EWR History - More

This frame auction on eBay launched a thread on Retrobike about who the early EWR frames were welded up by, and where and when. When the thread reached wide enough that a previous employee of Grove Innovations spoke up and corrected some of the more obvious oversights, I figured, Rody put his hand up so why not ask him to clear up a few questions that I've had for quite a while about my EWRs! Here's what Rody, (who today welds up very smart looking frames, stems, forks and bars under the Groovy Cycleworks banner,) said.

Utahdog! - Did all Grove built EWRs have serial numbers?
Rody - No

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U! - Were you with Grove at the time (EWRs were built under licence)?
R - At Grove during the 90's

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U! - From your understanding, all production of the first generation bikes, up until 1997-8 would have been either made by Kenn/Jay and then Grove only? No involvement by Bilenky or any other contract manufacturer?

R -No other manufacturer that I am aware of, Fresh Frame did the paint, however.

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U! - Do the answers to the above extend to the E-Motion and B2 frames also, and not just the OWB?

R - Hairy Eyeball, E-motion, and full sussy frames...no Aluminum Trials

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So according to Rody, all steel bikes from the first incarnation of the EWR brand are Groves, regardless of dropouts...excepting the few made by Jay and Kenn very early.

Therefore, according to Rody, even my 1997 E-Motion is a Grove. Thanks for the info Rody! You've been a big help to all of us in the retrobike-addict world!

Believe it or not, Hairy Eyeball was the first name for the OWB! Hairy Eyeball?!?

eBay goodies

Been at it a little bit. I plan to have the EWR E-Motion built for my trip to North Carolina with the fellas in two weeks....and the SDG here and the Kona P2II disc brake fork will go on that. The Hugi hub was also intended for that purpose, but like an idiot I bid my max price and only noticed after the auction ended that it was a 36 holer. I have a Hugi/Mavic 217 Sunset front wheel already built, and I've amassed a pretty good stash ot Sunset rims over the years, (before everyone and their cousin begain bidding the price of them up thru the stratosphere anyway) so all I need is a 32 hole Hugi rear hub in good shape, preferably NOS actually. Looks like now I'll be sitting on the hub for a short time looking for a 36 hole 217 Sunset, or maybe I'll just dump the hub back on eBay and keep looking for the 32 holer. I need to learn to read....at least before I bid.

Total number of SDG saddles? 14! Maybe it is time for me to be a featured 'patient' on Hoarders after all!

Total number of Kona P2II forks? 4

Total number of holes?... Too many!

Pics, as always, shamelessly ganked from the auction pages.

Oregon Bike Shop #2 - Willamette Mountain Mercantile, Oakridge

Now THIS is what I'm talking about!

Other than the raging construction going on outside...open poo-tubes and jackhammers and such...this neat little shop had it all together.

Racks of rentals and repair bikes out front, and good rentals too...Decent level Haro full sussers, ready to roll on the local trails in the Oakridge area. Haro may not be glamorous, but modern Haros, like Raleighs of late, seem to work reasonably well in my experience...if you can get past the Made in China stickers. At least they are priced accordingly.

Had I known that there was a local shop that rented decently capable bikes, I would have sprung for a three day rental and saved myself the headache of shipping the EWR 2500 miles.

Fence of forgotten glory. You gotta like a shop that decorates the outside storage pen with beat Trek 970 lugged steel frames and Bridgestone MB-3s. I almost asked about giving the Bridgestone a home, and if I didn't have to have Gary ship my EWR back to Jax, I might have pulled the trigger.

Wonder why you can't get full size aerosol cans of T-9 anyplace else?...They have them all here! I DID buy a bottle, and ship it back with the EWR. The cans last forever, and the grunge makes a wickedly delicious chain lube, and is a close second to GT-85 for delightful aroma. Boeshield T-9 for the next 6 years? Covered.

Sluggo? Hey, they are a Mercantile, after all... Yeah, they stock it right next to the pink flip flops and the pinstripe boxer shorts. Pure Culture!

Showroom...floor stocked with capable mountain bikes and rafters hung with fun vintage rides. Very nice.

The workshop, right up by the front door where every capable mechanic expects his bench to be. We capable mechanics don't like to hide behind walls. Front and Center, thank you!

The stash...notice that I avoided taking a picture of the King headsets in favor of snapping a shot of the original Cook Bros Racing decal affixed to the back glass of the display case. Multiple Thudbuster posts in stock...somebody in the shop knows McKenzie River trail well...

Lets get to da cookin'!

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Staff!

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- 5 Raging Flamers! The dude behind the counter, a skinny little youthful fellow, with a butt-load of local trail knowledge and a very friendly demeanor, proved to be a wealth of valuable information for us weary travelers from far away. His information about the hows and wheres to look for parking pull-outs and trail options for the Alpine Loop were invaluable. I love it when shop staff is as happy to be working as I am to be shopping. Top Shelf work!

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Stuff!

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-5 Ragers again! Cabinets stocked with King crud...anodized Green no less! Cases of T-9 and a full compliment of other necessities. Thudbusters and other quality stems and posts. Complete quality cranksets and derailleurs. No QBP catalog leech-shop action here. Commit to stock, and sell it. I'm in love. Top Shelf!

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Touchy Feely!

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- 5 Trifecta! This place made me want to just sit and hang a while. They need to sell beers...maybe some of that top notch stuff from up the hill at Brewers Local 180! The friendly staff, good conversation, fun stuff to oggle. The antithesis of Performance Bicycle (Matt's favorite..."Loco" wheels my a$$) You gotta love it!

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Merchandising!

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-4 Torchers. You can't argue with the layout, as it's there to sell you stuff, and to show you stuff that is for sale. Simple, efficient, and ready to go. Boeshield T-9 right up front where tourists from North Florida can grab a big old can. I nearly wet myself.

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Bikes!

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- 4 torched tots. Haro...Meh! Lowly scores for that week stuff, but High marks for fully serviced and ready to roll rental fleet. Promote that tourism, Oakridge! You'll get there!

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Overall!

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- 5 Flaming Babies for the WM Mercantile! When I win the lottery, and you know I'm only a few drawings away from having THAT happen, I'm gonna come back to Oakridge, buy the place, hire the skinny kid at twice his current rate of pay, and start selling Local 180 beer out the back door...probably to customers at tables made from old Bridgestones and lugged steel Trek frames.

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A truly great, great shop.

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Willamette Mountain Mercantile

48080 Highway 58

Oakridge, OR 97463

(541) 782-1800

ignore this, thanks.

Old Metal - Klein pics

The blog 'Old Metal' did a little photo spread of sorts. Great shots!

Oregon Bike Shop #1 - Hutch's Bicycles, Eugene

Of course, I had a chance to stop in and gather a little bit of bike-shop dirt under my nails, while on vacation in Oregon. I don't go anywhere without hitting a few local shops, that is unless I'm locked in irons...

...again.

Erm, never mind.

First stop!...Hutch's Bicycles in Eugene. Dig the 70s wood!

Co-motion Tandems with S&S Couplers

Cargo Bikes. They were also selling small children. Must be some locationally-fueled cultural connection to the Pacific Rim.

Outdoor Style! No bike rack tho...hmmmm. Didn't get the memo about Oregonians humping their bikes to sleep on cold rainy nights, maybe?

Start the grill...

Stuff!

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3 Flamers! In the shadow of Chris King...lots of Chris King stuff. I know for Oregon, King is pretty common...but for a Florida kid used to crap-shops that have to get tubes and spokes from the QBP catalog, it was good to see. The whole "Bike shop based out of the QBP catalog" thing is a massive cop-out to me. See, as a cyclists on a budget, I don't want to hear any BS about supporting the local shop, if all that really means is the shop is going to essentially MAILORDER the parts from QBP and then keystone it 100% and gouge my eyes out financially. Stock it, make the risk, and I'll give you your keystone. If you have to order everything I ask for, then you're not much of a shop. No thanks. I'll be at Pricepoint.com if you need me. So stocked parts, high and low end all over?...good job Hutch.

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Merchandising!

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4 Flamers! Glass cabinets stuffed with good quality goodies, and a wide assortment to boot. They also had a lounge area. Lounge Good. Lazy Good. Good and Lazy is Good. Mmmm good. See above "anti-QBP" diatribe.

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People!
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3 Torched Tots! I walked in, the guy said "hello, need something?" and I said "drop dead you fruit-bat!" and he left me alone. Thumbs up.

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Bikes!

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2 Poached Pinkies! Cannondales galore, which is OK I guess. Maybe a little less so now that Pacific is at the head of the New England based bike maker...and maybe a lot less so now that a slew of Creak-n-fails are made overseas. I swear, carbon crap frame sets are just an excuse to hide the fact that all these plastic piles of crap all come from some monster of an environmental nightmare bike frame pumping behemoth manufacturing facility on the banks of a chemically festering glowing river in central China. Plastic bikes are crap. Expensive plastic bikes are crap with stupid owners on board. Expensive plastic bicycles with stupid owners on board and little stickers on the seat tube with "Designed in the USA" or "assembled in the USA" printed on them are fraud. If your bike is 1500 dollars, it had better be made in the states or at least some other westernized country paying a living wage. If it aint, well, as they say..."a fool and his money are soon parted!" You on the plastic Trek = Fool!

They did have some cool Co-Motion frames and bikes, and some Big-Dummy style luggage bikes and tandems too, some with S&S couplers for travel. Very cool. Saved from a minimum score by S&S couplers.
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Atmosphere, Da Fuzzzy!

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4 Flamers! The place had rough sawn timbers on the handrails, and a crap load of heavy orange shag carpet. ANY place with orange shag carpet gets 4 flaming babies, period. The place could have been stuffed to the fury-pits with Roadmaster bicycles and Target branded helmets, and still with shag carpets I'd give up the 4 flamers. Also, the walls are rimmed with 9000 plastic water bottles from all over. Woo!
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Tally!

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3 Torched Tots! Not a bad shop. I'm not sure exactly how they can brag about being in business since 1927. Most no-risk business models can stay open like this, so where's the cheese, please? At any rate... Need a bike part? They got you covered. Need to bask in the warm glow of the cycling community until your American Express chews its way out of your money clip under its own power and rings up a bill big enough to send your FICO score plummeting into the low 500s?...Keep looking. Free Chris King stickers tho. I dig free.

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All and all, nothing shockingly delicious, yet not nauseatingly failing either. An Oregonian Standard.

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Hutch's Bicycles

960 Charnelton St

Eugene, OR 97401

(541) 345-7521

Namesake Huggy-Break!

Utah. Poor old fellow. He's been gone for over 2 years now and I still somehow feel lost in a way without him. This weekend Kristen left to visit her family in Michigan and Jane and I stayed in the house with Henry, and I was reminded...more so without Kristen in the house than when she's here...of how much I still miss him.

Everyone needs to take a minute now and then and sit in the sunshine with a nice bone.

Go get a bone, people. The sunshine is calling for you.

Oregon - Brewer's Union Local 180 Brewery, Oakridge

Located in sleepy Oakridge, east of Eugene by about an hour and a half drive, and smack dab in the middle of central Oregon MTB country, is the Brewer's Union Local 180. A small local micro brewery with a tasty assortment of goodies on tap and a comfy assortment of lounging and dining rooms for your beer consumptive pleasure! Try the "Dearth and Surfeit" English IPA. Yummy.


Da Bar

The West dining room, families OK until 9pm. I only popped in with the group for a quick beer and a round of pool...had to get back to the boss and little boss waiting for me at the house. We went to Salt Creek Falls after I picked them up at the house...same day as this.

Point to the two who can't seem to get the whole vacation thing!

I smoked Jim, and then got smoked by Chris.

Where are we again?

From the outside...showing the sun deck in full bloom, and one of Oregon's official hairy-pitted pot-puffer mobiles, the ubiquitous "10 Year Old Subaru with Swedish Roof Rack"

eBay goodies

Purchases since June. All picks shamelessly ganked from the respective auctions.


SDG full Kevlar saddle in black...

NOS Deore DX seatpost, 27.0mm for the Yokota Yosemite "Topo Bike"

Deore XT U-brakes. Three sets used. I will never need another U-brake again in my life.

Red Race Face 'System' stem.

The Red Race Face System you saw on the white EWR already.

More EWRs, Old and NEW!

EWR may, as they claim on their website,"have colors like ice cream gots flavors!" but it would seem that to some folks, it just don't matta!
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Like Chocolate has a loyal following, so too does Warning Orange, or Bengal Orange or God Awful Orange, or whatever they're calling the color this week. I dig the bikes, (and in this case they are both owned by a buddy of mine), but I do not feel the love for the orange. I even have an orange one and I'm saying that!
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At any rate...the 1997 OWB.

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And the new OWB, the first one in a size small. WOOHOO!
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I'll let you folks decide if you prefer the tasteful work-place environment photo, or the chubby-beagle porn sprawl photo. I think that last one would be a saucier pick if it were in sepia. Hubba Hubba.
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Maybe they just call the color "TIGER Drylac RAL 8023?" THAT would be romantic!