Six-Eleven Bicycle Co.

New Merch, New Bikes

Yesterday was a busy day (ok, evening) in the Six-Eleven Website upkeep department.

Check out JP’s road bike in the Recent Work section.
Check out the new merch in Dry Goods.
And check out the new categories and organized posts in our online Shop Journal.

I also got some videos resized and uploaded throughout the Journal, and on this pas Friday’s post I added a video of Engine 17 as it choo-choo-choo’d down the tracks.

Happy Thursday!

Hearing the Whistle Blow

One of the great things about having a shop downtown (just 3 blocks from the VA Museum of Transportion) is that each day has a rhythm to it that you can only detect when the rhythm is disturbed. There are shift whistles from the railroad, bells from the church, increased traffic at 5:00 p.m., and a steady stream of buses that stop right outside our shop door.

But today, we heard something different. Around 3:30 we started to hear an unfamiliar train whistle, and remembering that the museum’s Rail Day is this weekend, we ran down to the rail yard to see what was going on. It turns out, they were using the New Hope Valley Railway’s Engine 17 to move some cars around down on the tracks.

It was really cool to see this engine in action. It turns out that the engine is powered using oil, and it has made its way up here from North Carolina. Tomorrow (May 12) is the start of the Roanoke Rail Festival, and it also happens to be National Train Day.

Here’s a little more info about the NHVRY Engine 17 , and you can hear the whistle that lured us out of the shop for a nice break today:

New Bike - RT’s Single Speed

We built this singlespeed for RT in Northern VA. This is one of those bikes that you’d like to keep if you could. It went together so easily, and just happens to be about Aaron’s size! RT picked out a beautiful battleship gray color, which nicely complimented the polished stainless fork crown. A lot of US sourced components went on this bike, which we’ve really been encouraging when clients are open to it.

Great cutout detail in the bottom bracket:

More photos after the jump.

Pledge to clean commute in the month of May!

Ride Solutions is hosting a clean commute challenge in May. Click over to the Ride Solutions site, and pledge to carpool, walk, or ride your bike to work in the Month of May. Choose Six-Eleven Bicycle Co. as your team, and pledge to do something good for the environment and good for you too for at least one day this May!

Ride Solutions Pledge Site

I pledged 10 days of biking and 10 days of carpooling. What can you do to clean commute in May?

Big weekend in Roanoke - Marathon, Bike Races, Music

What a great weekend to live and work in Roanoke, VA. Our small city played host to a variety of events this week, all lovingly created by folks who are working hard to make Roanoke an awesome place to live. The Blue Ridge Marathon was founded 3 years ago and is dubbed the nation’s hardest road marathon. Having run the half last year in pouring rain, I can attest to an insane amount of climbing. But I can’t imagine what finishing the full must be like. The 2012 full marathon course included 3,620 feet of total elevation gain and 7,234 feet of total elevation change.

Photo from the Roanoke Times

The 2011 marathon saw pouring rain all. morning. long. Not showers, not drizzles, but a full on downpour. Parts of the course flooded and had to be rerouted, and course marshals had to stand in raging gullies to divert runners around water runoff. That was an epic race.

But the 2012 iteration was beautiful. A slightly foggy morning broke into partly sunny skies as runners ascended Mill Mountain. I was fortunate to be part of a relay team this year, and I got to climb both Mill Mountain and Roanoke Mountain, the later of the two mountains being a beast at 750 feet of climbing in less than 2 miles with grades as high as 14.7%. But all 1000+ runners were cheerful, the aid stations were vibrant and full of throngs of cheering people, and the scenery was outstanding.

It’s such a treat to be able to run up roads on which you’re normally relegated to the ditch facing traffic, instead running 5 abreast on a beautiful spring morning. It’s the chance to experience the city you know so well (and the trails, and the roads, and the training routes) in a whole new light.

After the marathon, Stratton Delany of Starlight Bikes and Starlight Apparel put on a nighttime crit race in the heart of downtown Roanoke. Unfortunately, Stratton ended up with the rainy weather this year, and the Cat 5, Cat 4, and women’s races were soggy. But by the end of the night, the Cat 3 and Pro 1/2 races dried out, making for a fast race that was lots of fun to spectate. With the streets closed off, many of the restaurants in the area setup tables on the street and opened beer gardens. The area at Martin’s was perfect for watching the race unfold. They had a huge area fenced off with over 50 feet of frontage on the course itself. Racers came flying by before making a 90 degree right turn and an immediate 90 degree left turn, all right infront of the viewing area. Aaron and I felt like we saw everyone we knew in Roanoke out on Saturday night!

Photo from the Roanoke Times

Huge congratulations goes out to all the racers, and a special shout out to Gordon Wadsworth (future Six-Eleven owner) who took second in the Cat 3 race after an awesome comeback!

It was a great weekend to be in Roanoke!