Sending Some Lugged Frames to the Painter

Ed Litton and I have just finished a couple of our new Lugged frames.
The first Pictures is of the raw finished frames
The second picture is of Ed taking the frames to his shop for painting.

Check out the video below - NO it is not Bruce Gordon Cycles - but, it is an interesting look at how Bikes were made. We are not quite as big a factory - but, we do make Bikes.

http://film.britishcouncil.org/how-a-bicycle-is-made

The Rock 'n Road Tire is Offically for Sale

Yes, you read that correctly. The Rock 'n Road tire is ready for pre-order. For those that are on our mailing list, you already received the heads up (which is why YOU should sign up for the BG Newsletter, amongst other things). But for the rest of you, consider this your official PSA.

Here are the details -

• BG Cycles is doing a pre-order special. What that means is you can buy the tire at a reduced rate before it lands in the beginning of June (some time in the first week).
• The pre-order price is $50/ea with free shipping in the US. Outside of the US? We'll work out a reduced cost option for you.
• There are only a limited number of these tires available at this price. Get them while you can.

In Other Tire News  

We have had some people ask about clearance for these new tires (43mm X 700c) since they are a little bigger than your average cross tire. To help alleviate an confusion in regards to fitment, we drew up these handy diagrams to help you gauge fitment on your current bike.

Not only do we love the tire, but think it would look great on your own Rock n' Road!

 

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.