In typical fashion…

… of someone who is writing a work-related blog (strange to think of this as one, but it’s true) I have completely dropped the ball on updates for the last weeks due to being insanely busy. 

So here’s the quick scoop:

Went to Veloswap last weekend and spent an inordinate amount of time getting ready to sell a ton of gear that has been accumulating for years in the shop and in my basement. Surprisingly, the sales were rather slow on high-end stuff and so I just came home with most of it and will have to post it online – bit of a waste, but it did finally get me to catalog everything that I want to get rid of, so that will make the posting easier.

Getting ready for RMBS this weekend. Will be officially introducing our new SoftGrip Hudz. We have had a batch of crossers using these for the last month or so and the feedback has been great. The Hudz are made with a slightly softer and grippy-er compound so they are perfect for cross, touring and recreational riders. For the serious set, we will still be making our “Original Enhancement Brake Hoods.”

Also, yesterday I received a package from Stellina Sport – a lovely Alan cross frame to test. It is being built up with AlphaQ bits, a Sram drivetrain, and RoL carbon cross wheels (used by Katie Compton no less). I’ll be writing cross tech reviews this winter, and this is tester bike to make sure that I’m literate and able to write for the website. 

Lots of other little things going on as well, but we’ll save those for another day.

Ready for Cross? Getting close…

It’s about a week to RMBS and part of the reason that I can’t wait for the show is that I will be able to ride my cross bike after it. That would have to be the biggest down side of shows – you have to keep the bikes perfect until afterwards and so they sit there begging to be ridden, but you can’t do it. It’s almost brutal.

Soon enough though.

I’m also looking forward to testing out some new gear – shoes, brakes, etc. I got a couple sets of the 3T Ergosum Team bars in; the shape is outstanding, I think they will be perfect. It will still be a bit until the Hudz are done for the 7900 Dura-Ace, so I will have to wait to have everything truly finished…

RMBS

The Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show is about two weeks away. It looks like we’ll have a good number of companies displaying there. Hudz is one of the presenting sponsors with Wheels Mfg. down the road in Broomfield, so we are doing a lot to help the event organizer. 

For those of you who don’t know – which I assume is most, since this is a first-year show – RMBS is a custom builder show that will hopefully allow the public to get their hands on some of the cool stuff from Interbike as well – like some DA7900 equipped bikes, Edge wheels, and other toys.

We will be using this event to officially launch our new SoftGrip version of Hudz. It is the perfect time since the genesis of doing those Hudz was to do something more comfortable and practical for cyclocross and RMBS is the same weekend as Boulder’s two UCI points cyclocross races.

So if you see this blog, pass on the word about RMBS to anyone you know in Colorado. It should be a great time. See you there…

How we roll…

It’s fall and that means two things here ‘In The Hudz’ – trade shows and cyclocross. The first I consider to be the bane of my existence until I actually get there, then I enjoy it for a day or two, and eventually return to the BoE feelings by the third day. The second is the reason that I still love bikes. 

This weekend is the BlueSky cross at Xilinx in Longmont. I think that I’ll head over there and see some of my people. Might even fill the truck with Hudz and try to sell some. That may be a bit more effort than I want to go through a week before VeloSwap, so that may actually get ditched.

Personally, I have been without a cross bike for longer than I like to think is real. Fortunately, I have a carbon-Alu number coming from Alan here shortly, and a steel bike from Chris Kopp in Denver (my design, his fabrication, should be killer). From there it will be a race to see how fast I can get them built up and ready to roll. Other cool projects to follow… Maybe one like this…

 

Sorry, Brian, I stole the pic, but it

 

 

VeloSwap

Interbike is over and that is a good thing. I am not looking forward to – as I inevitably will have to – adding Eurobike to the schedule next year. But before we get to more trade shows, we have the world’s biggest bike parts garage sale coming. 

Veloswap is actually something I am looking forward to this year. I need to get rid of more bike parts than I ever thought I could store in one place. Somehow over the last seven years of building project bikes for people I amassed an incredible trove of spare parts, cast offs, and random things that I really don’t need. Things that could be sold to fund a whole new buying spree – though this year it will probably be limited to new pedals and shoes, and some hardened steel injection molds. Yep, this year the lion’s share of things will end up paying for new Hudz molds, and I have Campy and Shimano to blame for me not being able to waste a larger portion of the proceeds on toys. In their defense, the new DA is wickedly nice, so I really should let them off the hook. No real experience on the new Campy yet, but it looks like a nice effort, so I guess I’ll let them off the hook as well.

So, for all those who have any proximity to Denver, come spend the week, go to VeloSwap, do some riding in the mountains, catch some UCI cross races, and then hit the Hudz-sponsored Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show…