Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love you, Tomorrow!

because that's when the Rahr Beer Ride happens!

and one for the boys...

Here's another Christmas bike we just built... the Fuji Fazer. Check out those rad motocross-inspired fenders:

Holiday Time at the Bike Shop

You know it's holiday time at the bike shop when the lights are in the window (above) and the kids' bikes start arriving.


Here are a couple for the girls, including one from a new line we picked up, Fuji bikes:

Fixed Gear Fever

These days we're selling more urban bikes than anything, and it seems like the lion's share of them are fixed gears, like this Surly Steamroller we got today (56cm frame, in case you were wondering):

The Steamroller is so hot, you have to wear oven mitts instead of cycling gloves when you're riding it. Seriously, everytime Surly gets a container of these ready to ship, they're sold out in a week.

We also built one of the awesome and affordably priced ($550) SE Lagers today:

Technically, this is a freewheeling single speed, not a fixed gear (you can coast on this one). The rear wheel has a flip-flop hub, though, so buy a fixed cog and a lockring and you can ride it fixed or freewheeling. I thought it was cool that this one comes with comfy bullhorn bars, and a matte black paint job. The decals aren't clearcoated, so you can remove them if you want that stealthy, non-bike-thief-attracting look.

Do you [heart] FW?

If so, you need one of our nearly-famous "I [heart] FW" t-shirts.

We just got a sizable run of the Panther Black Ts in all imaginable sizes back in stock for $20:


And for the cooler weather that has finally arrived, we also made a limited run of 3/4-sleeve Baseball Ts for $25 (These are made from super-soft jersey cotton, and are my new favorite shirts):

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday-

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so there will likely be no blog post... in order to relieve your Thanksgiving PCB blog withdrawal, I've decided to give you this completely gratuitous picture of a Turkey in a wig and bicycle helmet:



No kidding, this is a logo for a rally that happened in Denton a few days ago. Enjoy!

Hommage á Pablo Picasso

Congratulations Jeremy!

Thanks to Jeremy, Panther City Bicycles came out on top of the unofficial "Bike Shop Battle" at yesterdays Moritz Cowtown Cyclocross race.

Four bike shop worker bees entered the 11:30 Cat 4 heat: Jeremy from PCB, and Aubrey, Tim, and Sully from Colonel's. All rode single-speed 'cross bikes, so the race was pretty fair.

Jeremy carried the PCB colors to victory in the shop-rat race, and even pulled off an impressive 9th overall. We couldn't be more proud of our lead courier.

We set up to watch the race at the one forced dismount point of the race. There were two barriers, followed by a levy hill so steep riders had to run instead of ride up it.

Jeremy clearing the barriers on the first lap:


This picture shows just how steep the hill after the barriers was:


A quick remount, and Jeremy's back in the action


Our buddy Watson from the Arundel Bicycle Company rounding the corner at the top of the hill:


Tim, who took a bit of a fall on the first barrier run-up, getting up the hill on the next-to-last lap. We're proud of Tim for finishing the race, even if it was in Colonel's colors:


We asked Jeremy what enabled him to pull of such a decisive victory, even when he was outnumbered three to one. "Noodle Salad," he said.

To see some more pictures of Moritz Cowtown Cyclocross action (much more professional than my pictures), check out Pete G's photos at West and Clear.

Who wants a Surly Steamroller?

All sizes are back in stock at Surly world HQ... but they'll probably go quickly. Last time it took about a week. The time before that, they were gone in about 3 days.

Speak up if you want one... they're outstanding bikes at a Surly price ($666.)

"Creating a Buzz for Cycling"

We've got a new Saturday morning routine, Inspired by Interbike and Bikes Belong. At this year's trade show, they gave away great coffee in mugs that said "Creating a Buzz for Cycling."

In the afternoons, we're happy to share our Rahr beer to create a buzz. But Saturday mornings seemed ideal for coffee.

So here it is, our inaugural Saturday morning coffee bar:



Make us a stop on your Saturday morning ride. Have a cup of coffee and talk bikes with us!

Classic Trek fixie for sale

We came across this classic Trek frame a while back... It needed lots of new parts to get rolling as a road bike again, but the frame is in fantastic shape, so I decided to make a cool urban fixed-gear out of it.

The frame is a very nice vintage lugged Trek frame, made with double-butted Tange tubing. Almost everything else is new: Brand new rear fixed gear wheel, new cog & lockring, new nickel-plated 1/8" chain. New seatpost and new (slightly scuffed) Selle San Marco Concor saddle. New stem, bars, and front brake. New grips. Like-new Vittoria Zaffiro tires with new velox rim strips and tubes.

The rear-wheel has a flip-flop hub, so you could run it as a coastable single-speed if you really want to. I'd reccomend riding it fixed for maximum fun, though.

We're asking $300... about half the price of most entry-level fixies, with twice the character. It's a 54cm frameset.

SHAKEDOWN

Trae Monster and myself participated in the Shakedown in Denton this weekend.
Its pretty much a team alleycat. It was fun.
We did a good job reppin the eight one seven couriers. We took fourth place. Highest placing out of towners.

They plan on doing it monthly. Not a bad way to spend a tuesday evening.

Feeling Guilty

Of all the insect species that could have been killed by the spokes of my front wheel and flung onto my down tube... it had to be a ladybug!?

Don't Forget

The City's bicycle transportation planning meeting for the central region is tonight, at the downtown Public Library.

Be there!

Fort Worth Bike Plan Meeting

Here's the word from LMRA Bicycle Club president Jim Wilson, whose club is hosting the first meeting:

"The City of Fort Worth has a City Planner (Don Koski) who actually has a background in cycling. More importantly, they are letting him put time towards cycling. To that end they've appointed a Bicycle Study Technical Committee (to include reps from the "T", Police, TCU, TCC, Parks, Transportation, Environmental Management, and cyclists). The mission is to establish guideline policies and route/lane/trail plans that incorporate cycling into the city's transportation plan. The committee's next move, Regional Public Workshops to garner support and inputs from citizens who currently, or would consider cycling. The first of these Public Workshops will be hosted by the LMRA Bicycle Club at the LMRA Facilities (3400 Bryant-Irvin Rd, Fort Worth) on the 5th of November."

We'll ride from the shop to this meeting, leaving at 5:30 sharp (note: that means we'll have to close a little early). Come ride with us, show up and make your voices heard!

Cool bicycle commuting challenge

Clif Bar is challenging folks to rethink how many of their trips could be done by bike... the call it the 2-mile Challenge:

http://www.2milechallenge.com/home.html

The 2-mile radius mapping is an especially cool feature... I noticed some stores in my radius that no longer exist, so call first. But otherwise, what a cool tool!