Hello hello. It's that time of the week again, when we get around to writing a blog for you to start your daily internet surfing with. Thanks for choosing us to waste a few minutes with, you perfect procrastinators!
Right, what do we have to tell you today? A few things actually.
First off, we are REALLY excited to announce that our Dolly Parton tees are finally in the shop as a pre-order! These tees have ben a labour of love from Mrs A dreaming up the phrase ("Brazin' 9-5, what a way to scrape a living") to our good friend Stevie (Homage Cycling Art) creating the design for us and now, printer extraordinaire Bike Ninja tackling the finished product for us. It's great to work with a printer local to us and Tim has been patient as all hell while we decided on the right organic tees to use. The tees are £28 with free delivery in the UK. International peeps, we're sorry that shipping is a stinger but we've kept it as low as possible. Pre-orders are open for all of October with tees shipping in early November.
We have more designs in the works too, but we're testing the water with Dolly first, so why not support us a little, snag yourself some new duds or treat a struggling frame builder friend for Christmas? How's that for a shitty sales pitch?
We were delighted to see that balance bike number two reached its destination this week. No, Mrs A hasn't finally convinced me to add to our numbers again, but we built a little whip for Nico Sclater, AKA Ornamental Conifer. LA-based artist to the sporting elite, he painted our bubba's frame and we were only too happy to send him out a blank canvas for little Lola, his amazing daughter. Sending anything overseas is always a breath-holding moment and Mrs A has become accustomed to the daily tracking checking, so we're glad everything landed in just a few days. Now comes the wait to see how Nico is going to paint it!
We've been finalising designs for our two last custom builds of the year and things are getting exciting. We've got a fast tourer/bike-packing/gravel number to whip up for the smallest (and loveliest) adult rider ever, plus an old school 26" XC/klunker for a rad guy that just can't stop building super cool stuff. They're certainly going to be very different, but variety keeps things interesting and even though we've thought about it a few times...stock frames aren't for us. We want to build for people who have never found their perfect bike before and those with an eye for the weird and wonderful. We'll never retire rich, but we can sleep well at night knowing that everyone on an August has fun and rides comfortably. That's good enough for us. Awwwww. Aren't we sadly idealistic?
There's a few smaller projects getting finished up this week, including a tidy little stem, then it's off to powdercoat for the whole lot. It always feels like such a shame to cover up some nice fillets, but process shots remind us that they're there. And they make for suitably swish Instagram posts too.
Ooooh, we are designing a couple of bikes for ourselves as well. I need a hardtail to go razzing around the local woods in and Mrs A has fancied a spiffy road whip since forever, so I'm finally finding a little time to get these drawn up and to fund them, we are selling a couple of our own existing bikes/frames. You might have seen on instagram that we're looking to part with our BTR Pinner (full bike minus seat) and newly acquired S&M Hoder BTM XL frame. We are being strict with ourselves and instigating a one-in, one-out policy to prevent an enormous overspill that sees us having to live in the workshop while the bikes get the house, so please do get in touch if you're tempted by either.
£2500, can be delivered or collected from Norfolk.
£450 delivered in the UK (21.5")
Everything else is business as usual. The woodburner has been lit for the first time this season, Boo boo is celebrating her 12th birthday soon and Mrs A is obsessed with her new halloween waffle makers and has applied for a writing role in the cycling industry. She must be mad.
Rad peeps of the week:
All of our Buy Me A Coffee supporters, as always. We never take any of you for granted or expect donations.
The marvellous Igluetubulars on Instagram, who sent over the full halloween selection of Target waffle makers. You made Mrs A's year!
Bike Ninja for being a super pro.
All you funny fuckers that respond to our Instagram stories and questions.
Kinda Co for making, easily, the best vegan cheese out there. If you ever need a delivery bike guys, hit us up!
The Mighty Boosh for still being funny, but also really dated with some of the humour that just wouldn't get past the censors now!
See you next week!