A New Bike, A New Tire, & Some Love From Our Friends

This fillet brazed beauty isn't just another BG bike. It's a bit of a look back in time and a view of the future. You see, back before the 29er movement or the more common Monster Cross bikes, Bruce Gordon Bikes had been building fat tired bikes that were trail capable. And this beautiful red ride is sporting the rereleased Rock 'n Road tire - the original off road tire for 700c bikes.

Now this isn't just a pretty show piece. It has been dropped off with a particular magazine that reviews such things for a long term review of not only the tire, but Bruce's frame design. That's all we can say for now.

Some Love From Our Friends

Our good buddy Stevil over at AHTBM is sporting a set of our new skins and deemed them worthy of a mention: http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2012/04/the-weeks-curtain-is-falling.html

And we keep being asked - when can we buy tires? Here is the deal - go to www.bgcycles.com, sign up for the newsletter. We're going to be sending out an offer shortly for those willing to pre-order tires. You'll get them before anyone else for less than anyone else. Pretty good deal, 'eh?

Sunday Conversation - Bruce Gordon on the Radio

It's not every day that a frame builder makes it on the radio in any market.
Much less often a guy like Bruce.

The Outspoken Cyclist radio show interviewed Bruce a short time ago. Give it a listen for a bit of Sunday morning entertainment from a guy that's forgotten more about building bikes than most will ever learn.

http://www.wjcu.org/2012/03/24/the-outspoken-cyclist-03242012

The Unicorn Has Landed - the Rock n' Road Tire is Back!

From the depths of the NAHBS show came a ray of light from a far flung corner - and then I yelled at the idiot that opened the side door. Didn't he know that most frame builder's are light sensitive? Like Vampires? The NAHBS show represented a bit of a relaunch party for BG Cycles, as we have a couple of good things headed your way. Some of you have been asking about these things for years, and we finally got around to listening to your pleas...

The Rock n' Road Tire is Back in Production

After years of being locked away in a dusty corner of the shop, we have decided to bring back the original Rock n' Road tire - along with a host of improvements. Don't know about the original? Well, a quick trip down memory lane:

The original tire was designed by this mountain bike guy named Joe Murray (you might have heard of him). It was designed to be a large volume, fast rolling tire that could handle all conditions - jack of all trades master of none. That's not the most interesting part. What made is tire unique (and of the reason it wasn't as popular as it should have been) is that it was built for 700c wheels. That's right, this was a  29er tire before 29ers became all the rage. How early? Try 1988...

Few imported bikes from that era would fit such a wide tire do to import duty issues. While that sounds ridiculous, it made sense to some as the only other bikes that could fit such a big tire were Dutch bikes. The logic was simple: to protect a US manufacturing segment from overseas competition (or just a company that started with an "S" and ended with an "N"), create a import tax (based on certain dimensional criteria) so high that it prevents the import of a competing product (before their production was sent to the far east...but that's another post).

While we're excited the tire is back, we made some improvements along the way. Most notably:

• It's bigger! The new tire measures out at a nice 43mm ( or 1.72" for the Imperial folks).
• It's lighter! The new tire is over 100g less per tire. While I'm no gram counter, that's a lot.
• It's higher quality! This new batch was built by Panaracer's Japan plant. It has a nice kevlar folding bead and a classic gumwall.
• It's more affordable than you think! We will announce pricing when the tire lands, but in the meantime, head over to www.bgcycles.com and sign up for our newsletter (sign up is at the bottom of each page). There will be an early bird special of sorts, but that's the only place it will be announced.

More Lugged and Fillet Brazed Frames

Ed Litton and I had so much fun building lugged and fillet brazed frames for the show that we decided to keep on doing it. But we're doing it with a little bit of a twist. Between the two of us, we have a little rat's nest of classic building materials - Cinelli lugsets from the 60's and 70's as well as out of production tubesets that would make any classic cyclist drool with envy. If you really want a classic lugged bike we can do those - in the proper classic materials. Not too many builders can make that claim.

Cyclocross Magazine and Wired Like Us

Hard to believe, but both Cyclocross Mag and Wired think we're pretty cool.  So cool in fact that there might be a follow-up that includes our new tire and a pretty red cross bike. But that's all we can say for now. Thank you for being patient - now enjoy the new tire pics:

Guess We Were Found Out at NAHBS

The NAHBS show - a place where bike nerds aficionados old and new get together for more visual stimulation of the bike glands than they will have for the next twelve months. Fueled by coffee, the lingering smell of almost wet paint and the occasional sandwich from the Mr. Pickle's around the corner, the public pounded us with their questions and stories of bikes loved and lost.

And contrary to expectation, Bruce was nice to people. For the whole weekend...

Ed Litton, Bruce Gordon, Wes Williams & Gary Fisher chatting it up

But there was some other excitement hanging around the Bruce Gordon booth. Not only did we sell a load of SOPWAMTOS shirts and give away almost a thousand (as in 1,000) stickers,

we also got a little mention in Cyclocross Magazine for this little surprise:

Courtesy cxmagazine.com

What is that you might ask? A preview of the re-release of the original Rock 'N Road tire. For you lovers of fat, do it all tires for your 700c bike - the original off-road 29er tire is back. Made by Panaracer, and sized at 700x43c, the real deal should be ready for public consumption around the end of April June.

And this isn't just any tire, but one designed by some guy named Joe Murray. Rumor has it he may know a thing or two about tires and dirt.

Joe Murray with a signed copy of his tire design - courtesy cxmagazine.com

There was much more from the show than this, but to be honest, we're still a bit wiped out from the whole thing. Watch in the next few days (weeks) as we mention more cool stuff from another fun show.

Tubes, Lugs & the Road to NAHBS

As mentioned a few long weeks ago, there will be a few frames at the Hand Built show that bear the Bruce Gordon name. The majority of the bikes that will be at the show fall into the 'affordable' category - meaning they are real bikes that can be ridden by real people and don't require you to sell a kidney to buy one. Not saying we won't bring one or two classics along that might require such a transaction... Maybe you might see one featured in the video below:

But we're getting way off course, now aren't we?
The point of this post was to give you a sneak peak at the cool new frames that will be at the show.

Are you ready??
?
?
?
?

Here you go:

Guess the good news is there is still another month until the show. Someone threw away the assembly instructions for these things - not sure if any of us can figure out how to put these things together...

Until then - keep the wheels spinning. And don't forget to come visit the Bruce Gordon Cycles booth at the show, we promise to be fun. Really.

STOP! In the Name of Fenders...

Sometimes we listen to the signs that life presents us. Sometimes we don't. Actually, most of the time we don't, this is the bike business you know.

Despite this rather dry winter we've had out in CA (complaining? Hell no..), I can say that Bruce's full fendered road bike creation is ready for the rainy season, with style. I mean just look at it...
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Speaking of looking - you should have seen the look on the face of the dude riding a new Look and getting passed, on a climb, by some dude riding a steel bike with full fenders and big 28mm tires. Bragging about my riding ability (it never hurts) - not really - just another confirmation that a properly designed and comfortable bike means more than the marketing guru's want you to believe. I heard that this year's color scheme is faster than last years - and some how it's stiffer and more comfortable too. Wait - what are we talking about again??

Either way, it doesn't matter. And that's the point of this post. Bruce was spot on when he asked me how it rode - "Like a bike, eh?". Tongue in cheek -  maybe. But the more I ride this road special, the more I realize the beauty of a bike that rides, well, like a bike. You forget about the bike and enjoy the ride. The bike is a quiet, humming extension of your body.

Bruce Gordon knows how to build a bike - a useful, comfortable and enjoyable bike that turns its share of heads and rides like a bike should. And for that I cannot thank him enough.

  Have a BG Bike Story? Submit it w/ a picture or two and tell your side of the Bruce Gordon Story.

Show Bikes on the Horizon - NAHBS Update

Oh my - it has been a little while since our last visit. But things are picking up here in the BG Cycles shop. We have 4 lugged framesets to build for the NAHBS show - which is about the amount that Ed and I figured we could safely complete before the show. We don't exactly want to pull our hair out trying to finish these things up at the last minute. Not that we don't like excitement, we're just not sure if what hair we have would grow back (and I'm not volunteering to find out).


Ed and I had lunch yesterday to discuss our plan of attack for these new bikes. The one we're most excited about (ok - we're excited about all of them) is a cool resto-mod concept showcasing a new line of Italian drive train components. While we can't let all the cats out of the bag just yet, our marketing whiz kid made us promise to take pictures along the way. Not sure if its because he has a weird bike obsession or wants us to share them (the pictures, not the obsession) with you. Call them teasers if you will.

In Other News...
We have finally put together a mailing list! Not the old fashioned newsletter in the mail kind of newsletter, the digital kind (I'm old, give me a break). We haven't actually written the first newsletter, but there will be one in the future. If we're motivated, you might see one (as in single) a month. So no worries about email spam. You can sign up at the bottom of any page on www.bgcycles.com. If I can figure out how to add a sign up link to the blog, I'll do that too.

Last But Not Least...
Happy 2012! We are the lucky few that get to experience the ending of the Maya Long Calendar. Some are taking this beautifully out of context to suggest the end of the modern world. Whatever. All I know is it's January and I'm still riding my bike to work (though it's a bit cold most mornings). No matter what you believe, make sure to spend some more time this year planted in the saddle of your lovely bike(s). That is a good thing for everyone.