Maybe some of you might be wondering what I have been doing for the past month. I have still been working , building and shipping out frames. The difference is now that I eat lunch at home, rarely drive and have the door shut- I have to be closed to the public until the shelter-in-place instruction has been lifted. I'll continue working until a more absolute decree is implemented. Here's a sample of what has been built in the shop recently- a complete Alfie town bike for Santa Barbara. This will be in the shop for the month as there's little chance that anything will get picked up until the virus has started abating. This bike has lots of features- a large basket for carrying a small dog, a fender mounted rear light, leather saddle and grips, a Wald rear rack with wooden platform, A very bright halogen headlamp driven by the Alfine front dynamo hub.
Next is a boost 29er frame for N.C. This one is 7005 aluminum, much of it from my NOS Easton stash. I still have some seat tubes and down tubes and some square seat stays. I figure that I'll be able to make about 20 more of these before the supply is all gone. The chain stays are Dedacciai 'fat-bike' style- something new that I really like a lot. I'll be able to use these for all the aluminum boost frames in the coming years, assuming that # 1, I survive the virus era and # 2, people still want frames like this from me.
The same customer is N.C. also ordered this CX frame with a painted to match Enve fork. This is also aluminum but all Dedcciai tubing, as are most of the CX, gravel and road frames that I build.
My posting to this blog has been limited as of late and does not really fully show all that I have been building so far this year. The total frames built since Jan. 1 is about 24 frames . The year started out busier than any in my history but with things as they are, I might run out of work some time in the late summer. It is also likely that I will be moving my shop yet again as the person with whom I share the space is having to move. It is possible I might be moving back to the building I occupied from 1996-2018. If that happens , I'll be paying less rent and hopefully be able to ride out this difficult time and with luck, come out the other side still in business.
I appreciate all the support and business I have gotten from everyone and hope that all of you out there are able to survive and cope with probably the most significant health crisis of our generation. I don't want to get all political about what has and what has not taken place to try to keep us all safe but I will say this: We should look to each other to take care of our population at large. All of us should really think about our own exposure and our exposure to others. I don't really have any contact with people other than going to an outdoor farmers market once a week. I work alone and ride alone- my wife is the only person I see and she is on work furlough for the next two months and has as little contact with people as I. We stay connected to friends and family by email and phone. This is the way that it has to be. We do try to support our local businesses by ordering take out once or twice a week. This is going to be a rough ride for sure but if everyone behaves it will be less horrific than the last go-around of 1918. If you want to know how bad it can get, there's a video on youtube called "We heard the bells" . It is a very tough watch but important for people to see. Many mistakes were made back then- mostly fueled by arrogance and ignorance. It is my hope that we as a people have evolved enough not to repeat the mistakes of 1918.
Hope that you all stay well- Paul.
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