End of Year Year Ender on a Bender SALE

You may have noticed that other than the – SALES & SPECIALS / USED BIKES / Yard Sale – pages not much changes here on the old blog anymore. Well that’s because of the never slowing march of progress, more info gets out quicker and easier on – the tweeter / facebook / instagram – and occasionally shouting at people in the street. But every once or twice a year, like our anniversary #earthdayisourbirthday or the always pleasing end of year SALE there is just too much excitement or information to share so we have to dust off the keyboard, crack our knuckles and type out more than 140 characters.

We are again offering bonus 30¢ gift certificates – now until the end of the year buy one for $25 and we will give you another for $5. Buy one for $50 and we will give you one for $10. $100 will get ya another for $25. We’ll go higher, just ask and dare us!

And we have lots of stuff to spend them extra dollars on! Balance bikes.

Fat bikes -including this carbon Heller on sale at $1,710

Bianchi Cortinas stretching from red all the way down to that classic celeste.

We have expanded our clothing selection for a while to include a bunch of jerseys, shorts, vests, thermal layers, and even a pair of gloves from the many pro teams that local great guy and multiple time Olympian Jason McCartney had hanging in his closet. Come check them out, as memorabilia, gifts, or for to help yourself look extra PRO.

Winter finally showed up yesterday and we have studded tires, Yak Trax, lights, fenders, advice and know how to help you ride through the winter safely and with confidence and comfort.

There are a few other things to mention like all in-stock Arkel bags are 15% off, and all in-stock bikes are at least 10% off until the end of the year, and we like you.

Ride on everybuddy, through the end of this year, and – always – right into #nextyear

 

 

 

The Red Zone

We stock all of these Arkel bags, but not in red so we had to special order this set.

The T-42 set is all you need to do about any tour, just a bit smaller than the GT-54 which is the biggest on the block. And up front the GT-18 on one side and the backpack convertible GT-18BP gives you a daypack option if you are leaving your bike for a bit and exploring on foot. Great bags in any color!

Also sporting red the latest Urban Velo just arrived and it is packed with good stuff including a really awesome article about Worksman Cycles in NYC. Free as always, come pick one up!

And with just a touch of red but enough to get it into this blog post, we just took delivery of 5 hoopties from Xtracycle! 4 are pre-sold so you do the math, hooptie shoppers. Xtracycle and hooptie can change your life – you read it here.

 

It’s New Stuff

Spring sprang, here is what’s sprouting in the shop lately. We are well stocked with generator wheel hubs and lights, including these 3 awesome Busch & Muller models.

Also just got our spring Arkel order whether you are looking for touring or commuting bags we have a whole bunch in stock.

We also added our first hitch mount car rack if you are into taking bikes for a drive?

Sunglasses from Optic Nerve, we got a couple pairs for you to check out.

And our clothing selection continues to grow, shop jerseys and shorts, now we have some rain wear in, plus a whole lotta socks.

Also lots of new helmets, and of course those Detroit Bikes A-Type, and we have lots of used bikes right now, plus a bunch of winter stuff on sale that won’t be of any use at all once it is summer, but might help once or twice more this spring, so come by and see what’s new!

 

Past Present Future Events

First up – future event! Next Friday, March 7th The NCJC Youth Off Road Riders are having a Spring Benefit and Hand Built Bike Show at the Terry Trueblood pavilion. Silent auction. Live auction. Pretty hand made bikes to look at from the UI frame building class. Hope to see you there.

Presently, just want to mention that our Swing into Spring Sale is still on, and while the stock of hats is gone and gloves are low we still have a limited selection of studded tires in 26″ and 700c. And for good measure our remaining 2013 MASI road bikes are 15% off.

To the past then, this unforgettable winter weather will soon be forgotten as the cycling season proper is coming at us. Last night Bicyclists of Iowa City held their annual Bike Expo out at the North Ridge Pavillion in Coralville.

Donnie and I loaded up a couple of cool bikes with cool stuff to show off and made the ride out to do just that.

Xtracycle Edgerunner, Detroit Bikes A-Type, Ironweed BP bags, Selle Anatomica demo saddles, a full carbon MASI road frameset, some Arkel stuff, Retroshifters, Giro shoes and more.

The Ironweed Dolliver trunk bag fits a 12 pack perfectly! We had a good time drinking a couple of those and chatting with folks, and the ride back was all tailwinds and smiles, like the Spring season just ahead.

 

Retro New Year Arrivals

The Next Year is in full swing now, and boy isn’t January just doing a great job of making 2014 memorable? We are working between shivers and here is some of the new stuff that has hit the door so far This Year.

We got in some retroshifters to help with a retro Motorbacon build.

Okay so it’s not really retro with that frameset and a Rolf wheel but it does have a Stronglight crankset. That’s soo retro!

We have also seen our first of the new Arkel bags show up. Lots more to come, but these City Baskets are in the new colors. Not retro.

Last new thing to report for now, we just placed our first Detroit Bikes order! The Type A shown above is a decked out city bike and it is MADE IN THE USA. How retro is that?!

From their website: Our mission is to encourage cycling by making an accessible, enjoyable bicycle while continuing Detroit’s legacy of quality manufacturing and design. Detroit Bikes are built in a city with manufacturing prowess and deep traditions of bicycle production, touring, recreational riding, commuting, and racing. We are located on Detroit’s west side. In our 50,000 square-foot factory we have the capacity to produce 100 bicycles a day, marking the return of high-volume US frame manufacturing.

Excited to get the Type A in and on the floor, should be next week!

 

Another Stupid Black Friday Sale

First thing first, we will be CLOSED Thursday and we won’t open at 4 am Friday. Or even 6. We will be here regular hours.  We won’t wear santa hats. We may be hungover. If you push anyone you will be asked to leave. Sounds pretty lame! What about that Sale word up there you wonder?

We are having a literal Black Friday Sale: If it’s black it’s 15% off!

There is all sorts of black stuff in a bike shop. Lights. Gloves. Tires. Studded tires! Tubes! Bikes! Seats! Bags! Bottle cages! Handlebar tape!  Fenders! Locks! Racks! Helmets! Pedals! Even shoes! But it has to be black. Pink bottle cage? Nope. Red helmet? Sorry. Honey Brooks saddle? No way! All of our remaining 2013 MASI road bikes are already at least 15% off no matter their color so stop on in and grab a bargain in basic black.

 

Bikes, Baskets and Bags to Work

It’s Bike to Work Week! Get your basket on and ride.

The schedule is up and is already in progress. We are giving away a Civia Twin City so find yourself a raffle ticket and get in the drawing. They are available at all (or certainly most) of the events on the schedule, or right here at the shop all week. The drawing will be held Friday night right here at the shop at about 6 pm.

We also have this small fleet of Civia demo bikes here in the shop this week, come take a test ride and see what you think, fill out a raffle ticket while you are in. Also for Bike to Work Week we are putting a large selection of our bags and baskets on sale 15% off, and offering free install on the Xtracycle FreeRad if you purchase one. So come on in, fill out a raffle ticket, get yourself some commuter gear, and Bike to Work! All year long.

 

Winter Projects

Everyone asks, “Pretty slow this time of year?”

Nope. First there was the construction and painting of these here walls. Then trying to figure out where everything should go. Xtracycle get their own chunk of wall so all the longtail stuff is in one place, saddles and folding tires, too. And that cascades over to the pannier selection which is now less cramped and looking to expand.

There are also some that choose to flee the cold and dark of Iowa for sunnier warmer lands so some bikes get boxed and shipped away.

We can Xtracycle that.

Then it always seems that there are projects people save up til winter to spring on us also. Like the customer that decided he had finally had enough of sew ups on his hi flange 5 speed freewheel Dura Ace wheelset and his 6 speed freewheeling Campagnolo Record wheelset. So he hunted up some classic clincher rims for us to rebuild them.

And then the new stuff starts showing up, like boxes and boxes of Lazer helmets, and Masi Road bikes next week.

And then there is some travel, like going to Cyclocross World Championships and then taking the train out to NAHBS. And the 30¢ Squad took a zipcar up to Dubuque and did the Triple D last weekend. Pretty slow this time of year? Never!

 

Don’t Call It A Sale

We are NOT having a sale. But there is lots of stuff on sale right now. Weird, eh?

All our in-stock Arkel bags are 15% until the end of October!

The sale basket is jammed right now, saddles, Soma arm and leg warmers, studded tires, smart phone bike bags, etc. This stuff is on sale until it is gone.

Our remaining MASI road bikes are on sale as well, $1600 for a full carbon Sram Apex Evo!

All our Marins are on sale, too, now $370 for the always styling city Bridgeway!

And we just got some SURLY hubs on closeout that we can offer some great wheelbuild deals on.

So stop in and see us, whatever you are reaching for – it just might be on sale!

 

Bikes & Moonshine & Poker!

First up – Poker Run this Saturday, Oct 6th at 4pm! No you don’t have to run (we will shake our heads and frown at anyone that does) ride your bike! Starting at beautiful Wake Up Iowa City and finishing right next door at the delicious Trumpet Blossom Cafe. Now about that moonshine… As soon as the shop was closed on Saturday Steve jumped on his bike and went for a ride, this is his story.

I rode the Masi CXR, with bags and lights to ride into the night on the Moonshine Metric, a gravely 100 km ride put on up in Mt Vernon. Had to do the ride up and back as well because there is not a bus or a train that goes that way, and we are a car free business as you may have heard? Well, now we share a car with zip car, but that is a story for another blog post.

Had to stop by home quick and the ride up was quite a push to make it in time for the start but I made it in time for the pre ride particulars from ride organizer Craig, in the black jersey here.

And we were off on the ride proper, about 10 of us, starting at 6 pm. This was a self navigated ride using cue sheets. I was riding with Charles from Cedar Rapids and we were having too much conversation and not enough paying attention so at this intersection we got a bit confused. We stopped a friendly passing motorist and asked for a bit of directional clarification but we still went astray for a couple of miles. Whoops. But hey, lookit that moon! And since we were stopped anyways (confused) it was a great time to snap a picture. The rest of the ride went smoothly for us, we stuck together until mile 45 when Charles decided to wait for some riders in Solon. I needed to keep moving as I wanted to get home before dawn (it was about 9:30 now) so I rolled out alone.

The rest of the ride was uneventful except for the occasional possum encounter, and the Harvest Moon was living up to its name, offering up numerous Unidentified Farming Object sightings as they worked through the night. After a brief stop at the start/finish for a clothing adjustment to keep off the evening chill, the ride home was awesome. The moon was way up, car traffic was way down, and the miles just kept clicking off until I had finished what has to be one of the most convoluted routes ever, the map looks like I went mountain biking!

Moonshine Metric by gpickle at Garmin Connect – Details

Highly recommend the Moonshine Metric, and hope to see you on the Poker R(ide)un this Saturday.