Calhoun Cycle Shopcast

Brompton Folding Bikes are truly fascinating bikes. The first time someone sees one being folded they are sure to gasp in amazement. Brommies are the fastest folding bicycles on the market and in a defiance of science the same bikes are the smallest folded bike. These hand-made wonders are catching on and forward thinking cycle shops like Calhoun Cycle are working hard to grow more awareness to the practicality of such a unique product.
Whether you are using it as a superb grocery chaser, a daily commuter that you don’t have to leave out on the street or traveling by bus and train, there are a whole host of reasons to consider a Brompton Folding Bicycle.

Bromptons are built in London and virtually every one is a custom bike in that the company does not have “stock” models. There a wide variety of options available and the possible combinations are in the tens of thousands. Color, gearing, tyres, handlebar and saddle are some of the choices! The one thing they all have in common are the compact folded dimensions.

We stock a wide variety of Bromptons in the shop, so you can always come in and test ride bikes and buy a model from us on the spot. A growing number of people are ordering custom bikes. To do this we would work with them using Brompton’s B-Spoke order form. This is available HERE. The form can be a little confusing so we created the following screencast to help walk you through the B-Spoke Form.

Helpful Links:
Brompton Bikes
Brompton Bags
Brompton Parts and Accessories
Brompton B-Spoke Order Form

Bromptons come in a wide array of colors and the color schemes are endless in that you can choose 2 colors. One for the Main (center of the frame) and one for the Extremeties (rear triangle on the back and fork and riser on the front). Think candy colored iMacs on steroids.

The Gallery below is a mix of Bromptons that are in the shop today. The captions for the pics tell you specifically what the model is and what options the bike has.

Urban Cycling is an online book written and designed by Katie King Rumford. The design is very pleasing and the content is inspiring.
Definitely worth checking out.

This from the webpage:
“Urban Cycling is a book dedicated to addressing the problems of biking in urban areas by suggesting alternatives and solutions to problems. Urban Cycling is a final student project for a graduate level graphic design program. Photography and copy have been cited.”
Read the book here:  Urban Cycling

Alan Barnard of EcoVelo fame is soon to write his last blog post for ecovelo.info.
For 3-1/2 years EcoVelo has inspired many people to do great things in a healthy, environmentally friendly way and Calhoun Cycle owes a big thanks to Alan and Michael for their great work.
The blog is a huge resource for all people of all levels to work out the details of using their bicycle as a true means of transportation.
At least once every couple of days we find ourselves at the shop speaking about the blog in one way or other.
We will greatly miss the beautiful photos, great reviews and fun picture contests, but I will appreciate the memories of EcoVelo forever.
Thank You Very Much!
It’s been a 6 year relationship that Calhoun Cycle has had with Alan, becuase before the EcoVelo Blog Alan did TheRecumbentBlog. In 2005 Alan started TheRecumbentBlog and it was a stand out for a very high level of professionalism and a very keen eye for design (to say nothing of the high quality images).
The same high standards were carried into the crafting of EcoVelo, but to a larger audience. Both TheRecumbentBlog and EcoVelo brought people together that had been considered to be outcasts by the cycling industry in general.
As the final post is nearing for EcoVelo I can say that both cycling communities are better understood by the larger cycling world. Thanks in no small part to Alan and Michael’s hard work.
Their impact is greater than it may seem. Nice Work : )

Nuts & Bolts: While this year will mark the end of EcoVelo’s new posts, it will continue to be a valuable resource for commuters and the broader world of utility-minded cyclists for 2 more years, but without new content. As I understand it, the site will remain active until January 1, 2014. Then it will have to rest in peace.

Last November Calhoun Cycle posted a video on youtube of a Brompton Folding Bicycle Competition we had here at the shop. Ed Rae, The North American Agent for Brompton had just given a seminar to us and we ended with a bit of fun with a competitive spirit.

The movie just crossed 20,000 views this past weekend and when I viewed it again last night I had to laugh. I Love this Movie!

It ends with Ed doing a fold and unfold. He has a good amount of style and a very quick fold!

Maria Boustead is a bag designer in Chicago making the fabulous Po Campo collection of products. Calhoun Cycle has had a strong focus on carrying a wide range of high quality cycling bags, so it only makes sense that we would partner up with Po Campo.The midwest connection is a bonus…(ya sure, we understand each other and don’t make fun of each others accent).

Over the past 5 years there has been a great deal of progress regarding what’s available for everyday cyclists (commuters, milk & egg chasers, out about town riders, ect.). It has been more as an awakening by bike bag manufacturers that a wider market of real world cyclists exist and we are out here looking for better solutions. In spite of this progress, the reality is that cycling bag manufacturers have mostly come up with some clever solutions to make their BIKE bags functional for work, errand and out about town bags.

Unlike Anything We’ve Seen: On the other hand, Po Campo bags are the first cycling bags that I have ever seen that are bags first and bicycle-minded second. Maria hasn’t tweaked a bike bag to be better looking and more fashionable, but rather she created awesome, beautiful bags for a variety of day-to-day (and night-to-night) outings. She has worked the bike orientation right into the bag design. The outcome is truly impressive. The Po Campo collection is truly designed to fit the needs of an urban dwelling cyclist. It appears to be pure bonus that the bags utilize a simple Connect™ attachment system to be easily mounted to your bicycle.

The details are quite obvious when you look at the bags: Water and fade proof fabrics, strategically placed pockets, compact profile with spacious interior, simple CONNECT™ Attachment hardware along with reflective details.

I promise you that in ten years the cycling industry will look at Maria Boustead as revolutionizing the cycling bag market through her Po Campo collection. Beautiful Bags with a sensible amount of practicality!

Calhoun Cycle is very pleased (and more than a little proud: ) to have Po Campo in the shop.

Go To: Po Campo at Calhoun Cycle

Po Campo has some videos online to help get a feel for the mounting system and general practicality of their bags.
Check out a couple of their videos below:

The Six Corners Wristlet is Po Campo’s biggest selling product.
Here’s a video showing the mounting system:

Over the years I had many conversations with musicians about doing a music tour on bicycle. I have helped a number of them figure out how to travel with instruments, but none of them quite got a bicycling music tour on the road.
A few years ago I was linked (via ecovelo.info) to a pair of musicians that were actually doing a musical tour by bicycle. I was in awe of their accomplishment and watched videos of them on the road and I was truly amazed.
The two musicians were Peter Mulvey and Brianna Lane. Peter and Brianna are currently on another cycling music tour which ends this weekend in Minneapolis.
We are having a reception for Peter and Bri this Sunday at 3pm (Sept 18th) at the bike shop. Treats will be provided and some music will be played and we’ll end it all by having a group ride to the Aster Café for their end of tour performance.
Peter (Bacchetta Giro 20) and Brianna (Handsome Devil) will be available to chat about their experiences riding and playing.

To see the two of them jamming together:

Links for Peter Mulvey and Brianna Lane:

PeterMulvey.com

BriannaLane.com

Follow their tour on Twitter @ IRodeMyBicycle

Ann Reed and Dan Chouinard will be playing at Calhoun Cycle on Thursday September 8th @ 7pm. Come to the shop and hear an awesome pair of musicians that happen to be a couple of bike nerds as well : )

-4:30 The fun will begin with a ride (about an hour long)
-5:30 Big River Pizza will be selling slices of some of the tastiest pizza ever
-6:30 Free Ice Cream in the Shop!
-7:00 Ann & Dan hit the stage

Banjo Brothers will be available to answer questions.
Civia will be showing 2012 prototypes (& a rep will be on the 4:30 ride)
O2 Rainwear will be there for the fun (and to answer your questions)
Indieload will be streaming the music show
Come for some of it, or all of it. Fun will be had and we’d love to have you come!

Planning to attend? Here’s the Facebook Event Page

This morning was the Twin Cities Bike-Walk Celebration. Calhoun Cycle had a booth in downtown Minneapolis showing off a variety of bikes and bags. Being a commuting crowd we were sure to have Brompton Folding Bikes along with us. Mayor Rybak rode into work today and stopped into the celebration to pick up a banana and cup of coffee. Next thing you know I’m chatting with him and this leads to a fold and unfold of the Brompton and he was stoked to get a ride in on the bike. I love this guy!

John and I got a chance to talk to a lot of people about Brommies, commuting bikes and commuting bags as well as cargo bikes.

We had a Civia Halsted along to show off and thanks to Civia’s Sales Manager Andy Lambert we had a belt drive Civia Kingfield. Andy rode it into our booth and worked with us a bit selling the Civia brand.

You can see Mayor Rybak riding the Brommie in a video clip here

Nice Morning!

May 14th was a wet and windy day. It also was the day that Derek and I set out to ride the Royal 162. 162 mile gravel road race (OK, more of a ride for participant type riders like us…) was to be epic and we loved the idea. Driving down to Spring Valley early Saturday morning was wet and cold. I told Derek that I expected that he and I would be the only 2 people to show up. Wrong! There had to be at least 60 of us that took off at 7am. It was 49º at 7 and by nine it was 47º (oops, I guess the temp was going the wrong way for us: ).
At 38 miles we were in Preston for water and a piece of fried chicken for me.
We made a quick stop of it and headed out feeling pretty good.
A mere 20 miles later and a good amount of hard driving rain mixed with pretty tough winds and a great feeling of isolation (it did now seem as though we were the only 2 on the ride) and we were squished physically and mentally.
At about 58 miles we crossed a paved bike path and while I think we both knew that we weren’t going to make the 162, we were trying to look at the ride in pieces and the current piece was to Harmony. Harmony was completely do-able for us even in the conditions…
15 yards past the bike path we stopped and looked at the cue sheets. We felt there was a bit of confusion about the cue sheets (probably made this up in our muddied brains) and determined that this was our moment to bail out.
Mind you, bailing out at mile 58 didn’t mean we were done. Actually we had little sense of where we were and whether to take the bike path right or left (no, we had no clue of a direction they might be pointing). We turned right thinking that Harmony must be that way. Lucky for us it was Preston we came to (no more isolation) as by now the later starting Almanzo riders were all over the town.
Lunch at the café and back to Spring Valley on the highway.
At mile 82 we entered the parking lot. We survived. A little worse for the wear and our egos a bit bruised, but there it is.

Last year I did a ride report of the Almanzo 100. Check it out Here

You can check out more about the Almanzo 100 and Royal 162 Here

We spent some quality time this past winter updating our Bell Movies. If you haven’t seen the page it’s worth checking out. You can watch a movie and listen to a whole bunch of our bells. Arrow your way through them all if you want to listen for the perfect tone.

Alan at our favorite blog EcoVelo checked it out earlier this week and posted about it. How cool is that!

Calhoun Cycle Bell Movies

EcoVelo Post about our Bells