Moved in at Maillardville!

Got into the new store a few days late and had to do some renovations. But after a week straight of working like a squirrel on espresso we got it done. The new store is open and is looking all swanky and stuff. We still have some decorating to do and get a sign and a giant sticker for the counter made but close enough... open for bidness. The shop is bigger and we now have a bigger show room and repair area. The show room is big enough to ride bikes around.... which the wife and I have done. The repair area is so big, I have no idea where to put anything. We'll be closed for Christmas but will be open on Boxing day and will have some sort of sale. So come on down to 930 Brunette Avenue in Coquitlam, check out the new digs and buy something to help an independently owned and operated bike shop.

Coquitlam, here I come!

Signed the lease and closed up the Richmond store today. Sad but yay new adventure! Also sold a bike on closing day to a person from Langley. Whom was very excited to hear about the move to Coquitlam. Got some pertinent intel from the Landlord for insurance and everything is good to go! There are already talks of holding bike shows in the parking lot!

I remembered my login stuffs!

Yay! I finally remembered my log in stuff and can update this quickly... I have to go measure something. But anyway, A little after the last blog I had my business plan approved by small business BC and my bank and started looking for a location to open my very own bike shop! After tons of research, the most logical by the numbers anyway, was a location in Richmond. It has the population, trails, bike lanes, improving biking infrastructure, lack of other bike shops, I could go on and on. Plus I had found a unit that was in the middle of an outdoor mall with tons of foot traffic, tons of parking, close to the highway, skytrain, bus stops, Vancouver, every amenity I could think of was in close proximity. So it should have been a home run right off the bat. But, apparently very few people in Richmond buy bikes and fewer people actually like going to Richmond if they are from other areas.... sorry to hurt your feelings Richmond. So after four and half months in Richmond, I am moving my shop to Coquitlam. Very central location, close to Ikea, lots of parking, close to the highway, bus stop is steps away from the door and skytrain is 950 meters away. So come one, come all to the new shop in Coquitlam, the address is 930 Brunette Avenue and is in the historic village of Maillardville right across from Woody's. The opening date is tentatively set for Dec.15th but check back here before coming down. And due to overwhelming requests I will get some mountain bikes in. Thank you for your support.

Caramel aka Butterscotch is done and ready for a new home. It's been ready for a while, just not to anxious to sell it. It's sooooooo pretty. It's been on CL a couple of times and had some offers but nothing serious. I'm asking $700 for it, it cost $680 to build unless I count my time and I don't want to think about it.

There is other stuff going on. Got my new T-shirts made by Monster Press in Langley. I'm happy with them. And, I started up my very own BMX racing team! It's so cool being able to help out the little guys become obsessed with bikes. I've also been shopping for a new frame builder. I've looked far and wide and still nothing set in stone. Check out the website for the official ad for Caramel and go to the "about us" page and check out my racers!

Caramel

Caramel, or as some people say it, caramel. Caramel should have been done by now but my wheel guy forgot to ship the wheels. How do you forget to ship wheels? They are big wheels, 26 inches in diameter. Plus they are bright white...some people's children. Anyway, Caramel is almost done, just waiting for wheels. It has some sweet stuff too, Profile racing stem, Haro Bars & grips, Premium Products cranks and seat and it will also have Intense Micro Knobbies. I have three more frames that need the full tilt boogie and after that there will be no more.... of those anyway.

Has anyone ever seen a bike shop in a mall in Canada? I was curious about the whole bike shop in a mall thing and did a google search. Apparently not a rare thing in the good ole USA but I have never seen one here. It would make more sense to me to have a bike shop in a mall in Canada instead of Florida. I mean with all the vast frozen tundra and the roaming gangs of polar bears it would make sense to have all of our shopping in malls. Hmmmm, I might have to look into that. I may or may not have big news soon, depending on who is reading this. So stay tuned. Aloha.

Too is good

So number 1 is gone, then about one hour later I get about five emails for that bike. Figures doesn't it? So I brought two more frames to my powder guy and they turned out nice. One is gun metal gray and the other is supposed to be bronze but we call it caramel, mmmmm caramel. I finished building up the gun gray bike and was writing the ad and typed in Big Boy and I cringed. I was planning on them being the Big Boy bikes but I never really liked the name. Reminds me of "big boy pants" or "big boy potty", you know that annoying saying mothers tell there boys when they're attempting to boost the ego of their spawn. Anyway, I couldn't do it, I couldn't name another bike Big Boy so I decided to do what I had originally was planning on doing, naming them all differently. The gun gray bike is being named Too and the caramel bike isn't finished yet so it doesn't have a name but caramel is in the running. Here's a picture of Too, it cost me about $700 to build so I figure I'll ask $700 for it, sounds fair. It has some sweet parts on it, which happen to be quite expensive. Like the Redline flight cranks, Profile racing stem, Animal pedals and grips, Shadow conspiracy sprocket, and of course the 26" Intense Micro knobbies. Enjoy!

Yay!

After months of negotiations and hard nosed dealings, number 1 is sold. Well not that bad but I was given an offer I couldn't refuse. The first ever complete bike went to a nice guy that REALLY wanted it and I now have a new cruiser.:)


So, now that #1 is gone, #2 and #3 are now in for powder. One will be gun metal gray and the other will be bronze, looks more orangie though. Both will have chrome forks and the gun gray bike will have black wheels and the bronze will have white. All the parts for the gun gray are in stock, they include Redline flight cranks, Profile stem, Animal grips, Shadow conspiracy sprocket, Intense tires.... oh yeah this one is going to be trick and expensive. I'm trying to get a bunch of white parts for the bronze bike, mostly premium products parts, it's going to be equally as sick, if not sicker. So stay tuned for bike building fun! I also wanted to mention, Urban Menace bikes is now listed in the companies section of BMX Museum (bmxmuseum.com). Check it out if you haven't. Aloha!

ok

So I was doing a mock up on the next bike. Had wheels, handle bars, seat & post and even a seat post clamp. Sat down to get the feel. For some reason the front wheel is way off to left field... eek. Grabbed another fork, same thing... double eek. Started measuring like a mad man, had levels out, rulers, you name it. Nothing wrong with the frame but the fork was way off. Walked around in circles for a while, huffing and puffing to calm down a little. Started doing the math to get forks in from Cali and fell out of my chair due to "brown's" shipping charges, the only way the place in Cali ships. Got back up, looked around for a while and found some out of Florida that don't ship "brown". YAY! Ordered enough sets for the remaining frames and settled down. The only thing is the new forks are chrome. So the rest of the bikes will have chrome forks like my white bike. The only one to have color matching forks will be the black #1 bike... I might have to keep it now. I also have a place in Canada that will build frames for me now, but I have to order 50... triple eek. But a Canadian bike company with a frame made in Canada..... priceless. Also looked into getting a frame chromed... fell out of my chair again, but did manage to find some really cool looking powder coating. Oh yeah, if you were just at the website and are thinking about buying the BB. You will get a genuine UM bikes certificate of authenticity signed and laminated by me if you buy the #1. I figure if PD can do it so can I. Aloha!