Longleaf Bicycles » Uncategorized

New SON 28 hubs coming, old SON 28′s on sale

Anthony — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:44:13 +0000

Schmidt has designed the SON 28 hub to take advantage of the lower drag and lighter weight design of the SONdelux. The new SON 28, however, will work better than the SONdelux when used with “ride and charge” devices for charging batteries and electronic gizmos while riding. No pictures of the new hub yet. Prices will be slightly higher than the current SON 28, which is now known as the SON 28 Classic. The new SON 28 will be shaped much like the SONdelux but have wider flange spacing. Since the hub flanges will be relatively small, the new SON 28 will not come in 40 and 48 hole drillings (no room for all those holes). The SON 28 Classic will continue to be produced in these drillings. If your bicycle has disc brakes, the new SON 28 will be available in both six bolt and center lock versions.

Current production 32 and 36 hole SON 28′s are being significantly discounted to make room for the new hubs. Prices for hubs below. Go here to purchase hubs or complete wheels. Complete wheel prices have now been update to reflect discounted hub prices.

SON 28 polished silver 32 and 36 hole $200 (24 and 28 hole $225)
SON 28 black 32 and 36 hole $230
SON 28S (six bolt disc) polished silver 32 and 36 hole $260
SON 28S (six bolt disc) black 32 and 36 hole $300

SONdelux hubs back in stock

Anthony — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:41:25 +0000

A few people have been waiting on SONdelux hubs to arrive from Germany. If you have a wheel on backorder with these hubs your wheel will be built soon.

All Colors of 650B Hetre in Stock

Anthony — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:54:29 +0000

Red and White Gran Bois Hetres have been out of stock for a long time. If you’ve been waiting for them, they’re back in stock now, along with the black tires.

Pullin’ Up Stakes

Anthony — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:52:46 +0000

At the end of March we will be moving to Troy, New Hampshire, a small town outside of Keene. The vast majority of our customers are out of town, so our move won’t affect you too much, but there will be some downtime while we move the shop.

We’ll be moving beginning March 30th and hope to be fully functional by the end of the next week. On the 30th I’ll start putting the inventory in a moving truck. Fortunately a couple of partners can ship Velocity rims and Busch & Muller lights, so if you order those online during the move they should still ship out the same or the next day depending on what time of the day you order.

Wheelbuilds–the wheelbuilding backlog has been hovering around one and a half to two weeks since the beginning of February. Any wheelbuilds ordered after March 16 may be delayed since they might not ship before the move. When we arrive in Troy resuming wheelbuilding will be first priority so that people with wheels on order won’t have extended delays, but there will be some delays until I get caught up and settle in.

I am having an Everything (That I Don’t Want to Move) Must Go Sale through March. I’ll post items in the near future. If you are local you might stop by to see what odds and ends I need to sale before the move. I promise prices will be very good.

Christmas and New Year’s Hours

Anthony — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:52:28 +0000

I’m wrapping up Christmas gift wheelbuilds and preparing a sizable haul for the UPS man. I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and appreciate being kept busy in December. I will be out of town and we will be closed from the 23rd to the 27th. I will be checking email if you have questions during that time and any orders submitted online will ship when I return. After tomorrow I won’t have any walk-in hours until January 3rd. However, I will be in the shop working most of the time and will be available on the phone and via email for ordering questions.

Update: Because of the snowstorm on the East Coast I didn’t make my flight on Monday. The next available flight was on the 30th, so I won’t be back in town until then. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Soma B-Line Tires (650B Panaracer Pasela)

Anthony — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:29:19 +0000

As long as I’ve been dealing with 650B bicycles customers have been asking for a 650B version of the Panaracer Pasela. Courtesy of Soma, here it is. The casing is the same as the standard Pasela. Soma is also making two versions of this tire. The other has the “Hypertex” casing of Soma’s New Express tires. I am not stocking this version. The Hypertex casing is less supple than the B-Side casing (bad), which prevents the Hypertex casing from expanding to a full 38mm (bad) and a slower ride (bad).

21st Annual River to Sea Ride

Anthony — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:09:58 +0000

Every year the city organizes a ride that follows the River to Sea Bikeway from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach. Its a fun social ride for people of all ages and riding abilitsie. The River to Sea bike route needs improvement near the beach, but for this ride its deficiencies are remedied with traffic cones that provide a bike lane on the nasty sections of the main arterial roads. Ride starts at the Bailey Theatre Park downtown (across the street from Port City Java on Front between Market and Princess) and heads 11 miles to Wrightsville Beach, where everyone regroups, food is served, and the local bike shops give away schwag. After about a half hour groups start riding back downtown. On the way back, the police don’t cork the intersections (which the do on the way out) but the groups are large enough that the dicey bits on roads with fast traffic (confined to the three miles in between Greenville Ave. and the beach) won’t be scary, even for families with children.

If you don’t feel up to riding back downtown, there are shuttle buses that will bring riders back, but you’ll have to lock up your bike at the beach and get it another time. Doesn’t sound like a good time to me (not the bus ride, but having to pick up my bike later), but I think the good intention is to help out those who hardly every ride and will certainly be gassed after 11 miles. I’ve assisted as a pre-ride mechanic every year since we moved to Wilmington and the ride is always a good time. There are groups going at different speeds leaving between 8:30 and 9am (leave earlier the slower you ride) and the whole thing is like big city-sponsored Critical Mass with the cops controlling the intersections. Its always fun to see so many people on bikes, and plenty of people who rarely ride on the roads participate.

I’ll be at the ride starting point at 8am with a workstand and basic repair items for last minute mechanical fixes. Usually I end up repairing a couple of flat tires and mostly stand around, drink coffee, and talk. Come out if you can. Riders are asked to register, but registration is free.

Cyo Wiring Tip

Anthony — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:12:58 +0000

Someone called recently asking for suggestions about what to do with the Cyo tailight wiring connectors if you’re not using a tailight. Unlike other dynamo headlights the tailight connectors for the Cyo are not connected to the headlight body, but attached to a few inches of wire. If you’re not using a tailight the stray wires look a little ragged.

One fix is the take a piece of heat shrink tubing and sleeve the connectors with the main headlight wire. Apply a little heat and you’re finished. The wires are tidied up and you can cut the heat shrink off with a razor to connect a tailight in the future.

Stainless Steel Porteur Racks

Anthony — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:34:22 +0000

We now have VO porteur racks in stock. They’re stainless steel and impressive in just about every way. It isn’t often that you can be astonished that a $160 rack is only $160, but that’s the case with these. More details here.

Pardon the Interruption

Anthony — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:09:14 +0000

We’re switching domain name registrars and everything hasn’t gone smoothly. . . website was down for a little while this morning. There shouldn’t be any more interruptions.

Update: While there shouldn’t have been any more interruptions, there have been. Obviously if you’re reading this, the site is up, but it has been spotty today and may remain so over the weekend. So if you come back and the site isn’t there, I apologize. I’m the tech department here and the problem is above my head, so I’ll have to talk to an expert Monday.