News
09 Jun 2009Arete + Fox + Chris King = Joy.Aside from the seemingly endless home office renovations this long weekend, I’ve also formulated a ‘Special’ FF&H deal (Frame, fork and headset) for all our customes who are in the market for a new Arete. These deals are for local customers only at the moment, but of course if you’re an overseas customer, we can help you out with your FF&H needs. Just drop us an e-mail. Also mostly so we can start the rumour-mills rolling, we will be introducing a new offroad model in the upcoming months as a seperate line, dubbed “The Rift”. More info as, well, I feel like giving it! 2009 ARETE FF&H DEALS
Price includes frame of your choice, a black Chris King 1-1/8th aheadset, and a F32 RLC Fox fork of your choice (26″ or 29″, 80mm or 100mm). Other models are available for a modest upcharge. Naturally we can source for you any fork you may need, but these Fox deals represent what we feel is a supreme quality front end at very competitive prices. If you’re in the market for a new fork to go along with your new custom frame, you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal. Posted by warwick @ 12:12 am comments ?05 Jun 2009The King of all Tales.One of the more unrewarding jobs in this business is putting together complete bikes for customers. It takes an extraordinary amount of time, pays very little, and you’re constantly struggling to add any value for the customer. This is all exacerbated by two factors, one being that mail order is so cheap that often we can’t give our customers any better deals than they can get themselves, and secondly, very few manufacturers will give you any deals. More often than not, when we approach a parts manufacturer to get some sort of OE deal, we just get referred to the local distributor whose wholesale prices are more often than not more expensive than mailorder anyway. And to make matters worse, there’s a double standard - many US based companies will sell to US based custom frame companies at OE prices, but force us to buy AU wholesale. I understand that there must be some margin there so that the AU distro can cover and service the forks in case of a warranty return, but a 30-100% margin? And then what about our US customers which at any time make up 50-90% of our builds? Pretty stupid for me to offer them AU wholesale prices when they can get a frame/fork/headset deal from a US custom builder for half the price. Anyway, so where am I going with all this sooky-la-la, ‘woe is me’ drivel? Well, when I first started Thylacine, I saw an opportunity to sell frame/fork/headset packages to customers because many of them wanted new ones anyway, and if I could get them at good prices it would help lessen the sticker shock of the custom frame, which the locals especially weren’t used to. When it came to headsets, there was only one option really - Chris King. For some reason everyone wanted them, but also for some reason when I contacted them, all I got was the “we don’t have the resourses to sell overseas yet, please try as again later”. I’m sure it would’ve been different if I’d said “Please send me 200 headsets”, but that’s a lot of money to have tied up sitting there on the shelf and clearly 10 headsets wasn’t enough for them to get off their arse and hook us up. So it never happened. This went on for nearly four years. Now I don’t know about you, but I loathe being treated like a second class citizen. I don’t ignore customers because they live in Uzbekistan, and nor do I ignore customers who are trying to build the bike of their dreams but only have a small amount to spend - I try to make it happen. Clearly I’m a commo pinko sympahiser that is probably being servailled by ASIO as we speak, but I’m egalitarian like that. I also hold a grudge so I sold off every bit of Chris King I owned and refused to sell them. I’m sure I could’ve sold 50 headsets in the interim but that’s their loss (or it probably equates to a day’s sales for Supergo and they don’t give a shit.) Anyway, fast forward to 2009, and here I’m sitting still constantly getting asked for CK headsets so I send them another frikken email, fill out some forms and lo-and-behold *shazam*, I now have a CK OEM account. I have no idea what changed but something must’ve, so now I can take their name out of the “Companies that don’t give a shit about the little guy and have lost their roots” to “Companies that remember where they came from and give love to the little guy”. In case you were wondering which P&A companies support grassroots cycling and the art and passion that is custom bicycle frames, here they are :
Sure there are more than that - obviously we’ve never dealt with every bike company ever made - but those are the ones that support us the most and they deserve our (and your) business, so if you’re in the market for a new custom bike, please do support them. If I’ve left anyone out, please send me an abusive email and I’ll rectify things immediately. Posted by warwick @ 6:28 am comments ?28 May 2009Stainless Steel Provider.The more of these shiney Tephra XCR lovelies we do, the more I like them. This one is a more ‘average’ size, with a 2 degree sloping top tube for a more traditional look that clocks in at 1476g, which is a nice number for a steel frame. Especially considering the ø24 chainstays and ø38 downtube make for a very snappy and torsionally ‘go fast’ frame, as evidenced by the numbers in RIDE magazine. We’ve moved forward on the XCRs from the ones that we’ve done since the review. What kinda irked me with the earlier ones was the investment cast pieces just didn’t have that ‘uniform finish’ that the tubes exhibited. Because of that, we now use all CNC’d junctures (Bottom Bracket, Cable Guides, Dropouts etc.) most of which are from our pals at Paragon Machine Works. While this increases the costs considerably, the frame look a lot sexier and more in tune with our Titanium options which is really nice. Actually they’re so in tune with our Ti offerings, the only real difference now is in the ride quality. Weight is the same, the XCR probably has a slight stiffness advantage, corrosion resistance is the same…..so you can’t go wrong with either!
Posted by warwick @ 5:09 am 3 comments01 May 2009Rattle my cage enough and it will happen.Okay so being that we’re purveyors of all things Steel, Titanium, and ‘handmade’, I thought it only apt that I finally pull my finger out and stock some of Ron Andrews mighty fine hand bent Stainless and Tianium ‘King Cages’. They’re available on his website but you can also buy them from us if you like. Slightly cheaper too if you order a frame at the same time, like these lucky customers! For the weenies, the weights are - Ti 30g, SS 48g, and the ‘Iris’ SS 49g. No I didn’t weight them all and write on each one what they weigh. If you order some and they’re 2g heaver, just empty out 2g of water from your waterbottle, or take a wizz, whatever you prefer. (Apologies for the crap photo, I’m lumped with just the camera-phone at the moment.)
Posted by warwick @ 4:23 am 2 comments25 Apr 2009Andrew B, reporting for duty.As it’s not really racing season here and the lads have decided to stay indoors and snuggle with their girlfriends instead of race, Andrew B has kindly donated his latest race report from over the pond…. Friday, April 24, 2009New Old LoveThis weekend I fell just a little bit in love again. They say bike racing is a cruel mistress, but I think it is more like a marriage - it takes commitment, and you get out of it what you put in. I hadn’t been putting in any real “structure” over the past few months, and hadn’t been getting much out of my riding. This weekend’s Big Bear race - WVMBA #1 - was the kick in the pants I needed. The foot that gave the kick to me and everybody else is front and center in this picture. (picture mysteriously disappeared) Frigging Jeremy - going fast. Maybe if I had shorter shorts and a leg tattoo I could drop the hammer, too. On Sunday I pulled a typical set of stunts - put new tubeless tires on the bike, swapped out brake pads, and tuned nothing. Sweet. I figured my bike would work at least as well as my legs, but still, it is always good to have an excuse or two lined up in case you need it. The morning of panic left the dog nervous, but I didn’t feel too much stress. This is the great thing about low expectations. I only had two goals for the race - don’t be last, don’t get chicked. What was the race like? Didn’t start fast enough, gave too many punchy efforts trying to pass/ride with people who stunk on the singletrack but could climb well, and felt like crap over the last thirdish of the race. Oh, and lots of rocks. Maybe I should do some more pullups. Did I mention that there were lots of rocks? While I was limping in towards the finish, someone came up behind me. The unidentified rider politely said “on your right.” Frig. It was Betsy. I answered politely “Dang it Betsy!” Getting caught by the fastest woman in WV was the kick in the pants I needed. I rode behind until Betsy bobbled on a rocky section, then I took the lead and offered to pull to the finish. I “pulled” the best I could on the flat sections, and did the big ring pride sprint over the last 1/2 mile to beat two people outside of my class. Sweet. I finished up 16minutes back on 1st. The result was better than I expected, the last time I raced in an expert field I was just about DFL and almost got lapped. I am super stoked about mountwood. I’ve heard it is more buffed out, and a “big guy friendly” course. Hopefully my “A” legs (and stomach) will show up and I’ll be able to race a bit better. Racing is just so much fun. My thylacine performed flawlessly, as usual. I think I need a ti weightweenie version. If there are people out there on the fence about “race” geometry, I’d recommend looking at slacker bikes. Confidence, neutrality, and stability cover a magnitude of bike-handling evils. Posted by warwick @ 12:18 am comments ?22 Mar 2009Next Stop: DarwinOkay, so we’ve now done our first frame into Darwin! This is a Ceraphim coated Arete singlespeed that uses a White Industries ENO bottom bracket….as well as everything else they make. It’s nice to do a bike for a change where everything isn’t black, although I think the days of the silver Thomson bits might be numbered because it took eons to get the seatpost.
Posted by warwick @ 9:48 pm comments ?22 Feb 2009A Quick Otway Odyssey RoundupJust a quick congrats to everyone who slogged though the Odyssey this weekend and managed to triumphantly finish. Our boys Brett Carr and Erin Francis finished 24th and 75th respectively, which is a supreme effort. A huge golf clap too for a recent customer of ours, Richie Pinard, who finished his first Odyssey aboard his Thylacine as the 154th Veteran to cross the line with a total saddle time approaching 10 hours! My bum chafes just thinking about that. I’ll get Brett and Erin to post their thoughts once they emerge from their caves.
Posted by warwick @ 9:44 pm comments ?18 Feb 2009The Orange Bomb has gorn orf!You’ll be surprised to hear I don’t post every single frame we do here because frankly I prefer to have a life, but every once in a while you either get a really cool frame though the door, or one like this that kinda embodies Thylacine. You know what I’m talkin’ about. TEAM ORANGE. How can anyone not think this is the grooviest colour ever made? Just look at it! Pearl orange so gold-y and orange-y it almost hurts to look at it. This frame is a classic Arete SL 29er - Breeze dropouts, oversize 31.8 seat tube with fusion welded insert, Paragon superlight disc tab and hydro guides, all rendered in classic True Temper OX Platinum tubes including the simple and elegant single bend stays. You beee-U-tay.
Posted by warwick @ 6:37 am 1 comment27 Dec 2008And another year slowly draws to a closeWell, it’s been a pretty crazy year this year, especially the last third which to date has been the busiest we’ve ever been, and to top it off, we’re currently selling more Thylacines to Australians than we are anyone else. Is this the end of the famous Aussie ‘cultural cringe’? Un-bloody-likely, but it sure is a refreshing change. While it’s cool to correspond to people overseas and build bikes for them and receive pictures of their babies all built up and rolling, I have to confess it is slightly more satisfying to meet the people you’re making frames for. Luckily though through the power of teh intarweb the gap between the two experiences is shrinking. I could never have guessed in 2003 when I foolishly started this gig that we’d be selling frames everywhere from New York to LA, to Munich, Jamaica, Darwin and Hobart. I could also never have guessed how much of a PITA freight companies would be, but that’s a whole other nightmare. I’d like to start this post with some thank-yous. The first would have to be to my wife for putting up with the endless bike-talk and finding me the time to do bikes for people in between nappy changes. Secondly, to Brett and Erin our racing fools for flying the flag for another year and doing so well at it despite me not being able to give racing my full attention. You guys are amazing and the feedback I’ve got has made me design better bikes, no question. And finally, I have to thank everyone that came on board this year (and any year for that matter) that chose different, and chose Thylacine Cycles. I hope you’re getting out there and having fun and I always welcome tales of your adventures - especially seeing as I’m largely house/office bound these days and live vicariously though others! One of the great things about having a custom bike company that polarises opinion, is that the people that do jump on board the T-Train are completely down with what you’re doing, which means I get to design some really interesting custom bikes that are right up my alley. That makes work fun, and that’s what it’s all about. I should also thank our suppliers for their continued support of this crazy little company from the global black stump : Lon at Nova Cycles, Mark at Paragon, Melody at TST, Peter at Ceeway, Monika at HJ, and the crews at MRP and HBG for their support and great service. Speaking of fun, what’s in store for 2009? Well, for starters we have the new models. On the MTB side, the Ether has replaced the Arete SL as our top-of-the-line steelie, and the Arete has become more rugged and ‘trailbikey’. On the road side, we have the new Tephra XCR stainless and the carbon-titanium composite Tephra CTi - two totally unique and arguably the most advanced bike frames ever to be sold by an Australian custom frame company. Not bad work for a handful of recalcitrant layabouts. So how about new years’ predictions and what lies in store? Well, as I always say “You have to have 20 backburners for every frontburner”, so there is no shortage of wacky things I’d like to try for 2009. I’m becoming more and more obsessed with BMX and my desire to zoom around the inner city in a style befitting an inner city dweller could lead to some interesting projects in 2009. “Hybrids” or “flat bar road bikes” and their ilk are lamer than lame so it’s time someone shook up that segment. Maybe I’ll do something over the top and submit it to the beared and long-socked at Australian Cyclist or Bicycle Victoria? I think doing a BMX could also be fun, except there’s absolutely no market for it so it might just be for my own edification. I’m also looking into building some frames locally after not doing so for five years, but that’s all in the infant stages right now and something I’m going to spend most of next year developing. If anything it will only be one specific model but we’ll see. All depends on whether the expertise is there and how much sense it makes economically. In terms of the not so well hidden full-suspension prototypes we’ve been bangin’ around, well that project is on the back burners again. It’s a thing I’m very passionate about, but the barriers-to-entry are rather large and complex. I’ll continue to work on it during 2009 so we’ll see where it goes. When it comes to travel bikes, we’re equally as passionate. On top of the ubiquitous S&S Couplers we can now offer Ritchey Breakaway couplers. The Ritchey system offers a substantial savings over the complex and jewel-like S&S Couplers and make a lot of sense for those wanting a ‘demountable’ but not wanting to spend a premium for the privilege. Well that’s about it for now. I’m going to be a bit scarce over the next week, so I thought I better do a bloggy post to keep everyone informed and entertained while I’m busy not actually working. I’m completely looking froward to 2009 and think desite that ‘economic crisis’ it’s going to be a bumper year. Have a good one! -Warwick Posted by warwick @ 8:29 am comments ?23 Dec 2008The Complete Choc-Vanilla ExperienceSome finished shots supplied by the customer. Pro build supplied by Paul at Astroboy Racer. Really like how the small flashes of red really work with the yellow and brown-grey….and yes I will conceed the 2008 decals do look better than the 2009 with this paint scheme. Lucky we finished it in 2008! ;o)
Note the expertly matching Jagwire cables.
Posted by warwick @ 5:56 am comments ?
|
