News

Leif rides the Dolores 100Our team rider Leif just rode the very exclusive Dolores 100 self-supported mountain bike adventure. The race centered around Dolores, CO and included about 9 billion feet of climbing. He did the ride with his girlfriend (Jonesy Pants) in 12 hours and 20 minutes. Somehow they had energy after the race to stop and do some more riding […]

New CoasterBack by popular demand the Coaster returns in this Battleship Gray colorway. Always one of our favorite bikes, we’re glad to see the Coaster make it back into the line. Retailing at $459 the Coaster is a quality choice above a sea of run-of-the-mill fixies.

Driver-less Bicycle and half a decade of innovationWith e-bikes blurring the lines between bicycles and motorcycles we thought that maybe we are approaching automated cycling from the wrong direction. Perhaps the problem with bicycles is not the pedaling so much as it is the steering. Our Robotic Bike Driver® easily attaches to your tandems driver’s seat-post and will take care of all steering duties.

Monty’s own HatMonty got his own embroidered patch hat. It’s on one of our Camper hats and comes in a few different colors. Check it out here.

A Beautiful Weekender OG build from No Life Like This LifeIt is so flattering when someone customizes one of our bikes. I like seeing our bikes reborn in ways that I would never have imagined. It’s also great to know that someone likes the starting platform enough to pour all that extra time/money into the bike. No Life Like This Life just posted a really pretty Weekender OG […]

Bike sizing through the internet is hardWe receive quite a lot of questions about bike sizing. It’s an obvious question to ask but one that isn’t always that easy to answer. In an ideal world you’d head down to your local bike shop and have them “size” you for a bike.

Daybirds at work in Austin as a rental fleetI should tell y’all sometime about the day I first set foot in Austin back in 1992. It was a life changer and a magical moment. I’ve been forever in love with riding bikes around that city because of it. I know not all cities are perfect for cycling, but pretty much year round Austin […]

Handlebar holders Upgrading or updating your grips is a simple way to freshen up your bike. Throwing on some fresh grips can make a bike that’s starting to feel old feel new again.

Thursday’s Doodle dayTrying to keep the creative juices flowing I amass quite a number of doodles around my desk. They keep me giggling to myself and keep things from getting stagnant.

The Pencil IS the SwordWhile supplies last get a free Fairdale rabbit drawing stick with all orders from our catalog (shirts, hats, waterbottles… that sort of stuff). Imagine the fun you can have with them!

A story from Taj about why Fairdale startedSome months ago The Ride Journal asked me to write a little story about Fairdale. Funnily enough they had seen our momentarily viral R+D video and wanted to know more about what we were all about. Though I expect they were hoping for something as goofy as that video I gave them a much more sincere version […]

2016 CatalogThe 2016 Fairdale line will arrive to bike shops in November. You can check out all the bikes now in the above digital version of our print catalog or see more detailed info on our “bikes” link. If you need info on 2015 models or older you can also find our bike archives there.

fairdalebikes

Our Rockitship will officially launch on Friday. B

Our Rockitship will officially launch on Friday. Bike shops are getting their orders in starting today.

Pre-orders starting soon for bike shops to bring i

Pre-orders starting soon for bike shops to bring in our all new Rockitship. Hit up @fullfactory. Complete bikes will begin shipping soon after. Frames will be available too. Check in Monday for all the details!

Rider (Taj) says he’s not high enough, and photo

Rider (Taj) says he’s not high enough, and photographer (Josh Root @evilphotoeye ) says he should have used a flash to make things pop, but we like seeing our Hareraiser DJ in action.

New shirts have arrived! The first shirt I drew (O

New shirts have arrived! The first shirt I drew (Out of Step) has a clear message. It leans into Minor Threat’s famous words of wisdom, ‘Bow your head in submission to your phone like the rest of us.’ …Or, something like that.

The second shirt (Iron Fairdale) also has a clear message. I drew the word “Fairdale.”

Enjoy some new torso covers!

Summer Bike Launch: the Weekender Archer in new Le

Summer Bike Launch: the Weekender Archer in new Lemon Grass. The Weekender’s chromoly steel frame can be adapted in so many ways. Here it is set up for a little bit of everything in its base model form. Ride some trails, urban commute, long haul rides… yes to all. Add bags, bottles, racks, fenders, and/or our Skatetack. On sale now via your favorite bike shop.

Summer Bike Launch continues with the Lookfar mode

Summer Bike Launch continues with the Lookfar model in Matte Coral Red. This color is now available in a full size run from XS-L and in a step-thru version (which fits in our line as a S/M size). $649

“Look true, and look far, but don’t forget where you are.”

Summer Launch’s new Taj bike. A special one to m

Summer Launch’s new Taj bike. A special one to me, not just because it has my name on it. I first started making ‘zine’s back in the late 80s. Later I even had a ‘zine store where I would collect assorted ‘zines from around the world. Eventually, I graduated to helping make real magazines, and books with the help of computers, but the high-contrast art of ‘zine making holds such an important place in my memory.

I love the feeling of being able to tell my own stories and see them in print. You’ll hear people say ‘zines were a way to communicate ideas before the internet… home made magazines at a time when everything topical came from real magazines. That’s true I suppose, but I fell in love with the making of them. The trips to Kinko’s at 3:30 am. The stoned guy who worked there would let me make copies for free if I fixed his bike. A sea of Xerox machines to play around on. At least one of them probably had good toner in it. Creating different techniques and cool looking effects with nothing but copy machines was a lot of fun.

For this bike’s graphics I went back to those old techniques. Copying art, crumpling it up and recopying, tearing it and copying again, dragging it along the path of the copy head to stretch the art, and bunch of other trial and error tricks I was pleased to remember. I eventually had to get this art into the computer so it could end up as decals on the bike, but I did make it all in the old school way.

As far as the bike itself goes, the Taj is chromoly 27.5” BMX bike that looks a lot like the “BMX cruiser” my buddy at Kinko’s rode to work. You can jump it and have BMX thrills on it, but its real purpose is to be a fun, timeless, and tough bike that you can “just pedal around on”. That might sound like we are downplaying the bike, but “just pedaling around” is what it’s all about! And, a simple bike that keeps working is often the most enjoyable one to ride.

Check out the new Taj in Xerox White along with the rest of our Summer Launch Bikes via your modem on the www.

Summer Bike Launch continues with the Dark Metalli

Summer Bike Launch continues with the Dark Metallic Silver Weekender Nomad. We are extra pleased with how this color came out–it has a soft glow to it without being too loud. We all know the color of a bike doesn’t technically matter, but we also know that the bike that looks the coolest is the one you’ll want to ride. This Nomad model dresses our versatile Weekender frame with crispy 1x11 mechanical shifting, 700c wheels, and shallow drop bars.

Check out our whole Summer Bike Launch on the ‘net.

Summer Bike Launch continues with new Hareraisers!

Summer Bike Launch continues with new Hareraisers! The Classic White Hareraiser with a rigid fork is shown at the bottom. The steel fork gives the bike a more BMX feel thanks to its non-squishy-ness, and a slightly shorter axle to crown (which steepens the head angle of the bike). Odyssey lever and a mechanical brake without a liquid inside the cable will also make sense to a BMX brain.

The Hareraiser FX (top), uses the same frame and comes with upgraded cranks, a hydraulic brake, and a tough Manitou DJ fork.

Check them out and the rest of our summer launch out there on the internet.

Summer Bike Launch. New Ridgemont in Cool Mint.

Summer Bike Launch. New Ridgemont in Cool Mint.

You won’t find any wind tunnel tested electronics here, just a simple and practical bike. 8 speeds, MTB tires, and a comfy/ casual riding position that will put a smile on your face. Ride a Ridgemont through the city and out to some bike trails.

Summer Bike Launch: Our versatile and much-loved W

Summer Bike Launch: Our versatile and much-loved Weekender platform shows the quality of its stripes again. The touring-inspired Weekender was designed with the idea that a bike that you can ride on epic adventures would also be comfortable for daily rides. Weekenders have quite literally ridden around the world, and are also happy to enjoy everyday rides (even on the weekdays). This Weekender Nomad MX build loves to monster truck its way over a wide variety of terrain. 2.1” wide Maxxis tires, 4” tall BMX bars, and crisp SRAM 11-speed shifting all married to the stout Weekender frame is a simple recipe for fun riding!

The Weekender Nomad MX in Gloss White is available now as part of our Summer Bike Launch.

We just launched a bunch of new bikes! Scroll arou

We just launched a bunch of new bikes! Scroll around our site (on the internet) to check them out, or stay glued to this feed as we post about the new models this week.