Monday, July 12, 2010

Un-Scripted Theater Company Bike part 1

Probably the most distinctive feature of my bike are the red and black the front and rear wood slat racks. Not only can I carry 5 bags of groceries, or deliver a cooler and a case of beer to the theater, or load-up a giant picnic basket and a blanket and a couple of coats for a day in Dolores Park, but the racks make my Un-Scripted Theater Company bike look amazingly beautiful! People are always asking me where I got them, but unfortunately nobody ever has a pen when we're stopped at a light riding down Market Street (not that I could spell Ahearne even if they did have a pen). So here's all the information online and I'll just start handing out my business card with my blog link on it (nice meeting you today, fellow bike guy or cute bike girl). The front rack is called a Flatbed. Made by Paul Components in Chico CA, the Flatbed doesn't come in black and red. I called them up and had them send it to me with un-varnished wood so I could paint it my self. I had a similar conversation with the guys from Ahearne Cycles in Portland Or, when I ordered my rear rack from them. Normally the wood comes pretreated, but everyone was super cool about sending me wood ready for paint. The rear rack turned out really nice. It's designed around a 24 case of beer and even has a built in bottle opener. It was a pretty standard rack for them. If I had to order one again I would have them add the u-lock holder and I would have chosen to have them make it a little lower to the wheel. I was worried that I would want to put fenders on my bike so I had them leave room, but it puts the weight of the stuff in the rack too high on the bike making it top heavy and hard to manage when full of heavy stuff (which it always seems to be). I've repainted both racks several times as the paint gets scuffed from normal use, and they still look amazing. The Ahearne rack came in a black powder coat and the Paul Components rack I had to spray paint myself using that super-hard glossy black refrigerator spray-paint. It was a pain to use, and chips way easier that that powder coat one does, but at least it looks good. The racks on the Un-Scripted Theater Company bike are probably my two favorite bike purchases ever!

Ahearne Cycles Bike Racks

Paul Components Flatbed Bike Rack

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