A thousand words.

Had a chance to ride with Aaron,Charlie and Paul the other day at the notorious Grotto. Fortunately Patrick LaValley was there filming and took far better pictures than I ever could.

Anyway, the Grotto was in perfect form.

A word about Patrick. Very talented filmmaker. I'll post a link to his work when I can find one.

Charlie photo courtesy of Patrick:
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Here's a link to a photo ( I don't know who took it, or what this website is) of Chad Knavel. Chad's a structural engineer, lives in Pennsylvania, and is putting gears on his Fall Guy via a Profile 3spd. BMX hub so he can race Norba events. Note to kids seeking sponsorship. Please ask yourself: Am I as good as Chad?

http://k43.pbase.com/v3/74/575474/1/51538685.DSC_1641.jpg

This is a little sad, but needs to be mentioned. Rob Lindberg, in desparate attempt to blend in with the "cool" end of the mountain bike community (and increase his profile for potential employment) has now resorted to flashing hand signs whenever a camera gets pointed in his direction. Rob, you don't have to do this buddy. Tonic Fab is sending Rob a pair of Mittens to limit him to the classic "thumbs-up."
As you can see, things had really gotten out of hand:
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Jonathan Allen (www.allenink.ws) sent me a picture that I think is worth sharing. Thanks Jonathon. I may have crashed horribly immediately after this was taken, but who cares? I'll post the rest of what he sent in the near future.
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-L

Rueda Libre

As usual, nothing interesting to report.

I might be a unemployed 31 year old man, but that doesn't mean I can't wear a mexican wrestling mask in public. Tony and I took advantage of a small break in the weather to do something we haven't done in long time. Ride Street.

The world of plywood and dirt transitions have been very kind to our joints over the winter. So naturally after taking one step forward, we decided to take two healthy steps back and wreck ourselves on the uneven and unkind terrain found just out the door.

It was a simple formula. 2 curbs, placed 15 feet apart, pedal as fast as possible and pull up. With 2 more weeks of paid health insurance to count on, it was now or never. A raising of the middle finger to the "road gaps" encountered at last week-end's big bike extravaganza, or a watered down salute to the Josh Strickers of the world? Here are the results:

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Tony wound-up getting over a park bench he's been sizing up for a while, and here's a nice bank shot for good measure.

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Also, I thought this was neat. A singaporian fellow who bought a fall guy got creative with color and produced something that reminded me of an Andy Warhol print:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v404/kenjikuro/Bike/


-L

The big, the bad, the pink

In typical Tonic Fab fashion, we have nothing to report outside of trival bits of personal information of no use to anyone. However, the show must go on.

The big news, for Rob L. and myself anyway is our lay-off. One day notice, so the message here is THINK FAST SUCKAS!
Whatever...I regret spending all this time shopping for a house and getting 2 weeks to closing, and paying for inspections and appraisals and then have this happen, but I'll get over it. Putting your heart into something and have it crumble is tough, but 6 months of state funded paid vacation will ease the sting.

As a celebration of freedom (for me anyway..) the crew rallied for a Big Bike ride at Fall City. This is beautiful area, with fresh air and no noticable vehicle sounds. Good times. Really different riding experience than what we are used to. Mellow, "Evel Knevel" style jumps, trees, and 9" of travel is, well, really different. This photo sums up Tony's experience... Tony_Pain.JPG

What else? V-Brakes. They don't stick out. That's all I've got on that topic. V-Brake.JPG

Billy Spaceman graced us with his presence recently. He's back from Melbourne and enroute to San Fran. He's a very unique soul, and has a neato Tonic Track frame. Here's a couple pictures:
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Note: Production frames will not have the chainstay yoke.

Also, Portlanders are organizing the first Single Speed Cyclocross Worlds, so pay attention. Tonic will definately sponsor this one, and promises to be nice and outta control.

-L

Black and Brown Fall Guys

Attached are a couple photos of a black and a brown Fall Guy. These colors hide a lot of the aesthetic features of the Fall Guy, but shouldn't effect ride quality.

Sorry for the utter crap image quality. The Blogger is being picky. We'll get this sorted.

Attached is another photo of my bike in "trail mode." Meaning it's got a knobby tire up front. This particular tire is worth mentioning: The DMR Moto Digger, 24 x 2.3. The tire will roost all manner of dirt, broken glass and fecal matter into your unprotected eyes and mouth.

In the bad news catagory, the Wilamette Valley BMX track is closing in April. A new location is being researched, but untill then, ride while you can. Had a good ride there last night, including some session time on an FBM PW-Moto. Excellent bike. Really excellent. Tony and I are planning on getting a 20" to share, or maybe doing something more creative.

Finally, I'd like to mention some changes occuring at Tonic Fab which will effect the way in which we do business. Basically, we are switching from a slow, steady trickle of frames to building 2 largish batches for the year. If you don't get a Fall Guy, or other model from one of these batches, then you are going to have to wait untill next year. We will be taking deposits, so pay attention to this blog for details and dates. We are closing our shop to reorganize and re-tool for these changes. We've just completed our final batch of Fall Guys, and ride-this.com is taking a some, so they will remain available. Once ride-this is out, it might be a while.

Other photos are:

Rocker Dave: taped-up, but riding.

Me: taken off video, trying to do a vertical table..whatever those are called.





Over and out,

Landon.