We also heard from a little bird over at CX Mag that they LOVED the tire. Wait, did I spoil that? I don’t think so, but you should take that as a hint and pay close attention to the June issue. Just sayin’. Another rumor has it you can pre-order these until the first week of June for $50 a tire (smoking deal). What are you waiting for? Get some!

What does these bad boys look like? They look like awesome. Is that Nouning an Adjective? Verbing the Noun? Whatever. Contemplate that while spinning your wheels and report back here with the proper answer.

I’m feeling a little bit like Goldilocks when it comes to bar tape. Nothing ever seemed good enough. Until I was introduced to Handle Bra.

Yes, Handle Bra. It passes the two handed test. It looks (and feels) damn sexy the way a leather bra should. Even if it’s for your bike.

Why you need leather bar tape:

• Classy as hell. Nothing beats the look and feel of quality leather. Period.
• Resusable. No tearing, no sticky crap.
• East to clean. A little 303 Protectant goes a long way.

I have been riding Handle Bra since mid-December. Including the weather, sweat and my lack of proper care, it still looks and feels awesome. So awesome, that people still comment about it. By comparison? I’ve changed bar tape on another bike twice (and it’s filthy again) and I ride each bike about the same (couple hundred miles a month).

We like Handle Bra so much that we plan on adding it to the store in short order. This stuff isn’t cheap and takes a little more effort to put on than regular tape (non-sticky), but we have a couple tricks that makes the procedure much easier. And considering how often you won’t be changing dirty bar tape, it’s value will be easy to see.

Stay tuned for pictures and links to the store. Maybe a little shameless self promotion, but hey, if we didn’t think it was worth the price, we wouldn’t use it and surely wouldn’t sell it to you all.

A quick recap of the details:

• The CPSC only requires this fork to survive a single drop from 180mm.
• The specs for this test were written well before carbon fiber was used in bicycle manufacturing.
• The new CEN safety tests are even more stringent that the CPSC tests.

Drum Roll Please…

And There You Have it.

The question isn’t which is better, but which is more appropriate for your needs. You can draw your own conclusions about the safety of each material, as there is plenty of crap steel and crap carbon fiber available for mass consumption. The real question comes down to who do you support? The people making products they stand behind or those that offset the cost of failure by selling high margin, low quality products to the masses? The choice is yours.

Some of it looks pretty damn cool:

VRZ 1. a tack bike frame with 3d printed lugs from Ralf Holleis on Vimeo.

So, for our bike building brethren from across the pond, we see the work that you’re doing. As we have said before, true innovation and the pushing of artistic boundaries exist in the minds and are built by the hands of the craft builder. Keep on building cool shit, because that’s really what the bike industry needs. Not more lawsuits. But you already knew that.

So here we sit, trying to figure out the best way to connect the consumer with the highest quality bike parts built by small manufacturers that don’t have enormous marketing budgets because they are investing in their manufacturing processes. Does that mean we ‘dislike’ those that aren’t made in America? Or those that build quality parts while paying their workers a fair wage* and operate in compliance with environmental regulations yet just happen to be a bit larger, a bit more successful? Of course not – because that’s exactly what we are doing, just on a different scale.

Still Reading? Good. It’s Time to Get Down to Business.

Let’s get a few things straight. We have never said “we hate Chinese people” or “we think the Taiwanese are bad.” In fact, when contract manufacturing overseas has been discussed, the focus has remained pretty distinct:

1. Even with contracts in place, getting exactly what you want is a pain in the ass.
2. That quality control leaves a bit to be desired.

On a broader note:

1. That some Asian countries (China) have shown very little concern about the environmental damage caused by manufacturing processes.
2. That their (let’s just focus on China for now) treatment of employees, working conditions, safety standards are not what we (Americans in this case) would consider acceptable.
3. That artificial currency suppression (in the case of the Yuan) creates an artificial competitive advantage that puts a damper on true free market capitalism.

This is not a hate on China post. This is a clear the air post. We’re ok with the fact that we may not be popular, that some members of the industry don’t like us. That’s fine. We’re not planning on going away any time soon.

Earning Our Place in the Market.

Anyone that builds small volume, semi-custom or fully custom bikes know the market is saturated and competition is tough. We also know that the big brands have the R&D to build the latest and greatest in carbon technology – that every season their new bikes are so superior to last year’s bikes that we gotta make sure to upgrade to get all we can out of our rides (I mean, who wants to train harder anyway when the newest carbon gizmo is 7.8grams lighter than the old carbon gizmo). Those aren’t our customers. SOPWAMTOS customers desire the most bang for their buck – for the total life of the product. Where the cost breakdown of the product has most of the cost associated with development and materials, not other stuff…

Some people poo poo the fact that we still build bikes from steel – that the industry has spoken and carbon is the new standard for high performance bikes that can be built to the UCI 15lb limit. Guess what – we don’t build 15lb race bikes. We build comfortable, fast and useful road bikes that fit tires larger than 23mm, real full length fenders and aren’t equipped with throw away parts. We build bikes that customers will hold onto for a lifetime because they fit and ride like a bike should – comfortable and fast. Modern steel does a pretty good job of that, along with being light by modern standards.

Are they $5,000 ready to roll? Nope. We can do them for $4,000 and a little less, which puts us close to the MRSP of other imported steel road bikes that can’t do the above. Are theirs cheaper? Sure. Can you call the person that builds them? Nope. Do they have high end American parts? Nope. Could we be cheaper? Sure, but by compromising on quality, how would we be any different?

Whether it’s the hubs, single speed parts, bags, cockpit components, handle bar tape – we make sure it’s at the top of its class. If its not, we won’t carry it (even if its made in our neighborhood). And if that isn’t good enough for the public, then that’s a risk we’re willing to take. Welcome to SOPWAMTOS. We make no apologies for calling it like we see it.

*Living Wage – clearly this is open to interpretation as to what ‘qualifies’ as living. Take it as you will – we’re not looking to start a wage warfare discussion.

Snide remarks aside, over my career I have dabbled in having frames made elsewhere to compete in markets that I could not scale and compete were I to try and do everything on my own.  Yep, even I have tried the dark side. Quite frankly, the true cost was and has never, been worth the benefit. Some cliff notes before I ramble:

• At the peak, imported frames that I sold never exceeded 10% of my total business.
• Any frames made outside of my shop were distinctly labeled as such.
• I spec’d the design and materials used for construction.
• I no longer (and have not for years) have any frames built outside of my shop. For materials that I am not an expert in, I source knowledge from friends/contacts in the industry. I have done finally assembly in other’s shops (like my carbon lugged road bike, Mike Lopez and I did the final gluing/assembly in his shop – but that is really splitting hairs).

None of the bikes I had built were built to the same tolerances, frame to frame, as bikes that I build. For instance, if I spec’d a 57CM center to center seat tube, my bikes will have exactly that. My contract manufactured bikes wouldn’t be exactly 57cm (for example); they might be a little short, or a little long. This was ‘good enough’ to pass their inspection and from a functional/safety standpoint, there was nothing wrong with the bikes. But this lack of precision wasn’t good enough for my inspection.  Good enough isn’t good enough for me.

A Friendly Warning I Failed to Heed

Many years ago, a close friend that I was discussing my desires to do a contract manufactured run of frames asked me an important question that I will never forget:

“You are going to be there when they build them, right?”

My response: “No, why?”

At that time (and my understanding from the people I talk to about the subject today, this is still common practice), it was common to have a person at the factory to ensure that the product was built correctly.  I was a bit naive to think that I could sign a contract with agreed upon parameters and expect to get exactly what was agreed upon. While I never received an unsafe frame or completely out of whack bike, my imported bikes were never on the same level of quality as my own.

Do You Watch Your Frame Builder???

The need to baby sit your contract manufacturer can best be described like this:

If you ordered a frame from me, or Paul Sadoff, or Steve Garro, or Richard Sachs, or any custom frame builder, is it expected that you should have to stand over their shoulder to ensure that they do the job right?

Of course not!

That was my experience with contract manufacturing overseas.  You needed to watch everything to ensure that it was done correctly. An acquaintance that worked for a large bike brand (that shall remain nameless for privacy reasons) once shared with me how they needed double check each bike before it went into its shipping box –that the cable housing was often 2” too short. So when the bike shops received the bikes, they would have to undo the bar tape, redo the cabling and rewrap the bars. Over 10,000+ units, that’s a lot of cable housing (and a lot of money) saved, but the real concern was in what you didn’t see. Were they using the right seat stays, or fork blades or….?

When looking at the amount of product one must consume as ‘the cost of doing business’, at what point does it make sense to control the manufacturing from end-to-end? And that statement doesn’t take into account the social cost of wages, healthcare, working conditions or quality of life. By focusing on making my own stuff, I can factor all of that. And so can all the people that appreciate what SOPWAMTOS stands for.

A conversation with Thomson Bikes about why they make their stuff in the US says it better than I ever could:

As far as why we make our own stuff its 2 main things.

It gives us control. I can walk downstairs and watch what we do.

Costs are a myth. If you automate production then salaries are a small part of overall cost. Only very, very labor intensive processes need to be off shored and if we had proper carbon pricing a lot of off shored activity would not make sense economically.

Capitalism has been defined poorly in recent times. It means nothing more than saving up money and buying productive assets. Underpriced oil allows companies to use cheaper off shore labor. Countries like China are export oriented as oil is cheap and the Yuan is undervalued. While it would be tough for Americans if gas was $9.00 a gallon, it would mean a lot of manufacturing would slowly return stateside. Bikes might get ridden more as well.

Bruce Gordon is Not Anti-Import

I’ve been called a lot of things, but to be clear, I am not anti-import. But I do have a problem with products from points of origin where:

• Where workers are treated as expendable commodities. Safe working conditions are not something that only belongs to first-world countries.
• Exploitation (pay or otherwise). See above.  Zhengzhou (China) is trying to lure high tech business into their area with a promise of entry level assembly labor at $237/month. Do the math. That’s less than $1/hr for electronics assemble work. And Foxconn (who they are recruiting) is not known for worker safety. In fact, they might be better known for worker suicides.
• Environmental regulations (or lack thereof).
• Money manipulation to maintain a market edge.

It’s too late in the day for a discussion on nationalism, so I’ll leave you with this. We are going to be at the 2012 North American Hand Made Bicycle Show in Sacramento in March. Some stuff will be from Bruce Gordon Cycles, some will be from other members of SOPWAMTOS. And there might even be a preview of some new stuff (proving that old dogs can learn new tricks).

I care about the origin of my stuff.

I understand that some will disagree, some aren’t interested. That’s fine.

My name is Bruce Gordon, and I have a passion for building things.

I have been involved the bicycle business since 1971. I became part owner of Eisentraut Bicycles, Inc., in 1974, and started Bruce Gordon Cycles in 1976 (Wow– almost 36 years ago). And like any industry, there have been some changes.

For those not familiar with the bikes of the 1970’s, have a look at an entry level bike: 

Or find a 1972 Bicycling Magazine and see what the general opinion of your average bike was from that era. Bicycle technology, even in the entry level category is far superior today. Along those lines, we have made a lot of progress.

When I started building frames in 1974 we were competing with England, France, and Italy. Those were countries that we sought to emulate and soon we had far eclipsed the quality level of our competition.

Advertising was amateurish, and marketing was almost nil – a big bike company might have a B&W ½ page ad in the rags of the day and sponsor a pro team in races we couldn’t watch on American TV.  As time has passed, marketing – the story behind the product, not the product itself – became the focus. Cycling today is image conscious – with large marketing budgets the bike business began looking for more economical (“cheaper”) methods of production (labor costs). Bikes first came from Japan, then Taiwan, now China (which makes just about everything).

I am not saying that quality doesn’t exist overseas – but almost all the innovations I have seen in 40 years have come from small 1 to 10 person shops that were passionate about bikes and had the drive to innovate over the status quo. Many of which were (or still are) in the US.

Think about these modern innovations that we take for granted:

• Phil Wood – first modern commercial sealed bearing parts (hubs, bottom brackets). Also an early disc brake design.
• Giro Helmets – Jim Gentes, first of the current style helmet makers (as in 1 piece polystyrene molded helmets).
• Bruce Gordon Cycles – First adjustable fit Tubular 4130 Chromemoly touring Racks.
• Salsa Cycles (Not Salsa since Quality Bike Products bought them) made it acceptable to have TIG welded Frames and Stems (vs lugged or brazed).
• Paul Turner, Rockshox – First Shock Forks for Mountain Bikes.
• A group of independent builders (Mostly in Northern California) that invented the Mountain Bike. People argue who was first, but it’s irrelevant to this discussion – the sport was born in CA.
• The first derailleurs came from Frenchman Paul de Vivie in 1905, and while Simplex introduced the first cable operated parallelogram derailleurs, it was a little Japanese company named Suntour that invented the slant-parallelogram design we still use today.

So American’s didn’t invent it all. But the inventions and evolutions originated from small companies with big visions. Point being – If we were to wait for the Taiwanese or Chinese to invent the Mountain Bike – WE WOULD STILL BE WAITING!!

Supporting the Culture of Innovation

If we don’t support the small, creative companies in this country (or Europe for that matter) they will cease to exist. This not only includes frame builders, but clothing, accessories (HandleBra anyone?), drive train and the visionaries that are still creating their newest ideas.

As a business, I’m not afraid of competition, nor are any of the people I know who actually make their own shit. However we cannot compete with $.50 cent an hour labor, poor environmental regulations  and continue to make bikes at our current level of quality.

I’m not saying that people who work for the big companies that offshore are not passionate about bikes.  But, if I were buying a bike, to me the person who I would want to be passionate about the product would be the person who makes it. They ride, spend time refining their ideal of what a bicycle is. A craft builder doesn’t build for the masses – they build for the people that can identify with the builder’s vision of what the bicycle *could be* – not conforming to a preset idea of what the bicycle *should be*.  I don’t think that someone in a Chinese factory making a $1.00/hour is passionate about bikes like I am, or all the members of SOPWAMTOS for that matter.

And I am not alone. Each week more people want to know about SOPWAMTOS. They are excited to be able to finally have access to these small manufacturers that love bikes and building precision parts or intricate accessories. Most of these items cannot be scaled into the millions of units and resold through the bike industries current dealer/reseller network at an acceptable profit margin using US labor. Or at least that’s what companies like Rapha (with their pro-China campaign) want you to believe. We are putting together a group of manufacturers that are ready to prove that theory wrong.

We are not in this business to become millionaires. We are here because we love bikes and love to build our own shit. We support each other, but in a time of economic turmoil and uncertainty, one thing is clear – votes with your dollars matters more now than ever. We believe we are doing the right thing for our generation and the generation after us. The next chapter of this story belongs to you, the consumer. What story do you want to tell?

[Show as slideshow]

You can find the exact specs on the bike page, but the overview is this:

• 28mm tires & fenders
• A mix of (mostly) American made steel, carbon and aluminum parts
• Fully loaded (including fenders, boat anchor Shimano pedals & Koobi saddle) tipped the scales at exactly 20lbs in a 57cm size.
• And it rides like the Speeder bike from Star Wars. That fast and that nimble.

(In case you forgot)

How Do You Get One Of These For Yourself???

That’s pretty easy. Call/email Bruce and tell him you want one. It will be up on the store pretty soon, but the in meantime, phone or email is best.

What Does it Cost to Own Something This Badass???

Pricing is currently being worked out. There will be at least 2 parts kits to appeal to different budgets. Regardless of which kit you purchase, neither will need ‘upgrades’ – they are both solid builds.  One will just be a little more badass than the other.

What are the Color Options???

Powdercoat rocks because it’s so damn durable and looks awesome. Besides, this is an all-weather bike, so it deserves an all-weather paint job. While there won’t be 150 colors to choose from (though we could have Ed Litton paint it if you really want to), expect the usual and customary colors (black, white,  red, yellow, blue and Rust) as well as a surprise or two.  Color chips will be posted.

Do I Have to Buy Fenders Too???

No. But clearly (see the pics) they fit. We chose Honjo’s because they are beautiful, high quality and made by a small group of craftsmen in Japan. Have another favorite? Go for it. These are just what we use.

What About Sizing???

Sizing and geometry. Guess we need to post that stuff up? Since this is what would be considered a semi-custom bike, expect frame sizes to change in 2cm. increments (49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61cm). Final specs will be posted.

Anything Missing???

I don’t think so. If you think so, ask away.

That said, reading is pretty laborous ( <- so is proper spelling). So we bring you a video courtesy of Mike Lopez (formerly of Reynold Composites).

Why this video is important:

• The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) only requires this fork to survive a single drop from 180mm.
• The fork used was a regular Reynolds production fork (will have to verify the exact model).
• The benefit of a (US) company that makes and tests their own shit – in this case they are proud of what they do and willing to show you how good it really is.

Reynolds Composites has never released a new fork until after they have destroyed 18 production samples. Their internal protocol uses 70% more force and five times as many cycles as the “international” voluntary test standard that some fork builders don’t even bother to use. In addition to fatigue testing, Reynolds also employs impact tests (dropping a heavy weight on a dummy axle) and yield tests (applying increasing force through a hydraulic piston until the fork breaks).

Besides – this is just a cool vid. I mean really, would you drop that much weight on your steel fork over and over and expect it to maintain it’s shape? Or more importantly, not ride like a 2×4? I sure wouldn’t.

Want to geek out for a bit? Then read this: Fatigue Analysis of a Bicycle Fork

Yes dear friends, we have added some of the very cool components built by the mad scientist Dan Wilcox. Geared towards the single speed and 1×9/1×10 crowd, Dan embodies the persona required to associate with the World of SOPWAMTOS. We’re offering his 4 bolt chainrings, spiderless chainrings as well as two different rear cogs (a spoked stainless and a 2pc alum/stainless or alum/titanium options). If the SOPWAMTOS faithful like what they see, we can include even more of Dan’s offerings.

If that wasn’t enough good news, Dan has even agreed to contribute his thoughts on the bike industry, life and making his own shit to our blog. That is something we all can look forward to.