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 The best bicycle engineering book ever! First published in 1896. You may not know this, but one of the most comprehensive engineering treatises on the bicycle was written in 1896. And it’s still mostly relevant today.
When you consider the history of the bicycle, in 1896 many of the best engineering minds on the planet were working on this technology. As we all know, they got most of it right! That’s why we love Archibald Sharp’s Bicycles and Tricycles so much. It’s a treasure chest of cool cycling tech from the (first) time when bicycles were cutting edge. Some of it’s cool only in a steampunk sort of way. On the other hand, whenever we see the bike industry come up with a “revolutionary new” design, we can usually find it described by “Archie” in this book.
Some of the information here may be quaint and nostalgic, but most of it is still up-to-date and vital. And the engineering is first-rate.
That’s why we were so disappointed a few years back when Dover Books let Archie go out of print. Google put a manuscript on line, but the only way to buy a hard copy was to get financially punched in the nose by somebody on Ebay. Thankfully, Dover has brought the book back into print. We are happy!
We suggest you grab a copy of Archie before he goes out of print again. To make that easier, we are selling it in our on line store. Thirty bucks gets you the bible of cycling technology.
And yes, class is in session.
 Is this your first brazed frame? We have a last-minute opening in the January 30 Steel Brazing Frame Building class in Ashland! What will you build? A touring bike? Fixie? A sweet porteur frame? A classic road racing bike? You can sign up for the class here!
Every September, the Mt. Ashland Hill Climb — which you can ride either via a paved road route or a decidedly unpaved MTB route — puts the burn on all comers. Spectacular scenery abounds, but it’s hard to see because your eyes focus only on the label on your headset as you climb. And climb. And climb.
Bicycling magazine just named it one of the top 5 hill climb races in the US! You can read more on their web site.
Another cool aspect of the race is that proceeds benefit the Ashland Woodlands and Trails Association, which is working toward expanding Ashland’s already amazing network of hiking and biking trails.
Ron’s been super busy at Maison Sutphin making new welding tables for our frame building classroom. Here they are! Purrrrrrrrrty. He made enough for both of our classrooms. Students in the February TIG Frame Building class in Portland get to be the first to try them out.
 Note the artistic, post-modern ground finish.  A new welding table for every student!
 Master Fox at the Fox Master Tech Clinic! We’re excited to announce a new offering: the FOX Master Tech Clinic.
UBI, in collaboration with FOX Racing Shox, will host five sessions of this new one-day clinic in 2012: two in Ashland, three in Portland. The clinic will be taught by UBI instructors and FOX technicians.
The clinic is designed for mechanics currently working for FOX dealers. Every student will learn to service FOX forks and rear shocks, with an emphasis on hands-on experience. Prior to attending, each student must specify the FOX fork they want to work on. At the end of the clinic, they walk away with the fork!
More information on our web site!
or you can register here.
Our friends at Ride Oregon have reminded us that Oregon is the only state in the whole US of A that has designated Scenic Bikeways. How cool is that? The Bikeways range in length from 30 miles to 175 miles, and the environments vary from rolling farmland to old growth Cascade forests to high, dry desert. Here’s a video all about it:
Grant’s Getaways – Oregon Scenic Bikeway from Travel Oregon on Vimeo.
If you’re planning to attend UBI this year, you should think about allowing some extra time to bag yourself some Bikeways! You can view the details on Ride Oregon’s web site.
 Instructor Bob Kamzelski It’s a New Year, and we’re ringing it in by welcoming a new UBI instructor to the crew.
Bob Kamzelski joins UBI after six successful years as head frame builder for Bilenky Cycleworks in Philadelphia. When not brazing award-winning frames, Bob worked as a community bike program volunteer with Neighborhood Bike Works in inner Philadelphia. Prior to picking up a torch, Bob studied building on a larger scale, earning a degree in Architecture from Penn State, making him the only UBI faculty member who can build you both a lugged touring frame and a scale model of the Parthenon. A dyed-in-the-Merino bike commuter, Bob has never driven a car, and often undertakes long bike tours with his family. His CIA dossier notes that he earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of eleven, and should be considered extremely harmless. But we are considering making him our designated tubing bender!
It was a December chock full of Nicks here at UBI. First, we hosted Nick Murdick from Shimano. Then that one Nick with the red suit and the white beard rolled by sometime in the early hours of the 25th. Apparently, Nicks, like celebrity deaths and sneezes, come in threes, because who should swing by on Thursday with a basket full of toys and a brain full of knowledge than Nick DeLauder from Fox Racing Shox.
More important: Watch this space for a major announcement about Fox suspension training at UBI!
 Joseph Ahearne teaching a brazing frame building class at UBI Portland Joseph Ahearne finished teaching the last brazing class of 2011 in Portland in early December. After the file shavings settled, he posted some thoughts on the business of frame building on his blog.
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