I could go on and on about how cool Seattle Bike Supply is. Sure they love Bike Works' mission and give us quantity price breaks even when we're too small to quite make the quantity purchases and yeah they throw in helmets "for the kids" with darn near every order. And they carry a lot of great products including some stuff you can't get anywhere else. I'm especially fond of those Redline bikes, even though I'm not a BMXer. But mostly SBS is cool folks doing their jobs well. Tim Rutledge and Val Kleitz of SBS responded with both enthusiasm and speed to my "so I'm racing the Tour Divide next year and I'm looking for a bike..." email.
Today, Val pulled up on the Dread Nought, his custom cargo bike, with a care package for me. "It's not complete bike," he explained and after a second or so pause he added "I couldn't find the disk rotors. It's everything but two 160 mm brake rotors. " I assured him I could put my hands on some rotors.
It's a green 2008 Redline Monocog Flight. "It's old parts we had laying around the warehouse," Val corrects me. Tim had already explained to me on the phone, "Just do what you did in '05. Ride the hell out of it and tell the story." The invoice read "$0.00".Not a problem guys. Thanks is way too small a word.
Val had recently cracked the frame on his old commuter and he's not the only guy with a warehouse full of old parts. Tim would prefer seeing Val commute on something newer (I hear those Redline Conquests are really nice) but Val is old school. Val picked out an old Fuji we had laying around. He tried to pay for it but somebody else beat him to the cash register. Funny how things work out.
It was slam dang busy at the all day today at the shop and I'm taking the 4th of July off to eat ice cream and hang out with my wonderful wife. Sunday, I'm back at work and I've got tons to do. I think I'll be going in early. I've got some bikes to get ready. One of 'em is green. And it's mine.
More later. Keep 'em rolling.
And thanks again, SBS guys. You totally rock.
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
7 comments:
Val is a great guy. I really miss The Bikesmith. Oh, and you forgot to mention that he pedaled the Dreadnaught about 40 miles round trip!
Great stuff.
That is some rig Val has got there.
Enjoy the new bike Kent!
Sweet deal Kent, if they happen to have a left over in a 15" frame for a good deal let me know eh?
Hi Kent,
I didn't realize this frame had sliders. I think you'll like them. Even more so if you decide to do a dinglespeed. You probably already know this but I think you'd be happier with BB7 as opposed to the BB5 brakes.
Kent: Here's another pictorial story of the day: http://tinyurl.com/mwcdwz
Some shots that your camera wasn't there for. Rubber side down! Val
Val was the best. He will be sorely missed.
Watch my interview with Seattle cargo bike pioneer Val Kleitz as he gives his first person account of cargo biking and his own highly customized bicycle.
http://youtu.be/iYXV-4TCUw0
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