23.04 2023.
Apologies……
So firstly, a massive, massive apology for not doing a blog earlier. I have been really busy and its been Christmas and New Year and I ate too much cheese. I think everyone needed a break. Its hard to think that it’s April– where did that go.
Some stuff that I was chasing, did not work out, I was too busy and I don’t think I was ready to take on.
Working with multiple partners can also present challenges as you can be walking at their pace – however, you need patience as they are busy themselves and they are here to help you. Trying to line up the timings is a challenge, but in the last week we managed to get things moving again.
What has been beneficial of working on the blog – is the interaction with likeminded people and developing relationships with people who are in the Cycle industry.
One bloke who reached out to introduce himself was Bruce. Bruce has been involved in the Cycle industry for years and currently works in Sports media. He lives just south of Sheffield in a really quite village and has been helpful with chats and offers to help.
Bruce introduced me to Sam at Paria clothing. I wanted to get a small amount of clothing on line.
So I rang Sam introduced myself and we had a chat. It turns out he is a fellow Yorkshire man based in Leeds.
So I went to see him about clothing. I arranged to see him on a Friday afternoon and ended up setting off late as I was still busy with other stuff.
I then got lost in Leeds.
Then when I did arrive - fashionably late – we were really pushed for time. But we battled on a it was a success.
I looked at 3 different fits in short sleeved jerseys and long sleeved jerseys and gilets. Then I got semi naked in front of Sam and tried everything on.
The fits I will describe as:
Relaxed fit, Race fit and Aero fit.
The Race fit was what I felt was the best fit for smashing around for a few hundred miles a week (I genuinely wish I had the time to do 200 miles).
The one I looked at was made of a recycled material with raglan sleeves and standard pockets to the rear. The fit was really good. I then tried on a thermal long sleeve top and a gilet.
I then drove back home.
Sam passed me on to his designer Dan Stephenson. We talked on the phone all things cycling jersey, mono bloc designs, race jerseys, placement of sponsorship names, trends, caps, bib shorts and I sent Dan a photoshop mock up of what I liked.
Dan then came up with the following:
The Elephant in the room.
We were struggling to get the frames sprayed. We have been waiting for ages for them to get sprayed. The original sprayers went into liquidation. So we decided to look at different avenues.
I was introduced to Dan Stanton of Stanton bikes at Tansley in Matlock. He was introduced to me by a mutual friend. I know Matlock quite well – I have cycled round it loads of times so I know where Stanton are based.
Dan invited me to his warehouse on a Monday lunch.
It was a great setup. Full of Reynolds 853 steel and Titanium Mountain Bikes, a full welding set up and a full spray booth. I wandered round with Dan who was sorting his own admin stuff out and he introduced me to his sprayer Matt.
If you get a minute – take a look at their website and their Instagram page. They have some amazing colour schemes and we got some frames sprayed up.
The results are below.
The results look great, but the decals still need a bit of work, there are 2 tiny, tiny bubbles on the decals on the downtube. So we need to have a look at the decals to ensure that they don’t bubble again. These frames and folks will be sold as seconds – so if anybody wants a slightly bubbled decal frame at a reduced price send me an email. There are 2 in medium. More photos will be supplied.
As good as Dan and Matt the Sprayer are, they are so busy that it may be some time to get them booked in to get sprayed.
So, I have got 8 frames ready to go to his workshop in the hope that Matt can spray them up in a timely manner.
Just in case I have sent a frame down to Blue Whippet Paintworks in Stoke to get sprayed up, which is about an hour and a half from Sheffield.
Theoretically, once the 8 frames are ready, I can put them on the website and start selling in small batches. I don’t think any sprayer will be happy with boxes and boxes of frames and folks clogging up his warehouse waiting to get sprayed – so we will work in small batches.
So, hopefully, get a batch done, update the website and away we go.
I will keep you updated.
Thanks for reading.