Lit Fuse Cyclery

Web Reviews

2010-03-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of negative web reviews of our shop. It seems like the websites that offer this service have become a sort of defacto extortion mechanism. If we pay $170 a month to these sites, we will have more juice against these negative reviews. People who do not speak up when they are uncomfortable or confused in a small shop now have an effective vehicle for lashing out. Sometimes we have friends or regular customers hanging out watching their bikes being fixed or helping us out. New customers can perceive them as being staff and assume that these "staff" are ignoring them. That night a negative review comes up and hurts our business, denying us the money to hire more help. People who have an axe to grind with us like former business partners, or stalkers or people who thought they were entitled to unlimited credit or free work or something like that now have a great way of expressing themselves. I should know because I was tempted to do this to my former business partner who is a total moron and ripped me off of dozens of thousands of dollars. After thinking it through and imagining all the facts that I could put in that review that would horrify prospective customers on their iphones, I remembered that I have plenty of constructive things I can do to better this shop and my life. If I have a complaint with someone, I can talk to them in person like an adult.
These review sites are a great David vs. Goliath vehicle and should be used more like that, but I gotta tell you, if you read the negative reviews of our shop you would think that we are all "hipsters" and total bike snobs. We are all native New Yorkers and grown men. Calling people hipsters seems to be a yuppie insult for people who have not bought into all the advertising messages telling us to always wear new clothes and spend half our waking hours primping and preening. I do not shave my chest, balls or underarms. Sometimes I work so hard I cannot find time to shave for a few weeks. My clothes I wear for working on greasy filthy bicycles are not new and fresh off the rack from D&G. That does not mean I am a hipster. I listen to Jazz, my business partners listens to rap and classic rock. At the end of the day, I don't think anyone even knows what a hipster is. I thought of hipsters as people who wear vintage clothes, kind of post-punk crossed with rock-a-billy. People who listened to alternative rock or grunge. That is the most thought I ever gave to the term. Now that haters have persisted in labeling us as hipsters, I have come to the conclusion that it is a term used to put people down who do not buy into the i-lifestyle. People who are not interested in being metrosexual and shopping as the highest form of expression in their lives. These haters have made me want to claim the label and wear it, if I had not spent so many years negatively associating it. At the end of the day, labels like T3RR0R15T, hipster, yuppy, ghetto, fag, the n-word, and many more are simply tools used to separate and de-humanize people and make it that much easier for our lives to devolve that much closer to slavery so that a select few people can be excessively, gluttonously wealthy. Buying into prejudice of this sort only accelerates the degradation and alienation of our social and economic lives. I admit that there are ways that I can slip into this labeling BS, but my awareness of this is coupled with an effort to eradicate it in myself and our shop. Our shop is very welcoming and inclusive, we are doing the best we can as imperfect people in an imperfect world.
From time to time we may have just finished paying the slave master, I mean landlord, or some other such hated scourge of small business in NYC, and may not be able to muster enough zest while answering the same question that we have been asked ten thousand times before. I can see that as coming off as snobbery and to a certain extent it may be. However if you want to see bicycle snobbery, you should go to Cadence, Tr@ckstar or R&A. I do not like being called a bike snob when I happily work on Huffies or Murrays. We DO offer information to people when it seems that they are interested in hearing it.
For example: "this Huffy is what I would call an imitation bicycle" because it is such low quality that it is not worth the hundreds of dollars that it would take to make it as close to safe as it can be (which is not safe enough for any of my friends or loved-ones). If that comes off as a personal affront to the customer, it is certainly not intended to be one. We are actually taking time that we could be spending GENERATING MONEY to offer the customer FREE information gleaned from the blood, sweat and tears of dozens of hours spent trying to make these bikes work for people that could not afford a safer, lighter, funner bike.
I have said in print many times, I applaud ALL cyclists for not driving cars, trucks or tanks and armored personnel carriers. Cyclists are all heroes. Even weekend warriors that put their bikes on their cars and drive somewhere to go for a ride. If you wanna write a negative review of a place, try politely addressing your complaint with the staff. You will almost always make the world a little better place.

VeloSolex

2010-03-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

With gas prices so high now and prices of gas only expected to keep rising, owning a car in this City is going to take two jobs just to re-fuel. Even though most of us ride our pedal-powered bikes around the City, at times getting to work all sweaty or to social gatherings is just out of the question.

We are fortunate enough to have opened an account with VeloSolex for these awesome French motorized bicycles. They will be dropping some off with us so everyone can swing by and have a look.

These bikes have been around since about 1946, originally they were gas powered. The bike is the essence of simplicity - a 49cc two stroke engine sits over the front wheel, putting out a whopping 0.80 bhp at 2200 rpm. As you might guess, it's economical - the 1.4 L tank gives you a range of 60 miles, although you'll have to pedal to get the machine up steeper hills. The maximum speed is pre-set to 20 mph, so don't expect to break any land speed records.

The VeloSolex is an affordable mode of transportation that costs as much to register anually as a day's train fare and no special operating license is required. A classy whip to make the City shrink and your wallet grow.

Angel's Gate

2010-02-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

This Panasonic Team road bike was recently taken in for an overhaul. When Angel assessed this bike all the fastners were frozen with rust. In an effort to prevent stripping out the bolts, Angel chemically treated the rusted threads over about a two week period with his secret penetrating oil. Once this proved successful and he was able to strip down the bike, he cleaned and greased all the threads, replaced the chain and freewheel, thoroughly tuned overhauled the bike and re-taped the bars with Planet Bike cork tape.
It rides like a beauty with 700c wheels and Tange 2 Crome-molybdenum-lug-joined frame and fork tubing brazed in Japan in the early 1980s. Almost all original components Angel installed MKS Sylvan pedals with Soma Toe Clips and straps. The original Italian suede saddle completes that link between Japan and Italy. As much as we need the money from this ticket, I will hate to see it go out of the shop.

'twas the night before Christmas...

2009-12-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

and all through Lit Fuse,
Not a creature was stirring
Not even Blue and Jim's Mouth

Ehh
I can't keep this up. I wanted to thank all of you who have stood by us through all of our growing pains. The shop has been steadily evolving and improving service. We are hoping to make it through the winter and have had a boost from the New York Times blog on our shop.

Happy Holidays to all and a joyous New Year.

Damian and LFC

Another Miracle

2009-10-11T17:46:00.001-07:00

Unbelievable bike returned from being stolen. Our customer lost his bike and miraculously it showed up back in our shop. No questions asked we accepted the bike back into bike sanctuary; and now Luis wants us to sell it for him. Feather-light Giant carbon fiber TCR C3 with full 105 gruppo, Xero lite wheelset and Carbon seatpost.

Luis was working and turned his back on his whip for a half an instant. In the blink of an eye he lost his trusty steed. She disappeared into the ether.

And as fast as she disappeared, she returned to our shop. A dude asking us how much she was worth, and we responded that it was already sold, to Luis. Like that, the bike was returned to
our fold.
Come check out the miracle bike before someone snaps it up.
As well I found a funny you-tube video. This dude reminds me of a goy-Andy Samburg. It is called Performance.
Perfect commentary on today's cycling scene.
Hope you get a few laughs from these hyjinx.

Lit Fuse Tatoo Run-About

2009-10-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

We put together a little Raleigh Colt with some vintage parts and some modern parts for Lit Fuse Tattoo over in Japanther's second home OLYMPIA, Washington. For the hills we added a fully re-conditioned Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub and NOS shifter laced to 36 hole Mavic Open Pro rims by DT Swiss spokes. The front hub is an original Atom Hub made for the Raleigh Record that I reconditioned for the front wheel. It is the opposite of the vogue high flange... the bolt-on low flange hub with the Whitsworth 3/8" Raleigh logo track(ish) nuts. We added Soma Everwears with the white stripe for the Scenester homage to Oly's own styles.

Pictured here is Victor Mendoza the LFC mechanic behind the foundational work in lacing the wheels, prepping, aligning and assembling the parts onto the frame, and testing the ride at speed. I handled the fine tuning and dishing of the wheels, the three-speed hub overhaul clinic and the rear brake fitting and overhaul. Jim handled some trouble shooting on the rear hub and shifter, the wraps and seat-post shimming. Fenders are not full-coverage but they will suffice. Bars and stem by Cinelli and tape Schwinn leather saddle are rounded out with the Japanese 165mm Tourney cranks and Shimano rear calipers with tektro dual-pivots up front. The bottom bracket shell was re-threaded for the modern English Taiwanese cartridge bottom bracket and anchors the bike with smooth reliable service.
MKS Sylvan Tour pedals and re-greased, re-torqued chainwheel screwpegs lend some effort against annoying ticks and clicks. Full-length cable housing and the absence of a cable pulley offer more reliability and longevity to the shifting.
I only wish I still had some of my stash of Scott-Matthauser salmon brake pads. I would settle for the Kool-Stop continentals in salmon but the bank account is in the red again and I got many more items to order for urgent customers. Weinman brake levers are the cherry on the top of this multi-cultural bonanza.
The British-Belgian-French-Italian-Japanese-Taiwanese-American Lit Fuse Cyclery Flyer.
We have been struggling to keep up with a greedy rent and and a neglected basement that is holding us back from being what we intend to become. We are planning some events to celebrate our existence as tenuous as it is. No time like the present to appreciate life's wonders.
I love the re-furbishements that we have been doing. It is why I wanted to build this business. I hope that the Borough can come through for this refugee from Manhattan's gentrification so we can become a fixture in the landscape here. We know that we are not perfect, but we do a damn good job here when we are allowed a little latitude to get the job done.

Hoopty Fever

2009-09-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

We converted Georgia's brass colored 1985 Trek 420 road bike to a single-speed the other day. She was as gleeful as we were upon completion of this beauty. The basic flip-flop cone-and-cup wheelset and single-speed 144mm bolt-circle-diameter alloy cranks and Action Messenger 700 X 23 tires were some of the new additions to this bicycle .

We added Wellgo track pedals and a used Velo saddle to the mix and Georgia elected to wrap the bars with red Deda tape with Jim's signiture twine binder. We charge an extra $15 for this touch which is longer-lasting than electrical tape or the lame end binder that comes with most wraps.

The process is fun to watch but and I have been fooling around with it feeling like a boyscout on a fishing expedition. It makes the bike look so classy that I want to do it to all bikes I can get my hands on. The problem is that it almost takes longer than wrapping the average bars including the electrical tape binder at the end of the job.

The nice quality electrical tape works pretty well to keep the bars anchored up top of the drops but eventually the adhesive dries out and your tape begins to unwind slowly but surely.

So far all the twine binders that I have seen have held up great. If you want a twine binder, just ask for Lataesha and he will get to it when he can.

Next project to be featured will be the Lit Fuse Tatoo Shop coffee runner. Stay tuned Brooklyn!

Beat's Custom Raliegh Lite Refurbish

2009-09-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

We had the priveledge of fully refurbishing a Raleigh LTD-3 frame from the 70s for a dapper young professional man. We put on new 3 speed wheel-set with aluminum 26 X 13/8" rims, new cotter-less crank-set and cartridge bottom bracket, and vintage aluminum handlebars. We re-tapped the bottom bracket shell of the frame allowing the modern BB and cranks to be installed. This process is fun and takes full advantage of the great old British steel that these old frames are made out of.

Notice the MKS sylvan touring pedals and the modern crank-set. We installed refurbished old Japanese alloy calipers which stop the bicycle better than the steel calipers that came on the bike ever could. As well replacing all the Whitsworth with metric should go much appreciated by any mechanic that works on this bike.

With all these Japanese parts we had to reinforce the British roots with a genuine Brooks Saddle. The alloy post-style seat pillar and old Sturmey-Archer pulley cable-guide serve to lighten the bike up and reduce friction in the shifting cables.

This photo does not do justice to the beautiful alloy Phillips French three-speed bars and sweet clear cablehousing guiding the controls. Keeping the bike and rider cleaner and happier and lighter are some Planet Bike Cascadia fenders in black. Light for a three-speed is an understatement. This bike's brand new Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub shifts like a charm and the bike flies the way these were meant to glide through traffic and up bridges.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we feature a sweet conversion of a Trek road bike and the Raleigh Colt that was reborn as a Pacific North West tattoo parlor shuttle bike.

Gnarly Vines and Lit Fuse

2009-09-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the Transportation Alternatives Park(ing) day.

Park(ing) Day NYC is a New York City Streets Renaissance collaboration which supports the conversion of parking spots throughout New York City's 5 boroughs into human-friendly places for a single day. These small, temporary public spaces provide a breath of relief from the auto-clogged reality of New York City, and aim to spark dialogue about our valuable public space and how we choose to use it.

As part of Park(ing) Day NYC, Gnarly Vines is reclaiming the parking spot in front of their store and transforming it into an engaging, people-friendly public space for wine tastings and bike repairs!

Angel and Sean will be tasting wine and helping our beloved Brooklynites with their human-powered cycles from 1pm to 4pm today while the wine tasting will last until 8pm.

A great partnering of vino and Cicli harkening to the days of Fausto Coppi.

Labor Day

2009-09-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today my son turned 4 months! He is a cherub if ever I have seen one.
Those of us who work with our hands from time to time can slow down a little and enjoy a great barbecue. Today we are grilling for our forefathers.
Yesterday we completed Paul's lavish Tortelli refurbish. He has Miche 165 mm cold-forged-machined crannks with a 48 tooth-machined chainwheel and a set of blue Phil Woods fix/fixed flip-flop hubset laced onto 32 hole Mavic rims. His Nitto bars and stem give the bike solid steering and his blue-stripe Soma Everwears stick to the road like glue.
His frame pad is sewn up custom by my wife and his Keirin grips hold the horns while his cruising is on the Oury BMX grips. Shimano 105 brakes up front with Cane Creek Cross top lever, and Campy Headset.
Those of you who are close by, come visit us and celebrate labor day with us.

WE got dogs and refreshments

Stolen Bike Alert

2009-08-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my mom gave me a cannondale that she picked up and stole the wheels off of. I was gonna offer it to my wife but rent is due and Chris needed a bike to go on a tour with his buddies this weekend. Unfortunately when he locked up his bike at Paragon in Union square he was probably followed by the 5P3C14L1Z3D gang or some other pro thief caught the flare riding through grammercy. Chris thought going in for 5 minutes to grab a last-minute necessity he could get away with a cheap Kryptkeeper chain. Sadly the stalker on a 5P3C14L1Z3D or whatever sized up the chain and knew exactly how to defeat it. Knowing that the rider on the hot cannondale would enter the store and almost surely be gone for enough time to snatch the bike and be off; the fiend was able to have confidence to swiftly swipe his Canyonsnail. Most bike thieves stalk their prey. I am not saying that a person should be paranoid and check out all the other cyclists suspiciously instead of paying attention to traffic. Cars are deadly, buss es and trucks?
What I am saying is if you have a sexy whip and are going to Manhattan below 86th street, you need the $100 Krypto NY lock chain or a Fahgettaboutit U'lock and mini for the rear wheel.
When my bike was stolen as when Jacks bike was stolen, it was seen again. The key is to keep the bike. We need to start a phone tree of people who can get the word out and post the photos on a blog or something so that these bikes can be RECOVERED! Follow the bike to the place where the rider locks it and when they enter their destination you lock it with your heavy chain. Photo the bike and call the gang up who will mobilize the recovery force.
Record your bike serial number in your phone and another place you will not forget.
Photograph your bike with you.
Have a bike shop give you a receipt for your bike with the serial number.
Talk about your bike with your friends so they get to know it (don't bore people to tears though)
Care for your bike so that if it is recovered it is more likely in better condition than being ruined because only you know how to ride it and the thief or moron who bought it from the thief who do not know your bike ruin something on your love, your ride.
Bike theft remains out of control in the city and this is truly the lowest form of thievery. Bikes usually belong to people who cannot really afford to replace their bike and pay rent at the same time. I know these are harsh times and car theft is so pasé these days. But bike chop shops are getting closed down or so goes the gossip around the chain vine. Can anyone tell me what happened to that bike shop on Albany? I am too mad to go back and check if the rumors that they were shut down are true or not.
Keep your eyes peeled and call us if you see the cannondale in the photo. Has a dent in the middle of the drive side seat stay and a full RSX gruppo with a new Alex rim on the back and a nondescript cassette freehub and a suntour front hub laced to a late 80s Black anodized Araya rim with 32 spokes and a kenda front tire that had some vulcanzing fluid on the sidewalls to bolster them for the tour. The rear tire was a Vittoria 700X28. The rack Chris painstakingly custom installed was an AXIOM streamliner.
Safe cycling, together we can take a bite out of bike theft...

Super Jenn

2009-07-31T16:56:00.001-07:00

Adorable Jenn de la Vega worked with us to refurbish her Fuji Touring bike and this is the result. Almost all original parts and a lovely smile to top it off. Jenn is the Prez of a great record company originally from Davis CA that has roots in community radio. Mushpot records is a hip, child-friendly label out of Bed Stuy that has won my heart overnight. Y'all should check their offerings.
When we refurbished her bike, she upgraded her tires to Panaracer Paselas and we wrapped her bars with Planet Bike cork ribbon. All new cables and brake pads and full bearing overhauls make this bike nicer than New Old Stock. We have been building up some great offerings including a Black 52 cm Soma Rush fixed gear with 165 mm Sugino 75 cranks, Chris King Head Set, Nitto Cro Moly Keirin bars, Mavic MA2 Rims laced onto Cartridge Bearing hubs and 23 mm Vredstein Fortezza Tricomp 175 psi tires. I am not selling it with Brakes but they can easily be mounted. SUPER BUENO.
Today was Angelito's 28th birthday and we had a great barbecue on the lawn infront of the shop. There were Deleriums all around and Jerry bought his son a six pack of Golden Monkeys for his bitrhday. That makes it official; the beer of the shop has changed from the Loose Cannons to the Golden Monkey. Don't drink and ride y'all.

Torker and Redline

2009-07-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Redline 925 and the Torker U-districts are here. I won't bore you with the specs that you can get from the links up there. Instead let me tell you a little about some of our customers' fun times they had with their bikes. Ronnie the bike messenger got one of these 925 jobbies right here. His job destroyed his fenders and they quickly discintigrated into a million pieces. The other day Ronnie was cab surfing his way up Ave of the Americas when he was sandwiched between two cabs who seemed to wanna merge together with him inbetween. At 25 mph he grabbed both brakes and back pushed a slow stop and to get outta the sandwich. The cabs crunched doors and he endoed his way to facing left where a nice gap had opened between the parked cars and cabbie. Ronnie stomped on the pedals around the screeching cabs as they stopped and squeezed by the left cabbie as he swerved back to close the gap and stop because of the accident. Ronnie came back and thanked us for recommending the rear brake with the fixed rear wheel because he could not skidd fast enough even with the aid of a powerfull front brake.
The shop has enjoyed a few re-arrangements. We gotta get the word out, business has slowed down and we are kinda hoping people will tell friends so we can pick up the slack and eat a little.

The Case of the Stolen Sandwichboard

2009-07-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

My friend made us this awesome sign that we set up across the street from our shop, daily. Three weeks ago I left the sign out overnight and when I came in to the shop in the morning, it was gone. Weird thing is, whoever stole it must have had a guilty conscience and they returned the sign at our doorstep like an abandoned child last week.

A Japanther 4th of July

2009-07-12T05:52:00.001-07:00

JAPANTHER AND TIGHT PANTS WERE UP TO THEIR OLD TRICKS AGAIN!

As the white shirts drove by shaking their fists from the aire condicionado comfort of their partol car. We started off the loading dock with a hot girl band and some local talent from Queens that go by the name Ghost Mall. Pictured here to the right, I have the early part of the show. This girl band got the crowd into the mood of the day and set the mood for the next band:
NINJA SONIK

Ghost Mall was KEY in helping me clean and clear some space and they went to get the hot dogs and ice that were essential to our success that day.

Their music was fun and energetic.

Here is a clip of their show.

We really enjoyed all of the fun and good will from all of you and our great neighborhood! If anyone has more photos of the show please email them to me because by the time JAPANTHER and NINJA SONIK came on the stage I was too busy running around to get any good shots. By the way, during the show, some prick scribed "HAVE SEX" into our bathroom mirror. If you should be inspired to do heed their call our bathroom, PLEASE DO NOT DO IT ON THE SINK. It cannot support the weight... yet.

Kenny's Kids

2009-07-11T07:26:00.001-07:00

Our pal Kenny (not pictured here) is an expert at trashing bikes! One of the best ever and proud of it. Here we have his hoopty that we converted with his pal because he was racked up in bed recovering from hitting a jay walker and then narrowly avoiding being flattened into his bike by a bus. We sold him a used front road wheel and new Cro-Moly 700c Chromed fork with a refurbished 39mm reach 1989 Shimano 105 caliper. Then we got him an affordable crankset that worked with his cartridge bearing Campy bottom bracket. Since his old Italian frame was Italian threaded we could not replace it easily to accomodate the Suginos. We gave him some track grips to go with his green frame. Some MKS Sylvan Track pedals with MKS single strap steel toe-clips and a KMC Kool Chain to hold him to the Dura-Ace cog and Wheels Mfg lock ring spun onto a Formula hub that was laced to an Alex rim by DT spokes.

We hope Kenny recovers nicely from his bumps and bruises. He helped us so much with our July 4th party where Japanther and Ninja Sonik played a benefit show for a local DJ. We had so much fun serving hot dogs and beers to our beloved customers and friends.

Nice Dreams

2009-06-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

My birthday was QUACKTASTIC! A surprise party and some great friends. My son was blessed with the company of a sweet young girl named Ila. There was a chocolate cake and no champagne. We went to the park and I shot some baskets. The first expedition from the apartment for the little booby-shark was blessed with a few raindrops and some rainbow jumpers.
My afternoons are spent working and daydreaming about lazing about with the Bambino. Mom's stockpiling mothers' milk for the eventual hand-off to mister Mom.
The shop has undergone another minor metamorphoses in the form of a washing machine, some metric allen screws and a vast vintage metal desk for me... the big bragiole around here.

Another Successful Refurbish

2009-06-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

We completed a sky-blue Motobecane mixte frame for lovely Melanie here. She wanted her own saddle to be installed and we changed the bars and gave her some cork tape for grips. Her basket is available from Basil at $50. We install the baskets nicely on any compatible handlebar. This wicker basket is tough enough to withstand the elements and sun much better than the baskets that we have had available to us.

We have ordered some Torker U-District single-speed, fender-compatible bicycles from Redline. The Redline 925 has been selling nicely, but at $350 the U-District is easy on the wallet while being lighter, much safer and more fun to ride than the SE Draft. Also we got in the 3wrencho tool from Portland Design Works. This tool is a Single-speed rider's dream. A 15 millimeter with a great steel tire lever on the handle. They retail for $20. We have their bolt-on grips too. They are really classy. Hope you all are enjoying the rain.

What it's all about

2009-05-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

Moss makes me smile and this is what keeps me going throughout the day. As well the satisfaction of delivering well repaired bicycles and refurbishing old beaters and making them into super whips. My pal the sign painter came through and painted the sandwich board that we now set out on Willoughby Ave. every day.
We got cats to control the mouse problem in the building. Today Angel and I were going to feed the cats and Angel called me over to see what to my horror was the out come of cat vs. mouse '09. There in the empty cat food can was a fat mouse. I lifted the can and that forker jumped out and landed in a bin full of shop vac plastic tubes.
I was livid and wanted to banish the mouse to the beyond and kick the cats out on their lazy tails. I trapped the squealing mouse in the tube and was figuring out a way to dispatch of him. As I set the tube trap on it's end to imprison the mouse in the cylinder, I thought it was not such a good idea to leave him but I wanted a shovel to hold under him so I could give him a better home (preferably 6 feet under was my hope at the time).
He sensed an opening as I walked to get the shovel and BEAST MODE!
He knocked his jail wall down, shot out the tube like a Houston rocket and pulled a stewart little right behind my back as Angel laughed his ass off at my buffoonish attempt to eject a silly little mouse.
Cats 1, Mouse 1, Damian 0
But like Carmello gone fising, I have my rich family life to come home to. My dear son and lovely wife both make me feel so good about myself. Like the Tony Hawk of the bike game.

Then the baby goes "boom boom" and I am knee deep in poopy diapers and screaming Moss again. Ahhh, that's the life.

Flying

2009-05-18T13:25:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my friend R2ue we have the dopest flyers around. I mean people can figure out how to dial a phone or do the internet-dot-com so why bother being too specific. If you ain't in the know, then you can't get to know.

Baby doing great. Starting to smile and laugh. It is interesting that people develop emotionally from the earliest times starting with the primitive emotions of boredom, frustration, fear and grief to wonder, curiosity and happiness and laughter. Moss laughed for the first time today and I wish I could have been there to see it.

Thanks again to all the loyal and thoughtful customers who have been supporting us. Last night one of our beloved customers came over with a couple six packs and got a wheel building lesson from Angel and I. His beautiful stable of bikes will be featured here soon.

It's A BOY!!

2009-05-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

On the morning of May 7 at 6:26, Moss was born. My first child in this world has become my main focus lately. All other concerns have been secondary lately. However so many of you have been clambering for the latest news that I had to upload some pics. He was born with a little scuff marks from the delivery but he and my wife remain healthy and sound.
I want to thank all of our loyal and beloved customers and members of the cycling community for supporting our shop that feeds us and gives me the resources to provide for my family.

Jack's Bike Theft Update

2009-04-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

Daydreams on a Spring Scorcher

2009-04-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

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.

The Results...

2009-04-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

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.

The 3 Riders of the Apocalypse

2009-04-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

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!

Tricycle Dreams

2009-04-19T09:28:00.001-07:00

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.

Rain is growing flowers in the poopy lawn

2009-04-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

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!

The light at the end of the tunnel

2009-03-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

Tunnel vision we have beamed into the peerless winter paying its dividends like drops from icecles on your cement digging slowly a pocks.

The maglite to the grill narrowly avoided perpetrates a scowl in my brim.

We are now like Marlon Brandos in Apocalypse Nows unique to our own flavors. The economy is stupid but we are prepared.

Reconstructed windows, full tiled bathroom, cleaned and pointed bricks and patched and sealed plywood floors. Bikes are starting to congregate in our first third. The fuse sparkles in the spring breeze. See the Kinfolk flagship visiting our port? Go to wegotways.com for details on your own Kinfolk or Vivelo NJS framesets.

Look Closely and you will see the impact that dogs have had on our society. We had a party to celebrate our opening and several die-hards came out from the West Village to see us along with our close friends and family. We look forward to seeing you at our nekst grand opening celebration. Japanther is playing so stay posted to our pres-releases here.

Look to brim and cosi to be in our next post.

race to the sun

2009-02-24T07:59:00.000-08:00

We have several new additions to the formula. The signage is going up, the crapshack is becoming a brick shithouse, and the brick walls are coming together as a strong foundation for the building. We have some really fine Keirin bicycles coming from Japan. The Artisan behind the Vivelo name has agreed to produce his bikes for us under the name Kinfolk. For furthur details see wegotways.com.

The windows and a handicapped ramp are the last touches that we shall be doing while we are open for business. If anyone has a line on some Glaze to install windows, let us know.

We also have the flat-bed work-trike of the century here that we use to transport materials from the neighborhood suppliers. Photos soon. Bring us by your repairs now so we can get them ready for springtime.

D

Scrapping

2009-01-25T08:24:00.001-08:00

We have been removing old steam pipes from the space consistently for the last 3 months. In order to scrap the steel we must chop the pipes into sections that will fit into the bed of the scrapper's truck. We had some long lengths waiting in the basement and one hold-out pipe hiding between two joists right in the middle of the shop. The last of 2 tons of dead pipes was chopped out of our space last night. Angel's flat-bed trike has taken center stage in the shop. The other day he rode to Harlem on his chromoly steel load hauler and retrieved his Mover trike from where it was chained under a tarp for about a year. He then rode the mover trike strapped to his trike from Harlem to Maspeth, across the 59th street bridge, where he spent the night. The next day he rode from Maspeth to the shop with the trike on his trike. It was kind of like when you see a tow truck towing another tow truck. It was a real head-turner.

Count-down to opening...
86 days.

Phones and Address

2009-01-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

So we have phones up and running feel free to give us a call the number for the store is 347-442-1672 or drop by and say "Hi!", our address is 409 Willoughby Ave. Brooklyn NY 11205

bonked

2009-01-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

We are starting to resemble a retail store. The bathroom is starting to take shape. The dust is subsiding like grapes of wrath. From now on we will be able to use our own bathroom instead of running across the street to the mega hardware store and defiling theirs. We got the best dogs on the block now. They go out on their own without the leash and defile our own lawn on Willoughby. Come by and see our aromatherapy garden. It's free.

A Start

2009-01-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Litfuse Cyclery, this being our first blog post let us introduce you to our situation, check back often as we will keep it updated weekly with how the process of transforming this space into a bike shop will go down.

Locaded in an abandoned chicken down-feather plant located in what was formelry considered Clinton Hill and now is claimed by the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn is a 4 story red-brick warehouse building at 409 willoughby avenue. The mortar is turning to dust from age and abuse inside and out. Floors of massive timbers hewn from the 19th century old-growth forests of New England. These ancient forests nurtured strong and long-lasting timbers that are the back-bone of the building. Years of abuse and neglect turned this noble down feather sanitizing factory into a dangerously dusty, filthy, rat-infested, mess with dead pipes covering the ceiling; covered in feather dust and chicken lice exoskeletons and rat fecal chloroform dust. The basement was like something out of Saw with the exception that the saw movie sets were much cleaner and didn't have the sheer volume of dusty trash. In the real world when old factories are abandoned they sell the valuable heavy machinery and replace them with their trash

All the drain pipes leaked into the basement, there is still a swamp there after we fixed most of the leaks in the plumbing. But the amazing thing was when we started to remove the garbage. It kicked up a feather/dust storm. It was like a blizzard with muddy rivers in the basement. We took several tons of metals to the scrap yard and over 90 cubic yards of dust heavy garbage. Those dumpsters aren't cheap so we squeezed every last drop out of each cubic yard.

A few tenants in the building have brought their bikes by but we are not at full capacity as a repair shop yet. We have no windows, the bathroom is not finished and the store still is quite dusty. We have repaired the floors extensively and cleared space for storage and workspace and hope to be open in 2 weeks.

Bathroom under construction

Damian, Angel, and Jerry the three man team behind the renovation/construction.