Monday, February 28, 2011

Going, going...

Clothing order will be placed on Friday, folks, which means that you've got the rest of this week if you want to preorder jerseys or shorts/bibs. Yes, they'll still be available after Friday, but the price will increase substantially. You've been warned!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Blog slacking: to continue

As some of you know, Sarah is a hotshot scientist. Most of my friends are, unfortunately, so I'm usually the least intelligent person on any given group ride.

Long story short, she is attending a conference in Keystone this week and I will be going up to visit and hang out every other day or so, so it will be a light work week, probably. Expect slow responses to emails and phone calls.

Also, blog activity should pick up a bit next week when I have more time on my hands. For now, I'm concentrating on getting actual building done, rather than blogging about it. If you're bored, I'm sure there's tons of pictures of impractical, beautiful bikes from NAHBS out there to pore over!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Eszter wins 24 HOP

Yes, the race season has officially started - and Eszter (along with some fella I don't know) started it right by winning the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. Nice work, E!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Barry's frame, and learning a lesson

Here's Barry's frame, in all it's glory. Such as it is. Probably more glorious to ride than look at - at least I hope so.

In any case, for those of you who have no lives and look at the waitlist every day, you'll note that Barry's frame has been back from the powdercoater and sitting in my shop (sobbing quietly to itself) for more than 2 weeks.

This is because Fox is popular, and I wasn't on the ball, basically. Fox has been running ~2 weeks out on getting small fork orders out forever, so my modus operandi has been to order the fork when the bike is ready to go to the powdercoater - everything shows up around the same time, I ship it out, all is well.

But Fox is running WAY further behind than that right now, apparently, and that system isn't working out for Barry (or several other folks) who are waiting on Fox forks.

As such, if you want a Fox fork, PLEASE let me know in advance (as far in advance as you can) and I will bill you and order the fork. If it has to sit in the shop for a few months, fine. Better than this endless waiting!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Dr. Seuss meets Fatbike


I have built a lot of fatbike forks over the years, but only a few like this (Peter's). 100mm axle spacing and 120+mm tire spacing always looks bizarre to me. But what it looks like matters less than what it does, obviously, and this will fit the wheel and tire it needs to.

Peter also notably needed a _350mm_ steerer tube. Yes, that's 14". Good lord. Hopefully he'll send a picture when it's on the bike and built up - those handlebars must be up in the sky!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday Photo: Mike's Fatbike



Not much to say about this one, she clears big tires and is built to roll through (or preferably on top of) the snow. Super short head and seat tubes were Mike's preference to allow more standover, hence the giant stack of spacers. Might be time to make him a super-riser stem...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Quick clothing update

Just FYI, we are doing both bibs AND shorts now on the 2011 Waltworks clothing. So if you'd prefer shorts (the default is bibs) please include a note in your paypal payment. Cost is identical either way, and so are the graphics.

Also, for those who are curious, here's a picture of the chamois, and a description courtesy of Jeff:
Jerseys and bibs are Alchemist. Hard to match every chamois to every butt; however, we tried a number of different chamois, and this one rose to the top. Pic attached. Variable density padding and lightweight, but very supple. A couple of us rode this chamois through the Breck Epic (6 day MTB marathon stage race). We wouldn't have chosen anything different. Our rear-ends were happy.
You are correct that the jersey is full-zip and race-cut.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Quick picture for Greg


Fire engine red, sliders, beefy as all get out, ready to rock. Well, almost. Wheels and such would be helpful, of course.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Jersey/Bib Preorder

Preorders are over, folks. Jerseys are still available ($60), however (sorry, no more shorts or bibs, that was a one-time deal):






Size



Sunday, February 13, 2011

Big 'uns

No, I'm not talking about Al's favorite magazine. I'm talking about bikes for very large humans.

In this case, David, who needs a 22.5" seat tube. Those are some long legs. He's nowhere near my record, though - I once did a bike for a fellow who is 7' tall and almost 400 pounds. THAT was huge.

In any case, a couple of pictures for a lazy Sunday (well, not that lazy, I did finish up the frame - Sarah is deep in thesis mode and my weekends are more and more like weekdays lately). And a new setting! The back deck, somewhat damaged by Pele's furious anger and great vengeance directed at the UPS guy. Someday I will get around to fixing that railing.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Samples are here!


Very cool! Many thanks to the fine folks at Alchemist for the hard work getting the ball rolling (word to the wise, they are selling their cool wool jerseys for 40% off today).

Pricing is going to be around $55 for the jersey alone, or around $100 for the jersey/bibs combo. A portion (I'm thinking 10%) of that will go to IMBA. I'll announce some final pricing and put up a preorder page when I have everything nailed down.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Time to nut up or shut up - 5pm tonight

If you show up and talk to me at the meeting, I'll give you 10% off any Waltworks product you want. Of course, hopefully we have such a huge crowd that you'll have a hard time even finding me!

Seriously, folks. Time to spend one evening making your voice heard to help get access for mountain bikes for decades. Or lose access forever.

Stolen directly from the BMA website (better formatting/active links if you go there instead of reading below):

The time has come to show Boulder that mountain bikers are not a special interest, we are the very fabric of this community.

Take Action



1) Show up on Wednesday 2/9 at City Council chambers 1777 Broadway (intersection w/ Canyon) at 5PM.

2) Bring a friend. Bring lots of friends.

3) Sign our petition. Click here

4) Email the Open Space Board of Trustees, keep the message positive, and tell them, "I support BMA's modest proposal." Click here

5) Join the BMA Guerrilla Army to get mountain bikers off their asses and to this meeting. Click here



Um, what are you talking about?



On Tuesday, February 1st at 9:26 pm, Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Department recommended the continuation of a total ban on mountain bikes in the West Trail Study Area (the open space between Mount Sanitas and Eldorado Springs Dr). To justify this decision they cited "irreconcilable visitor conflict" and said new shared-use trails were " not a reasonable option from either an environmental or a cost perspective."

To see BMA's retort and our modest proposal, click

here. We are confident that modest bike access in the West TSA can be successful if we focus on solutions rather than exclusion.



What do I do at this meeting?



Show up. Sign up to speak. Don't repeat what others have said before you. It's enough to just get up there and say your name, your address, and "I support BMA's modest proposal." But feel free to say more if you'd like to. Your comments will dispel the myth that all mountain bikers are 20-something, meat-headed, adrenaline fueled, selfish people with no concern for families, our community, or our environment.



Above all else, keep it positive!



BMA's advocacy team will be there with green BMA t-shirts on. Ask them questions when you show up.



Some points to consider

* Know that the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT) is not the same as open space staff. Staff opposed bike access, but OSBT has not made ANY decision yet regarding bikes in the WTSA. They are unpaid appointees and deserve our respect.
* If you are angry, please show up, but do not speak. We MUST continue to put forward constructive, pragmatic solutions if we are to succeed.
* Get there early if you want a seat. OSMP staff will be downstairs defending their recommendations. Don't bother talking to them, they have made their position crystal clear, and there won't be any change. Walk by, go upstairs and get your seat. There will be overflow seating with streaming video downstairs and some of us will be milling around outside the building.
* There will be people in the room who hate bikes and will be looking for debate and/or confrontation. Take the high road and do not engage!

IMPORTANT DATES: Mark them on your calendar!


Open Space Board of Trustees Meeting: Wed, Feb 9
City Council Hearing on West TSA: Tue,Mar 15

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Followup: Mountain Biking in Los Alamos

I got a few comments and emails about this, thus this post.

Los Alamos is about 45 minutes north of Santa Fe, so you can drop the ol' ball and chain off at the galleries and drive up (of course, there's also lots of great riding in Santa Fe). It's also close to Taos if you're there for some (probably the same) reason.

Los Alamos has a mountain bike club, the Tuffriders, who do regular weekly rides from Spring-Fall for all ability levels. They tend to stick to their tried and true favorites, and they ride after work, so it's a great way to see the in-town trails, but not so useful for seeing the higher elevation/longer rides.

Trail maintenance is done by the awesome Craig Martin (a fixture of the trails for decades and now the county's pro trail guru) and a mix of paid county employees and volunteers. Craig has a trail conditions blog here. Yes, you can email him and ask him to remove a downed tree - and he will go do it, usually within a day or two!

My favorite rides, listed in no particular order:
-Quemazon to Pipeline to Guaje Ridge to Cabra to Perimeter - probably about 30 miles, basically all singletrack, lots of elevation gain/loss. Get a local to show you where to go!
-Town trails/Perimeter loops. Many combinations possible. Not too much elevation gain, these trails wind through town on the sides of the canyons and finger mesas.
-Nail Trail/Pajarito Canyon. Short but sweet. A nasty climb is rewarded with a rad singletrack in a beautiful canyon. There is great rock climbing (at the Dungeon) here too.
-Cochiti Mesa/Graduation flats loops. A bit of a haul from town if you're riding (though I used to do it quite often) but only 15 minutes in a car. Great network of singletrack, with everything from buff and fast to super techy. Aspens to desert.
-Downhilling at Pajarito Mountain. When I was there, there was only really one trail, but it was darn fun. Now there are a TON, and a chairlift running (we would just ride up back when men were men!) Get your pads on!

Unfortunately, I have not been in Los Alamos in quite a while, and businesses tend to crash and burn frequently there. As far as I know, there is NO BIKE SHOP, and there may or may not be a place to get a beer after your ride. The Trinity Beverage Company used to have some beer, but I'm not sure it still exists. Food options are mediocre except for (if it's open) the best greasy green chile stand ever - Chile Works. Many an hour did I waste their scarfing my favorite veggie green cheese burritos...

Monday, February 07, 2011

Pictures and a few words for Aaron

For those not in the know, I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It's a very small town full of geeks, basically, and mostly is famous for being the birthplace of the atomic bomb (I am not as proud of this as some Los Alamosians, but that's neither here nor there).



When I was growing up, I spent plenty of time hiking around and shooting at my friends with bb guns (paintball is for sissies) but sadly, I did not ride bikes. In fact, it wasn't until I was in graduate school and visiting my parents that I realized what I'd been missing out on all those years - Los Alamos county probably has just about as high a concentration of singletrack trails as Crested Butte. It's insane.

In any case, I don't make it down there very often anymore, but I miss my favorite rides - linking Quemazon into Guaje Ridge, then riding the Arizona firebreak or the Bridges trails back to close the loop, epics up to Cochiti Mesa... the list goes on and on.

So I was pretty excited when I got a chance to build a bike for Aaron, because he lives in Los Alamos (in fact, we went to high school together, though we apparently never knew each other). So while I don't get to ride those great trails, something I made will.

This sucker is what I'd describe as new-wave XC. Fairly "normal" angles, short chainstays, 29" wheels, 100mm of travel, and lots of stuff for component flexibility. Aaron is going to run through axles both front and rear (yes, the sliders are available with that option), a tapered steerer Reba, and a Hammerschmidt crank. Will it be light? Not particularly. But it should be stiff, fast, and fun.

Oh, and yes, I am running out of new places to take pictures of frames. That last one is in front of my refrigerator, which is a pretty pathetic and non-inspiring spot. What can I say? It's dark and cold outside, and everyone has already seen the shop a thousand times.

Edit: if you don't believe me, check out the trail map here. Yes, there's probably almost as much mountain bike terrain as paved road. Awesome.

Edit 2: Aaron referred me to this awesome map of the downhill trails at the Pajarito ski area (5 miles from town). I actually helped build some of the early stuff there by chaining a truck tire to my dirtbike and dragging it through the woods...ah, New Mexico!

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Bikes in the West TSA - BMA wants you to take action

I will begin by saying that I am not entirely sure that this fight is A) winnable or B) worth the effort (for those outside of Boulder, the trails in area in question are largely on a very steep/rocky hillside backed against the Flatirons, and IMO there's not great bike trail potential).

But that said, I have already attended several meetings about this subject and even if the conclusion is a foregone one, there are numerous other areas where bike access is being considered in the near future. A good solid push on the West TSA will have benefits down the road.

That said, please click here to see the BMA "take action" page and learn how you can help. Mountain bikes have had great success in getting new riding opportunities in Boulder county in the last decade, in no small part due to the efforts of a few dedicated souls (as Mike B always says "the world is run by the people who show up"). Join in and help make things even better for the future.

For those who are new in town, a quick recap of where things stood when I arrived in 1999:
-Heil Valley ranch was not yet public land. Now: 14 miles of fun, technical singletrack with a connection north all the way to Lyons (ie, you can ride Hall ranch with only a short stretch of pavement).
-The Marshall Mesa area trails consisted of about half a mile of singletrack linked to a 3 mile dirt road next to a canal. Now: Almost 30 miles of trails, including lots of awesome singletrack like Doudy Draw, Marshall Valley, Coal Seam, Cowdry Draw and Springbrook. Heck, you can ride singletrack to Costco in Superior if you want to!
-West Magnolia and the Dot trails were in their infancy, and in great danger of being shut down by the USFS (since nobody had bothered to get permission to build them). Now: BMA maintains and patrols these legal, official trails.
-Hall Ranch's Antelope trail didn't exist.
-The Benjamin property was not yet public land. Now: A new 4 mile loop and connector to 4mile canyon for Betasso.
-Mud Lake trails did not exist. Now: A really nice network of singletrack in a beautiful setting for beginners, and a nice end to a longer ride for those who want to hit stuff at higher elevation.
-Connector trail from the high parking lot at Walker did not exist.
-Little Raven and South St. Vrain trails were closed to bikes and in disrepair. Now: Repaired and made sustainable by BMA work, these awesome alpine trails are open to bikes.
-Valmont park was a giant empty lot fenced with rusty barbed wire and filled with weeds and garbage. Now: It's becoming (soon) a bike park.

The bottom line is that if you ride a mountain bike in Boulder, you have the BMA to thank for the majority of the trails you ride.

And while you're at it, even if you can't make the meetings, take a minute to check out some of their greatest hits, and maybe join BMA.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Photo friday



Thanks to Matt for the pictures. Rigid-specific (a tougher man than me!) singlespeed, nice short chainstays (though apparently he prefers to run the sliders most of the way back) and clearance for biggish tires. And I'm jealous of the lack of snow on the ground, of course.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Airborne responds!

I am loathe to provide people with free advertising, but to be fair, I started this when I ranted about an article in Dirt Rag.

Rick Vosper of Airborne took exception to my comments, and asked if he could write a rebuttal. Ever chivalrous, I agreed. So here you go. The piece has been left as written by Rick.

Hi Walt (& readers), Rick Vosper here, director of Airborne Bikes. Thanks for your interest in our little company.
Some background: the current incarnation of Airborne has no relation to the previous titanium vendor except the name. Our frames are all 6000 series Al that perform well against other quality production builders in terms of weight, appearance, stiffness, and strength (we know this because we test ‘em).
I agree that Dirt Rag’s use of the phrase “undercutting” is unfortunate, because we’re about value, not price. And that difference is critical. Our goal as a brand is to offer best performance per dollar, not cheapest bike per category. It’s an important difference, I think. For sure we don’t make one-of-a-kind hand-crafted works of art like Waltworks does, and we don’t expect to sell Airborne bikes to your customers, with two important exceptions:
First, we want to be the bike that customers like yours—guys who’ve been riding for years and really know their stuff—would recommend to a friend or family member who is interested in getting into the sport and understands that discount bikes tend to fall apart if subjected to the rigors of real offroad or CX abuse.
Second, we want to be the brand people like your customers go to when they’re interested in an entry-level bike to add to their own quiver. Maybe it’s a gravity guy who wants to try ‘cross because it looks like fun, or an XC rider who just wants to mess around on a pump track with a dirt jumper. Point is, these folks already own state-of-the-craft bikes and want equipment that will work well for its intended purpose…without investing thousands of dollars up front right away. If they try the discipline on an Airborne and like it, heck, they’ll be buying a Waltworks or other fine handbuilt bike soon enough. And we’re OK with that.
Which brings us to benchmarking. We start by looking at a category (a hardtail 29er, for instance) and finding the existing model or models (we usually end up with 3 or 4) that we’d recommend to the friend or family member referenced above. (In the case of the 29er, we chose Fisher/Trek’s excellent X-Callibur, a bike we’ve admired for years). Then we set out to make a bike with comparable performance at the best value we can. Typically it ends up between 20-30% less than the comparable Trek, Scott, GT, or whatever.
Do we succeed? Well, yes, we hit the value premium we’re aiming for. Do the bikes really compete with the benchmarks? Spec-for-spec, yes (our new website will be up later this month and you can see for yourself, including the feature-by-feature comparisons). Do Airbornes ride as well as the benchmarks? That’s for riders (and magazine editors, like the folks at Dirt Rag) to decide. But as for us, we’re betting the company on it.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Crazy!

So apparently last night Boulder had it's lowest recorded temperature (edit, for Feb 2nd, I misread the DC article) Minus 17 as of 6am this morning.

Ok, so it was cold.

Here's the nutty thing - as of last Thursday/Friday, it was 68 degrees (edit: I thought this was a record, it is not)

It's weather whiplash out here!

Greg's Frame, featuring all kinds of moderately boring stuff

This is going to be a bit discombobulated, because I'm leaving for the track in about 10 minutes and I'm going to try to write this entire blog post in that time. Proofreading is for sissies anyway.



You all remember Greg. The big dude who breaks things. I posted about his fork just a few days ago. While the fork featured a lot of new (if not perhaps earth-shattering) features, the frame is, like Dean's, pretty boring (hah! Got in another dig at Dean!)

It's a 29er, it's a singlespeed, and it's got fairly conventional angles and geometry numbers (though the chainstays are on the short side and the head tube is on the long side).

But the kicker is this - the frame is insanely beefy. To whit:
-Supertherm toptube and downtube (32 and 38mm diameters, respectively)
-Beefy Deda s-bend chainstays
-Super burly (heh) 19mm seatstays that I got when Burley Designs stopped making bikes.

For those who don't know, Supertherm is just True Temper's brand name for their OX platinum tubing, drawn thicker for BMX/cargo/stupid bike use. Where most OX platinum tubes have wall thicknesses (at the thick sections) of .7 or .8mm, Supertherm is 1.0 at the thick sections and .7mm in the middle/thin portions - meaning that it's lighter than straightgauge (which is typically .9mm/.035"), as well as a lot stronger.



The bottom line is that the bike is a total tank - it weighs 5.25# (or, well, it will when the sliders are actually bolted in). Then again, there are plenty of much smaller production bikes that aren't at all intended for big people to ride drops that are similar weight. So it's all relative. I'm betting it's not any heavier than Greg's old frame, actually.

Apologies for the crap photos. We had a high of something like negative 6 here yesterday and my motivation to go pose the bike in the snow was pretty darn limited.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Whoa.


Rad.

This addresses pretty much every niggling criticism I had of the Black Cat dropouts (ie, stainless, 2 clamp bolts, no hoods, etc) back a few months ago. And no, for what it's worth, I did not talk to the Paragon guys about them. This is totally new to me. Who wants to volunteer to try 'em out?