HubBub Custom Bicycles

Elvis, National Bike Month, and more

Most of us have seen the photo of Albert Einstein on a bicycle, but today I got to see ELVIS!  SO young and handsome!  And, riding what looks to be an old-style Schwinn.  Here comes the segue ... commuting! 

Have you thought about parking that gas-guzzling heap a couple of days a week and either a.) taking public transport or b.) taking a two-wheeler?  Coming up locally is a series of events for May - National Bicycle Month.  Go to Walk+Roll's web site and check it out.  Sign up for something, plan to ride, go to the movies, enter contests - just DO SUMTHIN'!  (And, if you don't belong to the League of American Bicyclists, please consider joining - it's a great cause)

Which brings us to OUR May event - HubBub's 2nd Annual Seven Demo Days! Friday night, eat, drink, and be merry!  Meet our Seven Cycles rep, listen to the great music of The BlueDrivers, see old friends, and meet new ones.  Saturday and Sunday, get on a demo and RIDE!!!  Sign up for a time (email me!) and bring shoes, shorts, helmet, and a valid driver's license and credit card.  It's gonna be a blast!

And, back to commuting.  What IS holding you back? 

If it's the facilities at your place of business, maybe it's time to step-up and see what can be done for safe bicycle and clothing storage as well as shower facilties.  (Riding might actually save your employer money in the long term!) 

Do you not have an appropriate bike to ride?  If you aren't willing (or able) to ride your "good" bike how about considering an inexpensive commuting bicycle?  You can convert an older bike to a modern commuter with a new rear wheel and shifter - turning it into a great 7, 8, or 14 speed with downturned bars and our HubBub drop bar adapter, then adding fenders, lights, and a rack with an Arkel briefcase pannier to house your laptop and other office necessities. 

Finally, join one or more of the of the planned events for bike-to-work-week!

Welcome Home Fritz! Congratulations....

This just in!  Check out the smile on Fritz's faces as he dips his front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean on the 12th of July after completing his 3800+ mile trip from Astoria, Oregon east.  You can read about the entire adventure on the "Tour de Mature" web site.  (The larger version of the photo is in the album on the left.)

So, what do people who do these incredible feats of adventure do for an encore? I know many have said it is tough to come back to their "normal" lives - but, most settle back in to their regular routines and reminisce about the days on the road as some of the best times of their lives. 

I must say that everyone who has ever done one of these moumental trips has come back appreciating our freedom, the kindness of the people, and the wonderful opportunity that riding a bicycle through all the nooks and crannies of the U.S. offers.

While I sometimes wish it was me on these trips, I can say that we live them vicariously through people like Fritz and, frankly, probably are almost as thrilled at his accomplishment as if it was my own!

Welcome Home Fritz!

What a Great Weekend!

What a blast!  Great music, great weather (well, good weather) lots of people, and all-in-all great fun! On Friday, people started coming in the door right at 7:30 and the fun didn't stop until well after 10:00pm. 

We surprised the guests who have purchased bicycles from us with the coveted "Brian Built My Bike Shirt!" Lots of ooos, ahhhs, and smiles on that one.   (You can see one in the "Seven Demo Weekend Photo Album" to the left)

Saturday morning, there was a line of people by 10am ready to test ride the myriad of Seven demos we had including a Duo 5, an IMX, an Elium SG, an Axiom Race, an Axiom Steel, and an Alaris.   Stevan (from Seven - he's heard that one more than a couple of times!) was great.  He just stepped right up but didn't step on anyone's toes - just like he belonged here!  He's funny and bright, which helps (have you met us yet?)

We will have a couple of the bikes for a few more days, so if you want to test ride one, call ASAP.  Seven needs the mountain bikes back but the Axiom Race and the Elium will remain until after the weekend.  In addition, we have our four - the Steel Elium, the Axiom Race in steel, and two Axiom titanium - one medium and one large.

We want to thank Matt, Amy, Bill, and Jane for their assistance with our mountain bike remote site and of course a huge thank you to everyone at Seven Cycles for their support of our event.

Yeeee Haaaaa!

Bicycle Art Opening on Friday

I've copied an email that I received from Jim Sheehan of the Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op regarding the opening of a bicycle related art show at Spin Bike Shop (Lakewood) on Friday.  Sounds like an interesting and good time.

When: Friday, Dec. 8th, 7PM ­ 10PM
What: Show and sale of original, local art with bicycles as theme or media
Where: Spin Bike Shop, 14515 Madison Ave, Lakewood Ohio 44107
Why: Benefits the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op, a non-profit bicycle education center

Spin Bike Shop will be home to an innovative show of original bicycle-themed art pieces by local artists on Friday, Dec. 8th, 7PM ­10PM. The event is free and open to the public, and will include light refreshments.  The works include oils, original prints, video, sculpture, and mixed media craft items, some of which will be available for sale at the opening and throughout the show, which will run until January 1st.

A portion of the show's proceeds will benefit the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op (OCBC), a Cleveland non-profit bicycle education center. A member of the co-op's Art Dept., which re-purposes parts from donated bikes unusable for their programs, will be at the opening to demonstrate how they make craft items like wind-chimes, ornaments and sweater pins from various bike parts.

PVG Report

Lemme tell ya!  If the weather had been any better, it would have been California!  Honestly - it was absolutely perfect for our first annual PVG Ride this past weekend.

And, while everything didn't go exactly as planned - as if it ever does - it was pretty darn good!  We had about 170+ riders, many of whom were riding their first long-ish organized ride.  The routes were beautiful - thank you thank you thank you Brian.  Ashtabula County is a bear at best with many roads and bridges either out, under construction, or made up of gravel combined with chip-n-seal.  But, he pulled it out and it was terrific!

We saw many new faces, which is always exciting for us.  Riders came from Ohio (naturally), Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Ontario, and Florida.  All-in-all, we think it was a big success.

Grand River Cellars absolutely blew participants away with the presentation and food for lunch on Saturday.  Many said it was the highlight of the ride.  Cindy made fresh, flatbread pizzas, a fresh, bright salad, and this amazing peanut-butter concoction that was gobbled up by everyone.  It was obvious she put a lot of thought and effort into the menu and it was hugely appreciated.

The two wines that were chosen as our PVG Wines - a Reisling and a Merlot - were consumed and purchased to take home.  I tried the Merlot and found it very nice.  (I have to admit I'm not a Resiling fan so I can't comment on that - those who tried it liked it though.)

Check the first of the photos posted at left. 

There were, of course, some issues - Sunday's rest stop was a problem as our volunteers became hopelessly lost for over an hour, eventually set up at the wrong bridge, and finally opened the stop very late.  There seemed to be less enthusiasm for Sunday's ride (many people were very tired from Saturday) and the lunch stop on Sunday didn't have a menu that agreed with many of the riders.  Our SAG vehicles, which had little to do on Saturday were racing around trying to keep up with requests on Sunday. 

But, all in all, it was an outstanding first effort with a lot of enthusiasm for a second year. 

Interbike Report - Part I

Saturday, September 30th - 1:30pm

Rolled up to the Continental gate in Cleveland at 7:50am this morning after a long night flying in from Vegas.  We're still bleary-eyed, but I wanted to get a start on our report as things come up - so, don't mind my ramblin'...

Rewinding back to Tuesday, we left HubBub in high spirits as we delivered a gorgeous pale yellow Seven Axiom steel bike to a deleriously happy customer.  :-).  We shut down High Peaks, went home and walked our dogs, then off to Hopkins we went for the long flight out to Las Vegas - the movie, X-Men was just as interesting without sound and a lot less intrusive!

We'd like to skip the rest of the day as we got to our hotel (it sucked!) and looked for something to eat (virtually nothing at THIS hotel was available as two of their restaurants were not open for one reason or another and the other two were inappropriate for what we wanted - i.e. light fare).  We settled for splitting a turkey sandwich, some soup, a Heineken, and just decided to get some sleep.

Thom and his wife Lydia showed up soon after we got to the room and we made a few plans for the opening of the show. (Which, it turns out is a WHOLE other story.)

Wednesday - Day 1: Got up really EARLY and walked over to the Peppermill for breakfast. (Can you say HUGE portions???)  Had what we thought was plenty of time to get to the convention center for the opening "keynote address" only to stand outside waiting for Interbike Shuttle #1 for over 45 minutes in the blazing hot sun.  Thus began day one of the show... needless to say, it did not begin well.  It didn't go much better as the on line registration put Brian as a "contact only" and couldn't get his badge to us in time for the show.  So, we had to stand on line (after going from registration area to registration area) and finally have the correct badge printed out for him.

But, we walked the aisles poking our heads into booths old and new looking for "best in show" and runners up.  Once again, it was a carbon fibre free-for-all as one booth after another displayed shiny carbon machines.  But, there were a few pleasant surprises. For larger photos of many of these products, go over to the gallery on the side of our blog.)

One of the gems of the show is Salsa's Casseroll frameset . It's simple, stylish, multi-faceted (multi speed, single speed, fixed capabilities..) and comes in an awesome color. Two were built at the Salsa booth (one with drop bars and one with uprights).  There was a lot of "buzz" about this bike all over the hall.

Another was outfitted with a new Brooks leather grip (not yet available) and Brooks saddle in the Brooks/Selle Royal booth.  Brooks still keeps people drooling with their beautiful products shown in exquisite settings.  A class act all the way!


Comic relief is always appreciated at trade shows, and there was plenty to keep you smiling!  Case in point is a campaign to move the show being led by Colorado based Wheels Manufacturing with a bumper sticker that reads "Vegas Sucks - Move Interbike to Colorado".  (We couldn't agree more!)

Then there was the "stroke the bags and pet the people" campaign that began BEFORE the show with a postcard insert in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News of a fish.  Crumpler Bags had a GREAT looking display of messenger and other non-cycling specific bags that rival TimBuk2! Each day, the show Daily had yet another fishy incarnation including the one pictured above.

More to follow ....

On The Air (as opposed to in the air!)

Yesterday was AWESOME!  Scott Cowan from Century Cycles, Jim Sheehan from the Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op, and I spent an hour with Dee Perry from WCPN - our NPR affiliate here in Cleveland - talking bicycles and answering call-in questions on Dee's daily program "Around Noon."

Evidently, a lot of people heard it because I have been receiving email messages and phone calls since I got back from the studio yesterday afternoon.  And, people dropping by for coffee this morning as well as customers who came to the store yesterday afternoon were all listening too!

We got to talk about our different businesses, upcoming events, and bicycle advocacy.  We even had a caller who thought we were talking about motorcycles and had to share how he T-boned a deer at 72mph and lost his front teeth.  We laughed a lot!

Dee has promised us another date on air as there were sooo many people who didn't get a chance to ask questions and she wants to cover a few more cycling topics.  We'll post the information as soon as we know.

In other news - not necessarily all good - maybe we should stick around home instead of traveling for the immediate future as the "threat level" has been elevated to Orange within the U.S. and Red for travel between here and the U.K.  How did it all get so insane?

Seven Cycles in the NY Times

This just in from one of our customers who is about to put himself on his new Seven!  I guess it needs no further explanation!

Come ride one of our demos soon!  Yu can find out for yourself.

Shimano Quick Release Recall

Shimano Issues Voluntary Recall of Front Quick Releases

MAY 19, 2006 -- IRVINE, CA (BRAIN)-Shimano American Corporation announced a voluntary recall for select front quick releases. Shimano has identified a potential safety issue concerning the quick-release (QR) that is fitted to front hubs and wheels of certain road and off-road bicycles.

Only silver-colored QR skewers purchased or received after Nov. 1, 2005 are affected. Black skewers are not subject to the recall. Also QR skewers that have a small round sticker placed on the backside of the lever are not affected by the recall. The recall affects many 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace, XT and XTR hubs, and Dura Ace front wheels, including some Sport Dynamo hubs.

Shimano estimates that there are less than 5,000 affected skewers in North America. Shimano has had no reports of any accidents or injuries associated with the use of these skewers. The company is initiating the recall as a precautionary measure.

The affected QR skewers were supplied with the following model Shimano front hubs and Shimano front wheels. QRs on front road hubs HB-5501, HB-5600, HB-6600, HB-7800 HB-HF08 are recalled. QRs on front mountain bike hubs HB-M756, HB-M760, HB-M765, HB-M960, HB-M965 are recalled. QRs on front wheels WH-7801, WH-7801C, WH-7801C50, WH-7801SL, WH-R600 and WH-M965 are recalled. And QRs on Sport Dynamo hubs DH-2N71, DH-3N71 and DH-3D71 are recalled.

Shimano requests that retailers check and quarantine affected inventories. Shimano has submitted a plan to the CPSC for approval. Upon approval from the CPSC, a letter to retailers with final plans for the replacement of affected front skewers will be sent no later than May 31.

Photo Exhibit Postponed

"Into The Darkroom" with Joan Lederer and Kathryn Ellis, our latest gallery opening originally scheduled for Friday, April 7th, has been postponed.  There is a medical emergency within one of the photographers' families.  We are sorry for any inconvenience and will let everyone know when the exhibit is rescheduled.

In the interim, Dennis Masterangelo has graciously agreed to allow us to continue to display his collection on the walls of the coffee shop and yoga studio.