bostontrevor

Ok, this is a little half-baked and I haven't thought through all of the details (like scheduling), but...

I love to ride my bike. No doubt. See the problem is that I have a hard time picking a direction. It may sound weird, but I hop in the saddle and I'm immediately like, "now what?" In lieu of any kind of inspiration, I usually end up doing a downtown traversal, heading from my hood on the Roxbury/JP line to the harbor and back. The thing is, life's already full of spinning in circles, I don't know why I'd do that on my bike. I enjoy a ride with a destination 100...no, 1000% more.

Meanwhile, I've been toying with the idea of getting an ANT for a bit now, as some of you might have read in another thread. I don't know when this would ever come off, but I've been wanting to roll down to Holliston and chat up Mike just for kicks anyhow. I've also never been to IF and I wouldn't mind seeing Seven, either.

So who would be up for a series of rides to greater Boston-area frame builders? Off hand, I can think of (in no particular order), IF, Peter Mooney, Seven, ANT, Hot Tubes in Worcester. Maybe we could wrap in some historical stuff like the original Columbia Bicycle factory site (now the T's HQ), the old Merlin & Fat City sites... You dig? Short rides could be stretched out with a couple of historic sites before visiting the builder. I don't know, whatever, ya know?

Anyhow, I don't know how the schedule would work out what with me having a regular 9-5 job and other employed people generally enjoying their weekends and evenings for themselves, but maybe it could work. Maybe I could take a few days off to make some of this work. Who'd be interested? Have I missed any builders?

jacobs

I'd be in for checking some of those places out, and you know I'm usually up for a spin.

bostontrevor

Dude, I was totally thinking of you and my failed century training when I was writing that. I need a place to go!

'sides, I'm still hauling around that zipcar crap to give you one of these years.

WithNail

i'd totally be down for that! Just let me know well in advance (like 2 days).

croth

parlee cycles in peabody, but i don't know what kind of mileage you're looking for....

bostontrevor

It's all good. Peabody is a sight closer than Worcester or even Holliston. I forgot them, I think someone around here checked Parlee just recently.

What about Providence? Any builders down there?

There will definitely be more than a couple days notice because I'll be getting in touch with the builders to schedule with them and make sure they can deal with our ragtag crew.

croth

circle A cycles in providence, nice stuff!

bostontrevor

Gah! I knew there was a Providence builder I wasn't thinking of. Of course! Man, I'd love to see Circle A up close. I've seen a couple bikes and they're slick as snot.

Ok, my list is

Mooney
ANT
IF
Seven
Hot Tubes
Parlee
Circle A

Any more?

hella

this is such an awesome idea. have fun, but don't come back unless you plan to post lots of pictures.

jacobs

Peabody isn't a bad ride at all, I do it roundtrip about once a week. Maybe 12-15 miles on a bad day.

elbows

I'm interested if I can fit it in my schedule.
Let's start with the shorter rides, though -- Boston-Providence-Boston is about 100 miles, I don't think I'm in century shape at the moment.

jinx_removing

You could always take the commuter rail back...

bostontrevor

Alright, I'll start to sus out the locals. Maybe we'll do them in increasing distance. Start with IF, then Peter Mooney, Parlee, ANT, Hot Tubes, Cicle A.

I'm pretty sure I'm not in century shape either, nevermind getting places in time to see the shop, but we'll figure it out. Start easy and work up. The train back is always an option too.

Stay tuned and I'll try to have some stuff worked out a bit in the next several days.

go4broke44

tour de boston, haha, it would be cool if you could somehow manipulate it into a stage race

2manybikes

If you decide to ride to circle A and then take the train back, I know some nice ride routes to and from Boston.

If you wanted to take the train down in the morning, I could ride back with you and show you a great route. I'd say from your neighborhood to circle A is within a mile or two of 50 miles, if you take back roads all the way.

croth

this can be done. we just did a seven stage race from boston to new york:
https://www.strangersracing.com/r1

YoHeartFrijoles

I would love to get involved in this.
Just please don't allow me to bring my wallet with me to any of the aforementioned shops... unless we can stop and donate bone marrow on the way.

Ya Tu Sabes

Count me in, provided I don't have work, baby, or other duties at the time of a particular ride.

I might be all sacreligious and not ride the fixie, not because I've fallen out of love with the no-coast lifestyle, but because the fixie needs a new bottom bracket, and in the mean time I'm almost done building up an old Schwinn Typhoon frame with a 3-speed coaster brake hub, and it's too fresh for words.

bostontrevor

We'll forgive.

I'm still trying to track down the IF card I picked up at the bike show to remember who I talked to because we specifically discussed setting up a little factory tour.

Jaminsky

Oh man, I'm not back in town till Sep. 1st, so dont start for like three more weeks so I can still ride on a few of them. It would be one per weekend right?

bostontrevor

I don't know what it's going to look like yet. I'm hoping at least one or two could be on a weekend, but it's going to depend on what I can work out, ya know?

rutt

This sounds fascinating. Count me in.

pjay

This sounds awesome-- I'd totally come down to Boston for this. But the weekend would work better for me.

Bikeophile

I guess I'd have to leave now if I wanted to join in then?

bostontrevor

Dude, at the rate I'm moving, it won't happen until next summer. I just tore up my little room here, but I'll be damned if I can find dude's card. Oh well, I guess I'll have to resort to the, "so I spoke to someone from IF at the Boston Bike show and he said..." card.

Would be nice to have a name attached, but c'est la vie. That's what I get for having no connections.