SinisterBikes

hat, hat, hat.

a little hot huh?  argh.. it's tough welding on a day like this.. I managed about seven hours at the table and  went home and took a nap.. my gloves were soaked with sweat and I was getting shocked.

We got soaked this weekend as well as shocked. And one guy took a nap after poaching the jump jam. I think his 150mm stem got him right in the kisser. He had enough dirt packed in his nostrils to build a small chateau.

We received the soaking when a brief and sudden storm blew through. Were shocked by the huge friggin air that we witnessed. I know you saw the photos.. retadded! 

I ended up in a river today trying to cool off. Buddy is outside the office door resting on the grass and sniffing the air..he knows whats up. Buddy is my dog, a yellow lab. Will Floyd lose his victory after he visits the lab? these guys wouldn't have problems if they just wouldn't piss. That wouldn't work for Buddy.  More welding tomorrow. No matter how hot it is.

back in the saddle

no, I never left it.. just got a new one.. a Brooks. It's hard as a rock. I am told that once you break it in it's worth the effort. I put it on a 4:30 this morning. My thought was if I was hardcore enough to work on my bike at that hour I could handle the break in period. My ass hurts. Could have been the work shorts and boxers that were gettin' sweaty on this most humid of mornings? Hardcore not.

I hope I get to ride enough at Pedrofest this weekend to either toughen up get that saddle broken in. Looks like the cooperation will have to come from my end. literally.

I am looking forward to not using my crap-0 night light on a night ride by borrowing one of the nice ones those “light guys” bring so I don’t cause problems again. Riding with no light is hard-core. Running out of juice and wishing you didn’t is not. (Battery power, not EPO or PBJ or PBR)

It was cool to Meet Lilias also.. I was surprised she noticed so much here. Most people are overwhelmed coming into a machine shop like this. You can tell by the photos this place is a Mind full.

Mind full it is.. Mind full of pride over how well we are represented at local events. This isn’t a pat on the back of Sinister staff but a high five for our customers having fun and racing hard. It’s a cool gig isn’t it?

Makes me glad that I still looked forward to getting back in the saddle.

more domination

well, the bikes won't stop!
here is a race report fromBrian Price from team 9.8/sinister bikes/germantown cycles, our kick ass satellite team from the DC area. and Jamie Ford rips again!

Pretty awesome weekend for team 9.8 and Sinister at the second race of the Snowshoe series, though the first actually raced. Team 9.8 ruled the podium of the dual with a fourth place from B.J. Treglia, a third from me, and a victory from Jason Beckley. The downhill was more of the same domination by Sinister with a fourth place for 9.8er Trevyn Newpher, who also served as race promoter; a third by teammate Josh Clark and another dominated performance and victory for Jamie Ford, whe edged out national team rider Chris Herndon earning him a sweet $1600. I told him he should not only buy us dinner, but should also give us some gas money. He thought I was joking.

-bp

good egg

Lars borrowed my pedals for his race run. Years of racing here and there, for this brand or that team and always flying the flag of sportsmanship and healthy competitiveness this world champion still schools the young guns when push comes to shove.

            Paying his own way much of the time, this racer’s sponsors always get their monies worth. From record setting gap jumps over RV's to traveling all over the world in pursuit of the podium this guy has done it all and still has more to offer. A spokesman for the “put up or shut up” school of ethics this racer never performs up to his own expectations and always exceeds ours. And he needed a little help.

            I got to spend a little time with Lars and his family at the recent Mid-Atlantic race at Wisp resort in

Maryland

this past weekend. A consummate gentleman and a class clown rolled into one, hanging with Lars is always a pleasure. After 12 hours of solo driving while still feeling the 60 hour pull from the week before nothing beats a breakfast with likes of Lars and Derek to keep you looking over your shoulder for the rest of the day.

            Though Lars might say It was I who did him a favor with use of my pedals, this is not true my friend, I was just returning one favor long overdue.

Matt Eramo, Jamie Ford and crew go off!

well after the claremont DH, Matt and Jamie and the crew put on a show. pictures courtesy of Yeti 187 from BustedSpoke.com thanks much bro, we owe you some swag!

Eramo pulled a move that many people are still talking about, gap to hip onto a log ride and out ...smooth and people say perfect!@ here's a couple shots of Matt hitting a jump after the race which he ripped in despite unearthing a tree on one run! Matt is one of the most talented riders that I have ever seen, so smooth!

the jump was a homemade contraption handbuilt by  Vermont legendary freerider, "Stompy". He builds like he rides....scary! anyone who ever had the privelege of riding his trails know what i'm talking about! Here's he is giving matt's r-9 a spin. 

stompy going for it!

well, thats when things got interesting and Jamie Ford got some bright ideas that he would just skip riding the whole thing and just boost it! check the distance on this! it was amazing to watch dude! guess he wasn't happy to just win the race.....

but jamie still wanted more so he decided to step it up and nail a jump that many people will be talking about for years to come!  54 foot jump to a non-existent tranny from a non-existent teeter! so sick!

holy shiite!

Shrew bustin' again

our canadian superstar Andrew Sherry or "Shrew" as he is known to us was ripping up the course at a recent NSMB comp out a Whistler. he placed in top 5 but was the only person to spin one of the lines!

shrew shreds!

careful!

well, I'm now healing up after getting a funky infection in my elbow from a crash wound that didn't heal right. In the process I've talked to so many people who have said, "dude, don't mess around with that my so and so just had it and was in the hospital for 4 days" or " I was in the hospital for 6 days and almost died!? There is some funky shit going on out there, that are immune to anti-biotics! I'm just passing a warning to everyone that upon some research, it's been found to be gnarly so clean out your crash wounds! every rider bro and ho I know has open crash cuts, so keep an eye out. even rinsing with water instantly will decrease your chance of a staph/bacterial infection by 90%!
It has also been brought to my attention that the common wood tick has been found to be a carrier of Lyme disease and some other bacterial infections. A seacoast NH bike shop owner/sinister dealer just was released from the hospital after 4 days for contact with one of those suckers and came close to kicking the bucket! I've had dozens on me this year usually from trailbuilding....one day I had like 10 of them!
just a public announcement from your friends here at Sinister Bikes, clean your wounds and watch those ticks!

ever have a day when everything just fits together?  All the meals taste great and don't need extra cheese. All the lights turn green just when you lift your foot off the gas (though I don't have to deal with those around here) and as soon as you finish one thing, the path is cleared to your next mission?

I had one of those today. Even when a thing or two went bad something really excellent happend at the exact time. I got a bit close to the business end of the Grob. The Grob is a bandsaw that would work for modifing a refridgerator if you could lift the fridge. You ain't lifting the grob. The blade with these little tiny teeth are blazing bye at a rate of 30 feet per each beat of my heart. My flesh just grazed it. No stitches needed. Could have lost the whole digit though..a painfull cut is a sweet reminder to respect the Grob. I was allowed to complete my day with only a twinge of pain and found that Lanie was making chicken for dinner.

My bike smells nice. I just noticed it.. anyone else? (your bike, not mine) pedros lube, fork oil, brake fluid, PB blaster and recently toasted brake pads smells like the brief moment when all your senses are stimulated at once. with the other senses missing. Man, I better eat something

you can't have one

We used to build bikes for factory racers who rode other brands. Generally speaking the bikes that were available for sale from these companies were not competitive or perhaps not even safe for their pro athletes.

These days they are back at it again. Some factories, and I don't know how the hell they justify it, are selling customers a bike they wouldn't ride themselves. Well, they get their picture taken on it so I suppose they must have been on it at least once. We are not talking about development of a new product or geometry, we are talking about "listen kid,  the bikes are exactly the same, just a few special features that would probley get you hurt anyway" Ya, like decent materials, quality construction and some freaking consideration for the people who are making your house payments.

They production bike in the ads are shown hucking some huge gap in some far away place. In the lower corner of the page you can see the little bike they reserved for you. a little weaker, a little heavier and it only cost a little. A little respect, a little lie, and it was only for a moment.. no one cares anyway. "Our survey shows most people won't ride anyway". "It's going to end up on the garage wall" The best one is "listen kid, these team bikes would just spit you right off" .

Listen "kid" (it's OK to make a fist now) the truth of the matter is you are riding a bike that was created to line the pockets of someone who thinks your are not able to progress (on their bike at least). It's made to look like the bike that wins races or hucks gaps. They don't think you need it. They don't think you will race to win.

They think you are going to lay down the bike and walk away. You have nothing invested. go back inside before you hurt yourself. be sure and log on and purchase all our team gear once you are safely inside. and when you are at the races, please respect the "team" riders and keep on the far side of the barriers where you belong with the other spectators.  or don't

in the shop

We made progress on the latest version of the new suspension design today in the shop. I just about have the front triangle done. I made sure the front derailleur fit and am getting the link parts laid out. It's going to be simpler looking than the last one. simple looking is good.

The rear will likely still be made of parts from other existing products (to help cut down on time involved) as we have still not begun the engineering for manufacture. The down tube has a bit of a bend in it to provide clearence for the shock res. I always look forward to bending tube. My tube bender was made from salvage from other machines. It features Parker-Hanifin dies and a huge 1" drive air wrench for a power source. I have accumulated bending dies for most sizes under 2".  When it runs it sounds like someone standing on their bag-pipes. Rob used it for the first time yesterday and nailed it quickly. It's a pretty fun machine. I used our Proto-Trac mill yesterday to make some frame parts and today it's getting set up to bore the suspension mounting points. (this is done after the frame is welded and aligned to make sure the everything is straight) . The Prototrac is a 2-1/2 axis CNC mill. It looks like a regular bed mill (the kind where the headstock moves and the table stays at the same height)  but it has a DRO with a simple interface for writing mill programs. anyway, I hope to have this new machine finished this week and off to heat treating. Perhaps you will get a chance to try it. I don't know.