01.23.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:11 am by americancyclery
To celibrate San Francisco’s unseasonably warm weather, we trotted out the largest fleet of candy colored fixed-gears the city has seen in one place.
It was a true specticle, until the man came by to shut us down. As it turned out, the city has laws about displaying too many handsome bicycles at one time. Not really.
But now the rain has returned, but that can’t get us down. Especially since we built up what we consider the best all weather city bike around. The build kit on this Pake C’muter frame focuses on all weather performance and reliability.
The Shimano Nexus 8-speed internally geard hub provides a similar range of gears as a 27-speed derailleured drivetrain, but all sealed up and out of harms way, no derailleur hangers to bend. The Nexus has proven to be a very reliable and efficient system, and what’s better, easy to use!
With a clean looking single cog to single chainring set up, we were able to use a handy pant-leg safety device. Now the only reason you’d need to roll up the old trousers would be to show off your ankle tatoos.
Permalink
01.05.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:27 am by americancyclery
The common misconception of fenders here in San Francisco, is that they come in handy a handful of days a year, and are cumbersome eyesores the rest of the time. While this may be true of some, there are many sturdy and handsome options that will not only keep nasty street water off of your face, but enhance the appearance of your bicycle as well.
One style of fender that we offer at American Cyclery is the exotic hardwood type made by Full Wood of Portland, Oregon. These beauties are offered in many different woods, and their teak oiled finish seals out the elements and brings out the natural luster of the grain. While we’ve seen a few different brands of wood fender on the market, we still insist on Full Wood brand, the original and still the best.
Another misconception is that owners of track or race bikes can’t enjoy such splendid moisture shielding devices, due to tight tire clearance and lack of mounts.
As you can see here, the custom fabricated split fender job allows these fenders to mount to one of our Pake single-speeds, despite the clearance issues and no mounts. Properly done, this type of set up will provide hassle free puddle insurance year around (you know how they like to run those sprinklers in the panhandle, right?)
For a less outdoorsy appearance, we also offer a selection of quality lightweight fenders from Honjo and Tanaka, in aluminum, stainless steel and brass. For those more budget oriented we offer the SKS “chromoplastic” fenders from SKS of Germany. All of these are suitable for the custom split treatment.
Permalink
