Richmond California Fan Letter, From Natalie Norstadt

Now that the web sight has an easy way to buy a T shirt, here is the Best thank you letter I have ever received. Thank you Natalie, it was very nice of you to take the time to draw a self portrait. Glad you like your shirt.

NAHBS 2010 Rough Stuff Build

So posts don't get confused around here I will be starting with the tag line...

Jim here.

I'm Jim(thepartsguy) and I work with Christopher assembling bikes and sorting out parts kits among other tasks.

Here are a few pictures from my Saturday night in the hotel at NAHBS. Don't get worried or too excited they're all safe for work for sure. Our friend from England, Richard, commissioned a Rough Stuff bicycle except with a healthy dose of modern technology and equipment.

What...is a Rough Stuff bicycle you ask? Well according to Richard in the 50's or 60's some English cycle enthusiasts were not content with riding just on road so they started to use foot paths and trails through the country side earning the title of Rough Stuff riding. At least that's what I remember from this blur of a weekend!

Ok, with background out of the way, the bike came down to the last minute. We had it in the booth as a frameset for two days then I finally had the time Saturday night after some well deserved veggie burger to get it built for Sunday. A very interesting mix of components. SRAM Rival shifters, SRAM Force compact crankset, SRAM Force front deraillure, SRAM XX rear deraillure, SRAM XX 11-36 cassette, Chris King external BB, Chris King Headset, Chris King Disc MTB hubs, Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, Nitto Randonnuer bars, Wipperman 10s1 chain, Thomson seat post, Schwalbe Racing Ralph 700x35c tires, a brown Brooks Professional saddle with a design by an artist of Alpe d'Huez and finishing it off with Ray's Handle Bra leather bar wrap. Very nice stuff from NYC.

Parts waiting for assembly.

Columbus XCR Stainless Steel tubeset with a color matched steel IgleFork and IgleStem. Frame and fork have clearance for 35c tires and fender mounts. Gold King hubs give the package some zing with the blue.

For those wondering the SRAM road shifters are compatible with the new XX mountain deraillures. Works like a charm. The only issue was running the 50 - 36 combination the chain would rub the top of the front deraillure cage. The extreme angle produced by the 36 and accentuated by the slightly smaller 50 ring causes this almost non-issue. We all know cross gearing is possible but not always advisable so if you are one of those who insist then you will be disappointed. Anyway if you were using a 50 - 36 you can find close to that in the middle of the 34 which you would most likely already be in for ratios of that range.

Yes, that headtube is big. So is Richard! Well, actually, more tall than big. Matching fork and stem look smooth in light blue against the polished stainless steel. The medium brown of the Brooks Professional and the bar wrap compliment the blue nicely.

Some great leather handlebar wrap is always the icing on the cake.

That's my post from NAHBS.

I will be updating the upcoming builds that have been ordered through the show. It will be a few weeks but will prove interesting.

Thanks to all the cool people who checked out the booth and had so many nice things to say. What a great time. Also thanks for the feedback on the SunRace DrivenRZ group.

This concludes our transmission.

NAHBS 2010 Saturday & Sunday wrap-up.

Wow, what a great show this year. Jim(the parts guy) and myself talked to many interesting and enthusiastic cyclists. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful compliments and interest in my bicycles. What a great time you all made it! Saturday was busy, busy, busy to the point I was losing my voice early Sunday. Yikes!

Thanks to Sturmey Archer for the S3X hub a bigger attention getter this year than last, SunRace for the fantastic DrivenRZ parts kit, a big attraction this year and thanks to Stu of Pinnacle Bikes, home of the Cannondale CyclocrossWorld.com team, for the Zipp/Dugast and TRP EuroX brakes loan. Extra thanks to our new friend Richard from the UK and one last big thank you to Chris King components for being great at the last minute. You guys are tops!

Of course I want to thank Don Walker for making it all happen again this year.

Cheers!

Some pictures of the booth Saturday morning.

Some more shots of the bike stand with t-shirts. We have some left over in Small, Medium and Large. $20 shipped. Check the site later in the week and Jim should have something set up.

Last photo we see Rocky's Stainless Steel commuter on top. That Columbus tubing really attracted some attention and rightly so, a very beautiful material. Under that is the Commissioned mountain bomber. Word on the street was this may turn up in the next DirtRag. Subscribe now so you don't miss out!