Winter 2009
About 1 1/2 years ago, I emailed Natalie Ramsland of Sweetpea Bicycles, to inquire about her custom steel road bikes. It was a bit of a pipe dream, I thought... too much money, too long a wait list, etc. But as we started a conversation over email, I realized that this could happen. With patience, I could have my own custom road bike!
Early Spring 2010
Flash forward a couple months: Husband extraordinaire, Jason, sneakily puts down a deposit for my Sweetpea frame.
July 2010
I'm in Portland after completing the Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic, and I've scheduled a meeting with Natalie Ramsland. Even though it's been supposedly edged out by Minneapolis as bike capitol of the US, I still maintain that Portland is the epicenter of all things awesome in the cycling world, be it custom framebuilders, cool cycling apparel, or numerous bike lanes.
Natalie's workshop is an outbuilding in her backyard, in Alberta. She's super-friendly and laid back, and shows me the yet-to-be released new Sweetpea graphics and headbadge. We choose my paint and graphics colors, and decide on a drivetrain. As an added bonus, I meet up later with my childhood friend, Alan, who lives in Alberta and who I hadn't seen in a couple years. Did I mention that Portland is awesome?
Fall 2010
It's time to really get the ball rolling on my frame. I've scheduled a bike fit with Ari Bronzstein of Bespoke Cycles. This isn't your run of the mill bike fit with a plumb line. Ari uses the Retul fit system, which uses motion capture to really see a cyclist's ride position. I sat on my current bike with all these sensors attached to me, and got to see my stick-figure self on a computer monitor, plus my power output. The best moment came when Ari said he was surprised at my power (translation: I wouldn't have guessed a kinda chubby girl like you would be a strong cyclist). He also said that my knees had almost zero lateral movement- better form than some racers he knows. He assures me that with the proper frame geometry, I'll be even more efficient and powerful. A couple weeks after the appointment, the raw data goes to Natalie to start designing my frame.
Winter 2010-Spring 2011
I spend several months sourcing components and pondering aesthetics. Because I'm picky and I don't want anything carbon (I like the classic look of silver), many components are hard to find. Half the things I want are discontinued, and I have to search online for last year's stock. I'm lucky to find my crankset at my old (now closed) LBS, Bike Nut, and my Bontrager wsd handlebars at a shop in Redwood City. Other sources were Velo Orange and Selle An-Atomica. I think I even ordered a front derailleur from someone in the UK.
Oh, and because Jason and I bought a house in February, we became quite slow in making payments on my frame, which delayed things even more.
July 2011 OMG!
Natalie just emailed me to say my bike is being assembled RIGHT NOW! She even has pictures of my frame, with its lovely vanilla shake paint. I can hardly believe it, but I'll have my bike in less than two weeks! More to come...
