Blogs

This installment of the PDW Good Neighbor series continues our quest to get to know our neighbors along the N. Williams Ave ‘Bicycle Corridor’. Our friends over at the Portland campus of United Bicycle Institute are a good bunch. They play a big role in anchoring bicycle-based businesses in our 'hood and we couldn’t be more stoked to have them as neighbors. If you’re not already familiar with UBI, they offer a number of classes in both bicycle maintenance and frame building. Too many local frame builders to count honed their chops at UBI (stay tuned for more about UBI in the future!).

Our good buddy Dylan Robbins pulls some shifts as an instructor at UBI as well as steering the ship of the in-famous Team Jens Voigt Army (JVA). We welcome Dylan as our next good neighbor profile!

Name, AKA: Dylan Robbins AKA Admiral Longpour

Kevin Murphy (KM): Okay...First and foremost, Admiral Longpour, what the heck is Team JVA and why team JVA? 

.Let's go for a ride..

I can personally promise you this event will be awesome. You should be there.

Sometimes you just need to get down. Rock on, you glittery genius. Rock on.

Good morning and welcome to the next installment of the PDW Good Neighbor Series. This time we gathered with Mitch Pryor of MAP Bicycles, yet another neighbor of ours along the N. Williams Ave "Bicycle Corridor" as it's affectionately known 'round these parts. We talked, we laughed, we did cartwheels, all the while sharing a frank discussion on what it takes to build some of the purtiest brazed steel bikes out there.

KM: First of all, is M.A.P. your initials? What is your middle name if so? Isn't that a girl's name? 

MP: Mitchell Allen Pryor 

KM: I need to know what is that track from your stop lapse video? It’s upbeat, enchanting and the Shazam app on my phone can’t seem to find it. Instead it returns this song, which is also pretty good.

[A typical afternoon in the shop with Mitch. from Joseph Ahearne on Vimeo.]

MP: Shop-mate, Joseph Ahearne, made the video. He had the tripod pointed at everything for a while, and the music is by Martin Dosh. [ed: http://doshfamily.com] His music builds great momentum, great for someone easily distracted like myself.

KM: Where are you from originally?

MP: (gasp) California, bay area

KM: How long in Portland?

MP: 8 years

KM: How’d you get into the bike biz?

MP: I swept up daily and broke down boxes all summer at my LBS when I was 13 and earned my first serious bike, a Specialized Rockhopper Comp. I've been messing with bikes in someway ever since.

KM: Snorkel or S.C.U.B.A.?

MP: SCUBA

KM: Braze or weld?

MP: Braze

KM: When and where did you learn to build like that? (Accusatory tone implied--only kidding. Your frames are beautiful.)

MP: It's got nothing to do with bikes, really. I mean, I think bicycles have tremendous potential for beauty and for me that beauty is in the details and execution, but this can be true of anything one is passionate about.

KM: Who is Doug Fattic? How did you come to work under him?

MP: That link kind of hits the nail on the head. I sought him out to teach me how to build and paint. I've never worked with him long-term, but he's been someone who has introduced me to a lot of new skills. The real learning happens later, on your own, but he literally has a lifetime of experience and is someone I've learned a lot from.

KM: He-Man or G.I. Joe?

MP: He-Man

KM: File or hacksaw?

MP: File

KM: Can you tell me more about the batch process project you have going now? Semi custom? Fully standard? What is the deal (with airplane peanuts)?

MP: Fully custom, batch produced in house, many options to make it your own as long as you don't ask too many stupid questions. Seriously, I try to be accommodating and make the process as straight forward as possible. It's a lot of bike to build. I make certain components, the racks, stems, lights. It's very much the core of my business and I look forward to it every year.

KM: I hear you’re quite demanding of your painters. Care to comment?

MP: They should do better.

KM: Oh, snap. I think being meticulous is a good thing. I feel like it’s overlooked in the mass-production bike world. Can you enlighten how being diligent and detail oriented in your professional life has ruined parts of your personal life? We love gory details. Not really.

MP: I don't know that I agree with all that. Portland's manufactures are no more diligent and detail-oriented than a lot of mass-manufacturers, we have a different manufacturing challenge and have to attend to different details. We all make mistakes. I believe it boils down to the individual's or company's commitment to their product and craft and this is a very individual thing. As a custom builder if I don't get the details right, what do I have to offer?

KM: Well put. That's a good insight. Hypothetical question: Say your shop suddenly caught fire (no that’s not a threat) If needed, could you carry Joseph Ahearne out of the burning building fireman style? Think a Backdraft-esque scene…

MP: I'd probably throw him on my Ahearne cycle truck.

KM: True dat. We'd probably do the same.

KM: Karate or Kung Fu?

MP: Kung Fu

KM: Long johns or union suit? 

MP: Union suit

KM: Why randonneuring? Or Rando-ing, if you will. 

MP: The ultimate expression of a bicycles simplicity, beauty, and practicality. 

KM: Dpow! Says he’s never seen you without a cycling cap? Are you like a never nude, but for bike hats?

MP: Naw, it's my work hat. Keeps sparks and flux out of my hair is all.

KM: Lastly, in a throw down drag out last man standing hot dog eating competition between your shop/building mates (Signal, Ahearne, Corsa Concepts, or Metropolis) who could eat the most wieners?

MP: Metropolis for sure.

In the summer of 2011, the three of us in the office were each given a Klean Kanteen pint "glass" at a gathering. Since then, the cup has become something I use on a daily basis. We approached the folks at Klean Kanteen about making a cup for PDW, and they were into it. Today, 250 of them showed up. Lots of those have already sold. If you are looking for a new favorite cup, look no further.

Sure you do. Tell you what, come to this event and I promise you fun. How does that sound? Oh, it sounds awesome? Of course it does.

From our family to yours.

While outside enjoying the sun for a few minutes during lunch, I ran into a friendly worker from the Portland Water Bureau.

Terry was out walking the neighborhood with a long metal rod connected to some headphones via a length of rubber coated cable. He would roam around and touch various points along the ground and on buildings. At first glance it looked as though he was searching for water with some sort of modern divining rod. In my usual smart-aleck tone, I asked why the City was using such arcane methods to search for water. Luckily, Terry was kind enough to take a few minutes and explain his job with the Portland Water Bureau and the unique gear he was carrying around with him. 

His instrument was something similar to this leak test probe I was able to find online. When I asked if I could hear what he was listening to, Terry graciously obliged. I was pretty amazed. It sounded like an amplified faucet, by just barely touching an external cap on one of our water pipes. This highly sensitive device would listen for high-frequency leaks that resonate through metal water pipes, enabling the Water Bureau to pin-point holes in the system. 

Terry explained he was one of two workers in Portland dedicated to searching for leaks in the Water Bureau's water mains. This is part of an on-going conservation effort committed to conserving Portland's highly lauded fresh water resources. An interesting visitor on a sunny Friday afternoon. 

One of the most important things about designing your own products is to always keep learning more about design. We're always looking at the way we use other products, the way things look out of context, they way things have been done before. To that end, I'm always interested in documentary films about designers. Last Friday my wife and I went to the Clinton Street Theater here in SE Portland and watched "The Architect and the Painter," a film about Ray and Charles Eames.

Growing up in Michigan, there was always an Eames influence around especially in office furniture, so I was fairly familiar with their work already. The film was really great, and drew quite a bit more of their personal lives that I didn't know much about into perspective. I was thinking about posting something about the doc, but hadn't gotten around to it. Today, Twitter was abuzz with a new video with a very different take on the Eames from of all people Ice Cube.

Amazing!