Torn-up and sold-out

As Tonic Fab treads water in the vast oceans of the bicycle industry, a question is begged: Why are we doing this? And more importanty, what are we doing? There has to be some larger meaning to our work. Or not.

Something that has been exciting at the venerable Tonic Fab Laboratories is the continued development of our Cross-Bike. This has been going on for nearly forever, and we are finally ready to commit to producing a quantity of them. Those attending Interbike this year will be able to see the latest version at the Yakima booth. This bike will be absolutely beautiful, and features some Tonic Fab Flavor. Here's a preview of the freshly machined rear entry drop outs. Tony, probably one of the few people in the bike industry who can operate a rotary table, a dad, and a good guy to lean on. After Interbike, the bike will be raced by Ian Brown locally and a few National Events. For what it's worth: this will be the 3rd season for the original proto. We will be taking orders for this bike after Interbike.

News from Team Tonic Fab.

Billy is riding again after recovering from an elbow injury at the Bend Bike Rodeo. Because when he tables his tire often hits his elbow, he's got to take it a little easy. Wish we could all have that problem.....

Guy just wraped up a week long adventure in Whistler with Tonic Fab teamate Aaron. First time on a big bike, and all reports indicate he destroyed everything in his path in Whistler. Including the skatepark.

Speaking of Team TF, Aaron Guy and Charlie are riding one some of the heaviest trails around as I write this. Charlie sent this photo from a road trip to Arizona to drop his brother off at place called "nerd college." He also wrote a story worth repeating, but not retyping. Unfortunately, I can not cut and paste text, so you'll have to ask him about this photo in person.

In other team news, East Coast Team Rider, Chad Knavel looking dialed at his local trails.

It's all here:

Knees togther? Check.

Front wheel pointing down at landing? Check.

High (in the altitude sense)? Check.

What more do you need? How about Profile Pro Mark Mulville staight blasting "Thunder"?

Attention Freeriders: Although it may look like it, Mr.Mulville is not dropping out a tree like an over-ripe apple.

What else? Fall Guys are sold out and won't be available for another 6 weeks or so. Thanks everyone who decided to take a chance with us.

Finally, after 2 months of Doctor visits and limping around, I've been diagnosed with a torn ACL. Sucks, but repairable. This is a bit of a detour, but I hope next season I'll be going for these again. Unturndown at the last Softies Jam. I'll be cheering at the next one, Sept. 10.

L

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

Bend Bike Rodeo

Read about it here

Are you a Pro?

When asked what it means to be pro in a recent interview, Justin Inman mentioned that "..if you are riding with the pros, you're a pro.."

We are proud to anounce the support of two locals who can, indeed, ride with the pros. I simply haven't seen anyone, anywhere ride a mountain bike like these two.

While both riders have very distinct styles; it's their attention to style and execution which sets them appart. It's astonishing to see how well these two can ride, and more importantly, how approachable and cool they are as individuals. In process of putting this little team together, we've also picked up some co-sposorship from:

Manitou Forks

Gravity Components

Atomlab

DMR Tires

Nike 6.0


First up, Guy Marsh. He's not an unfamiliar name here. His clicked turn-downs, and large airs are mind boggling.

Next, Billy Lewis. Who wouldn't love to be able to do a proper invert like this? Or something like this? Everything he does, is done right. Like this x-up. Incredibly talented rider.

Billy's riding one of the new "integrated" Fall Guys

Front View if the new Fall Guy. Mid BB, Integrated Headtube, a little shorter seatube.
IMG_1879.JPG

Billy and Guy filmed with Aaron Lutze for the new Atomlab video. Speaking of Aaron, Match 8, his video magazine is out now. With the addition of slopestyle coverage, Match functions as a snapshot of all that is happening in the world of mountain bike freestyle. Get it. You will not be dissapointed.

-L