Visit to Bruce Gordon cycles

Here's where Bruce Gordon has been building bicycle frames, forks, stems, racks, toe clips......many things and all done at the highest level of quality ever seen in the craft.

 This is the lunch table supported by a number of old dead frames-a number of them are Bridgestones....very popular with old MTB enthusiasts but prone to breaking. They make for a pretty interesting and solid table.

 Here's one view of the shop space with a large work table and some of the tooling.

 Here are some of the machines, a vertical and horizontal mill , along with the fork jig.

 The two Schnozola frames that Bruce powdercoated. I drove up to Petaluma to pick these up along with some of the build parts that Bruce ordered for the two bikes.

 Upstairs frame storage. I thought that I had a lot of bikes and frames in my shop- Bruce's collection dwarfs my 30+ years of accumulation.

 One of Bruce's many distinctive awards. This is the fabled " Golden toilet seat" from Interbike about 20-odd years ago. You had to be someone special to get one of these.

 Here's the man in his office getting the invoicing in order .

 Bruce has every bike that he built for himself since the very beginning and he has them on display in the upstairs showroom. Some of these bikes were ones that he rode and some were special projects for the bike shows. They are all of them distinctive and stylish without being overly ornate.

 Here's Bruce's very first frame built in 1974. This one looks like it got ridden a ton. I can't say that about my first frame as it was not that much fun to ride.

 Here's some of the collection with each bike and frame with a card stating the year of manufatcure.

 Here are more of the displayed bikes from the personal collection.

 Here's one in my size.....if only I had the $ 7,800 for it. There are a lot of carbon bikes from China that cost more than this. The workmanship is evident in the fork and stem as well as the frame. It is breathtakingly  beautiful. Very few people on the planet have created bikes like this and none that have this aesthetic harmony, at least to my view.

Most people do not know this but Bruce has two victories in bowling tournaments as these trophies attest to. Man of many talents !

Cyclocross frame for Richmond, Va.

 This is yet another big-tire version in steel going out the door. I have built eleven of this particular model so far this year, pretty much on a pace to break twenty. This is a popular platform in a popular color, RAL-6019 the team color.

 The fork is painted to match -it is an Enve this time with a 12 mm thru-axle.

Also, this one is set up for Di II. all the cool stuff and it's steel.

Aluminum road race frame for San Jose

 If you like the shape of this frame, that's good......this is how my aluminum road frames are looking these days and for the future. I might be doing some flat mount disc brake versions later as I am sure that people will be asking for that.

 This frame is mostly Dedaccai "Force' 7000 series aluminum-probably a bit stronger than it needs to be but this frame is really built to last. The rider who is getting it does a ton of miles and races as ofen as his schedule permits. He was the person who created our Nor-Cal junior squad .

The fork is an Enve tapered -the headset Cane Creek and there's a nice Jen Green headbadge that I threw in for good measure. I hope this bike gets ridden a lot.

Big tire CX bike for a local

 Big tire CX bikes might be popular right now but this model is one I have been building since 1992. There have been some changes over the years such as more bends in the stays, tapered head tube but for the most part , the team tig SL has stayed the same.

 The customer came up with the idea to use the team color in the panels. I like the look and would not have thought of it. The parts are Shimano so it is set up with a Tanpan adaptor to make the XT rear der. work with the R-685 shifters. This allows for a wide gear spread- 11-42 with a single ring up front. The left shifter is not connected but the bike does have the cable guides to run a front der. if needed.

Team bike for sale

This is a new frame ,fork and headset with a mix of slightly used demo parts and some new stuff. The top tube is 570 and the seat tube is 568 c/t/c so it fits a 6'1" rider really well. It has Zipp alloy wheels, Sram CX-1 force cranks and der. with Red-22 levers and hydraulic brakes. You can ride away on this bike for $ 3,000. I seldom have extra bikes like this so it's a rare opportunity to get one fast and cheap. Email me at paul@rocklobstercycles.com if you are interested.

Want my bike ?

 Yes, I'm selling one of my recent road bikes. I had fun on it for two years but I have about 5-6 road bikes and need the room in my shop. The top tube is 565 mm and the saddle top to BB is about 725 mm with a bit of up and down adjustment with the seat mast topper. It's a really nimble and light bike being made of Dedaccai 7.9 tubing. A frame like this new is $ 1,650. I'm asking $ 1,700 for the whole bike. Without pedals it weighs 16.9 lbs. and has mostly 105 5800 with 6800 wheels and a dura ace fr. der. It has some new Enve bars 44 cm. It's a lot of fun to ride. email me at paul@rocklobstercycles.com if you are interested.

Swiggco-Roubaix ride 2017

 Here is the poster I made for the event. This ride was supposed to just be a team event but with most of the team unable to make the ride the invite went out to the bay area CX community and we had nearly 40riders.

 The bulk of the riders met at Corralitos for the 60 mile round trip to San Juan Bautista. Lots of different types of bikes were on hand.

 Here was a re-grouping spot after one of the days two flat tires. The sky threatened rain all day but not a drop fell.

 Going up the dirt climb the rains of the previous week made for a sticky muddy situation. About 3/4 of the way up folks were forced to carry their bikes and un-clog the areas around the brakes for the remaining climb.

 At the top we were treated to a great view before a screaming muddy downhill. Bikes got sideways in the slippery conditions and some of the bikes got clogged with mud again.

 High above the lunch destination the sky was dramatic and the air was very clean. This was the highest point of the day.

 At the finish a barbeque was planned but instead the main course was beer. Lots of tired but happy people were in the park in front of Corralitos store.

Here's my bike after the ride. It was a lot muddier at the top of the climb-Dumpstervaagen passed the test of mud, rocks and ruts. Maybe next year we will do another one of these-mixed terrain rides.