News / Fairdale Feed from FairdaleBikes.com

We got some new T-shirts in stock… check them out! Check ’em out here.

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Our popular Weekender frame and fork is now available. The Weekender has disc brake mounts, integrated headset and can be set up with gears or maybe even an internally geared hub. Who knows why you’ll come up with! Check it out here. Of course you can also buy our Weekender as a complete bike. Check it out here.

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Fairdale news posts have been missing from your life for a month now! Let me tell you what’s been going on… Our own Sandy Carson shot a few Galleries of the Texas Toast Jam over on ESPN. Straight after returning from Interbike I dove head first into setting up an annual BMX comp I put on through Odyssey BMX called Texas Toast Jam. It’s a bit of a diversion from normal Fairdale business but a fun way for me to get back to some BMX roots. Toast was pretty successful this year with top pros from all over the world coming down to Austin. The turn out was great, and the riding was awesome. After a week of cleanup and a week of recovering I’m now back at Fairdale getting to work on big wheeled bikes!

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During the month of October you can get a free Fairdale from Bicycle Sport Shop  if you buy a Fiat from Fiat of Austin. How sweet is that?

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One of our favorite cycling mags Urban Velo just did a nice review on our Weekender bike. It’s a good and thorough review if we do say so ourselves. Thinking about a Weekender? This is for you. And thanks Urban Velo!

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Just last week Fairdale returned from a trip out to Las Vegas to show off our bikes at the big Interbike trade show. The show is primarily for bike shops to check out bike manufacturers like us. We were amazed and flattered by the great response we had from all the shops. Our little booth seemed busy all week and I found it so inspiring all the great compliments folks gave us on our bikes. The Fairdale booth was littered with little bunnies I drew to point out important features of the bikes. And to point out important snacks we had on hand. We also showed off a super-secret-prototype of our coming 29er bike. This bike is sort of my pet bike in the Fairdale line up. We don’t expect it to be ready until spring so I won’t show you much of it now, but I’ll post some updates on this bike as we progress with it. Also got to give a Weekender bike to Chris Moeller (the founder of S&M Bikes). He’s a long time hero of mine and I hoped a big bike might be good for some rehab he’s doing on his leg. Decked the bike out with our cargo and skaterack too! This isn’t exactly Fairdale related but every year I organize a big BMX comp (Texas Toast Jam). Over the next couple weeks I will be working with this guy, Ryan Corrigan, building ramps for the Texas Toast Jam.  This years event is such a massive build… I’m not sure what I was thinking planning something so big!! Somehow we are going to pull it off. The riders who are coming this year are amazing and I can’t wait for them to see the crazy stuff we are building for them to ride. Thanks to a crew of fearless volunteers (like Will Bount) the Toast Jam is coming together. Here’s a sneak peak of something from Toast… good luck figuring out what it is! This year Texas Toast is inside a lumber yard so we aren’t having to make too many of these supply runs to Home Depot. Logan and Hershal are picking up silt fence that has to go around the dirt course in this photo. Texas Toast is 0ct 13 and 14 here in Austin, Texas… come out if you can!

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Got my new Kelly Green Weekender on a Wednesday. Put it together with haste rode down to the shop and dialed it in, down to Pablo`s for some coffee and hatched a plan for the next day… My plan was to ride the dirt fire roads 10 miles or so to the hiking trail that led up to the top of DevilsHead fire lookout, lock up the bike and hike up to the top. At the summit I would eat some snacks and cruise back down… so thats what I did! The bike worked awesome, I met some cool chipmunks who I shared a few carrots with (and a piece or two of a sandwich).  In return they made sure i wasn’t eaten by a Mountain Lion. Thanks striped buddies! The weekdays are a good quiet time up in Pike National Forest, chipmunks, black tufted ear squirrels, some blue grouse, a bear if you’re lucky, wild turkeys, Elk, Deer and some weird dude on a green bike. Free camping spots are plentiful in the area, bring a good slingshot too, there`s plenty of granite ammunition for the taking. And when you get to the top of the fire lookout you can see up 100 miles in 360 degrees (on a clear day). Visit Coloradical, ride a bike,don`t start forest fires, say wheeeeeeeeeew! -Leif

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Went for a casual ride from Idaho Springs up to the top of Mt.Evans. The climb from 7,540 ft. to 14,264 ft. elevation takes place on the highest paved road in North America. My imaginary girlfriend Cindy came along firmly attached to the top tube of my Weekender. With her additional moral support I was sure I would make it to the top in record casual time. Far more time than the current record holder Tom Danielson’s unreal time of 1hr 41 min and 20 seconds to the top of Mt. Evans from Idaho Springs. If you ever do this ride you will appreciate how scorchingly fast that time is for the terrain, Dudeman. I started out in Idaho springs with plenty of energy after doping my body the night before with pasta,tuna,spinach and grape juice. Brought a peanut butter and jam sandwich and plenty of water along for some additional casual ride performance enhancement. Once you start you can`t stop until you stop. The first couple miles are pretty mellow not much elevation gain with it getting steadily steeper as the air gets thinner towards the top where the road tops out around 14,264 ft. ! You get light headed and weak at the top at the least and the views are awesome! On the way up I saw mottled Ptarmigan camouflaged with the rocks.Hard to see,really cool.(they turn white in the winter) What about Ptarmigeddon! The radical fundamentalist Ptarmigan movement sweeping the mountain bird communities, be warned! On the way up I breathed a good amount,drank alot of water met some Marmot,Ptarmigan, Mt. beetlegrasshopper`s(see pic), Mt. goats, Mt.Sheep, a couple humans, pika, and some other buddies. I made it to the summit, quickly took some pics, saw a rainbow appear between my hands and temporarily turned into a Mt. Goat. Started shivering, it was 35 or so degrees on top,80 degrees where I started,big drop especially when you`re sweaty. Put on wool socks, legwarmers, armwarmers, gloves, hat, jacket and proceeded down for the long fast cold ride down the mountain.I arrived famished in Idaho Spring. Had a nice meal and a couple coffees at Tommy Knockers and put the Weekender,Cindy and myself to bed. Cheers, Leif

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Good news today, we got a copy of the new Paved Magazine with a 14 page article about our trip from Seattle to San Francisco. Sandy Carson fills the issue with his best nice big glossy photos and your’s truly fills the article with run on sentences (which were thankfully edited to a nice readable length by Paved’s editor and amazing writer Joe Parkin). Pick up an issue of Paved and check out “Finding the Stoke”.

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We’re proud to introduce a new member of the Fairdale team. Ryan Worcester has been a friend for years and we’re honored to have him be a part of our adventure. He produced this nice video of riding his Weekender around Maui. It really captures the enjoyment of a good day out pedaling and the fun and adventures you can have.Check out more of Ryan on his Team page

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