Rode the Macho Man in with my Pink on a trailer so I could ship it out Richmond today.

Sent my bike along with some swag and the prize frame for the race.  

See you suckers soon!

While we over at All-City don't have the best looking models, we do happen to have the best looking kits in the game. 

If you want to look good this year and for year's to come, get to your shop and ask them to order up some.  Our jerseys and bibs are made in the U.S.A. in partnership with local homies Twin Six.

The O.G. Kit

All-City X Twin Six

The really cool thing is that all of the pieces are designed to work well together, and both shorts look great with our wool jerseys.

Long sleeve wool with AC X T6 bottoms

We're super stoked to let you know that we are upping our handlebar game with this newest edition to the AC parts family, the Save The Track Bike (STTB) drop bar.  These are a traditional deep track bar, of which Kyle Kelley proprietary of Golden Saddle Cyclery and Trackosaurusrex said "it looks pretty good."  These are named with Kyle's suggestion after his Save The Track Bike button campaign. 

They are light, stiff, and sport a classic track drop.  The bar clamp is 31.8 and they come in 40 and 42cm widths and in ano black or polished silver.

Specs

Material: 6061 Aluminum
Reach: 105mm
Drop: 170mm
Weight: 350g


The best part is the MSRP which is a ludicrously low $44.  They are available now so go get some.

Though, as I have mentioned before, much of the inspiration for our product comes from cycling history (in 130 years or so of the safety bicycle, technology has evolved and changed in fabulous ways), a lot of inspiration for our product comes from our personal fleets of and experience with bicycles.

This deep appreciation for bikes is what drives our approach to design. This is evident in everything from the ED coating, custom dropouts, and internal routing on our frames to the sealed bearings on our hubs and our robust toe straps. Every product is a compilation of what we love most. In this respect, every All-City frameset that we bring to market is a love song to cycling and bicycles.

That all said, we thought it could be cool to give you guys an idea of where we are coming from and why we do the things we do by sharing some of our personal, non-All-City bicycles.

Meet Doctor Rockso:

When not spending every possible moment bombing around on my Space Horse, my love song to classic road bicycles and current favorite in the AC line-up, I can occasionally be seen on this beautiful machine. If the Space Horse is my baby, I'm freaking married to Doctor Rockso.

After years of accumulating, building, and riding everything I could get my hands on, I felt that I had finally matured enough as a rider to understand everything I truly wanted out of a bike. Three years ago I had finally saved enough pennies and had the Good Doctor made to this specification. The frame is a custom geometry Gunnar Roadie, made at the Waterford factory in Waterford, Wisconsin.

As a leggy, tall lady with short, T-Rex arms, stock sizes rarely fit me well without silly-short stems, tons of stack, and a zero set-back seatpost. It is a reality I have lived with my entire life. This frame sports a 57.5cm seat tube and 55cm theoretical top tube as a result. Yeah, I know the headtube is long, but I finally have typical and comfortable road positioning with an appropriate 10mm of spacer stack.

The paint colors are straight out of the early nineties. From a personal standpoint, I love to celebrate all "golden eras" of cycling. The late eighties and early nineties are when I started to be cognizant of bicycles and about when I start remembering going to bike races (I was very fortunate that my parents were cyclists and huge race fans). The fast bikes of that era were bright, expressive, and fun. I have always loved bright color pallets and drip/splatter/fade/streak effects because I associate these paint styles with speed and my childhood. Every one of my custom painted bikes reflect this.

Much to Jeff's chagrin, if I had my way you would see some wicked All-City throwback paint colors and effects. 

I requested that the fork be bent using massive radius tooling for a sweet, subtle effect (used several decades ago on road and track Paramounts). As the Waterford factory used to build those beautiful machines, they were delighted to bust that tooling out. I love how the resulting fork rides; to me it is much more comfortable than straight blade forks but just as fast. I loved the effect so much that this bend made its way to the Mr. Pink.

The dropouts also had an effect on me. I loved how they transitioned into the stays… and I drew from them for the stay interfaces for the Space Horse and vertical dropouts. (As the Space Horse dropout will soon be available unbranded to the public through our supplier, builders will appreciate how nicely you can fillet the seat stay interface of that dropout into the stay).

The build I chose is super fun. I know I'll get shit for it, but I love white accents. I love how stark white tires turn cream with exposure to the road and elements. I love how you can tell hand positioning for a given rider from looking at white tape. I love how you can see how a rider sits from the dye distribution on a white saddle. I also love obnoxious cable housing. Jagwire has chrome... it matches my stem and seatpost.

In a previous life I designed carbon cockpit components. As a result, I have a deep respect for carbon and ride almost nothing but carbon handlebars because of stiffness when I climb and general ride quality- carbon can do whatever you need it to. These are Zipp SLC2 bars- it doesn't get much stiffer.

Though I appreciate full carbon cockpits, I went with a Thomson seatpost and stem. The seatpost is zero offset just because, at this point, I'm accustomed to riding forward, over my bars. The stem is a little short because it is what I had available with this current build. I love Thomson not just because all of their designs are manufacturing process driven (which is so freaking cool) but because they offer such a wide variety of interface sizes- it does so much to support older frame designs. Oh, and they produce gorgeous parts. I use Thomson everywhere... to a point where I should probably get a frequent buyer card. I can't wait to see what they do with handlebars this year, I'm sure it will be amazing.

The 1x10 (38x12-36) drivetrain (chosen because I need to spin more in order to even joke about racing track this season) gave me a neat opportunity in the cockpit as well as a reason to throw on a white Apex rear derailleur. My left lever is a silver SRAM 900 lever I bought when I heard they where discontinuing them. My right shifter was a Christmas present from my brother who took Apex shifters, sanded off the paint, and re-built them with Red internals and a Red paddle.

Best baby brother in the world.

Crank: standard Sugino. I am planning to upgrade soon but I’m still mulling over the direction I would like to take. Also, I apologize for half-assed assembly. I am hoping to come up with a pimp solution for a bash guard. The old chainring is holding it together for the time being.

Wheels: brand new custom built H+Son TB14 rims with 105 hubs. Gorgeous wheels and they are an amazing ride so far. Very interesting to have such wide rims with 21c Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tires.

Saddle: Terry Butterfly, which appears on all of my commuters. When I need to show it off, I have a pink and white Fizik Vitesse that I toss on. Both clean up pretty well… when I feel like cleaning them.

So there you go. This bike makes my heart flutter when I see it and ride it. It’s such a pleasure.

Next installment will be Jeff talking about somethin-somethin. He has some stunners as well.

AC is once more proud to sponsor this rad event in San Francisco

Our man Corey San Augustin getting after it on his Def Wish and Airwolf

We just received our shipment of limited edition copper plated parts.

This is a one and done run for the year, when we're out, that's it until next year (maybe, we don't actually know if we'll ever order another batch).

We recieved Crayton toe clips, deluxe doubles in black and white, cogs in 16 and 17t, lockrings, and top tube cable clamps.

Cogs in 16 and 17t

Deluxe Doubles in White and Black

Crayton Toe Clips size L

lockring

top tube cable clamps

Get some!

Packy just put up this edit for Machete bars.  Some hot Def Wish action.

On Monday our Japanese distributor, Motocross Intl, got a hold of us to ask us to create an ad for the Space Horse for the upcoming issue of Pedal Speed, a super rad Japanese publication. 

Not being happy with our current Space Horse photo assets, I took advantage of a lovely Minnesota overcast morning yesterday to go out and nab some glamour shots.

Here are a choice few images from the quick session around my neighborhood in South Minneapolis, luckily for me the lighting was spectacular.

black and white really  makes the frame highlights pop

I liked this background because the red and white reminded me of the Japanese flag

And here is the finished product, three options for our distributor to choose from.

a solo color bike

a black and white version, which might stand out in the mag since there's a lot of color in it

and a collage that shows off some our frame details

Can't wait to find out which they pick.

Because you demanded it, we're giving it to you.  A limited run of Nature Boy Zona's, for this year's cross racing season madness.

Because of the Limited Edition status of this and last year's versions, many folks who wanted one were not able to lay hands on a NBZ.  We've heard your pleas and because we want you to be happy and ride the holy shit out of stuff, we're bringing it back.

Nature Boy Zona LE 2012
$795 MSRP

These bad boy's are now decked out in black and silver and will be arriving in September. 

Last year our run of 80 framesets sold out in a flash, so if you want this 1/2lb lighter version of the Nature Boy with a Press Fit 30 Bottom bracket, you need to act quick.

We are taking preorders now, so get into your local shop and let them know that you want one.

Like last year these will only be coming in 4 sizes, 49,52,55, and 58.  However this year we tweaked the geo so that the 49 and 58's mimic the standard Nature Boy (last year they were .5 cm shorter and longer respectively).

Check out this video from our friends at GSC.  Make sure to note Ty getting after it on a NB Zona.

Two amazing photos of our rider from Richmond, Stu Louder, at last year's North American Cycle Courier Championships by Kevin Sparrow of Cog Magazine.

Here are a few selected images from this past weekend's Bandit Cross race down by Fort Snelling State Park.  About 20 people showed, 9 raced, and except for one pissy pants bystander who was kicking all of the cones into the woods, the whole thing went off quite well with minimal notice from the patrons of the dog park.

There was a strong showing by the Hub team, and our guy Andrew Pierre won.

I was cruising around on a gold Macho Man prototype

I threw my beer, cones, clipboard, course tape, and all the other stuff I carry around in my Captain Phil.  No trailer needed for this one.

the starting group

Will of team Hub

one of the three run ups

Andrew Pierre on the bouncing bridge

Will navigating the creek

And the stairs

Max crossing the little stream

Sam on the descent


this might be one of the best riding shots I've ever taken

A danger dollar on a tree.  Flaming dollar bill handups are a Bandit Cross staple.

Yesterday was Bandit Cross, and I packed all my crap in my Captain Phil and rode a proto Macho Mand down.

 
My Captain Phil  hauled all my gear, plus cones, plus course tape, plus beer down to the race on Sunday.

When we say we use this stuff everyday, we ain't lying.

On my whirlwind visit to the Westbank of MPLS, two weeks back, I also had the delight of dropping into the Hub's Westbank store for some employee hijinks. 

 

The Hub has three locations now, and is to my knowledge, the only cooperative worker owned bike shop in the city. They've made their reputation on having some of the best mechanics around, and having a very friendly sales staff who are all steeped in bike weirdness. 

On this lovely day, I found myself down at their Westbank location to tell the employees about the joys of All-City bikes.

Check out some shots from the visit.

As you know, one of the dealys that I like to do is organize races and such.  Well next week I have two such things on the agenda.

The first is Bandit Cross down at the Minnehaha Dog Park on Sunday at 3pm

And on Tuesday night a Moonlit black metal accompanied excursion down the Low Road.

If you're in MPLS, come play with us.

One of the coolest things about being a part of All-City is the wish fullfillment aspect of it.  I've been fortunate enough now to have been able to help make a dream track bike, road bike, and others a reality, but near and dear to my heart is the Captain Phil project. 

here's my Phil hauling beer by a river in Germany last fall

You see, while I ride many bikes, my constant companion everyday is my bag.  It's  my man purse, and I always feel a little exposed whenever I leave the house without it.  It's got all my tools, headlamp, snake bite kit (spare T.P.), pens, a cycling hat, pump, knife, wallet, can coozie, keys, phone, chapstick, camera, etc., You know, all the shit I use to make the most of everyday and to be able to say "yes" to whatever situation life throw's at me. 

 
Since I received the first protoype it's pretty much all I've used, this bag was dreamed up to take care of all of my needs, and if you're reading this, chances are your needs aren't too different.  It's big enough for carrying a bunch of crap to and from work, but it's still small enough that I'll happily take it on a multi hour ride with hardly anything in it.  The whole bag is pretty much waterproof, but the main compartment is totally waterproof, which is why we call it "weatherproof."  I've never had anything inside this bag get wet in a storm.  Plus because of the cargo strap capability, it's very versatile in what kind of load you can carry.

The best part though is the cost, at only $99 MSRP it's not only one of the best and most durable bags out there, but one of the most affordable as well.   And it comes with a cell phone holster as standard equipment.  

Sorry to be up in your face with a sales pitch, but I love this thing and it's one of the products that I'm most proud of, I want the world to know that it both exists and rules and that it comes in white now.

Super happy that the second All-City Annual is now available on our website in Z Mags, just go to the Annual page of the website and pop that baby full screen.

Rather than put out a traditional product catalog, which would likely be looked at once then thrown away, we decided to take a different approach and create something more permanent.  Something that you'd want to hold onto: a glimpse into the moments and experiences that guide and shape everything we do at All-City.  This is more than just a job, it is a labor of love, a chance in a lifetime, our community and passion.

go check it out.

Last week I had the opportunity to swing by Freewheel on the West Bank in Minneapolis to do a clinic for their employees and shoot some photos of the store. 

Freewheel holds a special place in my heart as it was the first place I got hired on after moving to Minneapolis and was effectively the start of my career in the bicycle world.  Without Freewheel hiring me as a seasonal bike assembly, who the hell knows where I'd be now.  Probably some high paying corporate job with a house in the 'burbs (yeah right)

Anyway, the shop was started as a coop back in the late 70's, and while no longer a cooperative has remained an institution in the Minneapolis bike scene.  When they picked up the AC line this Spring, I was super stoked as it was a bit of a homecoming for this prodigal son. 

almost a full row of AC's

Thanks to Stephen and Jake for having me!

Back for another round of builds from All-City owners.  Up today are three Nature Boy's and one Mr. Pink.

*don't put racks on the Mr. Pink, those eyelets weren't designed for it

This Mr. Pink in commuter trim belongs to Miles down in Georgia, here's what he has to say about his new ride. "Getting compliments all over town. I put about 50 miles on it this weekend and it rides like a dream. Worlds smoother than my tarmac but still stiff in the bb when i crank on it."
 

This NB from Charlotte NC has got custom trim on the socks
 

This one's got an 11 speed Alfine hub and was built by a bike mechanic in Switzerland by the name of Stephanie.
 

And lastly there's this build from Marty in MPLS with super fancy carbon cranks. 

Boo ya.

We always love to see anyone getting after it with a Big Block

These are all the rad photos from my LA Trip that didn't fit into any of the other posts.  Really proud of some of these shots.

Kyle Kelley aka Tracko descending the hills on his way to work

Kyle's kitty

a polaroid taken by a drunk admirer at the Smog Cutter bar the night previous

cool zine from Massan

kitty in the sink

I bought the GSC boys flowers at the farmers market

AC everywhere

Americana

The last day of my LA Trip was race day for the LA marathon Crash Race.  For those of you not familiar, the Crash race follows the course of the LA Marathon.  The night/morning of the race at 3am, hundreds (they're claiming 1800 this year) of cyclists converge at Tangs donuts to race the blocked off marathon course.  The race has grown from a few hundred to become perhaps the largest alleycat in the world, with several professional road cyclists taking part. 

Here are some stories and photos from the event.

On race day we went down to registration to find a line around the block.  Luckily since we're race sponsors we were spirited to the front of the line where we spotted team rider and internationally fixie famous rider Austin Horse lending a hand with registration.


Austin

There was a small little gallery setup with bikes from Citygrounds and photos from bicyclists.  The above photos were shot by our buddy John Prolly on his recent trip to Australia.

bikes from Citygrounds

These are the dogtags for the winners of each race category: men's and women's fixed and geared

my race number

my Thunderdome in race trim, fender, front brake, bottle cage, riser bars, clipless pedals

here's me at 3am getting suited up

and here's the race finish

The race was kind of weird in that we rode a pretty big chunk of the course before being stopped by the police and told it was a false start.  This meant that a good lot of riders didn't actually ride the whole course (just the false starters).  I myself had a really good race in that I wasn't involved in any crashes on the wet course and had a great tiime.  However I ended up just cruising the course because my gearing was so off.  

I was geared at 46X17, because I had heard it was hilly. This is a common Midwest gear and taller than I normally ride on the street for day to day business.  While I was able to absolutely fly up the climbs it quickly became apparent that on the downhills and flats,  I was super spun out. 

Austin was riding a 46X15 (much taller) and was complaining about being undergeared as well.  I felt really good on the bike, and was excited to dish some pain on the West Coast but ended up just sitting up and spinning it in.  Not the result I was looking for, but still a super fun experience.

I can't wait to try my luck next year, though I plan on bringing a road bike next time.

more from Jonathan Ball

Scraps #2. from JBall on Vimeo.

Another shop I visited in LA was Rolling Cowboys.  Right away when I saw the dog and the sign I knew that the owner and I were going to get along swell. 

This was totally confirmed when I saw that he had actually framed some photos from the AC annual and hung them up in the shop.

 

That's Mark in my old van crashed out at the RW24 and Treasure from Surly drinking on a Bridge


And here's me, with the megaphone.  (he asked me to sign it, so I did.  NBD)

I don't know if you've ever walked into a shop and spotted a photo of yourself on their wall, but pretty much that guy could have kicked me in the nuts and I still would have liked him a ton.  (though I'm glad he didn't kick me in the nuts, and instead was just all around super awesome and interesting)

This is the owner Dan, sometimes you go into a shop and you find that the store is a direct reflection of the owner's personality.  This was one of those times, Dan had tons of stories, and tons of rad stuff around his shop.

Check it out

and here's a money shot of the Thunderdome

If you're in LA stop by and talk to Dan about all of his found objects.

Checking out Bike Snob today, he had a post about his recent trip to Madison, and what do you know, our own Boss Lady Lisa Snyder was all up in his photos from the ride.

Check out this new edit from Packy Golan.  Dude's getting so good.

Packy Golan: Golden State from Packy Golan on Vimeo.

On Thursday night of my LA trip All-City helped put on a little grill out at Golden Saddle Cyclery. 

Kyle's a bro andI have been really wanting to check out his new store since all of the photos that I've seen of it have been so spectacular.  The real thing didn't dissappoint as they have tons of rad shit for bike geeks to eyeball. 

Check out some photos from the event and the shop.

the main room of the shop, with the amazing Crit 75 pinball machine

The mechanic area with an in process Big Block

NOS Somec, no big deal

The Thunderdome!

National track champ of the universe, Woody.

If you're in Los Angeles and  you like bike shops, you need to check out GSC, the place is dialed.

One of the shops I was really excited about finally getting to see in person was Orange 20 in L.A..  Orange 20 has been a huge player in the development of the cycling scene in Los Angeles, we've been dealing with them for years, and recenlty they started carrying more of our complete bikes in the shop.

Check it out.

They had a bike that was almost full Campy NJS

 The staff was super friendly and clearly knew their shit.  If you're in LA you have to go check them out.

One of the concepts that I've been super into the past few years is the idea of "Classic Style."  Things that look great and will always look great, garments that never go out of style.  Black jeans, flannels, Chuck Taylor's, Ray Ban Wayfarers, etc.  These are just classic looks.

If you look at the AC line, you can see this influence in our classic paint schemes, details, and in our softgoods such as the wool long sleeve jersey.  It is classic on the bike apparel that will always be cool.

One of the websites that I love is the Selvedge Yard, a blog about many things, but most of all classic style.

I was reading it today and came across an article about LIFE's photos of the Hell's Angels from 1965 shot by Bill Ray. 

They are emotional, evocative, and timeless.  Especially check out the women, so badass. 

so good.

team rider Jonathan Ball just sent over his newest edit.  So good!

JBallin' 2012 from JBall on Vimeo.

One of the things I was really excited about on this trip was finally getting to see the Citygrounds stores. 

Citygrounds sells a ton of our stuff and have been huge supporters since day one of All-City's existence, not to mention that Paul and Jack are great dudes and some of my favorite peeps in the bike industry. 

Their shops didn't disappoint as they had tons of killer stuff and were very well put together.  Check out some images from their stores.

Long Beach

Costa Mesa

Super nice and well merchandised all around, and the staff were all very knowledgable and rad.

P.S.
To Brandon the manager of the Long Beach location: you're ass better call me when  you get to MPLS this summer!

Sorry I've been dragging on getting photos up from my LA trip, it's been a crazy week as my house got robbed (we're all fine)  and our Hedgehog passed away.  I'll make sure to hit it hard next week.  In the meantime check out this montage that Kyle of Golden Saddle Cyclery put together of images from the GSC X All-City barbeque last Thursday.

So on Wednesday I got into Los Angeles and my boy Vinnie picks me up and spirits me away to Long Beach and the famous Fixie Factory.  (a household with a bunch of fgfs pros)

here are my photos from the day

 

our bikes locked up outside a Mexican joint

my first ever glimpse of the Pacific

Corey's custom painted Airwolf

Midwest transplant Antonyo

Smoke machine adds realism to video games.

I'll be in LA the rest of the week, so if you see me out and about please say hello and introduce yourself.  You'll know me by the red rose in my lapel.

 I'll be down in Long Beach tomorrow night to rally around with the guys from Citygrounds and the Fixie Factory, then off to LA on Thursday for a BBQ at GSC, and the LA Marathon Crash Race on Saturday.  

So Stoked.

And here's some video of Toronto's Finn Zygowski ripping on his Def Wish.

Check out our home girl Christina Peck in this new promotion video for this summer's Cycle Messenger World Championships in Chicago.

check out this vid from around the world of dudes ripping on a Def Wish

Giarolila Slyfix 1st Edit 2012 from anggo on Vimeo.

I know it's been a while, but I'm back with another Music Appreciation post. 

Today's subject is Dead Moon, the legendary Seattle DIY punk band from Portland Oregon.  I was only recently introduced to them as several of my buddies have been procuring lp's from their recently reissued back catalog.  

The album that got me hooked was 1990's Defiance, it's one of those records where you listen to it, and wonder how the hell  you didn't know about this.  And then wonder how the hell you wasted so much time not listening to it. 

There's a pretty good chance that this is the best record I'll buy all year.  But don't let me sway you, listen to some choice cuts yourself.

Right, Right?

Since it's Monday, let's play another exciting round of Customer's Builds. 

These are photos sent in by All-City riders and we would love to now share some of them with you.  On the docket (sp?) today are two Big Block's, one Nature Boy, and one of the first Mr. Pink's to be submitted. 

Let's Go!

This lovely dusty Nature Boy was sent in by our good friend Matt Ruiter over at Velocity USA.  This is from a long gravel ride down in Iowa.

Onto the Big Block's we've got this cute red/white complete from Michael over in Cleveland, who stresses that he's neither a messenger, nor a hipster, just a guy who enjoys life from a bike!

Yeah Buddy!

and here's the one two with a black/white BB from Blair in MPLS.

And finally there's this hot Mr. Pink build from Patrick

You know I love getting to flash your builds to the world so if you've got photos keep them coming our way!
 

Enjoy your Monday - listen to this
 

Once more AC is proud to support this awesome ladies race in Madison!