The “framebuilder’s delight” AKA Trader Joe’s Soy Nuggets, mustard, and two slices of wheat. We’ve barely got time to eat much less so time to blog. We’ll have a post for you before the weekend I promise!
<3gbr
“You should do a post about how sandblasting sucks” -Martin Walsh
Our powder coat extension Sugar Coat was a monumental step for us in 2009. Infinite color choices, a painting process that is kind on our lungs and the environment, and the ability to have a beautiful finished product without having to coordinate shipping and the hassle that always ensues. Bringing powder coats in house was like a dream come true.
The downside of the powder coat process is its whore of a cousin- sandblasting.
We do this in a tiny room hunched over a hulking machine next to a very loud air compressor.
We use a sand and plastic blend to pull paint off of steel, aluminum, even to powder our doorknobs.
Even if you get in a good kick and you’re comfortable (as comfy as you can get) AND you’re really pulling that paint off well, the air compressor will let out startling HAARRRUMPPHHH!! that could shake even Dan St. Germain to his core. At 1.8 gagillion decibels right in your face, it’s the worst noise ever, and it’s gone off twice since I started writing this.
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But, the final product of the process is an absolutely beautiful brilliant unadulterated bike. A frame that hasn’t seen a single ding, bang, u-lock. Not even a fingerprint. Even though the process and prep work definitely sucks, when you grab a warm frame from the oven..
it’s totally worth it.
<3 Gregory Bamford Ralich
Cleanliness is next to godliness; and godliness is a lot better than I’ve been treating my bike lately. Keeping a clean bike during a Boston winter is a lot like keeping a Tomagochi alive. It’s not too hard as long as you’ve got time to kill- but man oh man, if you fall behind you’re gonna hear it. In this light I decided to document the old fashioned “Scrub Down” I gave my baby and no I’m not talking about when my and my bike watch 8 episodes of Scrubs back to back. Though, yes, that post is forthcoming.
After a nice New Year cleanse it’s almost like, “Oh yeah! I forgot I had a nice bike!” Now if I could only get all the mustache hairs out of the keyboards here. Oh, and if you are into the dirty stuff than just you wait until we put out the final edit of our CX vid! Coming soon.
<3Gregory Bamford Ralich
While we may not be slurping down any high octane beverages to power ourselves (less Redbull) the food we consume does greatly affect our riding and our environmental impact.
The Geekhouse staff features 3 omnivores and 3 vegetarians. We would like to give a big thank you to those who provide the fuel it takes for us to build your bikes!
Dr. Praeger and his Californian Style Veggie Burgers.
Stanley Mason- the inventor the Granola Bar.
Johnny Appleseed.
Deborah and her locally made Fig Ginger spread ( THANKS GAV!)
Our friends at the Whole Foods River St. pizza bar.
Grasshopper and their indelible Holiday schedules.
The Geekhouse New Year’s Resolution was to “quit Dunkins” I have a feeling that I won’t last that long. We did get a neat Keurig coffee and hot chocolate maker. I knew I had to quit when I went in to our local Dunks (like a bear to honey) and on my way back to the shop I got door’d spilling my hot chocolate everywhere. The guy wouldn’t even buy me a new one- putz! I feel like it was god telling me to cool it on throw-away spending and I am listening.
<3Gregory Bamford Ralich
We hope you and yours had a great Christmas, NYE, and most importantly that you have seen Avatar. Seriously. We have been using the Holiday dead time to play catch up and we made a lot of progress. In our pre-planning for 2010 we knew that we had to light a fire under the butt of our wordpress so here’s what you can expect to see from us in the year of the Tiger!
Web Store: Coming soon!
We are way behind on “soft goods” -the few times we have had shirts printed they pretty much flew out of our hands faster than we could actually collect money in exchange for them. The good news is that the ball is rolling for some new stuff and we currently have some extra relics from our smash CX season. We have tees, hats, and socks which will be the first thing to appear in the store and if you can’t wait and need to order something now just shoot us an e-mail.
T-Shirts $20, CX Hats $20, Socks $10-$15
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Other Newsworthy News!
I know what you’re thinking, “I follow Geekhouse on twitter, I’m addicted to their flickr, and I comment on every single one of Marty’s fb Status Updates; how can I get an even more personal and in depth look into the life of my favorite Lower Allston frame builders?” Enter: wordpress. We hope to be sharing much more than our bare bones monthly news. We want to share our progress on the NAHBS bikes for Richmond in February, new developments of our powder coat service Sugar Coat, and all of the exciting things that constantly go down here all the time.
We want you to chime in too! What color should we powder coat frankendork for the 2010 tall bike season? Which Boston-area framebuilder has the best facial hair? We’ll be asking for your input and we really hope you want to be a part of the discussion.
We hope you’ll venture back to our humble blog I’ll be here sitting in front of the computer if you need anything. I assume Marty is somewhere playing with his new iPhone- he’s so excited it’s like a geek using their first iPhone- oh wait..
<3Gregory Bamford Ralich
So long 2009! Wow, end of the year post here, it’s Dec 31st as I write this! This past year has really been amazing and we’ve really grown so much and learned soo much! Each year I feel like our bikes get better and better and the shop lately has felt so much more organized!
Also, I promised my self that I’d get an Iphone by the end of this year and Andrea was nice enough to get me half as a Xmas present. What an awesome gf right!?! Also now I can hopefully update more stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr…Weird enough my favorite part of the iphone so far is the Holga “Hipstamatic” app. It makes it look everything look so artsy, haha! So of course I put a ton of pics up (many of my kittens)! Also, expect lots more of those until I get bored with it, haha!
We’ve been doing a bunch of planning for all things NAHBS, which is coming up real fast. We’re making three bikes again this year, but this time they are all pre-sold customer bikes. I’m not going to put any pics of these up beforehand because it’s a surprise, but we might do a pre-showing at a bar in Boston the week before NAHBS. I’ll keep you all posted…
Some sad news this month is that Joe B is leaving to pursue other interests. I want to thank him for all his help this past year and wish him the best in the future! As far as the rest of the shop I’ve had a ton of help lately from the GH crew, Brian Kelly has been really stepping up his game lately and doing an amazing job. Greggles is pounding away at emails and other office work. Mike’s been getting in a ton more time under the mask lately. And we now have Manny volunteering and doing tons of little odds and ends around the shop. All these guys help is really letting me get my hands dirty while still doing all the planning to get this place to the next level! The shop really seems to be taking shape more and more, we’re having weekly meetings now and really getting caught up to where we need to be. So just wanted to say thanks again guys, we’re moving the in right direction!
I got an invite to Johnny Cupcakes house this past month for his Xmas party. I’ve only met Johnny a couple times, but he’s a super rad dood and we have a lot of mutual friends. His whole story is pretty inspiring to me, and I think that he’s so spot on with branding and the way he represents his company. Plus he has skee-ball in his basement, not to mention a full on arcade… His house was absolutely amazing and I posted a bunch of pics on flickr…Vigo the Carpathian, I mean seriously…;)
Andrea and I also got an invite to the Otherside Cafe’s Xmas party. And by invited, I mean we were basically party crashers! But it was really great as we have a lot of friends there. I’d like to thank everyone we know at the cafe, and thanks especially to all those Geekhouse owner’s who have supported us over the last couple of years. You guys rock! Also, where else would you get a blue snuggie with eyeballs for Xmas, haha!
I was also able to make it out to ANT this past month to do some bookkeeping work for Mike. This was part of my agreement for my original apprenticeship with him and I want to keep helping him out as I owe everything that Geekhouse is today to him! Also, he invited me over his house for pizza, which was great! It also made me realize that I need to get all my 2009 bookkeeping done and ready for taxes, so I recruited Andrea to help. She loves bookkeeping!
In addition to being invited by Nicole Freeman the “Boston Bike Czar” to join a board of other Boston bicycle industry members. We were lucky enough to attend the Boston Bikes ‘State of the Hub’. If your interested in all the details check it out here… But the run down is Boston is becoming even more of a world class cycling city thanks to Nicole and Mayor Menino!
Also this last month marked the end of cross season (tear, tear). I couldn’t have asked for a better season or a better bunch of guys and gal on the team. We finished out the season at a fun local race called Ice Weasels and it was pretty fitting because it just snowed a few days before and the whole course was just a white out! But we managed to stay warm with the help of some beers, and of course wonderful cupcakes thanks to Bob and Kat. Most of the team met later that night for a few drinks to talk about all the good times and all the diabolical plans we have for next year. Thanks again guys for a wonderful season. Next up a 24-hour MTB team coming Summer 2010!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Okay, so I’m a little behind on posting the news. But its been crazy around here! The news is really long this month, but there’s just so much fun stuff going on, haha! Also, check us out on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter for more current goings on…
Boston Bikes/Mass-Bike Boards-This past Monday I met with Nicole Freedman head of Boston bikes. We had an actual meeting at Boston City Hall with some other Boston cycling businesses. We’re hoping to create a new board that works directly with Mayor Menino’s office. Step one, get Menino on a Geekhouse, haha! In addition to this I’m applying to be a board member of Mass-Bike, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that one…
Warwick CX-We just finished out the Verge CX series and only have one race left this season. Jeff B was out this week due to the flu, but was still there to support the team. Joshua Robot actually broke his wrist racing, but is still in good spirits. Our 4’s are doing awesome, and having a ton of fun! And David Wilcox is killing it, getting 13th in Pro this past weekend!
Fringe Movies-Steve from Quarter Productions made it out to do some filming of the CX team a couple of weeks ago. We then had a nice little movie night at the Fringe this past week. I love what they’re doing over there. Stayed tuned for some more quality flicks coming out of Geekhouse soon!
Wentworth Finals-I met with the Wentworth Architecture department last week for some of the students final projects. The idea was to create a 10,000 sqft manufacturing space in Boston for Geekhouse. I love some of the detail they incorporated into the models! This was a really great experience, I’m totally blown away with what the students came up with and I’m very thankful that they included me as part of this project. Now all I need is a couple million to start construction. If anyone wants to hook that up please shoot me an email…;)
Shop Re-org-We added a bunch of new tools and organization to the shop this past month. We’re also getting is a bunch of recycled metal shelving this next week. Also pretty soon we’re going to have a nice little lounge and fitting area!
Skype Tours-Greggles had the great idea of meeting with people over Skype and doing mini shop tours and even fittings. We just did the first one with Gavin B from the UK, and we’re hoping to do more of these in the future. It’s a great way to connect with people who can’t stop by our shop in person…
Wiki/Yelp-Well we had a wiki for about an hour before it got deleted by this guy. We’re hoping to have one fairly soon though so stay tuned. We also created a Yelp and are in the process of getting some reviews up there. If you own a geekhouse feel free to give us 5 stars…
Thanksgiving-Wow, I actually got a day off! My Mom made some great Tofurkey and it was awesome to just sit around and drink Beer-mosa’s all day…;)
Boston Young Ent- I got invited to the Boston Young Entrepreneurs club to talk about financing a business this past month. I felt a little like the black sheep on the board, but I was pretty real with how difficult it is to start a business. It’s not all fun and games when it comes to money! Anyway, it was great being part of that and I hope to work with those guys more in the future.
CX Party/Clothing-We had a great fund-raising party for our CX team this past month at Middlesex bar in Cambridge. The night went better than expected, there were easily 200 people there, and one robot. We raised a bunch of cash for the team and raffled off some great prizes from our sponsors. Thanks to everyone for all the help with that event!
Spooky CX-The CX team had a ton of fun at the Spooky CX race in Easthampton this past month. My favorite part though was David Wilcox taking a beer hand-off and still finishing 7th in Pro!
Frame pick-up’s-We had Jake H and Tim S both pick up their bikes this past month. Both guys, were psyched about their new rides! And also we have a new rule, every in-house pick-up also gets a 6-pack of PBR! It’s great to be hooked up with those guys!
Dutch Bike-We’ve also been working with Dutch bikes in Somerville on some special projects, keep posted for more info with those guys coming out soon!
Canton CX/Halloween-Have I really not posted since Halloween, wow that’s lame! Anyway, our team decided to add some flare to the race. Here’s DSG as a Storm trooper, Joshua Robot as a Zombie, and of course Andrew Muro is a Pink Flamingo!
Greg & Biancha-Last but not least, we’re working with Greg and Bianca on outfitting them with a couple of Woodville frames which they’ll be riding from Boston to San Fransisco next summer. They’ll be raising funds for a local charity and I’ll have more news on that in the coming months. Greg’s bike will also be featured at NAHBS in Feb.
Thanks guys, stay tuned for more Geekhouse news!
Please join us for a night of bike fueled fun. On November 23rd at the Middlesex Lounge- Geekhouse Bikes will be hosting it’s first ever CX fundraiser party. We are pulling together in support of our hit cyclocross team just before the end of a fantastic first season. We’ve been tearing up the courses and it is now time to tear up the dance floor to celebrate.
We will be raising money to cover the rest of the years race and travel fees. There will be raffle featuring prizes from all of your local favorites- and a separate drawing for the grand prize: $250 credit for a fully custom Yo Marty segmented fork with your choice of powder coat. Tickets will be sold at the event.
We hope you can join us for a one of a kind night in support of a great team and an even better season. All of the heavy hitters will be there including our star team and crew. You’ve seen the neon kits around town and on the tracks all Fall. Now get ready to see how those spandex clad machines transfer their moves to the dance floor.
We will be sharing slide shows and CX movies, boldsprints by Open, and the support of all of our great sponsors including Boston Rock Gym, Pretty Things Beer, and a host of others. We hope you can join us and that a good time will be had by all.
*UPDATE: Anybody interested in Geekhouse CX Team clothing please email Marty@geekhousebikes.com , we’re placing another order by 11/07/09. We have everything from short sleeve jersey’s, to skin suits, to jackets. Hit me up ASAP!!!
Another month in the history books at old ye geekhouse bikes. We definitely got a bunch of bikes out the door this past month and are moving through the list at a good pace now. Thanks to all those who have been patiently waiting, your beautiful new geekhouse is getting closer every day.
Emails, I love emails but sadly I cannot answer them all quickly. So I’ve hired Gregory Bamford Ralich who will be responding to a lot of inquires coming up. Greg is our newest member of the team and with his help I’ll be spending much more time fabricating, which is what I should be doing 90% of the time anyway.
Cross season is going great! We had a great presence at both the Gloucester Grand Prix and the Providence races. Also this past weekend was the Down East which I guess got a little muddy. We’ve posted a ton of pics on flickr of our CX team and I couldn’t be happier with how things are going!
Geekhouse was invited to Wentworth this past month to talk about what we do here. The architecture department there has a project on designing a Boston based bicycle manufacturing space and wanted to ask us some questions. We did a slide show and had a bunch of fun talking to the students, also we got a few laughs when I showed some pics of my kittens…Awww wubs!
Also, also a couple of weeks ago we visited both the ANT as well as the Icarus/Royal H open houses. We decided to ride 25 miles out to ANT. Where Greg and I dominated the field and won both the tricycle and track stand competitions. We then road 25 miles right back to Somerville to the Icarus/Royal H open house at the Fringe. And proceeded to get a little tipsy…;)
Also this past week we had Andy & Sandi came for a visit from Florida. They planned a trip to come up to Boston visit the Geekhouse shop and get fitted for a couple of ‘Woodville’ frames. They couldn’t have picked a better week, and we got to hang out at a bunch of events. Thanks for hanging out guys, we had a great time!
I’ve been talking with Zach from the band STS9 for a while about setting him and Hunter up with some ‘Rockcity’ frames. I’d never really heard of these guys before, but they came into town this past week and got us back stage passes to their sold-out show out the House of Blues. Joe and Greg even got to do some sick track stands. The show was nuts!!! I’m so psyched that we got to experience it. Also Joe gave Zach a pretty sick tour du Boston during the day, so I think a good times were had by all!
Also we went to the Superb opening party this past Friday. The party started out awesome and the place was packed! I got to be the judge and vote for some pretty amazing bikes (geekhouses, hehe…). But I guess because of one bad apple (Not Joe) the party got shut down by the Boston PD. We then moved the after-party to my old digs, HQ represent!!!
Finally bikes, bikes, bikes. We have a rack full of frames in progress right now. We finished Max M’s bike, got Bill B’s bike out the door. We also had a visit from Nolan who got to hang out at the shop and partake in some pizza and beer action before picking up his brand new ‘Rockcity’. Also I finally finished Vince’s sick ‘Fast Chance’ which is decked out with Sram Red and some King hubs on DT rims, and the tube set was Columbus Life. Also last but not least I finished Helen’s deluxe ‘Woodville’ complete. These bikes still take me soooooo long to assemble, but I’m pumped to have delivered the bike to Helen and Jonathan and I thank them for their patience.
Alright, now back to work. More news coming soon!
Ok I’m freshly back from Interbike! Wow, I feel like every month has been getting busier than the last. And this past month, I definitely had way too much on my plate. If we haven’t been snappy with the emails this past month I apologize, but we should be turning them out much faster coming up.
Also, for more up to the minute news please check us out on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. As I update those pretty regularly.
First off I want to make a post about stolen Geekhouses. Brantley got his bike stolen about a month ago from NYC. Also I’m still missing my bike from about a year and a half ago in Boston. Keep an eye out for these and contact us with any info.
I noticed a couple funny pics this month. One from Core 77 on the bottom right there a pic of a geekhouse. The other from the Boston Globe in which a photo of the Mayor Menino holding a geekhouse was photo-shopped into this architectural concept.
We’ve also been doing a bunch of powder coating on some older frames. The new Sugarcoat website is up with more info and pricing!
Also we finally got new Headbadges. These are water jet cut stainless steel. Designed by Dan StG and engineered by Aarn.
The CX team has pretty much been consuming my life this past month! But we did get our new CX team tent! Then finished the 11 CX team bikes, and then pretty much build 90% of them into complete bikes at the shop. Luckily I had a lot of help from the team, and Tom E from Superb. We got all the clothing in and parts in on time as well. With all that done we did our first race at ‘Suckabrook’. We also got one of our first podiums from Jeff B, congrats dood! I’m really happy how everything turned out and I’m also pumped that our team kits really stand out among the crowd! Thanks to Boston Rock Gym for use of the Sprinter van, our pit area was totally pro, haha!
Finally we were at Interbike all last week. We partnered with SDG components who is a CX team sponsor. We got a pretty sweet spot in the booth for most of the week. And I got to reconnect with a bunch of old friends and talk to a lot of new ones as well. Also Interbike was the official launch of the Rockcity Saddles a Geekhouse and SDG collab. These seats will retail for around $59 bucks and be available in the next couple of months.
Cool, well that’s it for now guys. Thanks and talk with you soon!
-Marty
