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.