Its been rather busy at the shop and the office with lots to show and tell.
We had an original Grateful Dead bike in the shop. Do you know how I know that its real….because I have sold one back in 1990 (or so). And its the same vintage as the gary fisher Clunker I have at the shop. So anyway, my buddy who is a rock and roll art collector/broker/dealer has the bike. Really, its a Hoo Koo E Koo with a very limited run of stickers put on it…but the stickers were licensed to Gary Fisher by GDM (grateful dead merchandizing). And thats cool.
So, here it is.
And here it is after the Brooks saddle was installed.
And here is the old poster we had at the shop I used to work at 1000 years ago.
Is nestled dead center of your field of view if your in dental chair #3.
Well, that my friends is the coolest cruiser to ever leave my shop. Really, 1 in 1000 as far as rarity and 10/10 on the cool factor.
In PBS news….or Personal Bike Shit news, I finished my restoration of the Instigator.
What is an Instigator you may ask?
Well, its this…
Back in the 90′s, befor 29ers, Surly bicycles produced the Instigator. It was supposed to be a trail hardtail that you could kinda dirt jump with, especially if you bought it a size down. As with all Surly products, it was well made, made of 4130 steel, painted conservately, and built for a long life of service. Oh yeah, and it was not expensive. But, I never had the money to buy a frameset. So time passed and they were discontinuted – right at about the time I scraped together $420 to spend on said instigator. So, last year I purchased a complete bike instigator from a shop mechanic in WA. My friend among friends Eric Sovern dug around his desk at QBP and located for me a decal and headbadge sheet. And last weekend provided the time to build up said dream bike. Thats right, you heard me, dream bike. Yes, I know its not a Moots/IF/Ibis/Turner/Ventana/Knolly…..but it means a lot to me…..and it wasn’t that expensive to outfit…..and it gave me a reason to overhaul the PIKE that I’ve had sitting around forever.
The bike is not light.
Yeah, thats ugly friends. Mojo HD’s I build with huge tires weigh 30 lbs. But I don’t care. I’ve always wanted an instigator, it didn’t break the bank to build up, and it makes me happy. If only all of life could be that simple….right?
Another simple thing that I did on the PBS front was to outfit the tandem bikecycle that MRS DR E and I purchased from Ventana.
Let me tell you, Sherwood makes a damn fine bicycle, and knows exactly 8 times the things I do about bicycles…..and trust me…I think I know a lot.
Sorry about the wizzard staff, more on that in a moment.
Man the tandem is a nice bicycle. A quick overhaul on the (ancient) Code 5 brake calipers and fresh hydrolic lines from Jagwire, and it was trail ready.
Hey, the lifts were running and the DH trails were outstanding this weekend.
I took the time to figure out how to get a DH bike to the trail, because honestly, a 63 deg seat tube’d bike is no fun to pedal on flat land.
The system worked great. DH bikes weigh between 35-45 lbs, and it is a little heavy on the xtracycle, but the front wheel counterbalances a it and its doable. It took me about 20 min to get to deer valley from prospector….and I was fresh as a spring daisy when I got there.
Last and by far Least, MRS D Evil and I celebrated a holiday that our friend Steve created. Wizzard Staff Across the Universe Day….or something like that.
Our plan was simple because we knew that we were playing in the big leagues. 1. Use Utah 3.2% beer. 2. Goal = a 12 pack 3. Don’t be afraid to pour out beer. 4. Have fun.
I believe we did accomplish the goals, or at least 85% of them.
We used 12 3.2% cans between us…
Since some beer did get lost, we made up for it in Whiskey.
And had fun…
All for $7.
