News / Fairdale Feed from FairdaleBikes.com

Sandy Carson has been having some fun on bikes recently. He raced at the season opener of the TMBRA at the Rocky Hill Ranch and then did the Chihuahuan Desert Dirt Fest ride though Big Bend National Park. Sandy’s first mountain bike race landed him in 2nd place in Cat 2. Not bad at all! The annual 3 day Chihuahuan Desert Dirt Fest through Big Bend National Park is pretty epic. Sandy rolled with Team Sativa Rollers, hiked and camped under the stars in Terlingua. Designed by Sandy his Beta Brand prototype STORRIST backpack made its maiden voyage through the desert. Almost ready for production HERE. Jack-ass-a-lope?      

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Our friends from PNT Magazine took their Weekenders for a tour through the Bieszczady mountains on the edge of Poland. They came back with some of the most amazing photos! Thanks so much for sharing guys! You can download the latest PNT Magazine free from their website too. Read on to check out their adventure…  It was early autumn 2013 when the three of us decided to switch to bike touring. Bart and Dodo, avid fixie riders, were ready to move on to a different kind of biking (less taxing on the joints), I wanted to get out of the city and its immediate surroundings and start doing longer rides. Thus, an idea was born, a common goal which would see us debate, plan, map out, and finally set off on our first big journey. Even though we were new to this, we decided to aim high, and chose the Polish section of Bieszczady, the last true wild mountains straddling Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia, as our starting point. This rolling landscape is home to wolves, bears and bison, and still has areas untouched by civilization – a fitting start for three inexperienced trekkers yearning for adventure. In the eight months leading to the ‘Grand Départ’ we had to do research, purchase tons of equipment, get ourselves physically ready, and of course procure new bikes. When our gorgeous new Weekenders arrived in March, we knew it was real, there was no getting out; the days and weeks started buzzing by and suddenly it was July and it was time to go. We managed to enlist one of our friends, who drove us and our gear in his spacious VW bus to our first pin on the map, where everything would begin. He stayed with us for the weekend, so we wouldn’t have to carry everything from the off, and also served as morale booster. This proved to be invaluable when on our first day of riding we stumbled upon a brown bear… Luckily, the fella was probably as surprised as we were, so we quickly went our separate ways. However, those few minutes of indescribable horror are not something we ever want to repeat. We planned for nine days of riding, starting east and then coming back over Bieszczady, Beskidy and Pieniny, all in all almost 500 km of mountains, hills, valleys, rivers and wildlife. We tried to keep a healthy and exciting balance of pre-planning and spontaneity, adjusting to weather, landscape and fatigue. In the first half of the journey we were doing so well that we decided to actually ride all the way home to Katowice, and not take the booked train in Nowy Targ. Alas, the weather had other plans for us, and we finally lost to the rain forcing us to take three rest days. Nevertheless, we did manage to get to the train on time, which proves that a bit of forethought and planning is a good thing. Most of the time though, we were having a […]

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Cyclocross Magazine did a nice thorough review of our 2015 Parser for their issue 27. It’s worth a read even if your considering buying a Parser for more urban uses. Our Parser has morphed through the years into a tough urban single-speed that now is fairly adapted even to CX use. Thanks soooo much to Cyclocross Magazine and check the full review below OR, better yet check out the full issue on a news stand or digitally from the Cyclocross Magazine website. 

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A Story about our Drawnright tubing and the Goodship. OFF-THE-SHELF BRANDED TUBESETS: Bicycle frame builders can use butted tube sets to save weight, to control the feel of the frame and to improve durability by moving the “flex” of the frame away from critical places like welds and other highly stressed areas. A lot of brands and frame builders will point out that they are using “butted tubes”, however, when using an off-the-shelf tube set, the position and thickness of the butting will generally be designed to work on a wide range of frame sizes and geometries, and this can create a mix of benefits that are largely a compromise. Therefore, when it comes to designing the frame they are limited to working within the constraints and benefits of the off-the-shelf tube set that they have chosen for the project. Branded off-the-shelf tube sets are formed as either seamed (sometimes called “welded”) or seamless tubes. Often, the way that the tube has been formed is never identified by the manufacturer, even when the tube set is coming from high-end tubing suppliers. Seamed or “welded” tubes are made by taking a rolled strip of steel and wrapping it around to a form a tube. A weld is then used to form a seam that closes the strip together. In this case, no matter how well the tube has been drawn, it will always have its seam as an imperfect area that can affect the tube’s integrity. The only real reason to ever choose a seamed tube is to avoid the seamless tube’s added cost. Seamless tubes are made by starting with a solid steel cylinder. The cylinder then has a large spike driven through the center (with an enormous amount of force) to form a fat, thick-walled tube shape. This heavy-gauge, forged tube is then drawn out many times through multiple forming stages until a long, thin walled tube has been created. The integrity of the original billet is maintained throughout the drawing process, resulting in a strong and reliable tube. Seamless tubes are superior to seamed tubes because there is no imperfect seam for the frame maker to worry about, and the finished tube also tends to be much “straighter” at the end of its forming process. However, since making seamless tubes is much more difficult, its advantages obviously come with a higher price tag. The number designations and trade names on off-the-shelf tube sets are generally used to identify the various processes that have been used to form the tube, or to identify the tube set’s intended application, rather than specifying the actual grade of the material. With chromoly steel, bicycle tube sets of every type are generally comparable to the 4000 grade series, and usually very close to the USA standard, 4130. Typical Japanese chromolys are designated as SCM430. This is a grade of steel that is very close to 4130 but with slightly tighter constraints on the material’s impurities, and a slightly higher percentage range for the […]

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  In the USA Fairdale is sold to bike shops (mostly) by Full Factory Distribution. Full Factory is our own distro and they also sell Sunday, Odyssey and G-sport. They have totally revamped the catalog section making it much easier for bike shops to purchase our products. Only bike shops can buy from Full Factory, but if there is a shop you wish carried Fairdale feel free to point them this way! Check out Full Factory here: Full Factory Distribution BTI, QBP and J&B Importers also sell some of our products (like Skateracks, some frames, grips, ect). The rest of the world can buy our bikes from our international partners here.  

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I found this to be really inspiring. One of those “get out there and do something kind of videos”. Also, check out our Skaterack in action!

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The Goodship is a road bike. It’s not a bike that is meant to be adaptable to 100 different uses. It won’t fit knobby tires, nor does it have fender mounts. It is a purpose-built bike for riding on the road, and we might add, doing that quite quickly – if you are so inclined. One of the Goodship’s standout features is our Drawnright Tubeset. The tubing starts out as an ultra high-grade, seamless, Japanese 4130 chromoly. We custom form and precisely butt each tube of the bike so it is specific to each size. That means that the internal thickness of the tubing changes depending on where it is on the bike. For example, tubing is thicker near the hand TIG welded joints to increase strength, while it can be thinner in the middle of the tubing to save weight. The tubing is also heat-treated to exacting specifications to further increase strength. The result is a frame that has all the benefits of good ol’ reliable steel. It’s very strong, dependable and only weighs in at 3.8 lbs (for 56 size). Of course you can find carbon frames that are lighter, but the Goodship is set to follow a different course. Instead of chasing grams we concentrated on ride quality and the practicality of a high-quality modern steel frame. Steel is resilient, proven, strong and much more versatile and affordable to work with too. It makes an outstanding platform on which to build a bike that you will love to ride every day. The Goodship also comes stock with an ENVE Road 2.0 carbon fork, which contributes to the bike’s immediately noticeable and outstanding overall “ride feel”. ENVE’s quality is something we believe in and it’s essential to have a trustworthy name on your bike’s forks. The Goodship comes with our own sealed bearing Fairdale wheelset that is traditional and tough without being overly heavy. This is a classic cross-laced wheelset that you will be able to put some “real” mileage on. Continental Ultra Sport tires in 25mm width handle the road work (maximum tire size on the Goodship is 28mm for most brands). SRAM Force 22 covers the braking, shifting, and cranking. You’ll notice that we didn’t mess around with using some off-brand crank that might interfere with Force’s excellent shifting. We stuck with SRAM’s specifications and used the whole groupset. An FSA Gossamer stem and seat post, FSA Vero bars and a sealed, integrated FSA headset round out the component spec. The Goodship’s initial introductory pricing will be about $2999.99 for the complete bike or $999.99 for the frame and fork (FSA headset included). The first round of bikes are available NOW in 54, 56, 58, and 60 sizes.

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Our team riders Sandy Carson and Taj Mihelich both have custom designed skate decks in the Project Loop 50/50 2 Auction. Project Loop is an amazing charity that helps empower kids to do cool stuff. This particular auction is benefitting a skate park they are trying to build in Taylor, Texas. Loads and loads of great artists and great people made boards this year. Browse through some of the work on the online auction here: http://www.32auctions.com/50502 The auction ends in time for Christmas too, could be a cool gift idea.  Aside from Sandy and Taj look for boards from Jim Bauer, Jed Rogers, Bryan Nelson, Michael Sieben, and tons more!!  

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Check out Sandy Carson‘s great photo gallery over on ESPN’s X-Games page. You might notice Leif and a Weekender too! Check it out here.

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We haven’t had an update on our team rider Seth in quite a while. He was the leader of our epic Seattle to SF Field Trip (which is worth a read!). After 7 hard working years as a bike messenger in Seattle he took a job working in the Mt Baker National Forest and more or less fell off the grid. No cell service or internet, just trees, mountains and nature. That area of the country is amazingly beautiful and about as perfect an escape as you could dream up. He sent a few photos and a little update for us….   I recently looked at the Fairdale website and noticed my last update was quite some time ago.  I was in Seattle, ‘living the dream’ making a living riding bikes and drinking lots of coffee.  Bike messengering is one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ kinda jobs.  My first couple years I could ride all day, BMX after work or go for a mountain bike ride, then do a multi-day stage race over the weekend, and fucking love it.  Going into my seventh season (seventh winter in messenger terms) putting on the wet shoes and pedaling from dark till dark had gotten old.  I turned my recreation into my job and my personal goals with my bike riding got put to the side. At this point I was spending less of my free time riding bikes as my mind was fully enveloped in the mountains.  It was my escape from the bustle of the city, a place with no rules.  I would load up my truck with every toy imaginable and join the caravans of other Seattleites in their escape.  Snowboarding, climbing and mountain biking became the purpose for my travels, however I didn’t need these objects to be content in the hills. It took me two years to finally leave Seattle after I’d decided.  I got a job in the Mt Baker National Forest.  I packed up my room after 10 years and moved to Glacier, WA, a town of 211. Similar to the town I grew up in. My first season in the Forest Service I was on a front country crew, building structures, maintaining campgrounds and … toilets. It was awesome.  I was learning skills, something I hadn’t done in…. seven years. At the end of the summer I collected unemployment, traveled a bit and snowboarded every day.  This previous season I joined the trail crew, my dream job once again.  I learned more skills and worked harder than I ever have before.  I loved it.  My body however was breaking down, ankles, knees arms and hands. My hands are pins and needles as I’m typing this now.  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so eager to grab the axe all the time. This being the beginning of my second winter off, I was hoping to go on a bike tour as I’ve falling in love with my bicycles all over again.  My Weekender is all […]

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