Back from the Middle of Nowhere

Regular readers maybe excused for thinking that I have fallen off the face of the Earth. Unfortunately this is not the case, but there has been a lot happening at rothar.com towers that has been conspiring to prevent frequent updates.

First up my time in the bike shop is drawing to a close and on Tuesday night several drinks were downed in celebration of the fact I’m leaving. Much entertainment was had and it was good to catch up with a few old colleagues who haven’t been around much recently.

Secondly I’ve already started my new job on a part time basis too, so I’ve been busy doing all sorts of stuff for that and then there have been some changes in my living arrangements that have caused a fair bit of termoil around these parts. To cut to the chase there hasn’t been much of an excuse, I’ve just been really slack.

There has however been one rather fundamental, important and rather secretive development. The much awaited new bike has landed and this morning I picked it up from the wonderful Mr & Mrs Johnson at Sideways Cycles, took it home, built it up and then after work test rode it extensively until it had turned dark outside. Another reason I’ve not been updating. There are some pictures here.

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some as I think they may have had a vague idea of what was coming but not really exactly what. When I was looking into getting it, I really struggled to find much to look at in terms of what was available in terms of finishing and options. The answer is that pretty much anything is possible if you can afford it. This one had a few custom options like disc and v-brake bosses, a forward facing seat tube slot, drilled BB shell for drainage, custom cable routing, geometry and paintwork.

Anyway to make life a bit easier for other people in a position similar to mine looking at getting something new, there is now a whole website dedicated to some of the finest bikes on earth over at ifrider.com, the home of the Independent Fabrication Owners’ Club. There’s now a permanent link to it from the main page too.

Perhaps most importantly I now have a bike for Mountain Mayhem…