Winter Bicycles

[Amaro Bikes]

New Winter "Caprinae" mountain cross gallery is up!

Eric, you really nail those rando-mountain-estundlish builds (and many others...)

[Eric Estlund]

Thanks!

I've had more clients lately who have essentially cut me loose. We narrow in on their functional needs, confirm the fit, and I do my thing. I think this has really helped me push the bikes up a notch, and I am excited to have such a trusting and enthusiastic client base.

[Amaro Bikes]

Thanks!

I've had more clients lately who have essentially cut me loose. We narrow in on their functional needs, confirm the fit, and I do my thing. I think this has really helped me push the bikes up a notch, and I am excited to have such a trusting and enthusiastic client base.

People trust those who KNOW about their stuff, well done!

[timto]

Philly was great!

Hi Eric
Any commentary for potential buyers on the ride one might expect between these two bikes? Noticable differences are definately in the fork (straight max style vs skinny french curve) - anything you care to share?

[Eric Estlund]

The two bikes are both road bikes with 6800 kits and similar dimensions, but they start to differ at that point.

The dark green Sean-Nos is an all-surface road bike. It is made with partially oversized tubing, has a little bit more "relaxed" geo (72.5 head and seat tube angles) and is designed around a larger volume tire (25-30 depending on the tire). It is a performance bike that can do the country road/ gravel game, wear some fenders for wet group rides, and go hammer out longer endeavors.

The mint green Certo is a road race bike, plain and simple. It uses a fairly unique tapered seat and down tube that flair to double oversized ends at the BB shell. It has an oversized top tube, and Max shaped road fork. It's shown with Michelin 25's (they measure out closer to 27 once they break in) for some of the roads around here, but it's not designed as a cruiser. It's designed to feel stiff and to go when you hammer on it, without being an unnecessarily harsh tooth rattler.

Stylistically, the Certo has a semi sloping top tube and fastback seat cluster to keep things looking sharp and tidy. The Sean-Nos uses a more traditional level top tube (well, a .5* slope) and side tack stays. I like to think of the Sean-Nos as a bike that appeals to a sense of nostalgia while packing in modern performance, and the Certo as a contemporary race bike with a little classic lug work.

I've recently received the studio shots for the Certo and will get a full gallery up on my site soon. The Sean-Nos are still in the can, but I'll try to get those posted, too.

[sk_tle]

Heard about the stolen bike on your instagram account. That's too bad. Hope both the bike and the thieve will be found.

[Eric Estlund]

Thanks! Sort of a bummer way to start the week, but I'll be back on track soon.

[Eric Estlund]

I just loaded a couple of new galleries up onto the site:

Hanabi-

Certo-

It's been a crazy month, but I'm starting to get back into the shop and cranking on the metal work again. Keep an eye peeled- I should be floating out new stuff on Instagram Monday and back into the FNL fray.

[Derek Raymond]

Those bikes are both babes

[Eric Estlund]

The temptress of the clearance section....

I'm always trying to reduce flat surfaces and increase organized storage. This new addition will be replacing the table and box behind it, both of which will be re-purposed for other tasks in the shop.

[Tristan]

The temptress of the clearance section....

You can never have too many rollcabs!!

[Eric Estlund]

Indeed- I just got word they may have another one- soooo tempted.

I just wrapped up another batch of Pelicans (already taking flight to SF, get em while they are hot). Here are a few snaps I took while doing the final frame prep. Raw, unfiled fillets.

[Eric Estlund]

Wow- at some point this week it looks like I slipped over 2.5k Instagram followers. To those of you watching and following along, thanks! If you haven't checked it out, it's a near-daily direct portal into the happenings here at Winter HQ.

Check it out!

[Eric Estlund]

Tis the season (ie; cross training)

[Eric Estlund]

FNL overflow-

[Eric Estlund]

For folks shopping for the holidays, we still have a couple more days to get t's and caps to the PO. I am also doing deposit gift certificates this year for stems, forks and bikes. Braving the PO again today!

[advineas]

Eric, the Sean-Nos is a perfect example of good proportions, of there is something like the golden ratio for bikes, this would be it (among few other builders - not many)

[Eric Estlund]

Thank you!

Once we have the position dialed, I strive to keep a balanced look with good visual continuity between the shape and details. I strive for that sort of look with every size bike.

[Matthew Strongin]

I strive for that sort of look with every size bike.

It shows. This is still one of my favorites, ever.

[Eric Estlund]

Thanks for another great year! At some point this week Instagram slipped just past 2600 viewers, and Flickr rolled (well) over the 3million click mark. I really appreciate all the folks that enjoy and support the work.

Onward ad upward- here is looking forward to an amazing 2015!