happy summer

Summer is officially here and while I have been enjoying Spring for the past few months, it is great to go into summer enjoying the long days.

In the last month, one of my NAHBS 2011 show bikes was reviewed on the current issue of Mountain Flyer magazine. The picture here is taken by Mountain Flyer, it looks great! Coincidentally, Road Bike Action magazine also published on their June issue of their report of NAHBS 2011 in Austin. I was mentioned and pictured in a couple of instances. Check them out!

This bike just left for Taiwan late last week, and should be arriving at its new home anytime now. Its new owner was kind enough to let me hold on to the bike for 2 extra weeks so that I can display it during the recent Rocky Mountain Bike Festival and the 6 Day races at CSU Oval here in Fort Collins. It gathered lots of attention and I think it will do the same in Taiwan too.

I am working on a bike for the Oregon Manifest Challenge, check my Flickr for the progress!

Happy summer.

A wonderful tool

A while back, my friend's father passed away and had left behind some tools for him. It took him some time to go through quite a quantity of tools that he inherited and realized he now has multiples of certain tools. The drill pictured above is one of them.

Knowing that I use various hand tools building bikes, he offered me a selection of such tools for free. I appreciated such a nice gesture and took a few of them. The drill is now on my workbench with a drill bit mounted and ready at all times. This is an older drill but it feels a lot more solid in the hand, and the control is of higher quality than the one I have for the past 8 years.

However, what I feel special about this drill is that it had so much history behind it. I do not know any of it, but I can see from its cosmetic condition that it had gone through quite a bit already. It is interesting to imagine what it might have achieved in its previous hands. I look forward to using it and add to its history; and wonder if one day someone will be riding one of my bikes and wonder about how it is made and where it had been to.

Ahh... warmth

Winter was not bad this past season, but spring is definitely welcome. Working in my shop is a lot more pleasant with the warmer temperature.

Here is a bike which has just arrived at its new home and Jim spoke with me yesterday of how happy he is with the new bike. He took it out for a 60 mile ride this past weekend and was enjoying every mile of it.

This is the kind of happy moment for me, to hear that a customer is happy with the work I do and the detail I put in is paying off in the end.

I also have put together a few clips of brazing sessions which is part of the build process of every bike. I hope you enjoy this.

Seat Lug Brazing POV, fast motion - YiPsan Bicycles from YiPsan on Vimeo.

How was Austin?

Wow, what a show! The mad rush to get ready for the show was only followed by a whirl wind of a week full of activities. Fortunately, Leigh and I got to relax a bit in Austin before we hop in the car to come home.

Where do I begin? The show was exciting as always, to get to meet a lot of customers, fello

w builders, and enthusiast cyclists all in a long weekend's time. Such meetings are treasured as it is a big contrast to the rest of the year where I work in my shop, quite separated from the rest of the world other than the electronic communications. Getting to speak direct and have hand shakes are very tangible. Of course, being able to share the features of the bikes that I brought is the icing. A bike is after all a

physical object, no amount of flickr, vimeo or forum talk will translate it quite as real as to see and touch it in person. Thank you for coming to the show, thank you for stopping by to chat in my booth, and thank you volunteers for helping to make the show happen.

BTW, we stayed at a very nice home in Austin, an

d this helps make the week there so much more comfortable. Thank you, Berit.

For those who cannot make this trip. Here are a few shots, and check my flickr / vimeo for the bikes that was in the booth. I will update some clips I took during the weekend soon, stay tuned.

Week of NAHBS

The show is drawing so close, I am feeling the jitters.

Here is a pre show interview I had with Bike Rumor and a clip of one of my recent brazing session.

HT Lug brazing POV - YiPsan from YiPsan on Vimeo.

I hope to see you there, my booth number is 414.

Cheers,

Austin, finally!

Well, it is finally time for the show. It had been a busy week of final preparation. Booth is set to go in the morning.

Please check out the bikes that will be in my booth.

A randonneur with integrated bag and front rack, key feature - no decaleur needed!

Handlebar bag and rack that does not need a Decaleur! from YiPsan on Vimeo.

A city bike, Tom's Frederick Rambler, that is the companion to last year's double award winning Sunflower bike, it has some similar features, but the kicker is a transformable front rack. It goes from Porteur to Lowrider in a couple of minutes. Here is a clip showing how.

Lastly, a bilam construction mountain bike with a fat front (3.7" front tire), matt and glossy black finish was a very hard paint job to pull off, but here it is.

I hope you enjoy them.

new YiPsan T shirts

Arrival of new YiPsan T-shirts, now on a better shirt. American Apparel, made in the USA, shirts are chosen as the base. Color available is Brown and Asphalt Grey. Graphic print color is lime green.

The brown color shirt we had in the last run was very well received, and so this new batch with a better shirt is a very nice update. If you are interested to reserve yours before we bring them to NAHBS, please send me an email, or visit my web page here to shop online.

Cheers,