Doing like Romans

When you go to another city, you've got to do some things their way. This is one thing you might want to do in New York: take any Spinergy wheels you find, and put them on a mountain bike that's being ridden on the sidewalk. It's gotta be safer than actually riding them.



On the topic of bike safety in New York, Lyle and I took the day off to convert our track bikes to tarck bikes. I wanted to be able to ride in my Sal 23s, and that ain't happenin' with spd pedals nor toe clips. Rather than risk the Jeff Curry in New York, I've put on a brake to complement the Jim C pedals from Lyle's Megatron. We're also changing gears to give the Vallie cog threads a few more cycles.



Doing as Romans, however, is not what we're doing in the following photo. You see, despite what impression the fluted columns overlooking the Hudson River at Inspiration Point may give you, we are drinking novelty-sized PBRs in a public place. That's just not something you do in New York.



Rhiannon, now resident in New York for over eight months, shows us how to do as Romans in Times Square. You see, the overwhelming majority of people there are tourists.



And while you might think that this scene is a result of our friends in Oregon, it is in fact in Rome. Imagine that.

Mighty's Cyclocross Hooligans

The Lyle hub is going off road today. I've hooked it up to the Sekine for an adventure from Mighty Burrard.



Get stoked! Get ready to break the ice!



Matt Hornland says "there aren't enough nose pogos in this video" and I agree. If you want pogo, watch the Council of Doom trailer! Thanks Tom from Skitch for the kind words, and the tip on this video. Whether you like the riding style or not, it's good to see these videos being produced.


council of doom - another 48 hours from wolfgang on Vimeo.

But if you just want to come and kick it old school, listen to songs from Rad, and make fun of each other, it's 6pm at Mighty 2, 4th and Burrard. There might even be bushwacking.



The Lyle hub awaits you.

First Vallie Hub in Canada

Yes, I finally got my hub built up. The rest of the photos from an afternoon with Matt at Mighty's new 4th and Burrard location can be found on flickr.

Vallie Components Hub Official Release

"Parts for people who break parts" ... hey, that's me!

Lyle is on his way to Indianapolis with the physical manifestation of years worth of effort: the Vallie Components Street Fixed Hub and 15 tooth ISO cog.

We've been waiting for this for a long time. I remember when Lyle introduced me to the work that George French was doing with his G-Sport brand: bringing new ideas to the BMX market to shake the issues of the old designs and ride fresh parts. I was intrigued by the designs that seemed so far from the norm, but at the same time were so logical. 

Now, we have this type of innovation in our own midst. Lyle made a huge step in quitting his engineering job to forge ahead in bike parts design. When we were both working jobs that we were tiring of, this seemed so far away, so revolutionary. Vallie Components is now a reality. It was a step toward working for himself, in an industry he supports. In the years between then and now, we've met and become friends with many people through the international culture of the bicycle.

Project B's presence at 2007's Mini Bike Winter IV had Lyle on the Tour de Bomb podium on his custom-built Killhlimber. This event was a major milestone in our relationship with Portland. We continued to build friendships that had been started a few months earlier at Velomutations. We came back on a high. We were stoked to ride mini bikes.

The following year, Lyle headed down a week early to check out the NAHBS show, meeting up with our Portland friends and making new friends with the hand made bike community.

The 2008 Tour de Bomb was the Portland debut of The Cheetah, a bike that was designed to "give back" to Zoobomb after all they had given to us. And give back it did. Lyle won the freaking race!

It turns out Gabe wasn't that mad at Lyle for winning, though, as he helped him out with the awesome logo and business card design. Just in time for NAHBS 2009 (show coverage at Urban Velo), Lyle's got his site all polished up with the lovely Rhiannon's help. Click through there, and send him a message!

Of course, the final touch on the site is these great photos from WMD:

I've got one of the prototypes in my hot little hands. It's going to be built up soon, I promise - the Rocky has been salivating in anticipation. People who break parts, stay tuned. I'll probably get photos up on flickr before anywhere else.