Since starting the blog 10 months ago we have met all kinds of amazing people. Frame builders that really care about craftsmanship, design and doing things the right way. These people go head to head with huge marketing companies that push out shit products and only care about one thing, money.
You know these companies. The ones that say their product is solid even though they don’t ride. All of their frames come from some factory in Taiwan where millions of frames are thrown together yearly. Cheap aluminum, non tested carbon, and high tensile steel = money. Their eyes are focused on one thing only, selling bikes. I (Drew) have spent a large portion of my life working my ass off to make as much money as possible to fill a void. A few years back I met Zoe, an amazing girl that doesn’t care about money or being flashy. She only cares about academics, cycling and caring for me. This changed my life completely. I quit focusing on dollars and started living life. Meeting new people and learning about them. Taking the time to get to know people and what makes them happy.
The big companies act as if they care about cycling. Throwing tons of free shit at riders to make them seem like “the good guys”. A few months back we got sucked into this while preparing for An American Alley Cat In London. A few of these companies got pushy about post and showed their true colors.
For the past few days I have been sick in the bed. This has given me time to do a lot of thinking. From now on we will only post about companies, frame builders and artists that we truly believe in. We no longer care about numbers. By that I mean the amount of people that come to the site or like the Instagram. We have never been in the cycling game to make money. We do it because we love it. There is nothing more beautiful than a fresh frame by a custom builder in a tiny shop. The details are always amazing and you can tell that they put their heart into every single step.
We understand that going with the smaller guy is always more expensive and not everyone can afford it (us included). All I am saying is do your research. Not in the forums where people who don’t even ride talk about how bad ass their new shit-box bike is. Talk to people who have been riding for a long time, not those who are sponsored. Talk to those who do it because they love it. Not people who are secretly getting paid to push a company but those who ride every single day because they want to.
Life is too short to ride shit bikes…
…and most importantly,
HAVE FUN!