“Klaus and Henri truly believed that one day there would be a Tour de France for pretend bikes…”
(Source: cyclivist, via nosolobicis)
Personal musings of Brian De Groodt. Reflections on life, mountain bike racing, motorcycles, outdoor life, beer and anything else I can think of in the moment. Currently in my home state of California. Destination unknown.
Strava Stats Ask me anything
Strava Stats Ask me anything
May 30, 2012
May 25, 2012
“A Fast Food Burger Is 3 Times Larger Now Than in the 1950s.”
Learn more here.
May 25, 2012
May 4, 2012
May 4, 2012
May 4, 2012
April 10, 2012
Stolen Bike Alert (Siren Bicycles) Polly Ann
From Brendan and Mary Collier owners of The Hub Cyclery and Siren Bicycles:
Stolen bike! A very special John Henry (Polly Ann). Could likely still be in Idyllwild. I built it for Mary two years ago. It has a custom machined “hammer” made of polished stainless steel brazed into the stays behind the seat tube. We want this bike back home.
…
Our bike shop was robbed Saturday night/Sunday morning. They came in through a window and left through the art gallery door. Took cash. I didn’t notice the bike missing until I couldn’t sleep last night and checked. Our personal bikes go back and forth from home so I didn’t notice right away. I believe the thief is local and the bike could likely still be in town.
For what it’s worth, and should my readership include the bicycle thief, this is probably the wrong bike to steal. First, the nice. Mary and Brendan are good people, doing good work and trying to make a living by putting smiles on two wheels. So maybe you want to go find a fellow thief to steal from instead. Second, Mary’s one bad little lady and I’d hate to be on the receiving end of her hammer. So for the sake of your own well being, maybe you’d think twice and return said bicycle (and the cash and fix the broken stuff too). In either case, I’d highly recommend returning the bike ASAP and attaching a nice handwritten note to the bars with an apology.
More details here.
I’ll save my personal rant on bike thieves for now so as to not scare anyone away from returning it. And for friends of this site, please repost, like, re-tweet, etc. This bike is unique enough that it should be returned with a little digital canvassing.
April 5, 2012
And It Shall Be Called The Siren TED
Or Blanca if it’s mine. I’ve had my newest Siren Bicycles MonsterCross bike for about 2 weeks now and all I can say is this is one bad mother. This adds to my John Henry and my stolen-since-recovered Song. I’ve loved each of the bikes Brendan has built for me and I’ve espoused many times over the virtues of being able to put your hands on the person that builds your bikes here in America. Nothing against the other guys, but Brendan and Mary have been very good to me when I’ve needed help and I doubt very highly I’d have gotten anywhere near the support I’ve gotten from them from the 800 number support center of Mega Bike Co. So they get my bucks. 
I’d been interested in a drop bar mountain bike for a few years. Ever since I had my first cyclocross bike. I’d take my cyclocross bikes pretty much anywhere I’d ride my mountain bikes, but they never were as sure on the more technical downhills as a mountain bike and a mountain bike was never as fast up those hills as my cyclocross bikes. 
So I kind of back burnered it until a couple of years ago when I raced Leadville and saw Travis Brown on a Trek drop bar mountain bike. That reignited the bug, but I still didn’t see any options that would have worked for me.
I stopped in The Path over the winter and there was a Salsa Fargo built up that just about had my vote. I called Brendan and he said it was a great bike, great build, but he thought I could do something even greater for me. Fast forward past a couple of months of back and forth and collaboration (OK, I listened and said yes. Brendan thought and did.) and you get what we have here.
Not only is a fast machine, it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s like walking a puppy on the beach. You get nowhere fast with all the comments and questions—but you feel great sharing the love.
I had a chance to pick up my bike from Brendan and Zander over some tacos and coffee. I had a few questions afterwards and thought I’d share the conversation readers here. Enjoy.
- From what depths of your mind did this new MonsterCross come from?
My own riding brought it on. There’s a lot to see here in Southern California by way of dirt roads; be it a burrito stand or a roadhouse bar. I’ve come to realize the “adventure over the horizon” is just a fire road away, and needed a bike for it. It’s primarily made for fast riding on dirt roads, but secondarily suited for singletrack or pavement.
- Any chance it’ll make its way into the regular Siren production lineup?
Certainly! It’s a design worth spreading. Maybe we should call it TED.
- What are you calling it?
I’m still not sure. Should we seriously call it TED? The Every Day’er…
- You have a personal bike which is similar to this one. In discussing the similarities, you said it was that “If-I-Could-Only-Have-One-Bike” bike. We know how new bikes and new obsessions can be. But you seemed really serious that this is the killer bike of bikes. What makes it so?
I do. Mine has similar geometry to yours, but with the Twinzer top tube design. In practice, it adds some spice to the familiar routine… after-work singletrack livens up a bit; calling for more skill but also providing the tools to get it. We all want to have more fun on the bike and this takes a different approach than say, a new suspension design. Those tend to “dumb down” the trail. I want to engage it.
- So I have another fine steel creation from Siren Bicycles. You chose to use
Columbus steel tubing. Why Columbus vs any of the other usual suspects?
I build mostly with Columbus but also with True Temper. I picked Columbus for your bike because it’s very “hard” but also has those nice curves. Gives good heel clearance, a nice ride, etc.
- You built a gorgeous fork for this bike. Walk me through the difference between this fork and some off the shelf fork. (Besides being a functional piece of art!)
Besides great looks, the TED fork stands out from off the shelf stuff in a couple ways. I wanted a lower axle to crown height than the OTS stuff, and curved fork blades for a smoother ride. OTS forks tend to be unicrowns, which are less expensive to produce but less desirable for the opposite reasons. In practice, our fork is smoother but also tracks very well in the rough.
- It’s a fast bike! How about the frame geometry? The bottom bracket sits a little lower. The bars are dropped. What else separates the frame design from a “standard” mountain bike?
The fit is more like that of a road bike. But the front-center (distance from the BB to the front hub) is more like that of your mountain bike. The front center and BB drop are really where the magic happens with this bike. It rails at high speeds but feels more sure footed than say a cyclocross bike.
March 31, 2012
Koppenberg stars in this photograph taken by Marcel Deschamps during the 1978 Tour of Flanders and found on Cycling Art Blog.
(via nosolobicis)
March 31, 2012
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