Caution: lots of words.
As usual, very little even faintly interesting and certainly not worth the 10 seconds of your time to read this.
I'm currently living vicariously through Tonic Fab team member Aaron Nachtrab. He can be found either in Whistler, or riding local trails, or racing DH. I believe he is state champ for Jr. DH? Way to go Aaron; make the most of you first summer out of high school. I'm certain writing vacant blog entries are the furthest thing from his mind right now. I wish I could say the same.
Despite a near complete lack of attention in print media, no box van, no suspension patents, no tribal graphics, no "hot colors", no hand signals, no exotic materials, no hydro-forming, or anything else that greases the wheels of the mountain bike industry, Fall Guys continue to sell briskly. We've abandoned hope of having an inventory of these bikes that can be ordered from us whenever. Maybe someday, but as it is, they get get built, painted and gone. Another batch will be ready in about a month, and after that, it'll be a while.
On the topic of building bikes, it's probably worth mentioning a few details about our shop and our operation. The first is that our shop is powered by electricity generated from wind power. Not our wind generator, but it's an option that our local power company offers. It's more expensive, but we think it's worth it. Also, 80% of the materials used in the construction of the Fall Guy are sourced locally. For example, our tubing vendor is a mere 10 min. drive from our shop. Like any shop, we recycle all our scrap material, so nothing new there. We also insist on powercoating because it's an extremely durable finish, and by far the most environmentally sensible choice of paint. Beyond that, the Fall Guy (and everything we've done thus far) is an extremely durable design, even in the context of other freestyle bikes. Strong, pleasing to the eye, and designed around stadards that aren't going to change anytime soon gives the Fall Guy a very good chance of being used for years to come. Not having to get a new bike every year saves the consumers $$, and reduces the amount of junk in the world. It's all these little details that contribute to something we are serious about, which is riding, building bikes, and also paying attention to what we are doing to our environment. As 2/3's of us have kids, considering the quality of the air and water in the future is inevitable. No, we aren't saints, but building our own bikes gives us a degree of controll over the process that ensures quality, but also allows us to manage the cleanliness of our operation which is, ironically, largely ignored by the bike industry. Maybe what I've descibed matters to you, maybe it doesn't. Like I mentioned, we aren't saints, and have plenty of room to improve our processes, but I thought some of our current and future customers may have some interest in this topic.
Now for some senseless information: The Dew Tour.
The Dew Tour is an action sports tour. BMX, skateboarding, and freestyle Motorcross. I got tickets (free, yo!) and was able watch BMX dirt qualifiers, and finals. I ran into one of Seattle's best riders, Scott Matual, and PDX local Pete at the event.
The riding was nuts. I was bummed that PDX locals Jeff Landtiser and Justin Innman didn't ride. Maybe I missed them? Some incredible riding, and for me, Corey Bohan won the event. Incredible riding. Went higher than anyone, and with such style. Typical contest format, with back flips and crazy tricks counting for more than style. Whatever... I'll take this, over this any day.
Finally, Billy Lewis. No foot Can-Can. And Guy. 3-transfer.
-L
I'm currently living vicariously through Tonic Fab team member Aaron Nachtrab. He can be found either in Whistler, or riding local trails, or racing DH. I believe he is state champ for Jr. DH? Way to go Aaron; make the most of you first summer out of high school. I'm certain writing vacant blog entries are the furthest thing from his mind right now. I wish I could say the same.
Despite a near complete lack of attention in print media, no box van, no suspension patents, no tribal graphics, no "hot colors", no hand signals, no exotic materials, no hydro-forming, or anything else that greases the wheels of the mountain bike industry, Fall Guys continue to sell briskly. We've abandoned hope of having an inventory of these bikes that can be ordered from us whenever. Maybe someday, but as it is, they get get built, painted and gone. Another batch will be ready in about a month, and after that, it'll be a while.
On the topic of building bikes, it's probably worth mentioning a few details about our shop and our operation. The first is that our shop is powered by electricity generated from wind power. Not our wind generator, but it's an option that our local power company offers. It's more expensive, but we think it's worth it. Also, 80% of the materials used in the construction of the Fall Guy are sourced locally. For example, our tubing vendor is a mere 10 min. drive from our shop. Like any shop, we recycle all our scrap material, so nothing new there. We also insist on powercoating because it's an extremely durable finish, and by far the most environmentally sensible choice of paint. Beyond that, the Fall Guy (and everything we've done thus far) is an extremely durable design, even in the context of other freestyle bikes. Strong, pleasing to the eye, and designed around stadards that aren't going to change anytime soon gives the Fall Guy a very good chance of being used for years to come. Not having to get a new bike every year saves the consumers $$, and reduces the amount of junk in the world. It's all these little details that contribute to something we are serious about, which is riding, building bikes, and also paying attention to what we are doing to our environment. As 2/3's of us have kids, considering the quality of the air and water in the future is inevitable. No, we aren't saints, but building our own bikes gives us a degree of controll over the process that ensures quality, but also allows us to manage the cleanliness of our operation which is, ironically, largely ignored by the bike industry. Maybe what I've descibed matters to you, maybe it doesn't. Like I mentioned, we aren't saints, and have plenty of room to improve our processes, but I thought some of our current and future customers may have some interest in this topic.
Now for some senseless information: The Dew Tour.
The Dew Tour is an action sports tour. BMX, skateboarding, and freestyle Motorcross. I got tickets (free, yo!) and was able watch BMX dirt qualifiers, and finals. I ran into one of Seattle's best riders, Scott Matual, and PDX local Pete at the event.
The riding was nuts. I was bummed that PDX locals Jeff Landtiser and Justin Innman didn't ride. Maybe I missed them? Some incredible riding, and for me, Corey Bohan won the event. Incredible riding. Went higher than anyone, and with such style. Typical contest format, with back flips and crazy tricks counting for more than style. Whatever... I'll take this, over this any day.
Finally, Billy Lewis. No foot Can-Can. And Guy. 3-transfer.
-L
posted by Tonic Fab at 10:08 AM
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