Posts
Friday, June 25, 2010
That's right- Cole did a couple reviews this week- from PDW we got their Magic Flute, and from North St. Bags their Avenue B Convertible Bag.
It's my birthday today, & Cole took off early this a.m. to work for Bicycle Illinois!
Been a long week too- chemo trip & other crap...
My old lady is out in the truck waiting, so I'll tell ya more later!
Monday, June 21, 2010
My girlfriend is a photojournalist and recently bought herself a new camera, so she gave me her older dslr! I'm stoked and will start taking more pics for the blog. Last week was Bike to Work Week and Chicago has a rally for everyone on Friday. It starts early with a breakfast and goes all day. This year they had music, polo, and huge ass storm...
-Cole
Thursday, June 17, 2010
We've extended the shirt sale!!! All shirts are only $15.00, but you have to order from the main page to get the discount!!! meaning, don't click the link to go to the shirt's own page, add to cart from the main products/new home page!!! if you don't do it right, tough luck.
Cole and I both have a review for ya this week- I got to review a really rad trailer from the folks at CycleTote, and Cole got a handlebar mount for his Blackberry from Arkon!
So without further a do...
Carrying my phone while on my bike has always been a perplexing thing for me. Sure, you can put it in your pocket, but it gets all sweaty, and if your keys happen to be in there, your phone gets all these scratches on the front of your phone, and then your pissed- at least I am. So I thought I would try and find a handlebar mount for my Blackberry. Akron makes cell phone mounts for pretty much everything, so they had what I was looking for. The mount is pretty straight forward- rubber spacers and screws and it attached. The phone snaps in and is held in by tension.
CycleTote Touring Cargo Trailer
A few years back, Cole had a trailer -which was later stolen from the mean streets of Chicago- but I'll admit I envied that trailer- ideas were flying through my head of all the things that I could do with one, and all of the opportunities to ride my bike more and drive less. I could go get groceries, pick up cool stuff- ie: other people's trash, etc. With no welding skills nor the equipment to weld with, I didn't see a trailer in my future.
A few years later- or a little more accurately, a few weeks ago- enter CycleTote, trailer manufacturers extraordinaire. They were kind enough to send out their touring/cargo model to test out. CycleTote has a wide variety of trailers too- besides the touring/cargo model, they make trailers for adults and people with special needs, trailers for children, and even trailers for your pet! Read more...
Ride on...
Brandon
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
hey- my mac took a crap AGAIN, but i'm going to pick it up right after this post (2hr. round trip...). So that's the main reason...hopefully reviews will be up tonight, and if not, first thing tomorrow!
Thanks for yr patience...
Brandon
p.s. really soon we're gonna be redoing part of the site and getting rid of other parts...a little condensing. kinda like campbell's soup- when i was 14 i worked at a celery farm and campbell's bought their celery. as it comes up the conveyor belt a couple dudes throw it in a big box while another dude stomps on it to try and get the box as full & heavy as possible. so 21 years ago, chances are i stomped on the celery in your campbell's soup. something to think about!
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
So check it out- our sale is still going on...i got a lil lazy & we need to sell a few more shirts, so get 'em while they're CHEAP!
Also- Bates Crates got featured on EcoVelo again today- check it out here: http://www.ecovelo.info/2010/06/09/front-carriers/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
And Chrome gets Krooked- I'm talking about the new bag collab with Chrome & Krooked Skateboards with artwork by Gonz himself. So rad!!! More info... due out July 1!!
And more reviews coming this week!
Cheers!
Brandon
Sunday, June 06, 2010
check it out- we made it on the list! act now & get you're shirts on for only 15 bucks! CHEAP!
http://www.pedalr.com/products/apparel
Thursday, June 03, 2010
OLC Reviews! Mission Workshop, Melon, & Organic Bikes, and the sale is still on!
0 comments Posted by 1 less car at 11:40 AMWe're back with some kick ass reviews today! I know it's been a couple weeks, and I apologize.
Between dealing with my old lady's mom who is about to start chemo for breast cancer, my computer taking a big crap on me, and then unexpected visitors over the holiday weekend, life has been a little hectic to say the least, and days seem to be flying by lately. Normally, the clock ticks slowly and the years fly by, but the past couple weeks have been a blur- so blurry in fact, that I've had to resort to using reading glasses, and I've always had perfect vision!
But I know you don't wanna listen to me bitch (at least I don't think so...but if you do, say the word...), so let's get to these kick ass reviews I was talking about!
First up is Mission Workshop's Large Cargo Backpack, The Vandal!
If you haven't heard of Mission Workshop before now, you've been doing some serious sleeping. Located in the heart of SF's beautiful Mission district (my old band played a show in the back of the old Mission Records store a decade ago!), Mission Workshop was founded not too long ago by a couple of great guys who've been making bags for cyclists for over 15 years, leaving the comfort of a solid brand they help create (Chrome ring a bell?) to follow their dreams once more and go off on their own.
These guys are off to a great start with their weather-proof backpack that comes in 2 sizes: medium and large, The Rambler and The Vandal respectively. I like to carry a lot and many times need to as well. And being American and all, bigger is always better, right? Right. So The Vandal was the obvious choice from the get go. Read more...
Next up is the final review of Melon's Slice folding bike-
It’s been a long time between reviews of the Melon Slice-folding bike. I can explain this delay in one word: winter. Yup, I decided that filling a review bike full of salt a slush was just not a cool thing to do, so the bike sat in the comfort of my parent's garage for the winter 'till I had a chance to take it out for some more testing.
The plan was to bring it back here to Chicago to test out in the city, but repeated attempts to get it on the South Shore commuter train failed, so I tested it on few different visits to Michigan. Read more...
To finish this week off, Cole got a box of goodies from the folks at Organic Bikes and is reviewing their 11 piece Multi-tool.
Organic Bikes sent me a box of stuff to review- the 11 in 1 tool is the first thing I will review. First impression is that this is a nice looking tool. The bamboo sides give it that earthy feel & being that that's what Organic Bikes is all about…well, making organic products- this makes sense.
Now for technical part. The 11 in 1 tool has pretty much everything you will need to adjust or repair your bike on and off the road. It has all of your basic metric allen wrenches, a few screwdrivers, plus it has the allen wrench to tighten your cranks, and a chain tool. I feel that these are really important things. Read more...
That wraps it up for reviews this week! Don't forget, our t-shirt sale is still going on- $15.00 measly bucks for a sweet tee!!! You can't beat that! To get the sale price, you gotta order from the main catalog page. That simple!
Thanks for stopping by & we'll see you soon!
-Brandon
