America a giant Walmart for the Global buyer!

Buy Aggressively

With the recent credit crunch, housing slump, weakening dollar, and possible recession, foreign investors are buying US investments by the bulk. According to Peter Goodman's article on New York Times,

the weak dollar has made American companies and properties cheaper in global terms, particularly for European and Canadian buyers.

United States, for overseas buyers, has turned into a giant Wal-Mart. If you are a foreign investment banker, trust fund recipient, or just independently wealthy, hurry up and call your financial advisor for bargains. For the rest of you middle class workers, how can you take advantage of it? Here are two words for you: Buy American. Depends on your currency of origin, you are getting an automatic 15% to 50% off by buying American goods. The US dollar is at historical low, with exchange rate at 1 to $1.5, 1 to $2, and almost an one to one exchange for Canadian Dollar. Yes my European and Canadian friends, your currency is surpassing the once mighty US Dollar. What about shipping? Yes it takes time and money, but with improving global supply chain and better shipping companies, products cross the Atlantic in no time. Keep in mind that shopping online helps bypass the hefty PST, GST, or VAT. The saving is there.

Beat the rush, place your order before the US economy bounces back, or before the rest of your countrymen figure this out.

Goodman, P., & Story, L. (January 20, 2008). Overseas Investors buy aggressively in US. New York Times.

Speed costs money, son.

Speed costs money, son....how fast do you want to go

There is a place in Tucson named the old Ford store. When I was young my father was into old Fords and we would frequent this establishment. I remember this saying often being flung around or some variant by the proprietor. It always made me chuckle and set the tone for my father that really anything was possible. His ride was only limited by his imagination and what his checkbook could handle.

Just like the speed shop, Bohemian Bicycles are only limited by your imagination. If you can dream it, then I can provide it. There are no limitations here. So remember; Speed costs money, son...how fast do you want to go?

Fork-U

Beautifully raked forks have really grown on me over the years. I couldn't always do it and it was frustrating. I stuck with it and especially with a lugged steel frame a lugged well raked fork is the perfect complement both in terms of visual weight and riding feel.

One of the first things I look for in a handmade fork is the radius and termination of the blade. Does the bend start right after the drop-out or is there a straight section then the bend? The straight section first is a sign of a speedy build and does not give the smooth flowing line I enjoy.

Next, how is the treatment on the drop-out transitions? This is a place for a framebuilder to be creative and show his workmanship. Style points are awarded if this area is super clean and extra care was given to clean and smooth the transitions.

The fork crown comes next, this is certainly an area that sets a steel fork apart from the rest, and the treatments here are many. Flat crowns, plate crowns, sloping, track. The creativity to this one part can be amazing. I look for clean filing and good finishing of this part. It is certainly a place that the eye is drawn too and a little extra time here reaps the benefits.

Lastly, a steel fork is so universally useful. A fork can be made for many different riders, styles and purposes. Heavy rider? Use thicker fork blades, the same crown and dropouts will usually do. Touring? Add mounts for racks, fenders and lights. Geometry can be varied to suit the purpose of the bike from track racing to loaded touring.

A steel fork is a beautiful thing!

Pricing based on Materials?

Bicycle frames are often valued by a particular material instead of the value of craftsmanship, this strikes me as odd. Carbon frames, for instance are often much more expensive then their handmade lugged/brazed steel counterparts. Why is this?

Comparing a steel frame vs. a Carbon frame, both in a small manufacturing environment, we find things to be much the same. Material costs are very similar and the amount of labor for each product is similar. (For average production models) Why then should frames so nearly equal in materials and labor costs have pricing that is so very much different? Well, I think most of us know the answer to that one, marketing and perceived value usually rein king. If you are reading this though, you probably know better

It is not like this in all craft business. String instruments for example (violins, violas and cellos) are both made in carbon and wood. The carbon models are often cheaper and touted as being more durable, great sounding and less expensive then their handmade wood counterparts.

For reference:

Maclean Quality Composites

www.macqc.com

Total cost of tube set as shown online = $199.93

www.Novacycles.com

Columbus spirit road steel set=201.50

Both of these theoretical frames have other costs involved. Not limited to disposable materials, epoxies, silver, hard parts etc. In the end though there are certainly not substantial material cost differences that justify the large gap in selling prices between these types of frames.

Lugged steel frames of the highest caliber take much longer to produce, have material costs greatly exceeding carbon and take investments in tooling and disposable materials that can be significantly higher than carbon. I hope to see more builders and more buyers appropriately value this special commodity.

frame materials

Frame materials often hold a great importance to the customer. I do not mean to be dismissive of it but in my opinion it is one of the least important consideratons. Ultimate tensile strength for instance, is only part of the complete picture of how a tube performs when made into a bicycle frame. Many factors make up how a tube behaves: diameter, thickness, modulus of elasticity, yield strength etc. Don't let marketing hype sway you into thinking one material is the best because of a simple number.

Remember, the best materials, poorly crafted, can be made into an absolutely terrible frame. But the skilled frame builder can take even fair materials and create a great riding, beautiful frame.

tandem design theory

When I first started contemplating the design of tandems I asked myself. Why are tandems designed the way that they are? The direct lateral design which is most prevalent in the United states is only but one of many configurations that is possible. I decided to start with a clean slate. What you see is the result of many years of thought.

Tandems have to have a few key characteristics. The most important is that a tandem must fit each rider exactly. Secondly, they have to be strong, stiff, light and comfortable to ride.

Tandem stresses are very complicated. Nobody seems to truly understand all the forces at work. Most of today's designs have evolved from existing materials choices and maintaining compatibility with existing components.

I have decided to throw all that out the window!!

Simply put, any tandem is strong and stiff enough in the vertical plane to support the riders. The harder part is to design the frame to be stiff laterally and in torsion. The best way to design for this is not to use more tubes of a smaller diameter but to use very efficient, super-oversize tubes and simplify the overall design. This is what I have done.

For comparison, A two inch diameter tube with the same wall thickness as a one inch tube will be 16 times stiffer than the smaller one.

With the use of a two inch top, down and boom tube along with massive 1.5 inch seat-tubes to resist torsional flexing, the Bohemian Tandem is as rigid as any production steel tandem made. All the while weighing less than any other too. Weights as low as 31lbs are possible.

The most important aspect of this tandem that make it superior to any production tandem is that it is custom fit to both the captain and the stoker. I believe in producing a tandem with a longer than standard stoker top tube length. This extra length allows the stoker to ride with the same position that they have on their single bikes. Although stock tandems can fit a majority of riders reasonably well a perfectly fitted tandem can maximize your comfort and performance.