Hunter Cycles

Gasoline industries

2009-05-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

Gasoline industries Fabrication by Magic Bus Mike, all custom all the time...
More Gasoline industries

stripes by Sampson

Skull ( optional )

far out speed machine

OWL cx

Swamper-- flat black one coat Pledge

CX

Rapha Road BB30 ( costs extra )

Road

long time blogging

2009-02-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

Out from the dark depths of sickness, into the brilliant light of the new year...
A quick recap of just a few of the many objects built and shipped out the door...

Luggy stems---Poor Mans chrome powdercoat---

Head shot... CX frame for JJ...

JJ's CX frame

Shoobi's Swamper delux with Pinstriping by Sampson...

CX super Crown

Table of forks

Old CX bike of mine with a fresh Satan Black paint job... This bike has seen over 13 years of use including the 96' Three Peaks CX race in England, 8 County Line Jamboree's, 1000's more miles of beach riding, commuting, CX racing, and singletracking... Steel is where its at....then and now....

Tapered leg Super Crown

Matt's 29er cruiser

Curvy Thang

Thanks for checking in...
Rick

Log Roll

2008-11-21T14:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy Folks
Fresh shipment of caps from Randi at Rainy Peak... Very nice as always, get'em while they're hot...
Cotton---25$
Wool---30$
Wool flip ups---35$
Plus another 5$ for shipping and we'll throw in a bunch of stickers...

Logs + CX bikes = bloody palms...

Photos ripped off from WWW...

Holy Chromoly

2008-11-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

PunkAss Cam burning up the CX track

Rohloff ready Swamper for RedBike cycle shop... Edmonton Alberta

Crappy pictures of beautiful frame and fork... 26" BMX cruiser...Pinstriping by Sampson, extra clear coat over the top...

The cruiser is for sale, we are asking 1250$ for the the whole sheebang, frame and fork...Or I'll save it for the next trade show...

26" dirt road town cruiser for Bert in Crested Butte.... More stripes by Sampson

16" BMX bratmobile for my nephew

Face plate of stem, its gold, yes...

Supercrown CX forks

Thanks for checking in... I'll try and find a spot with a little less glare, for better picture taking...We moved shop and I lost my grey wood background..

"dfL expando vision" featuring live race interviews!

2008-10-09T18:29:00.001-07:00

"dfL expando vision" featuring live race interviews!
Originally uploaded by dfl brad

Fresh

2008-09-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last Spring we sent a unicycle to Mike Parenteau in Nelson B.C.
Check out what he's doing with it.
(watch it at least half way through)

Oh yeah, he's only 16!! Kid's got some skills.
We did some riding in Nelson this past summer, and it was tough on 2 wheels. It's hard to believe how well he rides it on 1!

Flight of the Hoopty

2008-08-25T11:57:00.001-07:00

Rob " Hoopty " Evans throwing down aboard his Buffalo at the ADT track...
Kurt Harvey photo..

Summer Time

2008-08-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of shots from our trip to Kananaskis Country in Alberta. K Country is just south of Banff, it's just as beautiful and no one's there! Alpine ridgelines, and fast descents.

We'll be back. It helps that Mary-Anne's folks are only 1/2 hour away!

Straight shot out from Lincoln Nebraska
Tuesday night ride photo courtesy of Old time Ortiz!

We're busy moving the shop right now, if you need to reach us do so by email. We'll try to get back to you as soon as we can.
It's a challenge moving and producing frames at the same time, but we're trying. To those who are waiting, we appreciate your patience (seriously) please let us know if there's any problems.

Lisa's New Bike

2008-08-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Just put this bike together for Lisa in Vancouver. It's her all around go getter, her one and only.
Double butted tubing
Tig welded frame
Imported fork
Shimano Nexus 8 speed rear hub
Shimano Dyno front hub
Salsa rims
Sugino cranks
Nitto bars
We're selling these babies complete and fully assembled for $1900.

ZoMan and ZoBike

2008-07-07T10:20:00.001-07:00

SF OG Erik " the Ringer " ZO recently won his 4th world cargo bike championships in Toronto.. Erik has been making messenger bags longer then anyone around, I still have mine which I bought in high school...Check them out--- ZoBags--- just be ready to duke it out with the Japanese on Ebay if you want one...
A few sketchy reports from Toronto include--- " hauling 170lbs of people no hands " " drinking a beer across the finish line " " I love my bike'' and " the Bilenky guys were all over it ".....
Pictures of Erik's rainbow ride below...Fixey 20" wheel collapsible cycle truck... 2nd of a batch of 3... The first one is up in Winnipeg and the 3rd one got turned into a moped...

Bike Ball

Wheres my wrench ?

Where do you want me to take this piano ?

Bike Barging

Thanks go out to Sara and Erik for the pic's, double thanks to Erik for his design input and unmatched speed and tenacity..

power lunches of Watsonville

2008-06-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Typical friday power lunch... Fried chicken breast torta with a coldy... less then 5$ out the door , no questions asked....

Melonie's new CX racer with custom pinstriping...
wishbones'R'us
corn cobs and big rings
John B's singlespeed

ice plant and army bunkers

2008-06-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Devo finally wrestled his bike back from G. Fisher...
Big Boy Road Machine

Tracked down long lost Sampson the Great and strapped him to a chair with all his little paint brushes...
Art all over the place...

Hernando's track machine... Chava dubbed these bikes " the Buffalo "...

Raw black and white batch of Buffaloes...For the Montano Velo cycle squad...
One end of the spectrum to the next... Full suspension... I've been rocking this one for a while now, very fun, though I spend most of my time in mid air !!
Close up of the concentric BB single pivot...
over and out...

good ol'e pictures

2008-06-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

Crowd favorite and long time Hunter cycles team rider and product tester.... Cameron Falconer...better known as " Punk Ass Kid " or " CamAero " or just recently " Captain Critical ".... Just wasting time, goofing off...
The lumberjack...
" I didn't sleep very well last monday night "
Cameron on tour with the ladies...

Hats and Hoodies

2008-06-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

We have hats!
Mike Martin the Magic Bus took a time out while working at the shop to do some modeling.

They're all handmade by Randi Jo at Rainy Peak Cyclery.
$25

We also have Hoodies!
$40
There's more pictures on our flickr site.

Last Freight Train Home

2008-05-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

Utah Phillips

R.I.P

short and squat

2008-05-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Mr. Fisher trying hard to look cool...Hunter test rider Big Bill laughing his ass off...

Custom stems... Any size any angle...

Little Pony of the Apocalypse

Sweet art by Sampson... Where are you ?

29er with Black Cat tips for Jason at DeLa Paz coffee....

26er Swamper for the Freewheel cycle shop S.F....

Sweet and Sticky

2008-05-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

More shots from the shop...
Super Crown tapered blades

CX Super Crown

Sticky Sweet 29er frameset for the Monkey men and ladies of Monkey Wrench Cycles Lincoln Nebraska... Cheers... Old Style's all around....

Unicrown 29er fork
The crazy green color is a wet paint and available at an extra charge...
Until next time
Rick

good and greasy

2008-05-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Out There...
Its been a while since the last blog drop... Staying very busy of course... Bikes below are just a small sampling of the usual crop...

Tig welded track/stunt /hipster frame for James of MASH fame...

Sleek black 26er MTB for Niels of Austria

CX frame for old pal Ara's shop Bicycle Heaven in St. Charles IL...

Fresh 26" BMX CRUISER... rolling old school...

26" singlespeed race bike for Miles of SanLuisObispo

I'll try and get more stuff up... The picture uploads take forever !!! Maybe my connection is bad...
Happy Trails
Rick

Tour de Afrique

2008-03-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

Check out what our friend Brian Vernor is doing right now!
ethiopia
Sudan
and
Egypt

It sounds hard, but we can't help but be a little jealous!

Find out about the entire trip here.

Jamboree

2008-02-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

sign stolen from
Church of the Sweet Ride

The 9th annual County Line Jamboree came and went. It was a beautiful day, and 70 plus people once again subjected themselves to the 40 miles of road
train tracks
and beach.

It feels more like 60. We're not sure how many people finished, but we did see some really tired folks dragging themselves to the Pajaro river. Which is sort of the point.
The beach is deceptively hard, by the time you reach the end of the 20 miles of track, you have this false sense that the beach will give you the break you so want, but it just gets harder! It all comes down the beach.

Jeff and Curtis finally found the perfect gear, and smoked nearly everyone.

Except for Smiling George Hope, who was the fastest man for the second year in a row!

Kathleen "Hard as Nails" Hannon was the fastest lady of the day.

Photos thanks to Matthew Scott. The rest can be seen here Flickr.com/photos/matthew_cole_scott

Good times, see you all next time.

warp drive to bike show and beyond

2008-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks...
Checking in with a report of the Handmade Bike show.... Mary-Anne and I attended and particpated, showing off all our stuff, talking to many people and generally having a good time...Lots of old friends and new contacts...The booth was busy and loaded with stuff...Heres a small sampling....
One word.... SWAMPER....

Full blown 29er singlespeed, short chainstay ultimate shredder, this rocketship is mine !!!

20'' cargo bike with tricolor paint... woodwork by KB....

I am selling this bike for 1500$ complete... Jump on it now before I start riding it every day....

Full suspension for Mary-Anne... 29/26 race bike...3.5" travel... pivots around the BB shell...carbon fiber seat tube...

Long distance touring machine dubbed " The High Plains Drifter " .... You'll never getted chased out of town on this horse... Built for Jeremy from the town of Bolinas... He's threatening to ride it to South America with his surfboard...

Flat Black SWAMPER for Philippe in the country of France... French guys have good taste....

Drop-outs provided by The Todd at Black Cat Cycles.... Smooth seat cluster provided by Mr. Elbow Grease and his buddy Bloody Knuckle

Sparkle orange CX singlespeed picked up at the show from Shinya of Circles Bike Shop Japan...

Theres more but gotta get busy....
Rick

uploading the down low....

2008-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Monday morning pics of happy people, small frames and crazy art....

Marin and her new 29er. I went over the pro's and mostly con's with her and she still had to have one....

Sampson the Great going off with the brush work... Nevermind the bike, check out the ART !!!!!

I need to work now....
Rick

Little China

2008-01-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Doing some constructive procrastinating here... Followed are glamour shots of some Pajaro's..Script and head tube bird handpainted by local pinstriper Sampson... The Pajaro's will be built to order, mainly stock size single speed bikes of any wheel size with a few options and a half dozen choices of color. Base price for a frame will be at least 500$. These are basic bikes built well... Made within spitting distance of the Pajaro river... I'm making these as a relief from the over analyzed, overly serious, overly snobby world of custom frame building... The beauty of bikes for me is the sight of someone riding one, with a smile on their face, with a destination in mind, a place to go, fresh air....The Pajaro's will evolve as all my bikes have evolved, as the caveman has evolved, slowly....

Rock 'A' Billy Rebel

Medium duty 29er rambler for Devo the nomad... Pokey and Gumby color scheme... Word on the street is that Pokey was Gumbies love slave....

Super crowns... 29er mtb-CX-CX curved

Stock size XL 29/26 good old fashion mountain bike

Great Divide Basin, Wyoming... Early AM....

Thanks
Rick

Sunday BlogDome

2008-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks..
Trying to catch up here with information, distribution, and satisfaction... Lets get to business...

Picture of raw fillet braze...I then sand it down a little and polish it out, but thats what it looks like after soaking off the flux...
Blog Zone World Wide Web Debut of the " Pajaro " brand of bikes... Made right here in the Pajaro river valley with the 2 same hands that make the rest ot the schlock that comes out of this joint... Pajaro's are just good ol'e bikes, tig welded full cro-mo work horses and beach combers... More to come....

Pterodactyl---- Caveman in the sky !!! !!!
Stems too, nothing new, all shapes and styles...
Long Chainstay touring rig... Great for down and dirty drifting...
More stems
Fixey commuter monster cross for Larry in Ohio
I like the rear end to have a little curve...
20 " cargo truck coaster braker- split in half kind of bike... Fun projects for sure and hopefully future production...

OK cool...Thanks
Rick

Blog Down in Quake Town

2007-11-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hunter vertical drop-outs
Close up of Break Apart seat cluster
Sleek and smooth travel CX frame
Chava's new bike after La Ruta...
Chava's new bike before La Ruta...

you stab em' we'll slab em'--you want it we'll build it

2007-11-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks
Been getting somes calls about Unicycle frames... I still make them and like to make them. I don't ride them ( confession ) but I can build them...I can build lots of stuff that I don't really want to ride, like 16" BMX bikes, I would knock my teeth out with my knees !!!
Uni frames built to order, any wheel size up to a 36er...So cute...

just some pictures

2007-11-19T11:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah Kathleen

2007-10-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Hannon wins her first Elite Womens race on her new gold Hunter.

Photo from Pamela Palma

friday blog down

2007-09-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Cross bike fever in full effect.. Heres some shots of a few recent CX frames... Light and racy... A couple shots of some basic cruiser forks, featuring the new plate arch supercrown style... New for 2008...

BURRITO ENVY
We here at Hunter cycles don't need to drive a Hummer, We don't need to jet ski or act tougher then we are... We have the biggest burrito in town !!!! 5$ of 3lb's of tender juicy love... No joke this is the standard super burrito from a little place called Popo's... Pictured on the scale, next to my autographed OJ football, next to a sharpie ( for scale ), then fully wrapped in all its glory...The homemade tortilla is so big you could saddle a horse with it...

Santa Cruz county fair at the Watsonville speedway... Killer dwarf car action... The kid that won the 600CC was 14 years old... TO THE FUTURE

Visatacion Valley Boyz and Girlz

2007-09-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evenings spent going to SF to race cycle cross across hillsides burnt by fire, littered with trash, with the dark fog rolling in...

Old style 45's spun by DJ Zo...
Cross dresser KB races for free, starting to fall out of his top...
Mary-Anne and Mr Inglis mix it up and over the high point of the course.

Ginger showing some form and style.

KB in full flight... Super Skanky
Luckily I flatted out in the first lap so I was able to take pics and enjoy the evening.

El Blogador

2007-09-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Bee and Mary-Anne hiking the beach during the 1st annual Steve Smith tribute ride...
29er
29er fever
And yet more 29er good stuff... Punk Ass Cams punk rock shredder, no paint just rust...
A crazy pic of some pallet junkies on our drive down from Vancouver Island.. Somewheres just south of Seattle.
" The Todd " ... Master of the corn tortilla..

what the kids are into...

2007-09-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

I know its been a long time since we've updated our blog...I've been real busy trying to catch up with work and now CX season has started...Diligan this ones for you...

Raw CX super crown fork sent out to the heads at Monkey Wrench cycles... Lincoln Nebraska.
A nice little road frame with a cool poo brown color..
Chava's 29er farm road, river levee destroyer...
Close up of the custom FRP enhanced U-brakes....
Hand painted sign for the old mayor of Salinas, look at the size of her hands !!!
The fine artist himself.. Ilia the oddball landlord.. He can ride a wheelie on anything..
I'll save some more for later--- That didn't take too long..

Back in town---Back in Action

2007-07-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey
Heres some shots and words following a few weeks on the roads and trails of the Great Divide... I want to say thanks to everybody for their best wishes, encouragements, and congratulations... I never thought I would feel a sense of accomplishment after dropping out of a race, but I do... Not sure if I'll try the race again, though the longer I've been away from it the more I think about next year... Bike racing in general is kinda like that, always more fun after the fact, you forget all the temporary pain and just remember the thrill...
I'm a little rusty with this blogger thing so all the picks are mixed up.... Also I should get back to work....

Beautiful night climbing into Slater park (Steamboat springs CO )... This was one of the best climbs I experienced... Warm breezes, herds of elk... Shortly before the climb I was down in the dumps, bonked out from the last stretch of Wyoming, ready to give up....32 ounces of pepsi later I was flying and climbing like a madman... Didn't stop until the top of the mountain where I bivied amonst the trees...

Back streets of Salida CO... One of the many places I want to go back to..

My sweet wife Mary-Anne... Sometime before I left... Without her help and love I wouldn't have done the race... She held down the fort when I was gone... I softened her up a bit before I left with a new/old Schwinn cruiser... Suprise !

Fleecer ridge downhill.... This was one of the few gnarly parts of my ride... Steeper then it looks..

Somewheres in Montana... There was a lot of this... Valley riding throught the ranches and sage... High peaks on all sides..

Cool retro snow cat... Lima Montana

More sage, more mountains, more dirt roads...

Spent some time in Pinedale WY... Interesting place...

A shot of my trusty steed with minimal gear and lots of miles... Only one flat tire... Just lubed my chain a bunch...

Ran into these guys somewhere outside of Pinedale... They were heading north on the route and had started sometime around the end of April... We exchanged photo op's and talked about the route in either direction... They had me smiling as I rode away, kept thinking " Hanz and Franz "....

A few days into the start of Montana....

More Montana, lush and thick with grizzly.... Only saw one but was scared of many more .....
O.K. for now....
Rick

Rick's Riding Strong

2007-06-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

This just in from Patrick Myall
Hi everyone,
Just spent the afternoon riding with the man himself:
Rick Rides Great Divide Gallery

Rick's doing good, he's in 3rd place out of 23 starters, with only 10 folks still in the race. He's just taking it a day at a time, but he's pushing to finish it, just riding it at tour pace.

My friend Dave "Moe" Meyer from Gunnison and I parked at Sargents around noon and headed up Marshall Pass from the west side. We found Rick heading down about 5 miles below the top, and we accompanied him for the next 35 miles or so out towards Cochetopa Pass. Around 6:15pm, at SR 114, we had a few MGD's and sent him on his way, he hoped to make Del Norte or else camp near Cochetopa pass.

Mary Anne, Rick sent the last photo out to you. Also, you should be able to copy these pics from the Picasa site to post to the blog, feel free to link the whole gallery if you want. Let me know if you have problems getting them.

cheers,
Patrick in Crested Butte

Quitting Cap

2007-06-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

For those who listened to the race update yesterday and heard Rick say that he was putting his quitting cap on, here's the latest word.
It's not true, he is not bailing out of the Race, at least not yet.
He was having a hard day yesterday, but I think Southern Wyoming can do that to you. The highs and lows he's experiencing in this race are pretty extreme.
He told me that after he called in he drank a couple of Pepsi's, got back on the bike, and started feeling great. The ride was awesome, the scenery was amazing, and he was just plain enjoying being out there. He slept on top of a Mountain last night, and he was in good spirits when I spoke to him on the phone from Steamboat this morning. He said that maybe he just needs to increase the caffeine intake.
He's just taking it one day at a time right now, but things seem to be looking up.
This is one hard race that requires both physical and mental toughness. You have to admire all those guys out there.

pictures from the start

2007-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Some pictures thanks to Jason and Maripaz.
The last one was stolen from adventure cycling gallery 2007

GDR Update #2

2007-06-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Folks have been emailing and calling to ask for more information on how Ricks doing. I guess his updates to the official GDR voice mail have been "boring" according to some people. Typical Rick, all business...
I've been talking to him on the phone and things are going well for him considering this is probably the hardest thing he has ever attempted.
He's gotten lost a bunch of times,which means he's had to do a bunch of back tracking. He lost his map on a highway somewhere, and had a stroke of luck when a mechanic at a bike shop helped him find it.
There's been rain, snow, hail, massive winds, and there's a heat wave.
He says that the hardest part is dealing with the saddle sores. He's been putting in some huge days, 2 days ago he rode 165 miles. Yesterday he sounded tired, but who wouldn't. I have a feeling that along the way there will be days that are the worst he's ever spent on a bike, along with some other days that will be some of the best. Rick is super tough, and there's no doubt that he is capable of a challenge of this magnitude.
I'll post some pictures as soon as I get some. In the meantime here's a picture of the bike he's riding.

Great Divide Race Update #1

2007-06-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Rick made his way to Montana, via the slow Train. There were a few bumps along the way that nearly made him miss the start, but it all came together in the end. Jason and Maripaz from De La Paz coffee happened to be in Montana at the same time and picked him up at the train station in Whitefish on thursday. They also gave him a place to sleep that night and a ride to the start in Rooseville friday morning. Thanks Jason and Maripaz.
The race started on Friday at high noon. I spoke to him Friday night, and he sounded really good. It Looks like he's in about 3rd place right now.
You can read his updates, or listen to the podcasts via the links at www.greatdividerace.com
Some bodies are already breaking down, one guy was chased by a bull Moose, another had an encounter with a Mama Grizzly and her 3 cubs.
I think I'll sleep better once Rick is out of Montana.

Great Divide Race

2007-06-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, Rick is leaving in a few days for Montana to attempt the Great Divide Race.
It starts at high noon in Rooseville on June 15th. Covering 2500 miles from the Canadian border to the Mexican border along the continental divide.
All self supported!!
He's super busy right now preparing for the event, and finishing up as many frames as he possibly can before he leaves.
Here he is taking a breather in the sun in front of the shop today.

There will be updates from the race at on various websites
greatdividerace.com
greatdividerace.blogspot.com.
mtbcast.com
Wish him luck!

Shots from the hood..

2007-06-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Heres a 29er Swamper singlespeed frame fresh off the blocks...This bike is going to Sluggo down at the Spokesman bike shop....

A close up of some pin-stripe work from Sampson

An old cross frame I put a new curvy top tube in and had it repainted and striped...

Check out this cactus flower... Usually only blooms once a year for only a day... smellz purdy...
Back to work..

Straight out of Oregon

2007-05-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Randi from Rainy Peak Cycle Shop sent us some photos and nices words... They got her dads bike put together, a fully custom Hunter frame and fork I built a while ago.. Check out the front 2 speed with a super custom right side only downtube shifter... Ultra beefy tubeset with full rack mounts, designed to be ridden by angry water buffaloes....
Randi's pa Jeff himself putting his new ride through its paces in the Summer lakes region of eastern Oregon... Check out the felt hat, style is so easy for some...
Over and out
Rick

Style Cat

2007-05-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids
You think your dumb ass tatoos are cool-- check out this hot ink from a local pinstriper... This 24" BMX cruiser was his first bike frame, he's a friend of Chava's and goes by the name Sampson...Super sweet if you ask me... Makes me want to build a new frame for myself just so I can feel the style... I now offer pinstriping on all my bikes... Going to get him to work on some handpainted logos and such....

My crappy pictures don't do it justice.... Stay tuned for more crappy pictures of nice work...
Happy Trails
Rick

Springing

2007-04-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks
Just checking in, thought I might put up some pixs and a few race results....
Nice shot of Mary-Anne and myself at the Sea Otter where she hammered her first ever MTB race to a 3rd place sport...Photo thanks to ScottyP

Sunny afternoon at the corporate factory....

Centerfold of a swell gold repaint of an old frame... Upside down King HS is available upon request..

Schweet little CX/Tour rig shipped out to Knoxville TN.

Punk Ass Cam himself with a darling platinum dye job... Cam just got 7th overall at the 20th annual Shasta Lemurian Classic aboard his prototype Swamper 29er curvy tube singlespeed (winning the SS class).... I guess he likes it....
On and On till the break of dawn...
Rick

New Ride

2007-04-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here's nice picture of a bike we sent out to our friend Jason Ortiz in Lincoln Nebraska.
It's a 29er single speed,, great for cruisin' for chicks or dudes or both.

In other news, next time you're at the grocery store pick up the June issue of Mountain Bike Acting.....I mean Action. They cover the handmade bike show, and there's a funny picture of us striking a pose.

Condor Tour 07'

2007-04-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks... Lets get back to the basics... Bikes bikes and riding bikes... A bunch of the DFL city crew came down to my neck of the woods for a 5 day self supported bike tour of some of California's most scenic and desolate bad lands. We encountered headwinds and tailwinds, rattle snakes and cougars, long climbs and long downhills, a few crashes, a handful of flat tires, one broken chain, and a whole lot of fun... Pictures are better then words, so here goes....From left to right---- PunkAssCam---SanoPat---Diligan---HardAsNailsHannon---CavemanDan---Ginger---RickTheStick---Woody

The first day was a nice cruise down the Big Sur coast... Diligan's rig looking tough

Day 2--- SanoPat topping out on Los Burros road.... Granny gears for everyone, next was a ridge run of 15+ miles with major ups/downs

Day 3 ---- A nice blooming Yucca on the old dirt road to Arroyo Seco

Day 3 still--- The gang at the summit of La Gloria road....

Day 4 ---A pic of Diligan throwing caution to the wind, this is Clear Creek road to the Ghost town of New Idria

Ginger bringing some SF grafitti to an old mine... Where did that Freewheel sticker come from ?

CaveManDan fixing up his palace..

Day 4 still---Diligan going ballistic on the long grind out of New Idria... Who says there's a lot of people in California. We made it to Mercy Hot springs that night for a bunch of tub soaking and star gazing.
Day 5 ---- Was all about Chava. ( pictured below ) He joined us for the last two days and towed our tired asses home at 22mph straight into the wind....

A little over 400 miles in 5 days with ton's of climbing and dirt roads.... Radio off
Thanks for your time and I'll try and get more junk up here more often...
Happy Trails
Rick

Random stuff

2007-04-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Our friend Glasgow just published a new book. Glasgow is really funny, he's also the nicest guy we know. His latest book is a personal memoir about some of his shenanigans in underground Hollywood. He's reading at some Bay Area Book Shops in the next couple of days. Check out his blog The Royal Nonesuch
It has the dates and locations, as well as some other stuff that might make you laugh.

Here's the video trailer. Trailers for books, who knew?

Also Marian Hunting (love that name!!) sent us this!

"Sooo, I rode Diablo yesterday with Pete from Marin Bikes. I'll spare you the most boring details.

I think the highlight of the trip was when about halfway up to the saddle, Pete asked as he looked up ahead:
"Is that guy riding a unicycle or is he just riding a comfort bike? He can't be riding a unicycle. He's gotta be running."
I responded with "He's probably got the Missing Link road bike conversion special. Road bike with stem riser, 4" riser bars, and bar ends pointed straight up to the sky. Finger tipping on the bar ends because his back hurts."
(I'll admit it, I'm a hater sometimes.)

Couple minutes later, we had rolled up to the man in question and yes, yes he was riding a unicycle. But not just any unicycle, an orange, 36" wheel custom Hunter unicycle with a hydraulic rim brake!

Hunter custom unicycles? Who knew?

Pete and I chatted with the guy about his unicycle. Turns out he has two custom Hunter unicycles and that Hunter unicycles are generally pretty well thought of in the unicycling world.

The guy is training for a tour of Croatia, Bosnia, etc. he is going on in June (I think). And, he's not even touring by himself, he's going with 20 other unicyclists. And he told us a little about another tour he had done back in January in Laos. He said that he toured through Laos with other unicyclists from Australia, India, Brazil, etc.

It was pretty amazing. Pictures included, hope you like 'em,
marian"

Canadians can be mean too!

2007-03-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

Reposted from the Surly blog:

"I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day."

-Rob Ford, Toronto City Councilor
Email: councillor_ford@toronto.ca

We urge all friends of the bike to send a message to Mr. Ford explaining why he is way off-base. We recommend that you don't use any threatening terms or obscenities, as hard as that may be to do.

Below is a message you can copy and send to Councilor Ford:

As a cyclist and concerned citizen, I find your remarks concerning bike lanes to be appalling, highly inappropriate, and even dangerous. Cyclists have the same rights to the road as any motor vehicle in Canada, as well as the United States. Bicycles offer a reduction in traffic, improved environmental protection and better public health.

On behalf of the families and loved ones of cyclists killed by automobiles, we, the cycling community demand a retraction of your statement and an apology. Please know that your comments are rapidly circulating within the cycling community around the globe, and many cyclists hold prominent positions in society. What's more, cyclists vote.

N.A.H.M.B.S.

2007-03-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

What can we say?? The show was great!! So many beautiful bikes, so many nice people!. It was cool to meet all the other builders from around the Country. We had a really fun time with the Nor Cal contingents, like the Sycips, the Inglis' and the Soulcrafters. We hung out with Steve and Denise Garro from Coconino Cycles. Rapha Racers were in a booth next door and we got one of their jerseys and some nice woolly socks! Oh yeah!
The official word is that next years show will be in Portland. We'll be there! Hopefully it doesn't conflict with the County Line!!
Our show bikes will be in the Spokesman later this week, if you feel like going in and taking a look. We'll also have them photographed by someone who knows what they're doing and post them here.
For now here are some photos...some we took, and some we stole off the web.

Handmade Bicycle Show

2007-02-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

Yep that's right, a bunch of anal retentive frame builders will be exhibiting their wares under one roof this weekend at the San Jose convention center.
Word on the street is that next year the show heads to the east coast, so you'd better check it out while it's still local.
Wish I could post some photos of the hot frames Rick has built up, but I am under strict instruction that they are to be officially unveiled at the show.
Come by and say hi.
Check out the website at handmadebicycleshow.com.
for directions etc

Some More.......

2007-02-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

These are from Scotty P. You can see the whole set by clicking HERE.
He also has some great pictures from the TOC prologue.

Curtis Inglis and Jeff Hantman rockin it on that sweet Retrotec tandem.

Better watch out, Bradleys coming to get you!!

Messin' with Melanie on the beach.

They don't call him Smiling George for nothing.

Homemade trophies!

Bikes bikes bikes.....

County Line Roundup #2

2007-02-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

We have some more photos from Saturday thanks to Kirk.
The stories are rolling in, like the one about Micah who had a nasty crash on the tracks, finished the ride and then went home to get 13 stitches in his arm!! Nice!
Mr. Mike Martin riding for the devil.

This was the best part of the day. Cold beer, pepsis, cookies and sandwiches all thanks to David Gill and friends. Grant Stoner was there reminding us that it was a hot day in California baby.

Nice legs hot stuff!

Ahhh the finish......unless you were riding with Kirk, in which case he took you 10 mile detour to get to the warehouse where the party was!! It's a good thing David brought his flask with him!

County Line Roundup

2007-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

We had great turnout yesterday for some single speed suffering with over 75 people lining up at the start.
The tracks were torture, the beach was exhausting, the weather was downright hot and the views were beautiful.

Here are the brief results.

George Hope and Dan Harting sprinted for the finish at the Pajaro river, and the general consensus is that they tied.
They decided to share the trophy even though we really wanted them to have a hotdog eating contest for the tie-breaker.

Allison Baumhefner took home the trophy for the ladies. She's one tough girl.

Here's a photo from the start. (it looks very similar to the one in the last post) We managed to cause quite a traffic jam on highway 1 there for a while.

We'll write more later, right now we're still too tired.
Send us photos if you have them, we forgot our camera!

8th Annual County Line Jamboree

2007-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hello Rally Fans
The Jamboree is coming up quick, next saturday the 17th, high noon at Waddell beach.... Come one come all.... Its shaping up to be a good year with the spring rains starting, and the fields smelling ripe with fertilizer... The rail tracks look good with extra bonus broken glass and vagrant debris... here are some pixs from previous years... Can you guess who's who ?
Bring your mono speed and stay for the potluck after at the cold storage wharehouse in Watsonville... See you all then..

Here are some photos that Mike Evans just sent us....check out the guy (cool rad bro? ) without his shirt on! (bottom photo)

Mike also added that he was surprised that no one crashed in that peloton.... something about a bunch of women flashing them as they went by??

Home Sick

2007-02-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

I spent the last 4 winters in Baja guiding back country kayak trips.
I loved it down there, it was home before I met Rick and moved to Santa Cruz.
It's hard to describe in words, pictures are more fun!

My old bedroom, at sunrise with a high tide!

Our kitchen somewhere along the coast from Loreto to La Paz.

Cardon Cactus near Catavina.

Rick ripping some lips, in Bahia de Los Angeles. That sure is a big skull behind him.

la familia de Hunter

Countless days spent in a kayak.

This is the best picture I ever took of a whale, most of them look like barnacle encrusted logs floating in the ocean!

Good friends, at Sunset. Twilight in Baja is like nowhere else!

Ahhhh, I miss it! especially on a rainy day like this.

Can you believe this was my job!! Sea Kayak Adventures

Tims Retro Super Cruiser

2007-02-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

Tim lives in North Carolina, he wanted something like a turn of the century bike.
Here's how it turned out. (click photos to enlarge)

This is what Tim said.
" I built it up with high-flange Phil Wood track hubs and BB, with an old pair of 1984 C-Record 175mm cranks. Handlebars are the new Soma Major Taylor steel jobbies. I like the U-Brake bosses, I'll put in a rear one sometime. I'm running fatty Schwalbe 2.0s with a Brooks sprung saddle for all day comfort through the miles of brick-paths around here. "

Thanks Tim for sending the photos. It turned out beautiful!

Wrapping it up

2007-01-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

Whoa........I (Mary-Anne) did 19 cross races this year!! Including the early season DFL cross dress series! I guess I sort of geeked out!

I had too much fun, I loved meeting new people and seeing them week after week. I really loved all the cheering and encouragement from Rick and his friends and even complete strangers. You just don't get enough of that sort of thing in your daily life. Cross is a good thing when you're a rookie.

A year ago Rick was still showing me how to get in and out of my pedals, and I thought that I would never want to race a bike! but now I'm encouraging everyone I know to try it. "It's easy" I say. "Well no..... it's really hard, but the people are super nice, so it's not that scary!" I think I have even convinced some of my Canadian friends to try.

Sunday was my last race and it was bittersweet. I was really tired from the ride the day before and I probably should have been a beer drinking spectator, but I was talked into it. I took a wrong turn on the course and went down a hill, which I had to climb back up in order to get back on the course....twice......in the same place! I was so embarrassed (that scenario was similar to the nightmares I had prior to my first race!!) I wanted to quit but it was a really fun course, and the last race, I had to finish!

Here's some pictures I stole from the SCCCC team page

The nasty run up at the Watsonville Fairgrounds.

The slippery S turn and my first race with drop bars!!

James from the Freewheel took the S turn with a lot more grace than I....... on his fixed gear!!!

I am already looking forward to next year!!!

Pt. Reyes rolling...

2007-01-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

Howdy Folks
Rick here doing some blogging... I haven't been on this computer thing for a while and trying to re-remeber how to do it all, not as easy as riding a bike....
Mary-Anne and I took this last Saturday off to meet the City Boys for a nice ride out to the Pt. Reyes lighthouse and back... Took some pixs which I will share with you now...

Here's our friend Ginger looking smug and upright, nice posture...

Here's a boat that ran out of water !

Here's my sweetheart...

Here's a water reclamation set-up at the lighthouse, should have brought my skateboard...

Here's the stairs to the actual lighthouse, thats the Pacific O' in the distance and some migrating whales..

Here's Mary-Anne rocking the track back down from Mt. Vision...
We always have a good time with the City Boyz/DFL'ers, vulgar and smelly like sailors but still polite and friendly....

Speaking of Suffering

2007-01-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Check out these guys

Goat, Jacob and Sean are all former UCSC students on a serious adventure. Their plan is to ride from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.
They started in late July and Rick and I have been following their progress on their website ever since.
Now in my personal opinion the end of July was a little bit late to start in the Arctic Circle what with winter literally right around the corner. I figured they would make their way through Canada and into Montana where they would settle down, find themselves jobs and wait it out until Spring. Instead they just kept going despite being hit by large winter storms in Alberta as early as September. They are in Arizona now and unfortunately for them, it is icy cold there as well.
The one guy, who calls himself Goat doesn't even wear shoes, seriously! and they are riding something like 80 miles a day through the snow!

Take a look at their photos and journal here. Riding the Spine.
Kind of makes me feel like a bit of a sissy.

Upcoming Suffer Fests

2007-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

Click on the link below to see the flyer for all the details.

Yesterdays Race

2007-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

Cameron came out on top, taking the overall win for the Elite Men.

Our often lazy hound dog named Woody managed break free and chase after Cam on the course for a minute, blocking the rider trying to pass him (sorry about that) We don't give Woody enough credit sometimes, but he knows who his friends are!

Here's a picture with Josie Beggs behind me!!!! This only happened because she tripped on the barriers at the top of the hill off the start and I passed her. After that I think I just held her up and very shortly after that she shot by me, but it felt good for just a second. Of course I was wondering to myself, can she hear how hard I'm breathing right now? Why does it seem like no one else is breathing as hard as me?

I managed to get second overall in my category, and shared the podium with these two lovely ladies, Rona and Soni.

By the way I stole these photos from Rick Rasmussen

Beer and Jelly Beans

2007-01-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

That's how I'm preparing for tomorrows race in Fort Ord, I love Beer and put some candy in front of me and I eat it all!

This is what it looked like at the last Fort Ord race. This weekend is the finale in the CCCX series and it is supposed to be warm and sunny. That means only 2 really muddy races here on the Central Coast, so far. I liked the mud, and splashing through puddles at full speed like a little kid.

After this weekend there are 2 more Peak Season aka Glutton for Punishment races. Rick keeps telling me that next year I need to upgrade and race with the As, or I'm going to be called a sandbagger! I'm already nervous, I mean they are really really fast. They're going to kill me. I'll have to cut down on my consumption of Beer and Jelly Beans!

Team Development Program

2007-01-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is pretty much the cutest thing we've seen in a long time.

Cooper Jones- Martin in his baby Hunter uni, custom made to match Dad. Complete with a pocket to hold his bottle.

You can bet that if his parents have anything to say about it he'll be riding a bike as soon as he can put one foot in front of the other without holding onto Moms hands.

Lugged stemz and sweet cruisers...

2006-11-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Howdy Folks
Its friday and the sun is out... Just wasting some time here at the factory, lots of work to do... I took some pictures of a few fancy stems I've been working on... Not really lugs but more of a sleeve or collar kinda a thing. Pointy and ornamental like a lug though.... Also a nice picture of Shakey Nate's rocka-billy scooter, complete with genuine flat tracker bars and big gooey tires. Sexy ain't it !!!

Surf City Race #3 Cancelled!!.....Bummer? Not really

2006-11-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Rick and I got out of bed in the early hours to get ready for the final race in the Surf City Series. The Cross series that is arguably the most fun in the bay area. On our way to the Watsonville fairgrounds we started to notice a large number or cars driving in the opposite direction with cross bikes attached to their roof racks....weird. We were making all sorts of excuses for them, maybe they're lost, maybe they're looking for a Starbucks......The race can't possibly be cancelled, what could happen that would lead to the cancellation of a race. We know how many hours go into putting these races on, and we figured come hell or highwater, the race will go on. Unfortunately when we arrived at the gates, Mike "I don't want to talk about it" Hernandez was standing there with a sign that said "Race Cancelled!" No way!! So we turned our car around and joined the congregation of cyclists on the side of the road speculating about the reasons why (the complete story can be found at http://ncncacxnews.blogspot.com/2006/11/surf-city-3-canceled) and then discussing where we should spend this beautiful day. We called the rest of the team and decided that of course we should go for a ride.
After having breakfast with Jason and Maripaz from De La Paz Coffee at the Beach Street Cafe in Watsonville, we went back home and gathered the troops. Cameron, Brue, Chava, Brian, Rick and myself headed on up to the UCSC Campus, through the throngs of other team jersey wearing cyclocross riding parties with similar ideas.
We had bigger plans though, we wanted to keep going, all the way to the top of Empire Grade and eventually through Big Basin Park. It was a beautiful day, and a classic ride. Some single track that was way too hard for me on my cross bike (actually on any bike for me) and some beautiful trail, that was just wet enough to make it sticky.

It was one of the funnest days I've had riding in a while, despite my whining about the fact that I couldn't keep up with the boys during the climb up Empire....get real. During this time of year it's hard to get a group together for a long ride, with races every Sunday, the weekends are busy. The Cancellation of this race was actually a nice break during the cross season to spend a day just riding with friends. Hopefully the race will be re-scheduled, but I don't think any of us were disappointed.

We even had the opportunity to take a team photo,

and Brian was getting rad

and Brues new bike went on it's maiden voyage.

not a bad commute....

2006-11-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

Every so often I remember to check the tide book, every so often a negative tide lines up with my commute to or from work... Monday night was such a time... I left the shop a little early before the night began. I pedalled out the door and downstream on the Pajaro river levee, a fairly straight gravel path with strawberry fields and rows of lettuce off to the side... Normally I get off the levee at a certain point and start battling the cars and tractors on Beach street and San Andreas road, but I rode further towards the beach taking a right onto a dirt farm road... A few hundred yards of pavement and I hit the sand... Nothing but gulls and glassy wet sand, a flat race track of sorts, the sun is setting and the waves are breaking, I look northwest towards Santa Cruz proper, 10 or more miles of beach in the way, somewhere in the east the moon is coming up...
I took the videos and snapped a few shots, Mary-Anne did all the edits and rad soundtrack....
Life is pretty good when during your 20 mile commute home you can splash your wheels next to the mighty Pacific O, close your eyes and pedal no hands, hear the crash and cries of water and birds, and never be near a car.....
Rick

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Super Human Strength

2006-11-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Despite what Rick might want you to believe he does not have super human strength! He is pretty smart though, and he can make really cool things! Like his tube bender, don't ask me how it works, or even what it is called, but Rick made a tool to bend tubes the other day. Rick gets really excited when he does this sort of thing. He gets to be creative, and he loves it when his ideas work out. He stayed up all night that day, thinking about all the things he could make with bendy tubes. Endless possibilities.

New Threads

2006-11-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Check out our new team jerseys.

Our friend Randi at Rainy Peak made them for us. We decided that since we are all about hand crafting bicycles, we should have some hand crafted jerseys. Randi is a talented seamstress, she also rides a hot pink Hunter.

We love these new jerseys, they are comfortable, they stand out, and they're made from wool the wonder fabric.

We hope you like them too! Send us and email if you're interested in one.

Homeless Cam

2006-10-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

You know the old joke
"what do you call a bike racer without a girlfriend?
homeless!"
Cam's not homeless.
The beard makes him fast.
Fast and sweaty!

Re-Todd-ed

2006-10-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Todd helps out at the shop sometimes. He hates his nickname.

Just Forking around....

2006-10-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking back in... Heres a micro batch of saucy Cyclecross forks, for the masses... Ready for some finish work and paint... We can't decide on a name to call these babies... Arch delux or arch supreme or flying buttress... Deluxe and Supreme sound like hamburgers to me...Suggestions ?
Rick

The Wheel of Fortune is growing on me...

2006-10-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

True dat.... I like Vanna and that little pervert Pat... I like when someone needs to buy the last vowel /letter to solve the puzzle. I like falling asleep to the T.V. and drooling on my pillow all by 7:45 at night... Maybe its the rotating swirling wheel or the clicky noises but " The Wheel " puts me under.....

Day One... Super Blog out

2006-10-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks
Rick and Mary-Anne here... Blog day number one... Feels like the whole universe just expanded-exploded... We are now on a journey into the virtual social world, a world of over communication and digital satisfaction.. Please stick with us as we will continue to update...