Upgrades & Orange

Our floor is orange when it is not too dirty.

So is this sweet old Schwinn Voyageur. The owner had us add some shine from Velo Orange and Nitto and a touch of honey from Brooks.

Another orange one, brand new out of a really small box is this Dahon Speed D7 in tangerine. This is the folding bike we sell more than any other because it is simple, strong, and, well – it’s orange!

In other upgrade news we have gotten in a couple more sets of Retroshifters, now called Gevenalle or however it’s pronounced – one set to help this tandem shift more reliably especially up front on it’s wide range crankset. The other set is for a Breadwinner Aufderheide we are building up, pictures to follow but a bike so nice gets it’s own blog post!

Another cool upgrade shifter project. We took off dead Shimano trigger shifters here and replaced them with these nicely machined thumb shifters from Microshift. Strong light cheap – pick all three!

Not orange but sure to make folks green with envy is this decked out Xtracycle Edgerunner with the full family package to haul kids and or cargo – plus a generator wheel powering front and back lights with a USB charger.

Last thing orange and upgraded we made some major changes to our helmet / clothing / shoe corner. Stop in and take a seat – we do! Carpet is also quite comfortable for naps we hear.

 

 

Folding Bikes & Things

We sold a couple of Dahon Speed D7s last week.

This was our first look at the tangerine color, pretty schnazzy! We sent a Dahon folder on a mission to Chicago via MegaBus last week also and for the first time it was denied by the bus driver. No amount of bribery or sweet talking could secure passage for the most useful piece of luggage on the planet. Apparently Trailways is not so biased against multi-modal sustainable transportation options and they allowed the trip to proceed. So, if you are a folding biker consider checking Trailways that before booking your trip.

In other exciting foldable thing news, for the first time in 4 years we have a kickstand worthy of the internet:

One upping the stickstand we reported on in May of 2009, the copper pipe kicker extension! Bonus points for matching that frame color.

 

Trikes N Folding Bikes

We sent this super loaded Sun trike for big kids out the door last week.

And then another folder from Dahon.

Plus we have this hotrod trike for tykes just added to our used bikes.

Vroom.

 

3 Year Anniversary Sale: Go!

As we continue to figure out our new space things are changing faster than bike industry marketing trends. For instance, our version of a disco ball, call it a disco bar.

This-hi-vis-aero-extreme component was the precursor to this kind of thing. And is not for sale! We also got a lever style doorknob to access the storage area.

Okay, pretty boring to look at, but easy operation for when the hands are full gets us all excited. And we also put up a couple of shelves for bike in window display, plants, and parts washer.

Starting to look the way we hoped it could, and just in time for our 3 year anniversary! Yep, this Saturday will mark 3 years since we pumped up our tires and opened our doors. To celebrate we are having a sale. In addition to the stuff on our Sales & Specials page we are marking all in stock Marins down 15%! And all in stock Arkel bags 15% as well. Sale is on until we close on Saturday, so come on down and see us. And while you are here you can check out our new neighbor, the Trumpet Blossom Cafe, opening on Wednesday this week, for all your “that was the best meal I ever had in my whole life” needs.

 

Serious Like 15% Off

We keep harpin’ on our impending move, we know.  It may just be wearing thin.  But, here’s the thing — we’re moving, right?  And, the less stuff we have to schlep, the better.  So, how does 15% off everything in the shop sound?  Including select bikes, like this here Pugsley:

This last-ditch effort to lighten our load is effective immediately until we close for three weeks on Saturday at 2pm.  Come buy some stuff fer cheap!!  Like:

• Arkel bags

• Bianchis

• Nokian studded tires

• SKS Longboard fenders

• Really, almost everything I see as I look around the shop

 

Stuff not included in the sale would be used bikes and special order items.  Long Haul Truckers are not included, only because we’ve already got them marked down.  If you have questions about specific items, do ring-a-ding on our telephone, or send us some ones and zeros.

 

Bike to Work Strong

Bike to Work Week is going strong, hope you have been enjoying it.

Tonight the activities continue with the Pi to Pi ride, from the New Pioneeer Coop in Iowa City to the New Pioneer Coop in Coralville.  The ride will leave sometime around 5:30 from the Chauncy Swan park across from the New Pi.  We will be closing at 5:30 today so we can go to the ride, hope to see you there!

 

Hot Bike On Bike Action

Ever see one a them racks that goes on a car to carry a spare bike?

Those are cool.

 

Chicago Folding Bike Trip

Has anyone ever talked about what a great time they had looking for a place to park their car in Chicago?  Probably not…

We will not be the first.  We took the Megabus to the big city for the weekend with our Dahon folding bikes to test out the concept and it went really well.  We had the bikes folded and bagged and put them on the bus with no fuss.  We took the money we saved and used it on a nice downtown hotel and lots and lots of coffee!

And we had some Schlitz.

We had a couple of different bike maps and found it really easy to get around by bike.  Everywhere we went was pretty flat and we rode all over the place.  Just look out for the cabs and buses!  We rode along Lake Michigan, went to Chinatown, Quimby’s Bookstore, and we took a commuter train up to the Northern suburbs to visit Steve’s folks, too.

Folding bikes are allowed on Metra trains all the time as long as they are folded, but off peak trains and weekends allow you to bring any bike on.  Well, maybe not a tandem.  We saw lots of other people taking advantage and it worked very smoothly.

We were sure to always lock our bikes securely, 2 U locks and 2 cable locks with bolt on wheels all around.

It was a great trip, and we are already planning our next alternative transportation outing to Chicago and elsewhere, if you want to give it a try come talk to us and we will share what we know!

 

Of Longtails and Fold-em-ups

What an exciting week around the bike shop!  Just because there are 10,000 riders out traversing the state does not mean there are not 10,000 more still going about their bicycling business as usual.  We have a healthy share of them right here in Iowa City and they have been keeping us hopping this week.

We added the Xtracycle FreeRadical to this Kona.

Here it is without the bags.  Because this bike has 700c wheels, the Xtracycle needed the brake adapter to move the posts higher.  It is a slick solution, we have seen it used on a traditional bike to run 700c’s on a 26″ bike.  This bike will probably be getting a new Xtrastout rear wheel with a disc brake at some point so then that whole contraption can come off.

In shorter bike news, we are full fledged Dahon dealers, and the bikes are here!

Hmmm, where can’t I go with this bike?

Cody ordered this Speed TR to display at the shop and to demo out in the world.  We also have a Speed D7 in stock (the best selling folding bike in the whole wide world) and a Curve D3, but that will not be here for long as it’s new owner should be in today to pick it up.

An internal 3 speed, 16″ Big Apple tires and a center stand!

And yes, it folds up really small so you can take it anywhere, so it can take you anywhere!