Six-Eleven Bicycle Co.

Final push towards NAHBS

Every time I ask Aaron if I can post more sneak peeks, he hems and haws and asks to see the photos. Then declares that the photos are too revealing. You see, we’re pretty excited about this year’s crop of bikes. So excited that Aaron didn’t leave the shop until 1:00 a.m. this morning. Because he was so excited about NAHBS. Well, maybe “excited” isn’t the right word. Stressed out? In the home stretch? Wants to get the last bike to paint on Friday?

So, in place of photos of bikes, today I have photos of a giveaway! Stop by our booth this year at NAHBS and get your very own, made in the USA, Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. pencil. And if you’re lucky, I might even sharpen all 500 of them before we ship out to Sacramento.

TShirts and other goodies are on their way too!

Have a great Thursday!

-Michelle

Some Might Say The Greatest Clients

I have to say, we’re lucky to have amazing clients. Our clients join the Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. family, and each one brings something special and unique to the table when it comes to designing their own custom built bike. On Monday this week we got a call from John Robinson, Roanoke resident, who asked if he could stop by the shop. He swung by and brought with him a deposit and letter. The letter is titled “Why I Want a 611 Bike”. Below I’ve hit some of the highlights, but I’ve also include the whole letter (click to enlarge) - it’s worth a read.

The letter begins,“The thought of having a custom made bicycle fuels my dreams and memories of the joy that cycling has brought me all these years. Commissioning the building of a 611 hand-made bicycle is not only a tip of the hat to my railroadin’ heritage hometown, but it pays homage to the importance that cycling has been to me throughout my life.”

John goes on to talk about the beauty of steel (and he says it better than we ever could). “...And I see the working of the materials, of the steel, the abrasives, the tools, the fire, as timeless elements of being human. The essence of which goes back thousands of years. We are tool users. Our hands, through tools and material and directed by the creative drive of our brains, give us the ability to directly affect change in our world.”

John concludes with a nod to the art of bike building. He says, “I want to support the craft, not only through my modest financial commitment, but through my enthusiasm, so this art and science is kept alive for now and for the future.”

Our clients are each unique and come to us for a variety of reasons and through many different avenues. But above all, we’re grateful for our clients who appreciate the beauty, strength, comfort, and art of steel. They may not all be so eloquent in their expression, but they’ve all communicated their appreciation through their decision to buy handmade steel. We’re so grateful to every one of our clients and admirers for supporting the art of small manufacturers and continuing the tradition of handbuilt, American made products. We work hard to live up to your expectations, and we thank you all!

Thanks John, both for the letter and for the permission to repost it! What a great way to start off and now end the week.

(and as if John wasn’t already cool enough, I borrowed the small photo of him on the side of the blog from the internet. Yes, he’s paragliding in Brazil.)

NAHBS 2012 - Track Bike in progress

Here are two in-progress paint shots of our track bike for NAHBS 2012 from Hill at Airglow. That’s alot of gold paint you see there!

NAHBS Sneak Peek round 2

Here’s another one for you. This is a custom built stem going on Bob’s city bike that includes internal wiring and quick release for a custom mounted light/stem combo. We’ve finally gotten our 4 bikes for NAHBS 2012 finalized, and even with some last minute changes we hope you guys will be as excited as we are about what we’re bringing this year. The final list is: City, Track, CX, and a touring frameset. Now if only we had some plane tickets to Sacramento…

(And in case you were worried that we were just goofing off over here, Aaron’s hands serve as testament to the many hours of hard work that have gone into getting these bikes off to paint!)

New Homepage Images!

We finally got some fantastic new homepage images! The photos that were up there were taken as many as 3 years ago, and they were in need of updating. It was on my list of things to get done, but today David Hungate made it much much easier. David came to the shop in early December to photograph Aaron for a shoot for a local magazine. When I called him up yesterday to ask if he had any spare images we could use, he sent me a CD of all the photos he took.

We’re extremely grateful to David for his generosity and for sharing his work with us gratis. Check out his website here, at dominionimages.com. And check out our new images on our homepage! More images to come in future posts.