Hey everyone. We know you're shocked to start the week with a prompt and fantastic blog post, but here we are delivering the goods. Maybe.
Let's start with the news that we have FINALLY completed our huge wheel order. We can hear you all sighing with relief that we might start building fun bikes and interesting doodads again now. What was meant to be a couple of weeks just dragged due to supplier issues. You know the age-old thing of delivery dates getting pushed and eventually doubling in length? Well that happened, meaning the spare room we are itching to convert into our record room has been overrun with rims and wheels for weeks. We were also hoping to deliver today, but alas, our customer is dealing with a little COVID-related hassle, so next week it is for our Caddy's first Buxton road trip.
How about a few facts and figures to give you an idea of what went into the wheels project? Who doesn't love a good stats dump?
320m of tubeless tape
80 rims
40 front and 40 rear hubs
2240 spokes
2240 nipples
1 tensiometer battery
About 720 rim stickers painstakingly removed
Countless new blisters acquired
PHEW. No wonder we are ready for a couple of days wheel free! Saying that though, we have some swish builds coming up which will quickly get us back in the mood.
You might have noticed that we have been making another balance bike this week too. No, Mrs A hasn't gotten her way and persuaded me to have another baby, but we are making one for our amazing friend Nico's absolute babe of a daughter, Lola. We've made a couple of changes from our bub's frame, making it a tad shorter etc and hopefully it will bring as much fun and joy as Lola's arrival did for Nico and his good lady. Nico painted our daughter's frame and this kind of trade is what we are all about.
We also traded a tamper for the sweet Dolly Parton t-shirt art that we showed you all last time. Now then. If we could just find an architect that wants to design our eco house for us in exchange for a bicycle, we would be really cooking (hint hint).
It's been a great week for tampers. We whipped up a couple on the off chance some of you were waiting for the right one and wouldn't you know it...you were! We can't thank you all enough for snapping them up super quickly each time we post. If you haven't already, be sure to check out the #augustcoffeetamper images on instagram. We've made quite a few now and have no intention of slowing down, so just ping us a mail if you're on the hunt. We can show you what shells we have kicking about already or you can send something you already own to us for conversion.
We did a little CAD work for good friend Darron, over at Sven and have some new bits to whip up for Black Rainbow Project too. Even in our quiet weeks, there's some designing going on in the background. We also made our first chips on the Bridgeport since it was installed. Needs a tad more dialling in but it's almost there and it means we can do some of the more intricate details on bikes that we've been wanting to try. We can also make a lot more tooling, so it's been worth the wait to get the bugger all wired in.
Mrs A was going to unleash her culinary creativity on you all this week but I kept forgetting to pick up chocolate chips whenever I went out. My bad. She says that she'll pop a new #scotchbriteforthesoul up this week, with a vegan granola bar snack recipe included. I'm looking particularly forward to it because Mrs A has restraint and I don't. There must be a correlation between this fact and her significantly smaller jeans size...
There are other creative projects on the go too. We are going to be whipping up a few badge packs. Themes are to be decided on, but all suggestions welcome. The best swears of Mrs A? Polite cyclist mantras? Preachy vegan stuff? Answers on a postcard guys, or an Instagram DM. I'm just not sure how many of you need a badge that says 'tits on a snake', even though it is one of the most popular swears to feature on our socials.
Finally, a big CONGRATULATIONS. Gordon is a keen rider and at just six years old, managed to ride 17 miles last weekend, smiling all the way around according to his proud dad, Bradley. He's over in Knoxville in the States, but we wanted to say a big congrats from the UK. There is a little parcel incoming too.
The week ahead looks pretty varied. We've got a couple of stem racks to make (yes, THOSE racks, but just one-offs, no production versions) and some...ahem...pipes. Sorry m'lud. We might not partake in the devil's lettuce ourselves but plenty of our friends do and they all deserve some sweet one-hitters to make every sesh a little more fancy. I guess you should hit us up if you want one too...
Rad peeps of the week:
Everyone who keeps being generous and opting to Buy Me A Coffee. I'm on the decaf now, in a bid to see if that helps with my migraines, and the nice stuff is really pricey, so it all helps!
Our good friend Graham, who in the face of really shitty news is staying positive.
Cat up at our local hospital for being a brilliant bubble-gun shot and entertaining the small person while her swarf-mangled toe was dressed in kiddy A&E.
Everyone that wants a Dolly t-shirt when we open the preorders.
The newly reunited Ben Affleck and J-Lo, or BENNIFER as Mrs A and her good mate Loo can't stop laughingly calling them. I don't know why them getting back together has been such a consistent cause of gossip and horror, but it has and the conversations have been INTENSE.
Greg over at Black Bikes for dragging me out on my bike for a thrash round the woods. Much appreciated. We were only a day off celebrating World Mountain Bike day, but every day is that when you've got somewhere to go and good people to go with.
Max Zorin, the baddie from A View to a Kill. God only knows why, but I find him and his declaration that he's "happiest IN the saddle" fucking hilarious.
See you next time!