Thursday, April 30, 2009

Jack's Bike Theft Update

I was riding down Bedford to go to the bank and saw this dude riding a black frame with orange hoops down like 50 yards ahead of me and because I had just posted the description on the blog and it was fresh in my mind. I rode nexto him and started observing the bike. There was the Phil low flange hubs, the trackstar sticker, the pentagram, the steamroller drop-outs the silver risers and black stem. Vittoria sticker on the clip-on fender...
The rider looked awkward on the bike and I said "nice bike", a darker cross between Emanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman smiled agreeing. I continued "it's nice because it is MINE!".
This prick denied it all the way back the wrong way up Bedford to Fulton as I pleaded for the bike. He was about 5 foot 7 and 170 lbs. Anyway he led me to this dump of a bike shop on Albany just south of Fulton. I offered him $$ and said we could just walk away. Then he said "I bought this bike from this shop on Marcus Garvey and Fulton. They have my bike and I want it back". Then I got there and the Grey dread lock dude with blotchy dis-pigmented skin on the bridge of his nose being familiar with the rider took the stolen bike and said "if this is your bike where is the key?". I argued with these shysters for about an hour as I tried to raise Jack on the phone. Finally an older dude with a slender mustache and smartly trimmed hair came out holding a hatchet non-threateningly and spoke discreetly with the dread-lock dude. They said "have your friend bring the key and $150 and we will give him his bike. Unfortunately I had to go tend to my business and as I rode to the city I shook hands with them and said cool. Contacting Jack finally as I rode up the bridge I told him where the shop was and hoped for the best. Looking back I feel like an ass for not having my chain on my bike. I would have locked the bike up to a nearby post and been able to unlock it when Jack got there later. Like they say, it is better to regret something you have done than something you have not done...

Jack's here and I will let him fill the next chapter in:

Well... Jack's a little busy to finish the story so I will do my best.

Jack went there and asked about his bike. The shysters played dumb and said that Gary Coleman/Webster doppelganger forced his way into their shop and took his bike. They said he came there to sell Jack's bike but they would not buy it. They were lying right to our faces in front of the cops who Jack brought over. I was there heckling but there was nothing to do.

I left the bike because I could not stay there for 3 hours waiting for Jack to arrive. I should have called the police and stayed there with the thieves while the police arrived. But shoulda woulda coulda. Now it is up to us to put an end to this BS. I will create a Google Doc with our beloved customers' bike serial numbers stored so that if their bikes are stolen we can file a report with the fuzz. Then one can go to Albany between Fulton and Herkimer and non-chelantly inquire about bikes they are selling. Slowly making your way to the class of bike that was stolen from you, find your bike and haggle a little with the shysters and then say "I gotta go to the bank to get the $$". Assuming you have already filed a police report, you can then return with the police and retrieve your bicycle.

We can put an end to this Hub of bicycle thievery if we are diligent and work together.

Bike Theft ALERT

One of our beloved customers had his bike gaffed. Let's keep eyes out for this. Here is his description.

Hi Guys, thanks for helping out on this one. Here's the description I posted all over the place.

Hi everyone, last night between 3:40 and 4:05AM my bike was stolen out of my building (470 Flushing Ave) by a tall black guy with a Yankees hat, black clothes and white shoes (like that really helps...). We got the whole thing on security camera but no clear shots of his face. He came from the direction of woodhull/marcy projects/​bushwick and left headed that way. Spent a half hour inside and apparently knew what he was looking for.

The bike is a Surly steamroller spraypainted matte black (maroon underneath) with stickers for kylesa, Trackstar, Atakke, and Parasytic on it. The paint is flaking all over. It has part of a white pentagram on the headtube.

It's got black sugino 75 cranks with white odyssey pedals (clip on only the left pedal), a 42t sugino ring, orange machined 28 spoke deep-v's to silver low flange phil hubs, silver riser bars with black oury grips, a black generic threadless stem and a turbo saddle on a silver kalloy post. The lock will still possibly be attached to it considering he ripped the entire bannister out of the wall and walked out with it still attached. The hubs are unique in that the phil logos don't line up with the valve stem holes.

According to a friend who saw the guy at around 6 before hearing it had been stolen, he's in the bed-stuy area still and is riding the bike. If you're at Pratt or by Fulton please keep extra close watch.

Please spread the word and call me at 917.873.4220 if you see anything like a steamroller with orange wheels/phil low flange hubs.

PLEASE REPOST THIS!


--
Jack Drury
No Gods, No Vegetables
www.nogodsnovegetables.com
917.873.4220

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Daydreams on a Spring Scorcher


Return of the Scorcher would be the name that brought me together with my nemesis/progenitor.
Here is a daydream, a bike jam from Hampsterdam.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Results...



We overhauled Mina's sweet Suteki mixti so you can see the almost done photos. She was tired of riding in such a prone riding position so we replaced her drop-bars with a taller Nitto Technomic stem to have her more comfortable. The catch to raising your handlebars in style is; if your steerer tube is not tall enough to accept enough of the stem, you are left with a minimum rise that may be a little high for some people. You can see Mina's handlebars are now at leasat 4 inches above her saddle. Fortunately this is just where she wanted them.

After admiring and photographing Mina's lovely ride, I washed my hands and removed my wedding ring in the middle of it and there was a little greasy heart left in the sink. I could feel the love from the ring pulsing like Frodo, but it made me have to give props to the talented jewler who made my wedding ring, and produces more hand-made fashions than I can even mention with my wife.Yesterday we had a tag-sale ALERT and ran out the door like Firemen for a local sidewalk rummage sale where a Boricua sold us a load of bikes that are for sale today in our showroom. Angel got the trike out with the quickness and we gobbled up these bikes for your enjoyment and benefit.
I am happy and feel like I am living the good life here today. We shall get the word out that we are here, but many thanks to you all for recommending us to your friends, neighbors and loved-ones. Victorcito has arrived and is repairing one of his hybrids for sale here.

Friday, April 24, 2009

The 3 Riders of the Apocalypse


We had three separate motorcyclists arrive coincidentally to one another last night. One of them had a sweet bike with a badly bashed in gas tank. It made us laugh to see that nice bike with a hideous bashed in gas tank.

Then we got another full overhaul going on here.





Hopefully the customers will appreciate how we completely strip down their bikes, fastidiously clean, inspect and polish all parts and precisely re-assemble and tune their rides. This lucky lady will be ready tonight for the weekend!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Tricycle Dreams


This is the pedi-truck cradling the mini flat-bed trike as it develops to a young work-horse for the shop. Angel meticulously removed the paint with the grinder and a hot new stripping disk that was clean and fast and precise. Notice the park stand bolted to the flatbed mothership. The mover-trike sat in El Barrio on Pleasant Ave. for the winter under a tarp. We were too crammed to fit her in the shop. It pained Angel that his first trike workhorse love was rusting away in the salty winter air. He braved the snow of January on the pedi-truck to resurrect the work-horse that got him where he is today atop New York's finest journeymen and craftsmen.


The red trike in the foreground came from our loving benefactor Steph at Red Hill Farm, a CSA in Aston PA, where it suffered weathering, but Sean from Recycle a bike, Times-up, our old bike shop, and A-Bicycle fame has brought it through here for us to rehabilitate and test. We believe in a strict testing regimen in order to assure the vehicle we repair is safe and sturdy.

Angel is developing an emergency bicycle transoprt bolt-on attatchment system to tow broken-down bicycles and even a rider back to the shop.

Like flowers after the winter, our business has blossomed over the last few sunny days. We have muchos jobs waiting but we are keeping up.
Hopefully we will be able to keep this up with our new resoursecful ideas. We seek to validate cycling as a legitimate form of transportation and elevate it past the internal combustion engine. Cycling is a healthy affordable way of getting around. This is a great alternative to the rising cost of public transportation combined saving on a gym membership.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Rain is growing flowers in the poopy lawn

We have been enjoying a momentum that has developed in the coelescence of the shop. We recently rebuilt the flatbed trike and put it to use carting some urethane, paints and solvents for the shop that a super was throwing out from one of these new condos going up in our neighborhood. Thanks to Jim's keen eye we have some more of the key ingredients needed to seal the dust into the exposed beams and joists of our ceiling.

Seen here is the greeting party on the right side of the basement great hall before we cleaned it out into the last 30 yard dumpster we filled. A typical scene to the old basement. Notice the mumified rat rounding out the ensamble.

That is like the neighborhood dogs who leave little nutrients for our lawn outside. The recent rains have cleansed some of the stench out of the air infront of our shop and delivered some nutrients to the grasses and flowers that happened upon our dirtbed of a sidewalk.

Thus the basement's filth has born some fruit. See the newest Kinfolk creation unfold below:


That is Maceo's whip that he rides for flash, this is another whip bearing the sample paint job that Kinfolk got back from painters:



Angel has been perfecting his trike and his trike is having a baby. Soon there will be Flat-bed trike and mini-flat-bed trike kicking around the shop. We had our first customer ask to rent the trike out for hauling some cement. We cannot wait to see the cement bags sitting on our freshly tuned suspension and drivetrain; rebuilt differential and all.

The Dogs are on Spring vacation with my mom. They went to the Adirondaks camping backpacking with her. Hope they are keeping her warm and safe.

By the way, we actually have a phone in the shop now. We had stashed away somewhere a cordless phone so I could blab away anywhere, but in the fog of war (we have been waging and winning a war on dust trash and debris) the phone vanished. So it was back to the basics with the classic old phones we salvaged from Cox Industries where we got our awesome Hallowell benches and rolling carts. PHONE # for LIT FUSE: (347) 442-1672
Thanks to all you who have been bearing with our construction and irregularities. Happy primavera!