A Story about our Drawnright tubing and the Goodship.
OFF-THE-SHELF BRANDED TUBESETS:
Bicycle frame builders can use butted tube sets to save weight, to control the feel of the frame and to improve durability by moving the “flex” of the frame away from critical places like welds and other highly stressed areas. A lot of brands and frame builders will point out that they are using “butted tubes”, however, when using an off-the-shelf tube set, the position and thickness of the butting will generally be designed to work on a wide range of frame sizes and geometries, and this can create a mix of benefits that are largely a compromise. Therefore, when it comes to designing the frame they are limited to working within the constraints and benefits of the off-the-shelf tube set that they have chosen for the project.
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I’ve been excited to build this bike since we first started talking about creating the Fairdale brand. It’s a bike where we get to show what we can do when we combine proven manufacturing techniques with modern technology. It’s also a bike that most companies would not be able to do. Thanks to Fairdale being part of Odyssey BMX, we were able to tap into 30 years of manufacturing know-how in order to create something truly unique. Continuing on with our daily posts of the 2015 line (full catalog HERE) we’ve reached our last new model, THE GOODSHIP. Let’s dive into the details….
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If you’ve been reading our posts about each of our 2015 bikes you may have noticed me saying this one’s a “favorite”, or that one’s “our favorite”. Well, this bike is my REAL favorite model of the 2015 line. The Weekender with drop bars is so nice to ride and I’m very excited for you all to see it (and ride one). I feel like we absolutely nailed the spec on this bike and it has created a bike that is very special. The Drop Weekender is a tough, all-purpose road bike. It is reliable transportation that can keep you out of cars, and keep you smiling.
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Our Weekender has been our most favorite bike since the beginning. It’s practical design has found it a home with many different types of riders. You can sum it up as a 9-speed bike built on a quality frame with quality components and a comfortable all-around riding position. Folks who have Weekenders use them for anything from neighborhood cruisers to daily commuters or like myself, as a touring bike ( Taj’s Japan trip on a Weekender). What I really like about it is that I’ve seen our Weekender turn a lot of people who were interested in bikes into actual “cyclists”. This is really the basic intent of Fairdale in a nutshell. We want to make bikes that allow you to fall in love with cycling… to experience a bit of the magic that we’ve gotten to enjoy. The Weekender really opens that door for a lot of people. A bike easy enough for the most novice of rider to use, but also a bike with enough range to put some serious miles on it.
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The TAJ is a bit of a special project bike for us…. well, maybe it would be better to say it’s a special project bike for me! Because it’s got my name on it. Here’s a trick I learned about being a bike designer, put your name on the bike and claim it as a “Signature Model” and you can do whatever you want! That’s basically what I did with this bike. I had a “Taj” signature model back in the Hoffman Bikes BMX days (1995) so I justified doing this model as kind of a throw back to that. All justifications aside I got to design this bike exactly how I wanted. I wanted a BMX styled cruiser that was tough enough to do some real ramping on, but relaxed enough that you could actually sit on the seat and do some actual cruising. BMX bikes are so simple and durable having one that you can actually cruise on makes a lot of sense. This easy to keep rolling bike would make a great bike for anyone who just wants something easy to ride that is reliable. Tough proven parts and BMX sensibilities means this bike will work when you want it to. And, it’s a lot of fun knowing you can jump some curbs along the way.
Outside of the name (and 100% chromoly frame and fork) there really is no similarity to the old Hoffman Bikes Taj. The intent wasn’t to go retro so much as just to build a BMX bike that I could enjoy. I think a lot of other people can enjoy it as well. When I first moved to Austin back in 1993 there was tons of college kids riding BMX cruisers. That’s sort of died away now and I think it’s a shame. Put one of your friends who doesn’t really ride a lot on a TAJ and I bet they’ll love it. The toughness of a BMX along with the smaller frame size make it a bike that really lends itself to a lot of different sized and level of riders.
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In our catalog one of the tag-lines for the Coaster reads, “Bike riding is beautiful because it’s simple… Here’s our most simple bike.” That sincere statement sums up the Coaster models pretty well. Bike riding can be lots of things other than “simple” of course, but one thread that runs through all forms of cycling is that at its very core we still feel that little buzz of enjoyment from simply balancing on two wheels.
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The Daybird comes as both a standard version or a step-through version. This neighborhood cruiser is designed to be user friendly from the start. We wanted to make a bike that was inviting for anyone to hop on and ride. It’s a bike with simple spec that will be there when you are ready to ride. Throw a basket or a rack on it and it will do your grocery shopping for you, maybe even ride it to school or work. This is a bike we hope you will enjoy enough to hook you on riding a lot more!
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Our Parser was the first model we introduced back in 2011, so it was also the first of the 2015 bike models to be introduced.
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