Isn’t this newsletter supposed to be monthly? As Steven Wright once said, “They’re open 24 hrs, but not in a row.” After spending the months of October and November working on a bunch of back burner projects that had been in limbo for way too long, it was good to finally see some long neglected ideas finally moving ahead. Such is the life of the sole proprietor, always working “in the business” and not “on the business”. So let’s get down to……business.
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 Speaking of long neglected projects, our new singlespeed dropout is finally done. After a few years testing
a couple different designs, bikes started rolling out the door with these in August. For now, we’re calling
them "Rocker" dropouts, at least until one of you comes up with a better name. Made by our friends at
Paragon Machine Works just for us, they are 17/4 stainless with a 6061 aluminum "rocker". The rocker has
stainless inserts to prevent the threads from stripping and they also incorporate an adjusting/limit screw
on the front. All the hardware is stainless so forget about any rust, they’re available with a hanger or not,
and they’re compatible with Rohloff hubs (with a Monkey Bone adapter). Compared to the "slider" type
dropouts we previously used, these stiffen up the rear end of the bike and thanks to the "Norstad Nub"
(thanks Mark at Paragon for the idea), they maintain perfect alignment throughout their range of adjustment
with no slop between the frame and rocker. Every time we put one of these together and prep it for shipping,
the thought is, "Man, these things are bad ass!" Big thanks to Greg Thrash at The Hive for all his work on
the design. Greg, your frame is in "Pre-production", whatever that means...
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The big news from Alaska this week isn't about a book written by some nutjob, it's this bike going to our man Bryant Mackey in Sitka . Another Dirtbomb, this one built with our new Rocker Dropouts, disc and gear compatible, and with the standard Dirtbomb fork with Paragon Wright dropouts. Yes, that is a Soulcraft stem you see there. They’re pretty easy to get from us; all you have to do is open your wallet. Bryant plans on using this to commute to work via the gravel fire roads around Sitka . He’s building it up with mostly XT stuff and removable fenders and racks. A true all 'rounder.
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For some strange reason, we have 3 team sponsors that deal in some manner with cars. Clymer Auto Parts,
Lee’s Body Shop, and Leonardi Automotive. All these guys ride a ton and have supported Soulcraft for a lot
of years. Whether you need parts, repair, or hit an Elk on the way to Single Speed Worlds and need some
body work, these guys can take care of you. They support cycling, so as a cyclist you should support them.
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Team Member Of The Month - Steve Smith
Steve Smith. Artist, Renaissance man, boyfriend, cyclist, blogger, sweetheart, and possibly a
functioning alcoholic. But most importantly, member of Team Soulcraft. Recently Steve joined
(albeit involuntarily) the ranks of the self-employed. Now he gets to choose all on his own which
14 hrs of the day he will work. His new gig is All Hail The Black Market, a blog about a bunch of
different things; cycling, art, swine flu, people being funny, people being stupid, but most of
all it’s about community. What a guy with Steve’s writing chops is doing toiling in obscurity on
his own blog is beyond us, but you should take advantage of his talents and read it before he
goes big time and starts working for Rolling Stone where you’ll have to pay to read his work. [photo by Forrest Arakawa]
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Late as usual on this, we attended the SF Bike Expo a couple weeks ago at the Cow Palace (I saw Rush there as a
freshman in high school) in San Francisco . It had all kinds of stuff going on, from a swap meet to a low-rider
bike show to new bikes and parts, and a cross race put on by Bike Monkey that went right through the expo!
Man, indoor heckling. Too easy. While the promoter definitely tried to make this more of a "bike show"
than a swap meet, our ratio of old parts sold to new goods was about 5 to 1. The cool thing about selling
old parts is that it makes you feel good to see the parts start a new life instead of languishing on some shelf.
That, and it’s like finding free money. We will return next year with high hopes that more people will show up
interested in new bikes. That, and maybe people will actually have money to spend on new bikes.
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Soulcraft | PO Box 2631 | Petaluma CA 94953 | www.soulcraftbikes.com | 707-775-2453
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Copyright © 2009 Soulcraft Bikes
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