New book!

Last year during the show at NAHBS we were approached by a couple that said they wanted to talk to us about being in a book about handmade bicycles. We had no idea what to expect, but got all the images and stuff and sent it off to Australia, and then kind of forgot about it. Well the book is almost out and it sounds like it's going to be pretty cool. Bike Portland got an advance copy (I'm not sure when we'll get ours!) they mention who the other local builders are, and we're in very good company. Vanilla made the cover, Ira Ryan and Strawberry are the other Portland builders. Thanks have to go out to Jens Schrader for pointing those guys our way at the show. I know we totally got lucky being included with such established builders, but it really feels good to be a part of this thing.

The book isn't available yet, but should be later this spring. Looks like Powell's is offering a pre-order option on their site.

So I was thinking...

Thoughts for today:


Last night was fun (Liz's b-day, drinks at by and by).

It's good to be early to the airport.

Eating peanut butter sandwiches on the roof with a friend is the right way to spend a lunch break.

Riding a bike to work is my meditation.

Spring is trying, but I won't get my hopes up.

Cats are dirty.

I need to draw every day.

White bikes are sexy.

I need a fillet brazed s-bend road bike.

Blazers win!

I love f 1.8

That's all for now)))

Now we go to work.

With the end of NAHBS and the long, way too long, trip back to Portland, Matt and I were hoping to find some time to get away for a few days and do nothing or as little as possible. Matt and Liz took off for a bit and since Emily had tons of school work to catch up on me and a good friend, Jeff, headed out to the Kilchis river on the coast range to try our luck on the last bit of the winter steelhead run. Catching fish would have been fun but the only intention was to hang out, build a nice fire, cook some good food, drink some good beer and wander around the rain forest that is the coast range in March. Do you know how Webster defines wander? You do now. 1 a: to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal b: to go idly about c: to lose normal mental contact and stray in thought. That sounds nice after a really busy last month. Drizzle turned to rain that turned to sleet that turned to snow. But the whole time we were loving the fact that no one else was dumb enough to be out there in that weather which gave the whole forest to ourselves. It was a good time. Back in the shop this week we will be finishing up Barb's touring bike, moving along with Kate's single speed mountain bike and getting a good start on Carey's Rapha Continental bike. Plenty to do. But I'm looking forward to that also. It's comforting to develop a rhythm in frame building and with the ramp up for NAHBS that rhythm was gone for a bit. Back in Portland and relaxed after some time in the woods I'm ready to get busy building. Thanks to all who came out to Indy and supported the frame building community. I'm looking forward to next year.

NAHBS 2009

NAHBS is now over

I tried. I really did.

I had a vision that I'd be able to post pictures every day, to share stories from the show and help give the NAHBS feeling to anyone who is reading this. But I got totally shut down by the internet access. I found out that there was free wi-fi in the mall a short walk from the convention center and I managed to get one update, but today and the day before I couldn't get access at all. I still can't use my computer on the internet, so I'm typing this on Jordan's dad's computer.

The Hufnagel family has been so awesome to Nate and I this weekend giving us a place to stay and driving us to the show each day. Mike (Jordan's dad) is the kind of guy that loves to help out. It's really cool to see how proud he is of what his kid is doing, and he should be. Jordan's bikes and display at the show were top notch. So, the show was a big sucess, the attendance was better than anyone expected. We got to have quality conversations with a lot of people and the general buzz from all other builders was really good. Some of the highlights for me were: first, staying with Jordan and Aaron and getting to know them better, they are both great bike builders and rad people. Meeting other builders whose work I really look up to and letting them know that I love what they are doing, Dave from Ellis, Drew from Engin, Curt Goodrich, Jeremy from sycip, Curtis from retrotech, Rick Hunter... the list goes on and on. Now that we are one year old it feels like other people have an idea of who we are and are getting more of the Signal story. It's great to hear "I've been looking at your stuff on the internet for a while..." It really feels like we are getting there. We are building a brand that started as an idea and is growing with each file stroke.

The bad things were that we got hit with a $380 bill that we didn't expect from the Indy convention center. $380 is bad, but the $1300 that Vanilla got hit with was WAY worse. We are learning lessons. The show was a success because there are so many good people in the bike biz. Meeting Jeremy Dunn and tall Eric was awesome those guys have such the right attitude. It's unfortunate that their energy wasn't appreciated by the events founder. There was some drama, and there were some politics, but the show did work, and a lot of people had a great time. We felt good about our booth and bikes, and we'll plan on making the handmade show a regular thing, but I wish there was less friction. It's great to see everyone and it's great to represent signal. I am going to post all the pictures I have as soon as I get an internet signal. Stay tuned )))