Bike Shop Rules

Since it is January in the bike store we would like to take minute to clarify some bike shop rules so our employees and customers have some guide lines to follow.. mainly the definition of Beer o' Clock for Bike Stores.

Beer drinking can commence when:

In season (full time busy): When the open sign is turned off and all customers have left.

A) unless a customer brings in beer with in 15 minutes of closing and there is someone else working the floor then the managers may have one with the customer.

B)Sag support for rides; When the participants start eating lunch and you are done driving. This can be anytime between 11am and 1 PM. If not driving and just wrenching, 1 Beer before the start for Breakfast is acceptable, especially if you were up all night repairing bikes.

C)It is your day off, of course you come in to the shop. Yes you can have one but you must hide it from customers. Please try not to parade around with it in front of the other employees. They are already jealous because you have the day off and just rode 50 miles, now they have to watch you drink beer at 2 PM..Not cool.

Cyclocross Season; anytime during, before, or after the event. Regardless of your responsibilities for the day. Remember to at least have a cookie during registration and do not stand to close to the fire in your costume.

Winter: Here is were it gets tricky. We'll break it down into two types of working environments.

A) Standard day at the bike store. Yes it is slow, no you can not start drinking beer yet. Standard procedure is: your working till 8PM and there has been no customer or phone calls since 5PM 30-45 minutes before close is acceptable.

1) Have hiding space behind counter and gum handy. This will ensure no one will come in. Forget those things and your top vegan, recovering alcoholic Triathlete (no offence to you, its us really) will come in for you to adjust his DI2 and pair his Garmin with his power meter...or you will have to fit a kids helmet with mom watching.

B) Construction Projects. Constructions beers can start noticeably earlier. 4PM is Standard. This would be for such things as doing a build out on a new location, Repainting a current one, figuring out how to add 30 more bike to an existing warehouse/basement ect. There are some additional rules to bike shop construction beers. Keep in mind you have probably told your local municipality you are a fully licenced and bonded electrician, plumber, general contractor ect so watch out for surprise inspections

1) Standard Demo work, anything with a reciprocating saw or sledge hammer; Anytime

2) Flooring, Painting, rearranging, building shelving; 3-4 depending on how the day goes.

3) Electrical work: get AT LEAST 3/4 through the job or 4:30

Special Circumstances(all times of year):

You go out to lunch with a customer, company rep, or you have just finished a group ride: Anytime

You are out of town/going out of town to a trade show, product launch, seminar or 24/60/100 mile race

Anytime

I hope this has been helpfull. Our next installment will be on Shop Flow Charts; When to use them?, How many is acceptable to hang in the shop?

@#%$&$^@&* it's only 2'oclock on a Saturday...

In the Press!

Sun News and Cleveland.com recently ran a story on our newest store.

"There is so much available here in the line of bike paths. The city has a designated bike lane right here on Front Street, we have the Cleveland Metroparks, which is terrific, and people are commuting more to work now," he said. "This is a fairly under-serviced market. And the area, with its small, older, historic downtown fits us well."
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

MRC alumni Mr. Nick Wright just did a article/interview for FFJournal.net on one of our favorite companies..Moots! READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

"A full-time production staff of 15 makes Moots’ frames by hand, about 1,500 annually, through a precision process that entails designing, mitering, machining, welding and finishing. Tube diameters and thicknesses vary with each bike’s size to maintain ride characteristics for the smallest through largest size. For example, a 56 cm Vamoots, a mid-size classic road frame, would use 1 1/2 in. OD top tube (from the seat to handlebars) and down tube (seat to pedals), with a 0.032 in. or 0.035 in. wall thickness, Cariveau says.
In its 15,000-sq.-ft. shop, Moots uses a half-dozen Bridgeport mills that are set up for different tooling, depending on the cut, cope or slot desired, according to Butch Boucher, quality control manager. “We’ve made a lot of our own mitering fixtures for specific tasks, that’s why we have so many mills,” he says. Additionally, Moots relies on Haas Automation and SuperMax Tools machining centers. “We try to set up as many dedicated tools as we can to do our jobs.”

Cool Happenings...
From the Kona Cog to the MRC Blog, Were Kona's shop of the week!
"Mountain Road Cycles lives its motto “It’s not just a ride around the block, it’s a way of life.”

“We’re a community within a community,” says Jacob English, owner. “We ride with our customers, educate our customers and are very active in our communities.”

English opened the first Mountain Road Cycles shop, Oct 2004, in Chagrin Falls. Three years later came Chardon in 07, and most recently, the third opened the last weekend in Oct 2011, in Berea. All cool, small town settings.

Combined, the managers and staff running Mountain Road Cycles have some 120 years of experience in the bike industry. It’s a history, passion and commitment they live to share.

So what can you expect when you walk into a Mountain Road Cycles shop?


Read the full interview/article here!

How about a cool video from the summer?? Annual W.V trip 2011, featuring music from Jacobs own band Way of Life.


Now thats a whole lot of "way of life talk!" trade mark shop slogans, band names, I guess its what were all about!

Announcing New Trails at Royalview Park

As many of you know, this summer Cleveland Metroparks has been planning mountain bike trails at Royalview in Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville. The Metroparks chose to work with a small group of CAMBA members on this project, utilizing their skills in trail design. Extensive natural resource studies were done at the same time to ensure the trail is laid out with minimum impact.

Some in CAMBA felt left out by the lack of information during the process. While the process was not “secret” the Metroparks took a low key approach, not wanting to make major announcements until the natural resource studies were complete and the board of commissioners weighed in. This process took many months. BIG THANKS go to the CAMBA members who devoted many hours to this project, instead of riding their bikes this summer!

The addition of these trails was a sensitive issue with some public. Other trail user groups protested vehemently. The Metroparks new draft strategic plan (to which many of you contributed!) is recommending an increase in outdoor recreation and health & wellness initiatives. This is based on consultant work, extensive public input and interviews with community leaders. The Metroparks decided to consider new uses to help meet these recommendations, and kudos to them for taking a more balanced approach for all trail users; hike, horse, and bike.

Many of the Metroparks trails are not in good shape or sustainably built. The Metropark is using the Royalview trails as a learning laboratory for their own staff to learn the techniques and design of building sustainable trails for all park users. They hired experienced Student Conservation Corps leaders to teach and build in this effort. Going forward, the Metroparks will use these skills to rehabilitate many of their other trails.

There are 2 loops in the new system. No definite completion date as it depends on weather and speed of crews. Roughly, Loop 2 may be complete this fall and Loop 1 next year. Watch the web site for volunteer work days later in Oct. Thanks go to Cleveland Metroparks and CAMBA for this work!

http://cog.konaworld.com/archives/category/2012-sneak-peeks

Check out some of the new 2012 Kona bikes "Sweet"

Life of a Mountain Biker

Check out this award winning documentary produced and made by our very own Melissa Prax, featuring our very own Robbie Galloway!! MRC employees are amazing!! Give it a minute to load, about 10 min long and well worth the watch

Blossom Parade 2011!!