Oregon Manifest

Last week I received an invitation to the Oregon Manifest Design Challenge, a unique event taking place early October in Portland, OR. After reviewing the application packet, I decided to sign up for the event since it's like nothing I've ever done before. The challenge is to design, build AND race a commuter bike on the road, offroad and in an urban setting....definitely a unique set of requirements! The bike must be capable of carrying light loads and must perform well in a variety of conditions common to the everyday commuter. My friends and family have already started helping get this project off the ground and I can't wait to unveil the bike! Click on the logo below to visit the website.

Ahrens Socks...Finally!

I've finally received my shipment of custom Sock Guy socks! Earlier this year I worked a trade with Sock Guy for some custom WiseCracker LITE bottle openers and it's taken some time for these babies to arrive.....needless to say I'm glad they are here.

There are two styles available:

• 3" Standard Cuff
• 6" Tall Cuff

Both styles are sized L/XL and they run $12 including domestic shipping. Send Pay Pal to mike at ahrensbicyles dot com if you want to place an order.

Whole Shot Eurostyle

This custom Whole Shot cross frame was recently built for my friend Ryan, the man behind the Stanford Frameworks class I've written about before on this blog. Ryan wanted a custom, eurostyle 55cm race frame and the results are sweet! What makes this frame eurostyle? Slightly higher bottom bracket and top-mounted cable routing. This means no cables run under the down tube....as a result there is no chance of anything getting caught up during the race.

Seat tube measures 55cm from center-to-top and the effective top tube length is also 55cm. The bottom bracket drop has been reduced to 69mm which is 3mm less than my normal 'west coast' style, low bottom bracket geometry. The frame features a bi-ovalized Easton Ultralite Race downtube without any water bottle cages whatsoever. With this unique ovalization, extra material is present at the head tube and bottom bracket shell for superior rigidity. The rest of the Easton Ultralite tubes have round profiles like the stock Whole Shot.

This tubing selection should work well with the top-mounted cable routing and inline barrel adjusters for the front derailleur and rear brake. The front derailleur also receives a pulley on the back side of the seat tube for true european flair. The cross-specific lower yoke has also been tweaked for additional mud clearance. Chainstays are standard, 19mm straight wall tubes that are hand-formed for proper heel clearance when pedaling. Stay tuned for more pics of this desert camo beast soon. Special thanks to Dave at Vanderkitten and VC Graphix for the custom stickers.