Rain Hat Report, LEGOLAS NEWS

November 12, 2007

We've sold about ten so far. Maybe seven, but at least that.

RR40 is coming along OK, and may be out this year. Probably will be, shooting for it. For the first time ever with it, I'm kind of nervous, because it's been so long since we've had one, and this one will be a different format, and I think maybe some people will scrutinize it TOO much, be TOO hard on it. Bear in mind, friends, that the conditions under which it is put together are quite a lot lot lot different than that of a slick newstand magazine.

Should be "..than THOSE of a slick..." Or change "conditions" to "condition," and keep the "that,"  but change "are" to "is," or just rewrite it. Basically: The RR is a small part of what goes on here, and the guy who heads it up isn't all that organized.

It will have some good things in it, some interesting things, and some variety. It'll have big pages that hold more type, but fewer pages.

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LEGOLAS NEWS. Although little we do is "by popular demand," there seems to be a surprisingly big demand for the Legolas bike. "Surprisingly," not because it's not worth of demand, but because the Legolas is a cyclo-cross racing bike, and we don't generally make racing bikes. It is versatile beyond the run-ups and barricades, though, and some have bought it as a light versatile roadish bike with dirt capabilities.  Keven-of-bag-fame races cross and has one, and  on his bike he's bashed and smashed and dented the chainstay in a horrific sort of way, and it still keeps going. It's 0.7mm of steel there, and that's a testimony to steel's toughness. 

Mark's Legolas is still in perfect condition, so don't think mangled chainstays are something you'll have to tolerate with the bike.

 If you want a Legolas by next June and are prepared to plunk down $300 non-refundable on it, call it in between now and the end of the year. Probably Wford will make them, and the price will be $1800 per frameset with headset. Color to be determined.

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LOOKING GLASS NEWS. We've been looking, on and off for about a year now, for a good rear view mirror--one that goes on easily and is easy to use, and fits most any kind of bike (we're talking about the bike-mounted kind, not the helmet-glasses kind); and now we've found one. It'll be on the site by Nov 14, under Bags and Racks, because we don't have a Mirrors section, and people who like bags and racks also might like mirrors. More so than people who don't like bags and racks. Who doesn't like bags and racks, and why not?

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The current issue of BICYCLING reviews nine catalogues, including ours. They like it, which is nice, and which explains the dozen-or-more emails we've recevied asking for it, I think. In the review, they said we like (something like) "stems that point to the sky," but that makes is seem as though the only stems we sell are the Periscopa and DirtDrops. I think they meant to say "high handlebars." Is it "they" or "it" or "she"?  Since it was a she who wrote it. It IS a she who wrote it, still, no doubt.

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I'll add to this same report (Rain Hat etc) in a day or two.