Tattoo 'Cross Bike

The 'cross bike is all wrapped up. Check out the Flickr link (left bar) to see the full photo set.

I'd like to thank Lisa for making the tribal tattoo "sleeves" for the top and down tubes. This turned this custom frame into a truly unique design.

Cross Bike Sneak peak

Here is a quick snapshot of the cross bike on it's way off to paint. Lisa put together some sweet tattoo artwork for this rig. More details to come!

A Riordon Cycles Commuter Bike

Perhaps its not good to play favorites, but somehow the Commuter bike is the bike I turn to over all others. I initially built this bike as a long distance commuter, after all most cyclists aren't lucky enough to ride a short distance to work (this is America, right?). Over time though, I've come to realize that this bike is much more versatile.

The Commuter bike is inspired by light touring bikes made in Europe by famous custom framebuilders, like Rene Herse, over the last century. These bikes were built for touring the countryside...not fully burdened touring, like we see these days with everything but the kitchen sink packed in panniers on the side. These bikes just carried a light pack on the front..with a jacket, some food and other day-trip type gear.

Clearly this bike is not an all-out racing machine, but its fast enough for quick local club rides. This is certainly not a mountain bike, but with plenty of tire clearance for big tires this machine can go pretty much anywhere you would take a 'cross bike. This isn't a beefy touring bike, but its quick steering and lightweight frame makes it far more fun to ride in a long century. In other words, this bike is built for most of the people, for the most common types of riding in all types of weather conditions...pretty unusual huh?

Feel free to drop me note or reply to this post if you would like to learn more about the commuter bike. I've included some pictures on my Flickr site as well (still working on my photography skills...cut me some slack here!).

I posted a new set of photos of my (relatively) race bike on my Flickr site. I built this to do a little road racing this summer with Team Cycle Lodge. I spent a good amount of time handcarving the lugs on this bike..not a complex pattern, but very clean and sharp.

I recently completed Basil's fixed gear. This bike is designed for urban commuting, with a little extra room for fenders and bigger tires. I had a lot of fun designing and building this bike since we got to spend a lot of time together really working out the details. Basil had a clear vision of what he wanted in this bike: a clean functional bike that only includes the bare essentials...and a bit of subtle style. With this in mind, I carved Basil's initials "BT" instead of an ordinary drain hole in the bottom bracket.

Welcome

Welcome to the Riordon Cycles blog. I'll be updating this site with descriptions, photos and comments on the the newest bikes coming to life my shop. I plan to also keep a more extensive gallery of photos on my Flickr site as I move along so be sure to check here as well. I welcome any comments and feedback on postings.

One more thing...if you like my post, feel free to share. Each post will include options for sharing on Facebook, e-mail, etc.