11XC004

It is not the first CremaCycles frame that we built, but it is the first to be ridden. This sweet pearl-white 29er went to a good friend in Colorado and is now on tour through the southwest part of the US riding various single tracks during Mike & Soph's spring break. Soph was in the need of a new bike to replace her old Litespeed soft-tail so I was stoked when she let me build a 29er for her and even more glad to hear that she loves it! Thanks Mike & Soph - looking forward to hearing about you adventures from the road! And good luck on the expansion of Aemono (great local food spot in Telluride).

Re-Cycled

we are rapidly approaching our first Freiburg Collective show, and things have come together nicely. Still plenty to do, but things look good. A nice, and I feel very fitting addition, to the weekend is the Fahrstil Classic MTB Ride, a mountain bike ride on vintage mountain bikes from Freiburg to Kirchzarten, site of the 1995 World Mountain Bike Championships, which I happened to be at with my buddy DG. He had his YoEddy and me with my Brodie Expresso milling around the living legends of the sport. Besides taking in the races, we hung out with guys like Brian Lopes, Mike King, H-Ball, Frischi and others. It was all so accessible and laid back - the same atmosphere we wish to instill for the FC.

We love classic mtbs too, they are not only asthetically appealing, the are the renaissance of mountain biking when designs were clean and simple. The parts were mostly machined, rough and industrial yet still beautiful and elegant. They oozed style.

But what old is new again. Looking and the handbuilt sector there is a number of companies with healthy demand and production schedules, and niche's like cross and 29er's keep ferrous metals in demand. We have been building not only what I would consider modern, high-performing machines for customers (ie SSR road bikes and Ti 29ers with Lefty's), but have done (with more in the que) more classic style bikes with a modern flair. Take this Deluxe 29er for instance. A classic frame and fork of steel transformed into a more modern 29er, relaxed geometry accompanied by a parts list that reads like it is from the golden era of mtbing - Avid, Chris King, Paul, Phil Wood, King Cage...yet all of which are modern, finely machined and precise component choices. Mix in some new names like Enve, Fizik and you have a stealthy modern classic.

we are looking forward to building more rides like these while also pushing the perceptions of what was previously thought possible. Our customers challenge us to create dream rides and the companies we have the pleasure of working with help us in this endeavor. The Freiburg Collective will show what other builders are coming up with in the department of dreambikes, we are looking forward to all of the inspiration and stoke on hand!

Lines

One of the things I have always loved about racing, all forms of racing is line selection. The search for the perfect line. It is an experimentation that starts when reconing the course and continues through to polishing the lines out during the race. Each lap is cleaner than the last, you are faster and feel more on top of it. And when you have the course dialed, it is such an awesome feeling, flowing around the course with ease.

We were given a challenge this past weekend to build our short track on what seemed to be less than average facilities. Basti & I ended up putting together a really nice 3 min lap that had super tight turns, a couple dismounts, a difficult and tight maze through a stand of trees and topped off with a spiral thru some very loose gravel. So finding the fastest line was a process of trial and error. Already when warming up I was experimenting with the various lines, first inside then outside and trying all variations in between.

First and foremost I was proud to have been able to stoke people with the course we laid out, second I was amped to get to actually race it and ride with others trying to rally the ideal line. In my warm up I was able to pull the nose wheelie into the trees (which was the key of nailing the hairpin without dabbing), but was unable to do the same in the race. Next time. There was so much to enjoy on around the course, but the sweeping high speed corners were so sick. Full speed leaning the corners was a blast. It is amazing how fast you can take some of these corners.

Looking forward to more races and dialing in the perfect line this season.