Thanks also to Pete from COG magazine for these great photos, I've uploaded them all on my Picasa page here.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
NAHBS 2012!
One more day to go, but the awards worked a bit differently this year. At about 3pm on Sat, the majority of the awards were announced, and I'm honored to have my stainless rando bike chosen as "Best Steel Bike"!
Thanks also to Pete from COG magazine for these great photos, I've uploaded them all on my Picasa page here.
Thanks also to Pete from COG magazine for these great photos, I've uploaded them all on my Picasa page here.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Why No Head Badge?
I've been asked this question often enough that I feel like I should explain my position on the matter. In fact, I've probably lost a sale or two specifically because I don't offer a fancy metal head badge!
My simple Ellis head tube logo, custom painted by Jason Sanchez, and since it's painted on, infinitely customizable.
A stainless washer for the brake mount, (and another cool custom head tube logo, this time in dark silver).
A stainless fork crown with an integrated custom fender mount.
Since all Ellis dropouts are 17/4 stainless, I finish the "sliver" underneath each dropout to a point and then Jason masks that off so the area where your rear wheel's axle comes in contact with the frame won't have chipped paint.
Simple, elegant looks, with beauty that is integral, that's what makes every Ellis a "Modern Classic".
My two bits!
Dave
My simple Ellis head tube logo, custom painted by Jason Sanchez, and since it's painted on, infinitely customizable. Well, here's the thing, a head badge doesn't do anything, nada, nothing, ziltch! Sure they can look cool, and I'll admit that there are some that I like quite a bit from an aesthetic standpoint, but the fact remains that it's a purely ornamental part of the bike.
Now I'm fully aware that I build some pretty fancy bikes, and all those shiny stainless lugs and tubes are not necessary, but their beauty and aesthetics are integral to the frame, and in most cases they have at least some functional aspect to them. Stainless chain stays are a great example, why bother with a cheap stick on plastic protector or a contrived rubber strap to avoid chipped paint when a polished stainless stay is one of the best answers. Why did those vintage steel bikes sport a chromed rear triangle and fork? Well, for one thing, those areas were the most prone to chipped paint from wrenches and moving parts, so chrome was the best solution at that time. Nowadays, with thin walled, high strength stainless tubes available, I can build a frame with those same functional aesthetics and not have the rust worries that are inherent with chrome.
When it comes to lugs, there's much less of a functional argument to be made for stainless, but here's the way I look at it, if your frame is going to be constructed with lugs anyway, using stainless doesn't change or add anything to the bike, the aesthetic is still integral to the bike's design and construction.
OK, so back to the head badge question. Let me inject a bit of my history into my explanation. During my time at Waterford, we had more than a few die hard riders who insisted that we offer a head badge, and frankly, I was in agreement. It just seemed a no-brainer for Waterford, with their Schwinn heritage and all.
During that same time, and as more and more small builders started up, I noticed something, they almost invariably all had cool laser cut or cast head badges, and yet many of them had only built a handful of bikes and it showed in their workmanship. In many cases, the head badges seemed to me like a way of "dressing up" or trying to differentiate their mediocre work from one another. Here's the thing, I don't feel like an Ellis frame needs any "dressing up", whether its' my Modern Classic model with lots of shiny stainless or a "stock" lugged frame with none of the bling, Ellis frames are special because of every detail I build into them. Whether it's the subtle curve of a lug that I reshape , or the stainless washers brazed onto the brake bridge and fork crown to avoid paint chips, the beauty is built into every detail, and the end product is the culmination of my 15+ years of building high end steel frames.
Now I'm fully aware that I build some pretty fancy bikes, and all those shiny stainless lugs and tubes are not necessary, but their beauty and aesthetics are integral to the frame, and in most cases they have at least some functional aspect to them. Stainless chain stays are a great example, why bother with a cheap stick on plastic protector or a contrived rubber strap to avoid chipped paint when a polished stainless stay is one of the best answers. Why did those vintage steel bikes sport a chromed rear triangle and fork? Well, for one thing, those areas were the most prone to chipped paint from wrenches and moving parts, so chrome was the best solution at that time. Nowadays, with thin walled, high strength stainless tubes available, I can build a frame with those same functional aesthetics and not have the rust worries that are inherent with chrome.
When it comes to lugs, there's much less of a functional argument to be made for stainless, but here's the way I look at it, if your frame is going to be constructed with lugs anyway, using stainless doesn't change or add anything to the bike, the aesthetic is still integral to the bike's design and construction.
OK, so back to the head badge question. Let me inject a bit of my history into my explanation. During my time at Waterford, we had more than a few die hard riders who insisted that we offer a head badge, and frankly, I was in agreement. It just seemed a no-brainer for Waterford, with their Schwinn heritage and all.
During that same time, and as more and more small builders started up, I noticed something, they almost invariably all had cool laser cut or cast head badges, and yet many of them had only built a handful of bikes and it showed in their workmanship. In many cases, the head badges seemed to me like a way of "dressing up" or trying to differentiate their mediocre work from one another. Here's the thing, I don't feel like an Ellis frame needs any "dressing up", whether its' my Modern Classic model with lots of shiny stainless or a "stock" lugged frame with none of the bling, Ellis frames are special because of every detail I build into them. Whether it's the subtle curve of a lug that I reshape , or the stainless washers brazed onto the brake bridge and fork crown to avoid paint chips, the beauty is built into every detail, and the end product is the culmination of my 15+ years of building high end steel frames.
A stainless washer for the brake mount, (and another cool custom head tube logo, this time in dark silver).
I'm really heartened when folks come by my booth at NAHBS two and three times to look at the same bike and then comment that the longer they look, the more details they see. You can be confident that no matter what part of an Ellis you're looking at, I've spent time thinking about that part and chosen to build the frame that way for a reason. Nothing is there by accident, or just because I saw it on some other cool builder's frame.
Here's a couple more details that some folks miss that I think make Ellis frames special.
Here's a couple more details that some folks miss that I think make Ellis frames special.
A stainless fork crown with an integrated custom fender mount.
Since all Ellis dropouts are 17/4 stainless, I finish the "sliver" underneath each dropout to a point and then Jason masks that off so the area where your rear wheel's axle comes in contact with the frame won't have chipped paint.
Simple, elegant looks, with beauty that is integral, that's what makes every Ellis a "Modern Classic".
My two bits!
Dave
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Rose Valley Ride
Well, on Tuesday Steve was nice enough to round up some of the local guys for a ride that he calls Rose Valley. I pictured riding through pristine valley covered in wild flowers, but as it turns out, we never even go to Rose Valley on this ride, we just turn around at the road that goes to there. That being said, it was an amazing ride!
We started from Patagonia in Ventura, so roughly sea level, and started to head inland and upward. The early miles were rolling, but all pretty much tilting up to some extent, and once we had ridden about 15 miles or so, the real climbing kicked in. Mark rode alongside and stressed that I should take it easy and pace myself as the climb proper would take about an hour, but even that was hard to process, not sure I've even been on a climb for that long? Well, he wasn't kidding, after a short steep section at the start, the grade settled down and we quickly split up to climb at our own pace. While it was easy at first to spin a 19t cog, as the miles wore on, I found myself working my way up to the larger cogs as the miles and elevation piled up. By the top, I was using that 28t quite a bit more than any of the others!
I regret now that I didn't stop a couple times to take pictures, the scenery from the numerous switchbacks was incredible, but I was worried that if I stopped, I'd have a heck of a time getting going again!
Here's a shot of the road to Rose Valley, aka our turnaround spot at roughly 3500" of elevation, and Ben, Steve and Mark waiting for the rest of us slowpokes! Chris apparently didn't get enough climbing, as he's in the distance heading up a bit more of the remaining climb.
Steve rolled in a just a bit after I got there, not looking too much the worse for wear. After we all regrouped, it was time for the downhill back home, and that was a BLAST! I should have kept track of how long the climb took vs. the descent, but my GPS was acting a bit sketchy in the canyons yesterday. It sure didn't take long to get back down, and even after we got off the mountain proper, most of the way home was downhill as well, so we were making pretty good time.
Unfortunately, with just a couple miles to go, Steve flatted his front tire just before a quick turn in the bike path, and he took a tumble right in the middle of the group. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any serious injuries, and no one else went down either, so that's good. Above is a shot of Steve checking to make sure everything is still where it's supposed to be!
Nice fist sized hole in that jersey though! There's my brother laughing at the poor guy! ;-)
As we were loading the bikes back up in the car, we noticed that Steve had skidded right though his rear tire trying to avoid the "other" Steve's crash. That tire is toast!
Cheers,
Dave
We started from Patagonia in Ventura, so roughly sea level, and started to head inland and upward. The early miles were rolling, but all pretty much tilting up to some extent, and once we had ridden about 15 miles or so, the real climbing kicked in. Mark rode alongside and stressed that I should take it easy and pace myself as the climb proper would take about an hour, but even that was hard to process, not sure I've even been on a climb for that long? Well, he wasn't kidding, after a short steep section at the start, the grade settled down and we quickly split up to climb at our own pace. While it was easy at first to spin a 19t cog, as the miles wore on, I found myself working my way up to the larger cogs as the miles and elevation piled up. By the top, I was using that 28t quite a bit more than any of the others!
I regret now that I didn't stop a couple times to take pictures, the scenery from the numerous switchbacks was incredible, but I was worried that if I stopped, I'd have a heck of a time getting going again!
Here's a shot of the road to Rose Valley, aka our turnaround spot at roughly 3500" of elevation, and Ben, Steve and Mark waiting for the rest of us slowpokes! Chris apparently didn't get enough climbing, as he's in the distance heading up a bit more of the remaining climb. 
Steve rolled in a just a bit after I got there, not looking too much the worse for wear. After we all regrouped, it was time for the downhill back home, and that was a BLAST! I should have kept track of how long the climb took vs. the descent, but my GPS was acting a bit sketchy in the canyons yesterday. It sure didn't take long to get back down, and even after we got off the mountain proper, most of the way home was downhill as well, so we were making pretty good time. 
Unfortunately, with just a couple miles to go, Steve flatted his front tire just before a quick turn in the bike path, and he took a tumble right in the middle of the group. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any serious injuries, and no one else went down either, so that's good. Above is a shot of Steve checking to make sure everything is still where it's supposed to be! 
Nice fist sized hole in that jersey though! There's my brother laughing at the poor guy! ;-)
As we were loading the bikes back up in the car, we noticed that Steve had skidded right though his rear tire trying to avoid the "other" Steve's crash. That tire is toast! Cheers,
Dave
Monday, November 14, 2011
Riding in Southern California
I've managed to escape the fast approaching Wisconsin winter by heading out to visit my brother Steve in sunny Ventura, CA for a week. I've been to Ventura quite a few times in the past, but I've never had my bike with me to try any riding out here, so this trip is a first in that respect.
When I got here on Sat afternoon, I had just enough time to get my bike unpacked and back together in time for a quick shakeout ride with Steve. It was kinda gray and windy, and we got sprinkled on a just a bit as well, but it still felt great to be riding in the warmth.
As for Sunday, the weather cleared up and as you'll see in the photos, it was beautiful and sunny for our whole ride. We got together with Steve's friend Mark around noon, and headed out toward Santa Paula and later Fillmore on 126. The wind was blowing in off the ocean and so we had a decent tailwind pushing us inland, and it also doesn't hurt to have Mark pulling, as he's a Cat 1 racer on Team Clif Bar! Once we hit Fillmore, we turned right and started heading for Grimes Canyon, and what had been a pretty flat fast ride was about to get quite a bit more vertical...
As soon as the road started tilting skyward, Mark dropped Steve and I like a bad habit, and about halfway up Grimes Canyon we stopped for photos and I took this quick shot of Steve in his snazzy Ellis kit.
Near the top, I stopped again to take a couple more quick shots of the winding road up the Canyon. Now I probably didn't have to stop, but taking a photo was a nice excuse for a break from suffering on the climb for a few moments! After plummeting off Grimes, (one of my strong points, seeing as how I weigh about 30-40lbs more than Mark and Steve), we continued our loop toward Balcom Canyon road, and while it was certainly shorter than Grimes, the last bit was much steeper! I needed to go to my "Suitcase of Courage" for this one, and luckily I had just enough to get to the top. Once again, Mark dropped the Wages boys, but he was nice enough to wait for us at the top.
Here's a shot of Mark and Steve waiting to head down from the Summit of Balcom Canyon Road. I will admit that I'm glad we came up the south side of Balcom, because the north side looked pretty darn intimidating, and Mark warned me as we rolled away to be careful...
If you look to the right of the photo, you can see the downhill that we're about to do. There are some really steep pitches near the top, and I was riding my brakes for the first half of the way down just to be on the safe side.
One more quick shot of Team Ellis before the descent!
Once we got back down to the valley, we took a quick detour through a Limoneira , (a lemon orchard). A beautiful old building, and it is amazing to see all the rows of fruit trees heavy with green lemons.
By this time, both Steve, myself and Mark were all starting to feel the affects of the long ride, so we slowed it down a bit, and Mark pretty much pulled our sorry butts the rest of the way back to Ventura! When we left, I thought the ride was going to be around 40-50 miles, and I figured that would be plenty, as I haven't been doing many long rides as of late anyway. It turned out that when we rolled into Steve's condo, my computer read 62 miles, just a tad more than I had anticipated, and we were both pretty wreaked!
My last shot of a huge Eucalyptus tree just as we were leaving the Limoneira.
Cheers,
Dave
When I got here on Sat afternoon, I had just enough time to get my bike unpacked and back together in time for a quick shakeout ride with Steve. It was kinda gray and windy, and we got sprinkled on a just a bit as well, but it still felt great to be riding in the warmth.
As for Sunday, the weather cleared up and as you'll see in the photos, it was beautiful and sunny for our whole ride. We got together with Steve's friend Mark around noon, and headed out toward Santa Paula and later Fillmore on 126. The wind was blowing in off the ocean and so we had a decent tailwind pushing us inland, and it also doesn't hurt to have Mark pulling, as he's a Cat 1 racer on Team Clif Bar! Once we hit Fillmore, we turned right and started heading for Grimes Canyon, and what had been a pretty flat fast ride was about to get quite a bit more vertical...
As soon as the road started tilting skyward, Mark dropped Steve and I like a bad habit, and about halfway up Grimes Canyon we stopped for photos and I took this quick shot of Steve in his snazzy Ellis kit.
Near the top, I stopped again to take a couple more quick shots of the winding road up the Canyon. Now I probably didn't have to stop, but taking a photo was a nice excuse for a break from suffering on the climb for a few moments! After plummeting off Grimes, (one of my strong points, seeing as how I weigh about 30-40lbs more than Mark and Steve), we continued our loop toward Balcom Canyon road, and while it was certainly shorter than Grimes, the last bit was much steeper! I needed to go to my "Suitcase of Courage" for this one, and luckily I had just enough to get to the top. Once again, Mark dropped the Wages boys, but he was nice enough to wait for us at the top.
Here's a shot of Mark and Steve waiting to head down from the Summit of Balcom Canyon Road. I will admit that I'm glad we came up the south side of Balcom, because the north side looked pretty darn intimidating, and Mark warned me as we rolled away to be careful...
If you look to the right of the photo, you can see the downhill that we're about to do. There are some really steep pitches near the top, and I was riding my brakes for the first half of the way down just to be on the safe side.
One more quick shot of Team Ellis before the descent!
Once we got back down to the valley, we took a quick detour through a Limoneira , (a lemon orchard). A beautiful old building, and it is amazing to see all the rows of fruit trees heavy with green lemons.
By this time, both Steve, myself and Mark were all starting to feel the affects of the long ride, so we slowed it down a bit, and Mark pretty much pulled our sorry butts the rest of the way back to Ventura! When we left, I thought the ride was going to be around 40-50 miles, and I figured that would be plenty, as I haven't been doing many long rides as of late anyway. It turned out that when we rolled into Steve's condo, my computer read 62 miles, just a tad more than I had anticipated, and we were both pretty wreaked!
My last shot of a huge Eucalyptus tree just as we were leaving the Limoneira.Cheers,
Dave
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Winter Bike
The old cross bike is setup for the crappy weather to come. I fitted up a set of Honjo fenders along with some 32c Vittoria Randonneur Hyper's to deal with the sketchy road conditions, and I added a front and rear light for those nights where the sun sets at 4:00pm! I managed to get out for a couple rides, and while it's not the fastest bike in the world, it still has plenty of get up and go. I sometimes forget how much I like this bike.
Once I get some winter shoes, I'll switch the pedals for some SPD's, but other than that, I hope I'm pretty much set to go.
Cheers,
Dave
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
John's Modern Classic
I know, I haven't been updating like I should, but that doesn't mean I haven't been building and sending out cool bikes! Just finished up John's Modern Classic this afternoon and did the hand off at Ben's Cycle this evening. He choose to go with Dura Ace Di2 and my DRB (dirt road bike) geometry with long reach brakes for a super cool and also versatile bike. My brother and I posted up lots of new bikes in the gallery on my site; http://www.elliscycles.com/gallery.html, and you can also check out some of the bikes I have in process on my Picasa page. I'm working on another Modern Classic for Mark, and a cool road bike for Mike with stainless lugs and a stainless rear triangle. Lots more fun projects coming up too, so check back once in a while!
Cheers,
Dave
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
D2R2 / Good Night Irene
Well, it's been quite a week. I headed out for D2R2 early (4:00am) Wed. of last week to beat the traffic in Chicago, and ended up doing the whole drive to my folks in Schenectady, NY in one big day. Thurs. was a bit disappointing, as it rained the better part of the day, but I spent some time helping Mom out with some odd jobs she'd been saving up for my visit.
Friday I spent some time getting the DRB ready along with my cross bike for Henrik to ride. Cleaned them off, (the cross bike was pretty gross), and then headed out for a short spin before dinner to loosen up my legs. Got to spin around Schenectady a bit and saw some areas that I haven't been to in years. Some things change, but so much of it was just as I remember it, funny to do a loop around Central Park, the same one that I first raced on maybe 20 years ago?
A shot of me, post ride with the DRB.
Henrik arrived later Friday evening, and I got the cross bike set up with his pedals and the right seat height so we were ready for the early wake up on Sat. morning. We headed out for Deerfield around 5:30am, and when we rolled into the big field at D2R2, it seemed everyone was already there! We both grabbed out registration stuff, queue sheets, some food and hustled to get ready to go. As I was tightening my shoes up, poof!, the wire popped out of my Specialized Boa dial... I had messed around with this the night before, and thought I had it fixed, but apparently not. Now I'm dripping with sweat and stressing out about my shoe before I even leave the parking lot! I finally tied the wire off and managed to get the shoe reasonably tight, so I rolled out with my fingers crossed that it would stay on my foot for the next few hours!
Last year, I remember leaving the start with a fairly large group, and we stayed together up until we hit Old Albany hill, but this year it was just Henrik and I for this beginning part of the ride, not a problem, and once we got to the hill, it was nice to have the road to ourselves and pick the best line up the dirt and gravel. As we worked our way up the hill, we overtook a few folks and this seemed to be the way it would work the rest of the day, not huge groups, just ones and twos that we would see as we passed or got passed ourselves.
Here's a shot of Carl's DRB from early this spring in Mass.
Just before the first rest stop, we caught up with Carl, the proud owner of the yellow DRB that I built for myself last fall, and at the rest stop I ran into Bill T. (longtime D2R2 aficionado) and Dan from Maryland, both friends from Cirque. I guess Bill had talked Dan into coming up for D2R2, and Dan was coming to grips with the hills (or should I say mountains) that D2R2 serves up. For my own part, I was feeling a bit rough, I don't know if it was the humidity or just the hills, but I was having a heck of a time getting up the hills without feeling like I was going to toss my cookies. In a way, I think that having done the ride last year worked against me, first, I knew that I was suffering on those first couple climbs, and then I could imagine all the climbs yet to come, and I was having trouble mentally preparing myself for that. Last year, it was blissful ignorance all the way...
Henrik seemed to be riding quite strong this year, and I'm going to blame him a bit for my lack of pictures. Last year, I would get up the climbs a bit ahead, and then I'd have a chance to break the camera out and take some pictures, this year I was struggling to stay on Henrik's wheel!
Well, we did make it, and while it was a struggle, all that has started to fade from my memory already, and I'm already thinking about next year!
Henrik, post ride, "Where's the beer"?
Friday I spent some time getting the DRB ready along with my cross bike for Henrik to ride. Cleaned them off, (the cross bike was pretty gross), and then headed out for a short spin before dinner to loosen up my legs. Got to spin around Schenectady a bit and saw some areas that I haven't been to in years. Some things change, but so much of it was just as I remember it, funny to do a loop around Central Park, the same one that I first raced on maybe 20 years ago?
A shot of me, post ride with the DRB.
Last year, I remember leaving the start with a fairly large group, and we stayed together up until we hit Old Albany hill, but this year it was just Henrik and I for this beginning part of the ride, not a problem, and once we got to the hill, it was nice to have the road to ourselves and pick the best line up the dirt and gravel. As we worked our way up the hill, we overtook a few folks and this seemed to be the way it would work the rest of the day, not huge groups, just ones and twos that we would see as we passed or got passed ourselves.
Here's a shot of Carl's DRB from early this spring in Mass.
Henrik seemed to be riding quite strong this year, and I'm going to blame him a bit for my lack of pictures. Last year, I would get up the climbs a bit ahead, and then I'd have a chance to break the camera out and take some pictures, this year I was struggling to stay on Henrik's wheel!
Well, we did make it, and while it was a struggle, all that has started to fade from my memory already, and I'm already thinking about next year!
Henrik, post ride, "Where's the beer"?
So, we finished up around 3:00, and after we had gotten ourselves together and had some food, we headed back for my folks around 4:00. Just as we were rolling out, the first wave of rain started falling, and I couldn't help but think of the folks who were still out on the course, that couldn't have been too much fun. We had been concerned about when the first rains from Irene would hit, and I think everyone involved was pretty happy that it held off as long as it did. I can't imagine heading down the descent on Hawk's Rd in the rain. I knew that Henrik was interested in getting back ASAP, as he still had to drive south to New Paltz and he'd potentially be heading right into the storm.
When we got back to my folks, the rain was just spitting, and as I unloaded the bikes to get Henrik's pedals off, it occured to me that I should probably just reload them back up right then and there, as it wasn't likely to be raining any less any time soon. After I headed in and got cleaned up, I made the decision to start out for home that night to try and outrun the storm. I had already cancelled my visit to NYC Velo on Fri, (sorry guys!), and it just didn't make sense to hang out for the storm, who knew when I'd be able to get out of town after the storm rolled through. So, at 8;30 I headed out for Rochester, where I had a reservation that Mom had made at a Microtel. I had a couple cans of Coke to keep me awake, and I cranked the radio too, but that was not a fun drive. When I finally got to the motel, I barely made it to the bed before I collapsed.
The next morning, I headed out under gray skies and northerly winds that lasted all the way to Cleveland, OH, quite a span that Irene had. Well, it seems that Irene lived up to the hype as well, sounds like the section of road along the Green River at D2R2 is no longer in existence, and I can only imagine what the roads around the area look like with downed trees. Around my folks in Schenectady, most all of the main roads were shut down in some area or another, and thousands of people were in the dark. I'm glad I headed out when I did, it was quite a trip.
My thoughts are with all the folks who are cleaning up the devastation that Irene left behind. Glad to be home...
Dave
When we got back to my folks, the rain was just spitting, and as I unloaded the bikes to get Henrik's pedals off, it occured to me that I should probably just reload them back up right then and there, as it wasn't likely to be raining any less any time soon. After I headed in and got cleaned up, I made the decision to start out for home that night to try and outrun the storm. I had already cancelled my visit to NYC Velo on Fri, (sorry guys!), and it just didn't make sense to hang out for the storm, who knew when I'd be able to get out of town after the storm rolled through. So, at 8;30 I headed out for Rochester, where I had a reservation that Mom had made at a Microtel. I had a couple cans of Coke to keep me awake, and I cranked the radio too, but that was not a fun drive. When I finally got to the motel, I barely made it to the bed before I collapsed.
The next morning, I headed out under gray skies and northerly winds that lasted all the way to Cleveland, OH, quite a span that Irene had. Well, it seems that Irene lived up to the hype as well, sounds like the section of road along the Green River at D2R2 is no longer in existence, and I can only imagine what the roads around the area look like with downed trees. Around my folks in Schenectady, most all of the main roads were shut down in some area or another, and thousands of people were in the dark. I'm glad I headed out when I did, it was quite a trip.
My thoughts are with all the folks who are cleaning up the devastation that Irene left behind. Glad to be home...
Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)