippies!  Lots of questions all day!

and

I had another 10 or so people ride it at MREA today and nothing but amazement was reported. Everything from “Never saw a belt drive before” to “what’s up with this tires …… wait, what the hell is up with that belt!”.  The smile on their face was worth the ride alone.  Just an epic ride, Greg!

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A Rodent on the Marsupial

Took my Rat Ride for a cruise the other day and rode the Marsupial bridge. Seemed a good spot for a photo and a little mammal on mammal action.

Yep, we do build some great bikes but I often like to ride bikes from other manufacturers simply because they are awesome. The Surly Rat Ride is one.

The Rat rules the day!

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Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee

The legendary bike ride pub crawl “through the underbelly of Milwaukee”, The Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee, celebrated 26 years this year.

Just posted a Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee XXVI Flickr Photoset.

Venues visited in no particular order were and not necessarily official:

  • Cafe Hollander
  • Best Place – the new pub in the old Pabst complex on Juneau.
  • Long Wong’s
  • Kelly’s Bleachers
  • Haggerdy’s
  • Valley Inn
  • Kochanski’s Concertina Bar
  • Liquor Store
  • Holler House
  • Times Square Pizza
  • Lakefront Brewery
  • Liquor Store
  • Monica’s
  • Rascal’s
  • Cafe Hollander

Dave bowling at Kochanski’s while Greg pilots Tony’s Xtracycle.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee XXVII!

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Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee is Saturday!

Get ready because it is coming whether you are ready or not!

We will pay homage to the brew city’s bowling heritage and the movie The Big Lebowski on Saturday, June 12. We’ll be visiting legendary bowling alleys like the Holler House, the oldest lanes in the US. We’ll hit Long Wong’s too and they’ll play The Big Lebowski on the big screen.

Pix from the event may be posted as it happens! For sure after.

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Get Ready for Ray’s Indoor MTB Park in Milwaukee

The hugely successful Ray’s MTB Indoor Park is coming to Milwaukee in Fall 2010!

I’d been hearing rumors and plans for a while now but a recent Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) story confirmed that this is no rumor! Here is a bit of the low down.

Ray’s was the first indoor mountain bike park in the world when it opened in 2004 in Cleveland, OH.

To help with the Milwaukee location Ray’s MTB has partnered with Trek Bicycle for this gigantic expansion

The Milwaukee Park site currently under major construction. It will be in a 110,000 square foot former Menard’s store on the north side of Milwaukee.

Plans are to have it open Fall through Winter with opening ceremonies scheduled for November 2010

Ray’s will offer XC, freeride, dirt jump, park bike and BMX all under one roof.

Sounds great!

What is a bit funny to me is that I tried to figure out a way to do this way back in 1990 or so when the old Gimbel’s Warehouse on the Milwaukee River was standing unoccupied for several years. It was 9 stories tall and had forklift ramps throughout. I envisioned a 7-story park with the ground lever being retail with a bike shop, juice bar, restaurant, massage therapist, bike messenger biz and several other related businesses. Wish it had come to fruition! Well, at least now we have Ray!

There will be a new website just for the Milwaukee Park but, for now, check this out:

http://www.raysmtb.com/new/index.html

and the Cleveland location:

http://www.raysmtb.com/index.php

also, here is the complete BRAIN article on the Trek connection:

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/4176.html