Tag Archives: IF

The Official NYC Velo Holiday Gift List

‘Tis the season… To spend money on other people!

Chances are that if you’re reading this blog, you have friends who like to ride human-powered 2-wheeled machines.  It just so happens that we specialized in “peddling” cycling-related wares to the general public (see what we did there?)

If you’re a bit stumped on what to get the cyclist who has everything, then check out our holiday shopping list, which features gifts at myriad price ranges.

1 – NYC Tour Brass Bell $15 Commonly referred to as the “Crane”bell, this sucker lets you warn others of your arrival, in style.

2 – Brooks B17 Saddle $105 The B17 saddle is an icon, a classic, and now comes in 6 colors, a great way to improve any ride!

3 – Oakley Frogskins $110-130 West coast style, limited edition colors, made in the USA.  Kids love ‘em, adults who remember them when they were kids love ‘em, and bike nerds love ‘em.

4 – Campy Record Track Hubs- 32H $475 Another modern classic, the perfect basis for your next fixie wheel build.

5 – Deluxe Tune $125 Winter weather is bound to get crappier and our bikes will no doubt take the brunt, why not surprise someone with the gift of clean?

6 – Gore Race Overshoes Thermal $100 For the aforementioned crappy weather commute, keep your lower extremities dry, cozy, and warm.

7 – Indy Fab Corvid $8500 Eighty-five hundred bills doesn’t seem like such a deal, but this barely used demo frameset is sporting all new components for a savings of over $2k.

8 – Mission Workshop Rondel Shoes $130 It’s about time someone came out with some bust-around-town sneakers that clip into your ATAC/SPD/Crank Bros pedals… clips and straps seem so 2009.

9 – NYC Velo cycling cap $20 The new edition has landed in the shop, great for keeping your head warm(er) and the low afternoon sun out of your eyes.

10 – Embrocation Volume 6 $20 Bike culture in Journal form, so your partner doesn’t think your reading just another bike racing rag.

11 – Holdfast Straps $59 If you want security at the pedal, but aren’t into ”positive cleat engagement”, check out these Made in Brooklyn Velcro toe straps.

12 – Chrome Dually Reflective backpack $140 Chrome bags last a lifetime (their warranty says so), and the generous reflective panels on this bag ensure that it’s a long one.

13 – EWR NYC Velo Wool trainer $125 When it gets cold, wool is the only way to go, and this jacket stands about the crowd.

14 – NYC Velo Geekhouse Rockcity Frameset $1150 Custom steel frames, handmade and powdercoated in Boston, except they’re available in stock sizes, and without the 6 month wait, so not really custom… but damn nice to behold and ride.

15 – Princeton Tec PUSH Headlight $50 Finally, an amazingly bright 100 lumen headlight that doesn’t elicit comparisons to a 3 d-cell duct-taped to your handlebar.

We’d like to wish everyone a happy holiday season!

BOTW: IF Corvid (Now with Kung-Fu Belt Drive action!)

There’s something to be said about machines that are utilitarian and beautiul.

There’s also something to be said about bucking a status quo in order to acheive both of those traits.

Enter the Belt Drive Corvid,  by our friends at IF.  Sure, chain-driven bikes are the driving force behind human-powered locomotion, but let’s be honest: chains are greasy and can be a pain.  Short of using one of these, a belt drive is an elegant and easy solution for the single speed bike.

This IF Corvid is a beautiful meld of carbon and shiny red bits (hello Chris King hubs!).  This bad boy was custom built to order a little over 6 weeks ago by one of our customers.  We worked with him to spec it out perfectly so that he could have exactly what he wanted.  There you have it.

Cut, Tack, Weld.

Kaiko continues her journey towards owning her very own IndyFab Crown Jewel.  As the day of ownership draws closer, the folks at IF keep teasing her with shots of her baby being assembled (Thanks to Tyler Evans for the photos):

NYC is a big city with lots of shops and cool peeps, but when you’re ordering an IF, it pays to be a Boston local.

Having met Tyler of the IF crew over a year ago, I emailed Tyler about whether I could drop by to see my frame in production. If he was okay with it, I imagined this would consist of a phone call, then dropping by the IF workshop, and taking pictures with my admittedly not-so-great digital camera of an unpainted-yet-otherwise-complete frame. Tyler, because he is awesome, was down for letting me know when the frame might be ready. But then he did something even cooler: he took pictures of my bike tubes as soon as they were cut.

A few days later, I got another set of pictures of those tubes being tacked, and an email that it was now officially in the welding department. Did I want to come by?

Oh yes, yes I did.

For the love of after parties

We conducted some empirical research and  asked 100 CX racers what they most enjoy doing after a race.  of the 100 that were surveyed, 85% of them said “Drink beer.”  The rest of them answered “cry in the shower because my embrocation re-activated” (5%) and “Rush home and stay in front of my computer refreshing until the photographer puts up photos of me so that I have a new Facebook profile photo” (10%)

Using this data we decided it would be a great idea to host an after party.  We are, after all, the official shop sponsor…

Our good friend Hott Sam will be providing delicious brews from the Kelso Brewery (remember to say thank you)

We will have a host of characters in attendance, including Kona‘s Erik Tonkin,  the folks from Indyfab, and much more.

Come by after the races are done and hang with your friends, victims, and nemeses.  See you there!

if you’re the RSVP’ing type,  you can find our event on Facebook.

BOTW: Bob's IF

On this episode of bike of the week,  we get a proper education from the ‘gents over at IF on how to make a stunning, clean bike.  The paint job totally pops,  and it begs for the viewer to take it all in nice and slow.

We hope Bob is happy with his new IF because if he isnt,  there’s a long line of people who would probably commit felonies to get their grubby hands on this gorgeous rig.

Shop Ride Redux- September Edition

It’s about time for another of our killer monthly shop rides:  The ride will take place on Saturday, September 11.  We love to have chance to take it to the streets with our customers and friends, so please join us!.  See below for the journalistic deets.

Who: Everyone is invited!

What: NYC Velo Monthly Shop Ride

When: Saturday, September 11th.  Meet at the shop at 8AM.  We leave at 830.

Where: The ride begins and ends at NYC Velo- 64 2nd Ave (between 3rd and 4th St)  We’ll ride across the GWB to Piermont and back.  The pace is entirely up to you guys.

Why: Because we love riding bikes!

Misc:  Once again Erik from Vice Magazine will be leading this month’s ride.  Hopefully you don’t wear anything that will get you featured in “DOs and DON’Ts.”

Ben from Think Coffee will be in da’ house creating espresso-based masterpieces just for you.  Delicious, delicious baked goods from Blue Sky Bakery will also be provided in order to further convince you to show up and ride your awesome bike with awesome people.

5ive Points double header: IF Royalty

It was only a matter of time before our 5ive Points series blew up. When we say Blew Up, we mean that all our industry friends would be clamoring to be profiled. When we say Clamoring, we mean that they, like all 5ive Points participants, graciously accepted our phone call/email and took a few minutes to address the points.

This week’s 5ive Points is special for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that we’ve decided to run the elusive Double Interview. We cornered a couple of our good friends over at Independent Fabrication, Tyler and Gary, and got a taste of the Indy Fab life.

Tyler is in charge of Special Ops at IF while Gary steers the ship, as it were. If you’re interested in learning more about Special Ops, Tyler will be on hand at the Rapha Continental event at the Rapha Cycle Club at 352 Bowery on Thursday night (8/5) at 7pm.

NYCV: What bike do you ride these days?

Gary: My bikes are like shoes, I have multiple usage occasions that call for different bikes depending on the ride and my mood. Practically speaking, given that we tailor each bike to individual customer preferences, it is part of my job to understand the ride differences between materials and configurations. Among my favorites, and I do love all my children, are my stainless steel city bike and an as-yet-unridden internally geared, studded tire, titanium uber winter bike. I built it for the North American Handmade Show this past year and for once am looking forward to snow, since I now have no excuse not to ride this coming winter.

Tyler: I ride many bikes. Currently in active rotation: Tungsten Electrode Full suspension MTB, belt drive singlespeed Corvid, SSR made out of XCr (Bella), XS track bike and a Steel Independence touring bike set up for the upcoming D2R2 ride in Western Mass.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?

Gary: That’s tough, since I live in the woods of New Hampshire and have so many road and trail options right out my door. It’s hard to beat riding along the Atlantic on Route 1A, and for organized rides, The Franklin Land Trust out in Western Massachusetts does this ride every August called D2R2, the Deerfield to Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee, which is in Rapha-speak, epic. It’s a 100K of scenic, mostly gravel roads, with covered bridges, orchards and insane amounts of climbing, all to benefit the protection of the area that you are riding through.

Tyler: Right now I’ve got a good off-road route in The Fells just North of Boston.

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?

Gary: One of the fruity breads from my local bakery, When Pigs Fly, loaded with almond butter. Right now they have a seasonal blueberry lemon bread that is just mind-altering (and waist-altering as well).

Tyler: Burrito if it’s an early or mid-day ride. Beer if it’s later in the day. (that’s food right?)

NYCV: What’s one thing you always carry on a ride?

Gary: Stuff to fix flats. Riders that don’t carry their own repair goods and mooch off of others suck, but I never leave them stranded, no matter how tempting!

Tyler: Money, ID, Phone.

NYCV: What’s next for you?

Gary: We’ve got a new Ti Factory Lightweight coming out any week now, and an all carbon cyclocross bike coming out this Fall, so things are busy at IF right now. At BaileyWorks I’m working on a new line of tool rolls and a limited series of country themed bags, so lots of new product in the pipeline to keep it interesting.

Tyler: Right now I’ve got to work my way through a bunch of bikes that need to be welded so I can get out of here and go mountain biking. But the real “next in cycling” big picture kinda thing is for me to buckle down and finish up these TiFLW prototypes I’ve been working on for months

August 8th: For The Love of Handbuilts

In conjunction with our awesome shop ride, we are marking Sunday, August 8th as a day of celebration for both the Bespoke exhibit (coming to an end August 15th) as well as North American handbuilt bikes.

If you’re the proud owner of a North American handmade bicycle, stop by the shop between 8AM and 6 PM  and we’ll put your bike up for all to ogle and drool at.  Pro NYC Velo photog Justin King will snap some pictures of your bike, and one lucky handbuilt will roll away with the “Bike of the Week” distinction and all the prestige that comes with it.  Participating bikes will also be given a free ticket to Sacha White’s Bespoke exhibit at the Museum of Design.  The exhibit is truly stunning and a very important event in the NYC bike community.  Free or not, the NYC Velo crew suggests that it not be missed.

We will also be serving up delicious brews from Think Coffee as well as baked goods from Blue Sky Bakery throughout the day- a killer pair.

Shop Ride: August 8th

We are proud to announce the inception of our monthly shop rides!  The ride will take place on Sunday, August 8th.  We love these rides as it gives us a chance to take it to the streets with our customers and friends.  See below for the journalistic deets.

Who: Everyone is invited!

What: NYC Velo Monthly Shop Ride

When: Sunday, August 8th.  Meet at the shop at 8AM.  We leave at 830.

Where: The ride begins and ends at NYC Velo- 64 2nd Ave (between 3rd and 4th St)  We’ll ride across the GWB to Piermont and back.

Why: Because we love riding bikes!

Misc: Erik from Vice Magazine will be leading this month’s ride.  Hopefully you don’t wear anything that will get you featured in “DOs and DON’Ts.”

Ben from Think Coffee will be on hand to create espresso-based masterpieces for all in attendance.  Delicious, delicious baked goods from Blue Sky Bakery will also be provided in order to further entice you to show up and ride your awesome bike with awesome people.

IF Ride Recap

A hearty THANKS goes out to all the riders who joined us for the IF/NYC Velo ride a couple weeks ago.  Making the trip down from Somerville, MA were Joe, Clint, Leah, and Sparky of Independent Fabrication.  The ride got off to a great start, thanks to some help from Ben, head Espresso Trainer at Think coffee, and Blue Sky Bakery muffins.  The ride toured the Palisades State Park in NJ, along River Road, before returning to the city in a spirited fashion.  It’s always a great time when our IF friends pay us a visit, and July’s edition of the semi-annual ride was no exception.  For those who missed it, we’re already planning the cool weather version for November or December – you’ll be able to get the the specs right here on the blog!