AC is proud to sponsor the upcoming Downtown Showdown in Long Beach CA.

Deriick,

you left a message, but I can’t get the phone number you called from to work, and I accidentally deleted your message so I have no way of getting a hold of you besides a blogpost.

The 36hole silver Standard Hubs have been discontinued, our 36hole Standard’s are now black and will soon sport solid axles instead of the hollow ones.

hope this message reaches you.

cheers,

jeff

One of the proto Nature Boy’s was given to Dave Cory of Handspun Wheels

Dave wears black on the outside, because black is how he feels on the inside.  He also famously will only wear his hair “high & tight” and combs it with Murray’s.  He also happens to be an avid cross racer and the perfect dude to put the Nature Boy through it’s paces.

Here’s his bike:

Nature Boy 52cm frameset, Velocity wheelset with the new A23’s 23mm wide rims, old school Michelin cross tires, and I have no idea about the rest of the stuff. 

AC is proud to welcome the newest edition to our family of riders, Taylor Dwight.   

 Check his bio on the About page.

and check this video to see him killing it

His new ride:

Photos by Jeff from IminusD

Taylor is currently in Palo Alto and will be moving to Staten Island this fall.  The kid absolutely kills it, and is super nice and humble.  We’re very excited to welcome him to the crew.  Expect more photos and web edits soon.

Also More Team news shortly as dudes start getting their bikes

quick feb edit from steven jensen on Vimeo.

From Marco in Switzerland comes this undercover Big Block


Here’s what he had to say about it:  (the ugly look (tapes, false ‘broken’ cable there etc) not only
protects the ‘paint’ but it’s rather a protection against
stealers)

Going to so far as to put a false broken cable on the bike.  That’s crazy.  Easily the most effort I’ve ever seen into putting a hot bike on the down low.  The only indication that beneath all of this beats a heart of pure class are the exposed fork tips and rear dropouts.

Thanks for sharing Marco!  glad you like the bike

This weekend at Frostbike our German distributors Cosmic gave me a copy of their latest catalog

flipping to the AC section I was greated by this

First of all the Germans think we’re sexy.  It’s true, it’s true.
Second of all was the photo of Carney I shot last spring.  That dude’s popping up everywhere

And while we’re on the subject of catalogs and photos
there’s this little dumpling from the 2010 QBP catalog

who’s that guy?

that’s a sick rear-wheel bunny hop, bro!

From his trip to MPLS last summer

As you may or may not have heard, this weekend we dropped the curtain on our newest creation, a single speed steel cyclocross race bike. 

My big plan was to post a nebulous photo of the cable routing on Friday to whet your appetites (sp?) for the whole bike photos to come after the show.  Obviously that didn’t happen but here is what it would have looked like:

pretty intriguing huh? 

Good.

Now, let’s get on with the introductions, shall we?

Officially known as the Nature Boy (in homage of Minnesota wrestling legend Ric Flair), it is a single speed cross race bike. 
(and before you start in with all the jokes, yes I’ve seen that video, and yes you can ride it while wearing  “tight jeans”)

the Nature Boy

internal cable routing

signature headbadge

signature dropouts

Things you want to know:

*Price for frameset:  MSRP $540
*Availability: Late July for frameset, August for complete bike (shooting for $850 MSRP but not finalized yet)
*Color: awesome lime green color, which we have yet to name for the frameset (not finalized for the complete)
*Tubing: 4130 Double Butted Chromoly steel main triangle, 4130 tapered stays and fork blades, externally butted seat tube.  The same steel as on the Big Block, and if you’ve ridden one of those, you know that this thing is gonna rip
*ED coated tubes, inside and out.  More on this later, but basically this beauty is rust proofed inside and out
*Removable canti bosses. if you’re not using them, lose them
*Internal cable routing
*Fast as hell
*Aggressive race geometry
*Hidden fender mounts on the inside of the stays
*Reinforced water bottle bosses, two of ‘em
*Tire clearance 38c’s 

Overall philosophy

This bike continues the styling cues and aesthetics of the Big Block.  What we’ve tried to do is create modern classics, frames that draw on the best elements of modern and traditional bicycle construction and put them into a package that is within reach of most riders.  This is why we’ve chosen to do lugged crowns, brazed on fork ends, our own custom dropouts and headbadge, brazed on seat collars, reinforced bosses etc.  For the Nature Boy we’ve added internal cable routing, hidden fender mounts, and removable canti studs to the mix.

The internal routing is not only beautiful, but also provides the added benefit of being easier to shoulder over barriers and provides a cleaner look if you’re riding fixed gear and not using the rear brake. The canti studs are removable in a nod to our fixie crowd.  If you’re not using them, take them off for weight savings and a nicer profile. 

The geometry is a mix of traditional cross and track.  You’ll find aggressive headtube angles and slightly steeper than traditional cross seattubes.  Coming from a track bike background we like a fast handling bike (fast, but not twitchy) and are accustomed to sitting over the cranks a little more, so we designed the Nature Boy to be a little steeper than some of the other cross bikes you’ll see out there.  We feel like we’ve found an optimal blend of comfort and handling, and plan on using this thing for commuting, day trips out of the city, 100 mile gravel races, singletrack riding, and of course racing cross.  It’s a hoot to ride, and we’re really excited about the Nature Boy’s possibilities and hope you are too.

I’ll post up more info as it comes in

that’s all you get for now

Here are some scenes from around the AC booth at Frostbike

stickers, hubs, and propaganda

The AC Nature Boy….more on that in the next post.  That woman in the background is the boss lady Lisa (she does exist, and you thought I made her up)

Nature Boy sample in Purple

Big Block

The Dropout Limited

Double Twist Lace from Handspun

don’t know about functionality, but they sure are pretty and they really show off what the Handspun boys can do

The New Sherrif’s

We’ve got a tradeshow coming up this weekend here on our home turf and along with a tradeshow comes show bikes.  This one is the Limited Edition Dropout in brakeless black.

First the frameset:

The complete build:

no brake mounts!

the new stainless hardware for the New Sheriff’s along with our new stainless cog’s and lockring

I’m super stoked on the build, and because I’m sure you’re all wondering, those are 38c Vittoria Rando’s on there

We’ve got one more bomb that drops this weekend, I’ll try to post a little teaser for you tomorrow! 

If you’re a dealer and you’re coming to Frostbike, make sure you stop by the booth and introduce yourself