Dang! We got some new bikes.

We had a ton of new bikes arrive yesterday.



They included, a Rocky Mountain Flatline 3. Rocky's new DH bike for 08, it's not an easy bike to get your hands on. Actually, I think this is one of just a few to be in customers hands so far. It was a special order, has already left the shop, and will be getting broken in proper this weekend up at Angel Fire. So if your up at the races, and you see somebody flying by on one, give a cheer for Andy, as it'll probably be the only one at the race.



Next to show up was a Tomac Snyper 140. We're the exclusive Abq Tomac dealer, and this is the first production model we've put our hands on. I love the build, there isn't a cheap part on the bike, and it has the look of a custom build kit right out of the box. It's a sweet bike that rides as good as it looks. We've got a medium on hand, with a large arriving soon (which may or maynot become my personal bike).




Then the long anticipated Spot Longboard rolled in the door. It's sweet. I've got a 17.5 and a 20" in the shop right now, with a couple more already on order. I'm going to guess that these bikes don't sit in the shop for long, a lot of people are very anxious to see this thing, and it doesn't disappoint.

Then I started building Charlies' new Durance today. Here's a pic of it, almost finished. It is thoroughly tricked out, pretty much represents the answer to "what trail bike would I build if I owned a bike shop and cost wasn't important?" Some notable parts include Fulcrum Red Metal Zero wheelset, Formula The One brakes, an '09 Talas fork, FSA SLK hollow carbon cranks with ceramic bottom bracket, and a bunch of other nasty stuff. Looking like it'll weigh about 26 lbs, not bad for a 5.5" trail bike with completely rideable build kit. Charlie sure knows how to build a nice bike.



We also had a giant lizard in the shop yesterday. Turns out, I'm not a big fan of giant lizards. You can't see my face in the photo, but I wasn't amused, and I wasn't about to touch it. And this thing was just a baby, supposedly going to grow up to 9ft long and weigh 250 lbs, at which point it will terrorize Albuquerque and relieve us of our stray pet problems. I was kind of happy when it left.

That's it. Time to get out of the shop.

words words words

Haven't had too many words lately, so no posts in a while. Maybe too much baby talk has reduced my big-person speaking abilities.

What's new at the shop? We learned recently of another major corporate merger, one almost as big as our recent one, with Spot Bikes buying Maverick American. This came as a complete surprise, but at least explained why nobody was answering the phones at Maverick for about a week. There has been a few press releases about it, giving some details. It kind of works well for us, since we're a Spot dealer too. And Maverick's tech wizard Ethan is staying with the company, which we're happy about, as Ethan has been helping us out for years, and always has the answers for us. We love Maverick's bikes and hopefully this move will only make them better, help them grow and maybe expand their offerings.

Speaking of Spot, word has it that we will be getting our first shipment of bikes within the next week. I guess they said we're getting two bikes at first, I'm not sure which two, or exactly when, as the phone call was answered by Tony, or maybe Danny, the guys couldn't tell me exactly, which kind of seemed strange to me, but what can I say, things get crazy at the shop sometimes, and it can be very difficult if to remember if you did or did not answer the phone and have a conversation. And, it was new keg monday. Today is Thursday, which means we have a couple of days of keg left, so come by and say hi.

I rode lower Faulty, up to Tree Spring, and back down, with a few random extra loops thrown in, on Sunday. It was a fantastic ride, those trails are so nice it's amazing that we aren't more well known for our mountain biking in Albuquerque. That's ok with me though, as it only takes one super trafficky ride on a saturday in the front range area to know that we don't want to be the next Mtb. "mecca."
It was only my second time out on my Maverick since I put the DUC32 fork on it. I'm still fine tuning it, but I like that fork, a lot.

I recently sent our friend Salinas out on my Maverick for a test ride in Cedro. He was riding with a buddy on an Ibis, and they switched back and forth a couple of time during the ride to do some shop and compare action. Final verdict was that the Maverick climbs better, whereas the Ibis was more "flickable". Having ridden both bikes, I found this to be a pretty good summary. It also explains why I like the Maverick so much, because "flickable" for me usually means that I get "flicked" off the bike, most often over the bars.

At the end of our Faulty ride, I had the most amazingly painful leg cramp of my life. It resulted in me falling off the bike, my right leg completely locked out, and laying on the trail whimpering for what felt like several hours. My quad was just totally seized up, and it sucked.

We stopped by the new Marble Brewery tap room last night after work. The place was packed. It's a bit bigger than the other tap rooms we normally frequent in Albuquerque, which was nice. We were drinking IPA, as usual. It was good, a little milder than Il Vicino's. In fact, think I'll have a pint right now. The red was also very tasty.

Well, that's about what I got for today. I think I'll have some more pics and fun tomorrow. Tony is going to be up in Angel Fire all weekend, racing Super D and Downhill. There's also some 4 Cross and Cross Country action going on. Should be a nice fun long weekend if anybodies looking for something to do this Memorial Day. We'll be closed on Monday, by the way.

Thanks for reading.

We've been freaking busy!

Haven't been posting much lately, as we've had all sorts of stuff going on, and the shop has been busier than ever.
Starting with last weekend, we all went and raced the La Tierra Torture on Sunday in Santa Fe. It was a good time. We had myself, Danny, Charlie, Marc, and Travitron all rocking the Bikeworks jerseys and racing singlespeeds. Danny got second place, Marc got third, I got winded trying to keep up with them, thought I was going to die, and then wisely slowed way down. It was a really fun race, a challenging course, beautiful weather, and a great way to spend a Sunday.

Then on Tuesday, we had the Rocky Mtn. demo tour van in town, and we all went to the Tuesday Night Crit. We brought our BBQ, handed out several dozen Sausages and beers, did a giveaway for a Polar heart rate monitor and bike computer, and generally hijacked the race and used it for our own promotional purposes. In the end, everybody seemed to think it was cool (mostly because of the free food and beer, I think).

Wednesday followed with our Rocky Mtn. demo day up at Elena Gallegos. It turned out to be another beautiful day, and we had a pretty large turnout. I got to ride a little on an Element 70, which was a bad idea, because now I want one. The whole event was a great success, and I'm pretty sure we're gonna sell a couple of bikes because of it. Thanks to Rocky for offering such an awesome service for it's shops.

Thursday was just a busy day at the shop. It was Danny's last day before he went on vacation, I think he went alligator hunting in the Bayou or something, so there was a lot of odds and ends to wrap up. We were pretty nervous about being away from each other for more than one day at a time, as we've been spending 6 days a week together for quite some time now, but I think we'll find a way to get through it.

Yesterday was another very busy day, largely thanks to Tony, who has already had an impact on our sales volume, and now here I am, Saturday morning, talking about the shop, before I go to the shop. When I get home tonight, I'll undoubtedly continue talking about the shop, and maybe on Sunday I'll pop in for a little while to get some things organized.

I've been working six days a week, but like Tony told a customer, as they sat on the couch drinking beer yesterday afternoon, "my job is way cooler than yours."

Bikeworks ABQ Corporate News!

In a move that's making major headlines on Wallstreet, Bikeworks ABQ LLC has recently merged with Gradillas Enterprises Inc.

Tony Gradillas, CEO of Gradillas Enterprises, has already begun working with Bikeworks ABQ as of this week. As a result of Gradillas' involvement, several changes at Bikeworks are already noticeable, such a significant increase in downhill bike business, a significant decrease in unsightly clutter, and an exponential increase in use of the phrase "by chance".

Bikeworks and Gradillas Ent. began negotiations several months ago, when Gradillas expressed interest in someday starting a bike shop. Bikeworks knew that competing with Gradillas would be extremely difficult, and made an offer of partial ownership, very low pay, extremely long hours, and lots and lots of beer. Gradillas countered, demanding significant cereal and milk supplies be kept on hand at all times, and an agreement was made.

If you happen to be part of the 87% of the earths population with whom Tony Gradillas is on a first name basis, come by and say hi, have a beer, and say congrats to Tony.

Rocky Mountain Demo Update!

We've made a last minute change of plans.
We are relocating our Rocky Mtn. Bike-BQ to the Tuesday Night Crit, which starts tomorrow (May 6th) at the Baloon Fiesta Park.
Tuesday Night Crit info can be found here....
http://www.nmcycling.org/flyers/TNC_flyer.pdf

We think it will be fun, there should be a lot of bikers there, the crit is always a good time, and Danny and I wanted to race, so we decided to move our shenanegans to the crit.

We'll be bringing our BBQ and beverages, and tail-gating bike dork style.

Hope you all can make it.