Posted by Charles
Sat, 05 Nov 2005 06:57:00 GMT
Or another great bike, anyway. Today Intense Cycles jumped on board. This rounds out the Passion family of full suspension designs. Intense adds their VPP suspension to Maverick’s Monolink and Giant’s Maestro. Turner represents both the Horst Link and TNT Four Bar Link rear ends, leaving no good rear suspension type unrepresented.
The Intense 6.6 frames will be available for the first time in a large in about a week, and Passion has them on order. Let me know what color you would like to see.
Posted in Bikes
Posted by Charles
Fri, 04 Nov 2005 07:41:00 GMT
I got good news by phone this afternoon – Passion just became a Giant Bicycle dealer. Their Maestro suspension caught my eye at last year’s Interbike trade show, passed the ride test, and has had me intrigued since. I was able to ride the Anthem, Reign, and Trance again this year, one a new model, the others with some subtle improvements, and began making room for them in the shop as soon as I got home.
Last week, I was approved by Turner Bikes as their newest dealer, and today picked up the phone to get a 5 Spot and a 6 Pack on the way. Their new TNT rear suspension offers the benefits of a Four Bar rear end, with hand craftsmanship construction. Add to that custom colors, and custom shock configurations, and you have one irresistible package.
Maverick American has been with me since the beginning, before I had a definite location. The support and enthusiasm I get from them is first rate, and surpassed only by the quality and ride of the frames that bear their name. For over a decade I had been in the habit of getting a new mountain bike every year or two, and never owning an old modern mountain bike (just a few classics, not modern by any means – we’re talking Roller Cams and Friction Shifters) but that has changed. My ML-7 has been in the bike barn for 4 years now. A bit long in the tooth, and still my favorite bike.
Posted in Bikes
Posted by Charles
Thu, 03 Nov 2005 06:58:00 GMT
It looks like we’ll have the office wall construction project wrapped up by Saturday. I ordered a new computer for the office, and am shopping for a copier/fax/scanner in anticipation of having a clean, dedicated work space, at Passion instead of just at my home.
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Posted in Shop
Posted by Charles
Wed, 26 Oct 2005 06:42:00 GMT
We began putting up the office walls on Sunday. Materials were gathered in advance, to the best of our ability, to avoid trapping our crew in Home Depot Gridlock on construction day. We made two trips each with two pickups to get a days worth of lumber and fasteners, and some sheetrock and supplies for later. We moved benches and fixtures well out of the way so we could build the 15 foot high wall in sections on the ground, and then raise each section into place and attach it to the ceiling.
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Posted in Shop
Posted by Charles
Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:51:00 GMT
Here is a series of three shots that demonstrate my progress, or lack thereof, so far. The last shot was taken last Wednesday, and I have come a little further since then, but writing orders and running around to hardware and lumber stores took its toll on my allotted time on the cement.
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Posted in Shop
Posted by Charles
Sun, 09 Oct 2005 05:18:00 GMT
The epoxy is now dry enough to walk on. When my wife found this photo on my computer later, she said I should send it off the my landlord, with a made up story about how the building was flooded.
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Posted in Shop | no comments
Posted by Charles
Fri, 07 Oct 2005 06:02:00 GMT
The Passion Loungewarming will be Saturday, December 17, 2005. Come and help Charles celebrate his 40th birthday. It’s a biggie for Charles, in many ways, with his new shop, new gray hairs, and new debt. He’s also used up all his fingers and toes counting the years, twice now.
Berry’s stoking along this tandem ride with a career change that’s keeping a big smile on his face. It’s shaping up to be a great year for them both. Let’s celebrate!
Passion Trail Bikes is hosting this great evening, with the kegerator fully tapped, and pizzeria fresh eatin’s, and a video or two for the silver screen. This lounge-warming event needs your wonderful self to make the place a hoppy great venue for hanging out after a ride!
If you are feeling inclined to bring a lounge-warming item to leave behind, you have an opportunity to give Passion’s lounge your personal touch! Our lounge is for our customer’s
comfort, convenience, and relaxation. It features a kegerator, microwave,
convection oven, and big-screen projector with DVD player, and a
futon/loveseat. We don’t really have much other comfy seating, so we are
looking for bean bags, big throw pillows, yoga pads, camp chairs and other
stuff comfortable for watching DVDs and drinking a pint o’ suds. We’re
planning to store the extra seating upstairs above the lounge between
events, so lightweight, storable, liftable stuff is great.
Also, we still have a bunch of empty cupboards needing things like plates,
bowls, serving dishes, serving utensils, bottle openers, silverware, knives,
mugs, glasses, etc. A blender if you like your margaritas frozen, a BBQ if
you want a bratworst with your doppelbock. The projector has arrived, but we could still use a screen, either roll up or fixed.
Anyway, none of this stuff is truly a NEED, but we thought it would be fun
if you have stuff in the garage you were thinking of taking to goodwill or
selling at a garage sale, to bring it by and leave a bit of yourself here to
give the place some character. Please, DON’T go out and buy gifts for the
party!
Posted in Passion
Posted by Charles
Thu, 06 Oct 2005 22:50:00 GMT
Epic Contracting is still working on the floors at Passion, so I am storing my bench and fixtures in the kitchen an empty warehouse next door until they are done. I hate the idea of having to move all this stuff twice, but the floors will be worth the wait.
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Posted in Shop
Posted by Charles
Thu, 06 Oct 2005 22:40:00 GMT
And the furniture mover. Yesterday, I rented a stakeside truck in Palo Alto, and drove to Sunnyvale to pick up a workbench that used to belong Hewlett Packard. This heavy steel and wood bench will be my fork overhaul station, with drawers and shelves containing suspension specific tools and small parts. It will be an oily bench, but no metal shavings will be allowed in this area. I am still shopping for a dirty bench for my grinder and dirty vise, and may end up building one if I can’t find something just right.
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Posted in Shop
Posted by Charles
Sat, 24 Sep 2005 17:08:00 GMT
This is my first day of self employment, and it feels more like unemployment. I drank a lot at my farewell party last night, and don’t remember the alarm going off at 6:00 so I could make the 8:00 ride. I did wake a few minutes after 7:00, though, clearheaded enough to know I should continue to sleep. There was no way I was going to be on time for the ride.
Eventually I got up, got a little grief from one of the guys I was supposed to ride with, and got on with my day. I have been working on refining my business plan, cruising Craig’s List looking for good deals on tools and fixtures, and took the shell off my truck. I will have a lot of big things to move over the next month or so. I drove over to Milpitas today to pick up a lovingly used parts cabinet, 400 pounds of steel that will hold my spokes, bearings, and a thousand or so other small parts that left to their own would fill countless unlabeled parts boxes. I also picked up some hand tools, a shop vac, and a few office supplies (thanks again to Craig’s List).
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Posted in Shop
