Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A film? Brad Pitt to play me?

No. They want me to play Brad Pitt playing me.
Wait...wut?
No really, this has been one heck of a year and I thought I would take a few moments out of today, which now I have the crud that has gone around, and just say a couple of things.
We had a good, but trying year. The move has made the shop such a better and more comfortable place to build it is funny. I mean sometimes I stop and look around and giggle. It makes me giddy.
While we are behind a little bit, I am happy to say that we are catching up so fast it is pretty cool.
We have more bikes at the painters and coming back at one time then ever before. There are more creative ideas this year than I ever thought. I mean, come on ! We are making track bikes that look like the Lions from Voltron. That is probably the most awesome sentence I have ever typed, so far...
While I look ahead for NAHBS , I wanted to take a moment here today before I go pass out on the couch, as I am super sleep deprived right now, to thank everyone who has helped or supported me or the GROOVE in the last three years. Those were the truly tough ones.
But now, I like thinking about the bikes coming back from the painters, the super custom parts we are having made, the bodacious designs coming out of the shop, the brands we are helping to build, and doing it here. Some people said it couldn't be done.Well, sometimes you got to take that risk, you got to sacrifice, and just when you think you should quit, dig deeper. You might find what you are looking for.
Now speaking of that, it is a good segway to a Mr. T.C. Worley of Studio Blue photography in MPLS. T.C. came down and has been lurking around for a few years. I would like to say that he "got" what I was and am trying to do down here. So he took some pictures, and over time with his pal Tony, they decided to make a film about the Groove, and well, I guess me too. It is very weird for me to say that, like :" Come see my film about me and Peacock Groove", but come see it. I have only seen the teaser, so they probably don't want me blabbing all over about it.
Come see it for your self, I would love to see you there.
erik
http://vimeo.com/32808794

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1294835193

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Summer review?


Sometimes in life, well it just goes by sooooo fast. I have not blogged as much as I have wanted to, and that me me a little unhappy, because I like it in the way that it can reach so many people in a creative way. Well, when my "writing" gets creative you will know.
Now, how about for a summer in review, and this is off the top of my head, so some just too cool stuff may be left out.
New shop, we got some new machines down here and are very excited to get them up to speed, and we will start making parts in house, yep that is right. Little parts and things that you will be able to put on your new Groove , or your bike that you have. We also got some powder coating equipment, and that should be up and running in the spring. We will be offering this as a service for repaints and parts, but until we get the quality up to what we want for a Peacock frame we will not be offering it on new frames. A wet paint booth is also being looked at to do, as we have the room, but want to do it right and are consulting the right people for this job.
The "whipe out" earlier in the year over Memorial Weekend did really shake me up. Not knowing how or what happened to me and how me , my bike sat in a puddle for over 6 hours with no one noticing is beyond me. Yes, the details are still fuzzy with me too. Point is : be careful out there people, and when some one offers to ride you home safe or tells you to text when you get home, this is why. And that is why I make people text me when they get home, we all need to watch our friends backs.
My very good, verging on great friend , got breast cancer. And it really pisses me off. It seems like shit like this happens to good people way too much. Things like this that affect you, I have come to realize, they kinda don't. What I mean by that is it effects the person who has it more. I can only be there for her, and support here anyway I can. Since she ordered a bike before she got cancer, I had to put her in line in the que. That meant she would miss cross season this year, but would have had her bike mid to late spring. When she told me she wanted to race this year despite going in chemo, I said to my self:" You better get this tougher than nails lady that P G race bike. With an attitude like that, I will do anything to help her beat this shit disease."
So, I made it my priority. I told her that and we decided to call it the :ANTI CANCER BIKE.
She has it now and has been racing it too. She is more than tough, more than a friend to me and I love her for who she is. Did I mention that she raced Babes in Bikeland 5 AND WON IT. WHILE ON CHEMO. WHILE HOLDING BACK PUKING ON THE COURSE.
Yep shes tough. She won the race, the fram and fork we give away for it, and more than the respect of everyone that day.
We got our new sign up above the garage door of the shop. I love it and it is really awesome, I can't wait to put christmas lights on it soon!!!
We survived the bathroom above the office over flooding. This was such a shitty ordeal, and took over a week to clean and re do the office. Oh well.
Now for a few plans on the coming up future:
We will be attending the best frame builder show again this year, NAHBS. I have some really cool customer bikes going this year, and one hell of a painted disc wheel. Stay tuned, this will be sure to make a couple people be all wha wha whambulance callers....but it is all in some good fun....
We are having a new website built as you read this. Seriously, this is not a joke, after 9 years there will be a site that reflects Peacock Grooves head turning bikes. It will roll out soon too. It will be a work in progress, but I am very excited about this.
And one last teaser, we have a little film that some very talented people made about the Groove, and may even be shown on a local big screen. That is all I can say about that, so watch the blog and of course the Face Book....
And if we haven't got back to you in a bit, we will soon. I am busy building the bikes and taking care of things, so we will chat soon.
Have a great rest of the week...and remember, never doubt the intelligence of a squirrel...

erik