Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. at NAHBS

Check Aaron out with his gorgeous NAHBS show bike! It looks amazing, I love the details. Great work, buddy! Visit the brand new Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. page for details. [UPDATE] Aaron won Best New Builder at the show! HELL YES!

The photo, as you can see, is from Urban Velo, who always have the best NAHBS coverage. I love the professional photo setup and the speed with which they put the photos online. Thanks, Urban Velo!

Hipster Nascar Shirts at NAHBS

The first five people to go to the Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. stand at NAHBS and ask Aaron for a shirt will get one of these Hipster Nascar items FOR FREE, as demonstrated above by the lovely Kyle. Don't sleep!

Custom Ergo

As I sit here fretting about my NAHBS entry coming back from paint in time (and as I'm envisioning it), I thought I'd post a little mod I made for the bars on my show bike.

I took a pair of Cinelli's new track bars and brazed in an insert, creating the most comfortable hand position ever.

I've run this set-up for a while now on my old race bike, but this is the first time I've made it permanent. Previously, I've done it with carefully carved wood inserts with lots of metal foil HVAC duct tape. This feels so much better and more solid. Right now they're getting painted to match the frame. Be sure to stop by my table at NAHBS to feel for yourself.

Stairmaster 2010

There's no Tour Da Chicago this year, sadly, but there is a Stairmaster! Probably everyone's favourite stage of the Tour, if you've been missing the freezing cold torture of winter alleycats in Chicago then get yourself to the Stairmaster on March 13th.

Giovanni Pettenella 1943-2010

Vanni Pettenella was a really important figure in Italian cycling- he won gold and silver medals in the 1964 Olympics and was the last Italian track champion to do so. He held some pretty amazing records too. During the semifinals of the Tokyo
Olympic track sprint against Pierre Trentin, he astounded the crowd with a 21 minute trackstand before finishing his adversary with a blindingly fast sprint. At the 1968 Italian National Track Championships, Vanni set the world trackstand record of one hour and five minutes, a record that stands to this day. Here's a description of the event:

"In Varese on that hot August day in 1968 the commentator covering the
event for Italian national television ran out of people to interview,
and a crowd of curious spectators slowly started flocking to the
velodrome to witness the event. Pettenella's adversary on that occasion
was that same Bianchetto of the Tokyo Olympic sprint final, a rider who
after one hour and three minutes of trackstanding under the fierce
summer sun collapsed to the ground, unconscious. In a drawer of his
office desk Pettenella still has a photograph of the final minutes of
the race. Bianchetto is lying unconscious on the track with Vanni still
trackstanding and waiting for the doctors to validate his victory in the
first sprint."

His passing is a real loss for cycling.

Camilla made a great little memorial video for Vanni. Really interesting stuff. There is some really cool footage of his Olympic win in there too.

VANNI PETTENELLA GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL 1964 TOKYO from camilla candida donzella on Vimeo.

Here are Camilla's words about the video:

SORRY FOR THE BAD SUBTITLES I MADE...
BUT I DID IT JUST IN FEW HOURS...
(and from a shooting i did 5 years ago when i start my documentary about frame builders here in Italy,i thought to never use this but i like people see him :))..
VANNI WAS A CHAMPION VANNI WAS A FRIENDS HE PASSED AWAY SATURDAY,
TODAY 23 IS GONNA BE THE HIM FUNERAL...
I WANT THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT HIM...
IN ITALY PEOPLE BARELY KNOW WHO HE WAS...
HE WAS WORLD CHAMPION ON THE 64 IN TOKYO ,
HE STILL HAVE THE WORLD RECORD FOR SURPLACE (TRACKSTAND) DURING A RACE 1 HOUR AND 3 MINUTES...
THEY USE TO CALL HIM THE FLYING POULTRYMAN BECAUSE HE USE TO SELL CHICKEN BEFORE BEING A RACER ...
I USED TO GO TO VISIT HIM AND SPEND SOME TIME WITH HIM...AND EVERY TIME I WAS LIVING HE WAS TELLING ME "YOU KNOW I M GONNA MISS YOU" ...
HE HAD A LOTS OF STORY

Safari London

I'm living in London right now, Camberwell to be exact, so I was particularly into this little video from Rick and Roddy, with all its shots of places south of the Thames. It's really, really nice looking, filmed on a homemade rig and everything. It's well peng! Thanks to Rick for the email.

One for Prolly- Eddy Merckx Board Game

So it's Monday- and I'm posting something Merckx related. So hat-tip to Prolly (I think he's got posting about Eddy on Mondays trademarked at this point).

A friend just scored this great rare Eddy Merckx board game off etsy!




So cool! Looks like all the original pieces are there too! Nice score Emily!

I even found this great photo of Eddy playing the game himself!

NAHBS AFTER PARTY/COG PHOTO EXHIBITION- SATURDAY!

OK- this is going to be awesome. Saturday night starting around 7pm at the Marvin Lang Building (1623 W. Broad). Gonna be booze, food, and photos. Could you ask for more? How about a raffle with tons of awesome prizes with proceeds benefiting Richmond Pro Cycling? I better see y'all there!

The little portraits are 527 rider registration photos from the recent 2009 CMWC in Tokyo

This will definitely be the place to be Saturday night- if you were in Indy last year, you'll remember what an epic party that was. Let's kick it up a few notches in Richmond!

NAHBS- SATURDAY!

Saturday night some RIchmond locals are throwing an alleycat as well. Should be a pretty sweet race. This one is being put on by RVA messengers and friends and I even heard rumors of some RPC pro racers making an alleycat debut! Definitely not one to miss!

NAHBS- FRIDAY!

To kick things off, MASH is throwing a little alleycat with some pretty sweet prizes! Starts at 8pm Friday bight outside Exhibition Hall D.

That really is a pretty great payout. Andrew- I'm looking at you for 2nd place!

Paul Smith is into cycling? No way!

I blew your mind, right? New sweater from Paul Smith Jeans.

Oh dear god...

Look- I'm all for over-the-top, especially when it comes to some bike stuff. But this is just ridiculous:
This guy up in Alaska and has a pretty crazy custom Moots Pugsley bike.

He apparently was having some issues with snow building up on this oversized rims, so his solution was to take a new Zipp Super-9 disc and cut in in half for some wheel covers (!).


So, so, so painful!
Did he not know that there's a better way?

(Photo: Squid/cyclehawk)

Thanks to Cale for making me cringe!

incase you missed it...

Tracko spotted this brilliant video from Manukau Velodrome in New Zealand.

Manukau Velodrome, New Zealand from sean wallace on Vimeo.

London to Paris

Chicago, the premier of London to Paris is happening next Friday, the 26th of February. You should, of course, be at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show checking out all the sweet bikes, including Aaron's, but in case you can't make it to RVA, head over to Rodan for the movie.

Building a Colnago EPS

Saw this video over at Laekhouse this morning. Pretty neat.

Who knew Fat Joe and Michael Mcdonald were the ones cranking out those $5k frames?

Rapha in Richmond

In the coming days, you are going to be seeing so many reasons why you should be heading to RVA for NAHBS. There really is no excuse not to go- and as if you don't already have enough reasons, here's another: Rapha, who will be exhibiting their 2010 collection at NAHBS, is host a Gentleman's Ride on Sunday morning with the help of Carytown Bicycle Company. Should be a great way to check out some of the Richmond riding.
Here's the details from Rapha:

GENTLEMEN'S RIDE
We also invite you to join us on the Sunday morning of the show where a group of us including Rapha Continental riders, framebuilders and partners will take an easy Gentlemen's Ride through the Richmond hills with the help of the folks at Carytown Bicycle Company.

We will depart from the show hotel (Richmond Marriott, 500 East Broad Street) at 7:30am. Meet us at 7:00am for coffee and pastries.

7am might be a bit early for this guy (especially if the party Saturday night goes as planned- more on that soon!), but I'm sure it'll be great if you can make it out!

More from Sachs

As Tracko pointed out earlier, looks like Richard Sachs will be selling some posters using a new font from the House Industries forthcoming Eames Century Modern collection at NAHBS. I'll definitely be picking one up!



Also saw that he'll have some other posters for sale there as well- Looks like this one will be on a shirt too

Nice!

Racing for Six Days...

Of course, I should have known that the team over at Keirin Berlin would come through with some spectacular coverage of the 99th Berlin Six Day event. Totally brilliant shots (photos by Maria Laub) of all the action, with behind-the-scenes stuff you won't get anywhere else.

Mort and the guys know track racing, and Maria takes amazing photos. Head over to the Keirin Berlin page to check it all out.

Looks like Mr. Sachs got in a restock...

Just saw over on Flickr that Richard Sachs got a restock shipment in:




Just a matter of time (5+ years as a matter of fact) until they'll get turned into some of his stunning classic builds. Also noticed on the 'ole facebook that his birthday is this weekend. How about we celebrate with a little Sachs bike porn?











Pure Class.

Can't wait to see what he has in store for NAHBS.

Speaking of classy...

Just saw these great handmade leather bike accessories from Walnut. An Architecture & Design Studio over at Tracko.

I'm with Kyle- that rack u-lock holster is golden! So much better than the rubber band I use when I ride my townie...


While we're at it, there have really been some nice bike related shops that have popped up on Etsy recently. Another one I've been into is Death and Texas. They make some great looking hip pouches:


And for the ladies, they make an awesome handlebar bag that doubles as a purse (or is it the other way around?):


Very nice!

Go check 'em out!


It's great seeing more quality handmade stuff becoming available. I hope it keeps coming!

Billykirk U-Lock Holster

I've been a fan of Billykirk for a while now. They put out some really outstanding handmade leather bags and accessories (with a price tag to match).
I saw over at Selectism yesterday that they are getting ready to release a classy u-lock holster/pouch.



It looks really sharp. Their attention to detail in construction methods is always outstanding. It's not listed for sale on their site just yet, but watch for a release this spring. It will be produced in black, brown, and natural. Expect a price tag well into the triple digits. I bet it'd look great with one of Trackos new denim workman's hats!

In the mean time, if you have a bespoke artisanal itch that you just need to scratch*, you can head over and pick up one of their frame bags:


*just to be clear- this was sarcasm