More Events! Oh, my.

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out for the Bike Snob ride. Seems like everyone had a great time-- I know I did. Here's the snobby recap! I'll put the promised photos up as soon as I get 'em.

Ok, now on to IMPORTANT PROMOTIONAL PROMOTION!

This weekend, as perhaps I've mentioned, we'll be at the Cirque Du Cyclisme looking at Old Bikes.

 

Stride in style

And we'd love to see you there. We'll bring a few of our own bikes and selection of Cool Stuff for the swap. 

Next weekend we're going touring. You should too. 

The weekend AFTER that (June 1st and 2nd) is the bikiest weekend of the year. Here's what you're doing: 

SATURDAY: Go to The Works! It's a race to benefit Neighborhood Bike Works, our favorite local non-profit. Ride around, do goofy things, enjoy the city, then go the Beaumont Warehouse and dance your tail off. 

So many hoagies

LATER ON SATURDAY: Stop by Firth and Wilson Transport Cycles to celebrate their opening! Bring beer for Simon and David. More bike shops=better city. And you all know Simon, our charming MC and former BCW crew member!

Less gun shops=also better city!

SUNDAY: Come watch the bike race with us on Lemon Hill! We'll have a keg of something nice and maybe a bike or two. Bike Race Day is the one day it is acceptable to be blind drunk at ten AM and yell at attractive cyclists all the time, so you know you can't miss this. 

We'll be one of those tents

MONDAY: Call in sick. 

AND FINALLY.... Our Jerseys are available for pre-order! Wheee! 

Will shoot your sexiness through the roof.

According to the website: "Wear it and watch as gawking cyclists ride into trees, motorists exit the bike lane unbidden, and race opponents give up at the starting line and slink home. THIS JERSEY IS POWER" You can get yours here.

That's it for now. Aren't May and June great?

Isis

BCW 

Oh look, another Retrofit Special!

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out for the Bike Snob ride yesterday! I for one had a blast. Cool bikes, the nicest people ever, and a lovely evening-- can't be improved on. I'll post pictures as they come.

Also, today is the first day of our Bike Month retrofit special. Click here for details on steel, and here for details on titanium. Do it now and get your bike back in time to get out of town when it gets really hot. In fact, with couplers you and your bike can get all the way down to the penguins.

And send us pictures.

Expect Snob Ride pics next week. And thanks again!

Isis

BCW

 

Event Addendum

Here's another May event that I forgot to mention, and it's a good one: BIKE SNOB ABROAD RIDE AND BOOK SIGNING! 

When: May 9th, 6.00 PM (ride out at 6.30)
Where: Meet at Rittenhouse Square, end up at North Bowl.
What: Nice leisurely ride through the mean gritty streets of the city without pity, then books, beer and bowling balls.
Why: Meet Bike Snob, have a ride, hear about his book, buy a copy, have the best Thursday night ever.
How: All bikes and levels welcome. It'll be getting dark, so encrust your bike with knog lights, if you like. 

Here's the logo, as if you could possibly forget:

And here's a link to BikeSnob, in case you could possibly not know who he is!

You stoked? I'm stoked. See y'all there.

Isis
BCW

The Calm Before the Storm

April is the cruelest month according to some English guy with a hipster beard, but for us it is deceptively calm. We're cranking out bikes with a certain quiet desperation, so they're ready for the onslaught of MAY. Here's your abbreviated pre-May cheat sheet so you mark your calendars, should you want to.

May 4th-- Velofest at Trexlertown (or as everyone calls it, The Swap) A couple of us will be there selling Cool Stuff, which you should buy because our shop is absolutely lousy with Cool Stuff and it's getting on Isis' nerves (ahem).

May 3-4th-- Bike Expo New York, in New York. Keep Steve and some bikes company at Pier 36. Fellow exhibitors will be everything from Dahon to Lifeway Kefir.

May 17-19th is the fun and nerdy Cirque Du Cyclisme down in Leesburg VA. If you're at all into old bikes, fancy bikes, or old fancy bikes, this is THE PLACE.

We'll keep you updated as more stuff comes along; right now this is the Big Three.

What else?

This year's Expo is going to be in the Philadelphia Convention Center!!

That shiny thing behind the paintbrush

 

It is going to be so shiny and awesome! While we'll miss the grandeur of the Armory, we'll enjoy the lack of darkness and coldness (and so will you). 

On a side note, if you manage to bring the drip under the paintbrush to the Bilenky Booth during the Expo we'll give you a sweet prize and our undying gratitude because that thing is.....

 

Yeah.

BMXers who keep riding up it, we approve. 

Speaking of sculptures and sculptors, it has come to our attention that Steve is Auguste Rodin. 

 Steve

  Rodin

 

We know now, Auguste! You couldn't hide forever! We expect all the bikes to come complete with writhing little bronze people, ok? And don't let us catch you sculpting paint drips. 

See you all in May!

Isis

BCW

We have the best customers EVER

So a few months ago Bicycling Magazine made this video about us.We were overwhelmed with nice responses, from all over the world. The other day we got this email:

HI Steve Bilenky!

i saw online axcidently your excellent video this weekend. It inspire me and i draw some still frame, so i will send to you and hope you enjoy it. I'm artist in Rome and i think that some beautiful images have value. I appreciate your work and your video so much! I'm sorry about my english but i speak italian, german and tzech and not fluently english.

I send to you and your staff a hugs.

Clara De Paoli

Here are the pictures. We are speechless, senza parole, verklempt, and němý:

 Looking good, Steve!

We also got some great photos of one of our frequent customers doing RAAM (which, for the uninitiated, stands for Race Across America. The riders go across the continental US, in sometimes as little as eight days. Some do it in teams, which is reasonable, and some go solo which is NOT.)

Dan's team here had the oldest average age of any RAAM contestants ever: 

 

At the starting line....

 Made it!

 And here's Dan on his RAAM Litespeed, which we retrofitted this winter.

For the record, this guy has a Cessna airplane and a Burley tandem with just one set of couplers in it so it fits in the back.

And finally, here's an email we got today:

Steve,

I thought I'd toss you an update: The Lygie you saved and renovated is still in fine shape and passed on to my son Nathaniel who rode it across 5500 miles across country and went on to a career in promoting bicycling for transportation, lifestyle, health and urban design. I will always remember the time on the phone time, trust, sensitive of art and esthetics and personal care invested in a rejuvenating a beat up bike that still means so much.

Thank you,

John Higley

Sherborn, MA 01770

 Aww! Thanks John! We love hearing about the lives of bikes that have been through our shop.

Bilenky Cycle Works-- serving criminally cool cyclists since 1983.

On an unrelated note, can it be spring now? I mean, COME ON!

-Isis
BCW