“Building bikes is cool… Building community is cooler”
It’s Saturday (yes, not Friday, again), and depending on when exactly I’m typing the exact version of these words you’re reading – right now – I’m either on a bus to Paul Brodie’s Bicycle Show, on a bus home from it, sat getting a coffee somewhere, or possibly at home because I haven’t left yet. Or, I’ve returned because these pieces always take longer to put together than I think they will.
Anyway, today’s themes are ‘Community,’ ‘Cosmetic,’ and ‘Custom’ and here goes:
1) F!RST-L!GHT-Thomas & The Local RRR Community
I’ve had today booked off for months, and I’m excited about going to the Paul Brodie Bike show. And I want to be honest here, I always find listening to Paul a treat. He’s entertaining, and thoughtful, and he’s made a lot of superbly neat bicycles with his own hands in his own shop. It’s going to be rad.
But, mostly I’m making the trek because F!rst-L!ght-Thomas (FLT) organized it. FLT has taken his skills as a journeyman pipefitter and his passion for bikes and created a small custom Rig, Rack, and Repair (RRR) business out of it. But, then he took his passion for making bikes, and for other people making bikes, and has created an event series out of that. Which continues to be super-rad.
Thanks, FLT! I’m sure the show will be / is / was awesome. To quote, well, you:
“Building bikes is cool… Building community is cooler”
2) My WALTxWZRD
So, my V2 frame is back and built and being ridden as of Easter. I’m working on a BikeMag piece comparing two rad and almost identical but completely different rigid bikes built with all the same parts – my Banshee Enigma vs. my Waltworks V2.
WZRD Em didn’t make any changes to the V2 geometry when she brazed on the new Paragon headtube, but I made a big change when it arrived back. First in the name of expeditiously building it, and then because it’s awesome.
If I was to get a mullet-specificV3 built it would have slightly steeper head tube and seat tube angles. But we’re talking about a 1/2 degree or a couple of millimeters and this is so close it wouldn‘t be worth the effort.
I loved my V2 as a dual 29” and there are many places I’d still prefer it that way, but single-speeding on the North Shore the acceleration of turning a smaller rear wheel over makes all sorts of sense in tight technical climbs.
If my custom WZRD bar/stem didn’t work I’d have long gone back to the dual 29”, but the fixed position is obviously adaptable to the 1/2 degree or so of HTA change.
I imagine I’ll LEGO a 29” wheel on there at some point just to compare, but in keeping with my Engima experience, this setup goes!
3) Rigid.Life?
My friend Steve of the dynamic duo Hardtail.Life has taken to single-speeding like almost no one I’ve met. And he doesn’t even have a commuter bike to offset the annoyance of running low-gear errands on the road.
Will he take to a rigid fork with the same aplomb?
The video isn’t up on their YouTube channel yet, but I have it on good authority that it’s coming soon. This one was particularly fun to make, at least from the perspective of my minor contributions to the project – laughing while installing the rigid fork and laughing while watching Steve ride it down Pipeline.
4) Bell Joy Ride
Bell Joy Ride doesn’t exist anymore. Right now? But it’s been living rent-free in my brain since Giant released some very cool-looking high-end kids bikes and then divided them in ‘Girls’ and ‘Boys’ models. (The ‘girls’ models are branded as Liv and come in Pink or Mint). I wrote a whole long rant about it, deleted it, re-wrote it, etc.
The bikes are conceptually neat. The suspension and dropper posts are all specifically designed for grom-weight-riders to be able to use them. Where do you get that stuff fully serviced? The wheels have 72pt engagement! The ‘Giant’ model in raw is the nicest looking bike the brand has ever made. It even has a full length seat tube, something they haven’t been able to figure out in years of reproducing that interrupted-seat-tube flaw with Liv machines.
Anyway, I want to write something about the bikes in the future, maybe, but gendered kids’ bikes sort of kill me. It’s bad enough with the adult models. But, that said, in 2024 we – the mountain bicycle world – definitely still need women-only mountain bike events, women-only trail days, women-only riding clubs, and etc. Real events and opportunities, not differently branded bikes that are harder to resell and offer no real advantages over unisex options.
The coolest thing about Joy Ride is that Bell didn’t go off and create a separate brand selling the same products in different colours. They lent the massive weight of their iconic longtime name to creating the Joy Ride space. Bring it back Bell?!?
Joy Ride.
5) Wolf Tooth EnCase Chain Tool Conditioning
I don’t break chains often or really ever on my own bikes. Knock on wood – and change them when it’s time. Same goes for tire plugs what with running CushCore inserts. But I ride with and come across enough folks with needs and no tools, that I’m due to add a few bacons to my EnCase chain tool setup, and I know that it still pushes a chain pin like it was brand new. It’s actually a very nice chain tool to use. Maybe the nicest easily portable option on the market?
The only problem is that the tool lives in my V2’s handlebar – all. year. round. I keep it well lubricated and it works like new, but it doesn’t look anything like it did when it was fresh.
Same goes for the EnCase multi-tool. That’s been retired since I use 8-Bit Pack Pliers mountain biking and an 8-Bit key-chain on my commuter, but mine has been used many a time and is the original with raw steel bits – rather than the black coated ones – so it’s looking a bit rough as well.
What am I getting at? I think this would have bothered me in the past, but these days Drew-Bob appreciates stuff that looks very-well-used and still works like new. It’s a cosmetic thing?
6) Transferable Warranties
I just happened to notice one day that Rocky Mountain has added transferability to their warranty program. It’s clearly graphiqued up on their website but I think, given I’ve talked to a couple Rocky dealers who didn’t know about it, that it’s fair to say it was a stealth launch.
Rocky’s not the first company to launch a transferable warranty but I believe they’re the first in the PNW-Triangle (the PSW for us Canuckleheads) to add the option. The PNW-Triangle? It’s like the Bermuda Triangle, only for bike failures and my theory holds that a higher percentage of mountain bikes from Rocky, GNARco, Transition, and etc. get fully punched because of a concentration of sales in an area with year-round janky mountain biking.
Yes, the warranty covers defects in manufacturing and materials. But defects are much more likely to become apparent for the person riding their Element in the Shore To Sky corridor than in, as my friend Alex calls it, “Flatbuttistan.”
Anyway, I’m sure this is one of two kinds of marketing exercises. It could fall under the heading ‘Everybody’s Doing It,’ which reflects that the big players like Trek & Specialized & The PON Stars are moving this way. It could also be an attempt at capturing the ‘Toyota Effect’ whereupon the ease of resale and resale value of used products encourages the purchase of same-brand new products.
I wouldn’t guess that it will massively erase depreciation or obviously increase resale prices, but it will maybe makes used bikes less stagnant/ easier to sell?
In either, and any, event, I’m stoked about it and looking forward to other companies following the same trail to transferability.
Cheers for reading! If you enjoyed this piece please consider buying me a coffee. Any questions, concerns, or comments please feel encouraged to drop me an e-mail, or join us at r/MEATengines.