Soon: New Sams, Tweeds, V-Bags

June 15, 2009

We're expecting more 56cm and 60cm Sam Hillbornes sometime in early to mid July, and they'll be orange with cream decals. Some customers have referred to them already as the creamsicle Sams, but that is the color and delivery news. We're out of 56s now, and getting low on 60s.

The NEXT round after this one (as yet unscheduled) will include some 64cm Sams, with double-top tubes--that  new signature of our big frames. The extra tubes will jack up the price some, but is a fine idea for the bigger bikes.

I'll tell you about my Sam. I wanted a 56 green, but we sold out, so I took the opportunity to do something I wouldn't condone or allow otherwise---I got a 60, figuring at worst it would be useful as a demo bike. My pbh is 85. The 60 really fits like a 64 to 66--with the 6-degree upsloping top tube and all---and I can't quite straddle the bike when it has, as  it does, Schwalbe Marathon 40s on it.

But my contact points are all in the right place, so when I actually ride the bike every day now, it feels like...my bike. I have a 7cm stem sunk deep, and three fingers of seat post showing, and the overall aesthetics are nothing I'm proud of, but my position on it is perfect, and I really love it. Let me repeat: We won't even LET you do this, because it'll make it look like we don't know how to size people. I'm not entirely comfortable riding such an outsized bike in public (it feels like wearing plaid pants with a different plaid shirt--not that the same plaid shirt would be that much better....)---but when I'm on my own in the woods with that bike, it's dreamy.

The new tweed Keven's bags were made incorrectly and we're getting replacements. BUT...they work great as handlebar bags as they are, incorrect and all, and by mid-June we'll put them up on the site at discounted prices and....and that'll be a good way to get a beautifu cheap tweed.

We also are coming out with our Brand V line of bags; V being "Vegan." No leather, less expensive, here and there some velcro, and still made in the USA. By the end of July, look for three models.

All for now.

Grant