Lotsa Random Stuffs / Good News.

OK..some good news FINALLY. We've got some painted bikes back, and we can ship them.

I've you've got a painted Howie on order..I should be able to get it in the mail today. Barring a regional shortage of packing materials or postal worker strike.

The coated bikes are still a day or so off, so lovers of coated bikes will have to hold tight.

Speaking of shipping bikes. We've only shipped one Supernaut of the small run we finished..oh, 2 months ago. Corwyn had the blind luck to choose a color that didn't get botched repeatedly and got his frame a while ago. From what I've picked up, he's a serious bike geek, and also owns a Cook Bros. 29r. When he sent his warranty card in...

...he also sent a stainless steel chain ring he made. Tony and I are currently locking horns over who gets to ride this.

Pretty sweet!

A while ago, friend of Tonic, Greg Melms had a wine rack left over from a job he did. I've had it up for a while. Have yet to have it "fully stocked" although there is a bottle of Sparkling Cider just waiting for something to happen that might inspire a glass of Sparkling Cider. Which hasn't happened yet.

Pretty sweet details.

Brendan out of Canada sent some photos in of him riding his Howie. Good stuff.

Calls his Howie "The Bomb"

Speaking of selling bikes, sometime friend, sometimes foe of Tonic Fab, Andrew, sent this sweet craigslist ad over for a bike for sale.

What else?

PFunk won his class at the Fluidride race, Charlie blazed in qualifying, but crashed during his run.

Cheers,

-L

Monday Culture

Still waiting on some frames from the finisher. So this problem is nearing a finish?

Looks like one of the 2 double bend seat-stay Fall Guy protos got sold, so that leaves one left.

What else? 3 flats in one week-end of riding. Sweet.

Also...I've discovered some new music worth checking out.

Spindrift. Amazingly twisted "western" music.

These folks also made a movie that also looks amazingly twisted.

Foyer Clothing has some cool paintings up.

Erik Johnson's new joint is up and running, and it lookin' great. Hankbuilt.

His new Fall Guy frame mixed into some photo work he's doing. Nice. Like this color?

-L

Fall Guy Proto.

Happy Friday. It rained some here, so conditions are just about perfect.

Also, we'll try and squeeze out another jam or 2 before the rain comes.

What else?

This looks like a "spy" photo. It's just a bad photo. Nobody is spying on us.

We've got 2 of these kicking around. New Fall style Fall Guys with the double bend seat stays like the old version. There ain't a lot of bend there, so we decided not to do it for production. However, if you'd like one....contact me. I'll get some better photos this week-end.

-L

Good Billy Photo / Paint News / Events

Howdy.

Still having trouble getting frames back from our finisher. Should be able to get this resolved soon (fingers crossed.) If you are waiting for a frame from us, I appreciate your patients.

There's a bike event at Windell's next week-end. Also happening is a Fluidride Race, as well as a BMX jam sponsored by a Portland area Vodka company. I've ridden this place and it's Nuts. Tiny but crazy.

A dirt hip to a quarter in a driveway that you have to ride into on-coming traffic to hit. The people at this house are super friendly, but I don't even think the UN will be able to keep the land-lord from giving this crew the boot after this week-end. I guess this jam is at end of the month.....

That's what I call stiff event competition.

This week-end? The Dew Tour.

Great Billy photo here from Cory Tepper.

-L

Pierre / Kahlil / Belmar

What's up? Around here..not much. It's been viciously hot, and Tonic Fab does not have air conditioning. Been jumping in the river as much as possible. Saw a band last night that was the Funkadelic of Mexican Ranchero. Weird and cool. What else?

Our new website is nearing..something.

Ordering material for production Supernauts. I can't wait for people to see photos of this bike. Hopefully have specs and photos and everything at the end of the month. I'll take orders then too. The Supernaut will transition from being completely unavailable to being available occasionally.

We'll stick with what we know. Small production batches. If quality is your concern, this is the best way. It allows us to develop repeatable and accurate processes and tooling, which is how we go about achieving our quality goals. Which sounds like a load of marketing crap, but it's true.

We'll make a batch of 3 different sizes. 53 / 55 / 57. We are going to stick with top tube measurements because seat tube measurements are kind of meaningless.

Anyway more details about that later.

What else?

Pierre. Likes to party, ride and is some sort of explosives expert for a mine?

Those are some very tight, white pants. Just sayin'...

Kahlil lives in Vermont and is an engineer for Burton snowboards. He's digging his new Fall Guy and that's what we like to hear. Is that the A-Team's secret mail box?

Brawlin' at the Belmar. Man..what a fun looking event. The first couple ams look like they are taking a page from some of the free-riders I saw yesterday on my boiling ride.
Otherwise..Clint Reynolds / Doyle / Garrett Williams (2:10?) do some incredible riding on this crazy set-up.

See More BMX Videos at VitalBMX.com

What'd the work order say?

Well, I know what it didn't say.

Tonic Fab has some apologizing to do. We've had trouble meeting some reasonable deadlines for shipping bikes. The problem has been bikes getting stuck at the finisher, and then leaving with unacceptable results. When we kick-out a frame, the process suddenly becomes much longer. The frames have to be sent to stripper, and they are on their own schedule. Then, they have to be re-finished. This is another variable.

Sure, on a Fall Guy or Howie you can go out and ruin the paint with-in the first 30 seconds of riding. But the same could be said of the frames themselves, but that's not the standard we hold ourselves to.

We don't have much other than the quality of our product to stand behind. Our customers have high expectations, and our reputation for meeting or exceeding those expectations is a big reason our stuff sells. Even if it's not cheap, and information about it can be a little hard to come by. Although having a kick-ass team does certainly help!

Anyway, that's all I've got at the moment.

Couple things:

One, Abbitt broke his collar bone at Whistler. A shirt stuck on his bars doing a tuck-no hander. Bummer. He was doing some wild riding too. Trust me.

Chaz..arcing through his trails. Nice.

-L

Giant Steps

Mike Giant Show. Bad-Ass Flyer.

Front.

Back.

-L

Crazy Bikes / Crazy Times.

What's up? Heat waves. And Howies. A few are still available. Black, Coated, Baby Blue.

Nick Brandreth sent over some stills of him getting after it on his Fall Guy.

Nice table-fakie on some rough banks.

Grass bank to wall-ride.

What else? The Olympics are around the corner, and more than anything, they are serving as a barometer for the times we live in. Which are absolutely crazy. Nike spent a record $2.3 Billion in advertising last year yet just got busted last week for sweat-shop conditions in it's factories. Again. I guess when you spend one dollar in advertising for every eight you earn, there ain't much left over for the product.

Check this out:

All I know is that Saul Williams song they are using is one hell of a jam.

Heat has always played a role in the summer Olympics, and Beijing will certainly be boiling. Unfortunately pollution may play a deciding role in the results. Some US track cyclists had to apologize for wearing pollution masks as the entered China recently. Hey, I've been to industrial Asia more than a few times, and I don't blame them.

This article put this situation in perspective.

"Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, a tough and tenacious American mountain biker we interviewed for one of our pieces, told us he threw up during his race in Beijing last September because the pollution was so bad. Fifty of the best mountain bikers in the world started that race; eight finished. But American triathlete Matt Reed may have described it best. Reed told us he went for a jog in Beijing, blew his nose, and could see the black pollution that he'd blown out of his body. How's that for an image? The International Olympic Committee has already admitted it might have to reschedule some outdoor events if the pollution is bad in August. That would be a huge embarrassment for the Chinese hosts."

That ain't early morning fog....

It's easy to point fingers at problems. These are crazy times.

-L

NW Mountain Bikin'

Helow Monday. Did a load of XC last week-end. Good times. The photos of the places you go are a lot better than the ones you get of people riding.

Howies are out of paint sooner than later. We've got Black, Coated and Baby Blue.

NW Mountain Biking.