Have you seen our new website yet?

No? Well, you should check it out, it’s nice.
Among many niceties, it is also the new host to the shop blog. We’ve transplanted all the years of the Siren Shop Blog (Siren’s Call) over to the main site for your reading pleasure. Now you’ll be able to view the archives and peruse the new goods all in one spot.
No, don’t thank us. The pleasure is all on this side of the keyboard.

See you over at sirenbicycles.com

-Brendan

An impromptu after work ride turned into full fledged adventure.
I joined up with Nick and Robin yesterday after closing up the bike shop for a little ride.
Unbeknownst to me, we’d hit some new goods, and visit some very old places.

We toured Jack’s Shack, a favorite mid elevation destination of mine.

Disaster struck Robin’s crankset. All but one of his chainring bolts had gone MIA. We scoured the trail and managed to find one to get him home.

All part of a good day’s (after) work.

B

We got the band together for a weekend of fun.

Enough buzz generated amongst some regulars at our store, Hub Cyclery, that we decided to get some people together for a 12 hour effort. Mary and I haven’t been in the racing scene much since we became parents a couple years ago. The 12 Hours of Temecula was close enough and fun enough to pack up the ol’ rig and make a go of it.

The decisions were made: we had a 4 person open team, a 12 hour solo, a 6 hour solo, and a duo. We gathered up, camped out, partied down, and even slept in (a little). It was nice. The clocks ran a little slower for a while.

We elected Nick to run the first lap of the race. It made sense, he’d never been to a 12 hour before. 😉 Mary and I staggered ourselves between Nick & Brian so as to keep better watch over our boy, who was constantly doing his best to run amok.

Thankfully, Mary had the good idea to bring her lightweight tent along to set up in the pit. He called it his “Dinosaur Cave” and based most of his adventures out of there.

We started our racing out without much of a goal in mind other than to have a good time and earn some good eats by the end of the day. Upon checking the leaderboard a couple hours in we discovered we were within striking distance of our (newly) sworn rivals from the desert: Dan, Rod (Sherpa), Ryan, and Rob. The race for epic glory (16th place) was on.
Meanwhile, Krista and Joshua were out burning laps for the 6 & 12 hour solos, respectively. Allan and Scott alternated between sleepy breezes in the pits and blast furnace heat during their 12 hour duo.

 

  

We all put in an honest effort, achieved our goals, and some of us even managed to bring home some hardware. Joshua took third in his solo effort; he’ll be a name to watch this coming season with some big plans on the docket. Krista medaled in her 6 hour race, and Allan & Scott pushed through to accomplish their 12 lap goal in the duo. (duo is also known as “the hardest category” in my book)
Dan & company… they gave it their best. But we took ’em on the last lap. 🙂

What really counted was that we’d all had a good day on the bike, and a good evening off of it.

 

 

Great time with great peeps. I’m hooked. Again. You’ll be seeing us at the races!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/06/06/bikerumor-pic-of-the-day-indian-creek-singletrack/

A pic I snapped during the Stagecoach 400; much closer to San Diego than you’d think. This is one of only two pics I got off my hard drive before it crashed.

 

 

Allan came to us after putting in some time on a 650B singlespeed.

He, like so many Siren owners, wanted a good fit & good looks. We discussed the proposed fit of his new bike, settled on the numbers and set about spec’ing the bike to suit his needs.

The frame is a 2012 John Henry, trimmed out with the good stuff. He has Paragon sliding dropouts (post mount brakes) should he ever want to convert the bike to a singlespeed. The frame fit is tailor made for his uses.

Components wise, we went with a full Shimano XT 2×10 drivetrain. I’ve come to really appreciate the finer details of Shimano drivetrains, as well as the lighter action in the shifting in recent years. We hand built the wheelset using Chris King hubs laced to the new NoTubes Arch EX rims. The new rims are a touch wider to give more volume than the original Arch rims. Additionally, they’re also a bit lighter while also being stiffer.

  

The bike comes together with a Thomson cockpit, Crank Brothers cobalt 11 bar, and a Fox Float 29 FIT fork. She stops with a set of Magura MT-6 brakes. They are light and strong, and have a great lever feel.

Scott spends time in the sand. (Too much? Probably.)

The last time he was in the sandbox, he spent his spare time pondering a new ride, in a new and altogether more fun slice of desert. The new ride, a John Henry singlespeed, complements his current Siren John Henry.

The frame is built of our blend of Columbus and True Temper tubing, finished with a superclean phosphate treatment before we shot the whole shebang with a single coat powdercoat. The result is a gorgeous translucent copper/amber (the original color was Tangelo) that shows the heat affected areas from the welding process, as well as evidence of handwork below…

 

We decked Scott’s bike out with a handbuilt pair of wheels from Hub Cyclery, featuring Chris King hubs, Crest 29 rims, and DT Swiss Revolution spokes. The drivetrain consists of a White Industries ENO crank & bottom bracket paired to a Kick Ass Cog from Endless Bike. Damping is handled by a Fox Float 29 Terralogic fork, perfect for fast singlespeeding. The stoppers are Magura’s new MT-6 brakes, which are exceptionally light and offer incredible lever feel. Scott’s is also the first Siren to sport the new post-mount sliding dropout from Paragon Machine Works. Very nice piece.

Scott took delivery of his new bike a couple weeks ago. We tweaked a few items on the bike at the shop then headed out for a ride on local trails. We were able to dial in a few things with his bike and give it a good shakedown. Smiles for miles…

 

Wayne, a local Idyllwild fixture, truly earned his new machine. 

It’s a special John Henry, not only decked out with great components, but made with a little extra love. Wayne put in his time with the City of Hemet, made a career working for the public driving a trash truck. When the big retirement day came, he decided he’d earned a new bike.
We talked over options (we own a bike shop now, btw) but he insisted, he wanted the best.

Wayne decided to go down the rabbit hole with the three things he had be opposed to in the past:
29″ wheels, singlespeed, and hardtail.
So much so, in fact, that he explicitly had me remove the “standard” cable stops on the top tube for derailleurs. Ditto for the multigear rear wheel I’d originally suggested.
We went all out with a Homebrewed Components drivetrain, NoTubes wheelset, Magura MT-4 brakes and a Fox Float 29 FIT fork. We rounded out the package with a Thomson cockpit and a set of Soma Clarence bars.

Wayne has been spending the early days of his retirement outside, playing some golf, riding his bike in unseasonably warm winter weather, and experiencing the steep learning curve of singlespeeding. He’s expressed his dedication to figuring out the way of the 1-gear ride, and I’m guessing he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Built up a custom John Henry fresh for Carter. 
For all the time he spends up here, Carter is becoming an honorary Idyllwild resident. When he’s not training the desert, he’s up here riding and hanging out with us. And the banter. Oh, the banter… the smack talk has reached a level of high art.
He used to say: “Brendan, sometimes smack talk is all I’ve got!”
Lately, he’s been backing it up.

His frame sports a 44mm head tube, sliding dropouts, and an internally relieved BB shell all from Paragon Machine Works. The frame comes together with a blend of Columbus and True Temper tubing. Most of the parts came off his FS bike, and look GOOD on the new Siren. A Shimano XT group, 2×10 with lots of silver bits. There’s talk of going to a 1×10 setup.

This moment brought to you by the HUB Cyclery. 

Carter tells us the bike fits like a glove, climbs and descends fast, and is responsive to his input. Since we built his bike up almost three weeks ago, I’ve missed two opportunities to ride with Carter… I might not be able to avoid the inevitable suffer fest I’m sure he’s looking for this weekend. (I’ll report back)

 

Wow!

I put this one together just for Dawne, here in Idyllwild.

A custom Siren for Dawne… built at Hub Cyclery. The FUBU of Idyllwild, sorta. 

Those of you who come up to ride in Idyllwild may likely know Dawne, or you’ve probably at least heard about her. She’s the genuine article, a fixture of the cycling community up here. I was stoked to build a bike for her.

We worked up some numbers and pulled the trigger on a versatile John Henry (Poly Ann, really) frame. I managed to squeeze enough room for large bottles inside the front triangle while maintaining maximal standover clearance. The frame sports Paragon sliding dropouts and a funky fresh two coat Mint Sparkle powdercoat finish. (I’d really like to powdercoat the rims brown and find some more brown bits for her)

 

We worked up a great build kit too. Starting with a 9spd SRAM XO group, we cherry picked some seriously nice bits with the DT Swiss/NoTubes wheelset, a Thomson/Crank Brothers cockpit, and a Fox Float 29 FIT fork with Kashima Coat stanchions.

Command central. Note the Odyssey linear housing; the hot ticket for mechanical brakes.

 

We got out last weekend for what was one of Dawne’s first rides on the new bike. A brisk, fun, bump around in the woods sorta ride. We didn’t talk much about how the new bike was treating her, but the permagrin on her face told me plenty.