Hoopty Fever

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!

Super Jenn

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.

A Japanther 4th of July

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

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.

Another Successful Refurbish

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.

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!

race to the sun

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

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.