-Angie
1/29/14
It's Official
After almost 3 months of paint, polyurethane & plywood (and about 10,000 trips to Home Depot) the shop is finally open- starting today! If you are in the San Diego area, come down and check it out. We are pretty damn proud and can't wait to meet our new local customers. If you aren't in SD, you should get the hell out of that polar vortex for a little while and come ride with us!
-Angie
-Angie
10/11/13
breaking it down
Alright everyone, here's the deal: As you should all know by now, we're moving very soon. Because we obviously don't want you placing online orders while we're in the middle of tearing everything down, hauling it across the country and setting up our new shop (and possibly waiting several weeks for orders to ship), the site will temporarily shut down one week from today on Sunday, October 20th at midnight EST - which will give us enough time to process all orders received over the next week and get them out the door before packing everything up and hitting the road.
If all goes as anticipated and planned, the site will be up and running again a few weeks later and our new shop will likely open the doors in early January.
Online orders placed before 10/20 will experience no delay in processing & shipping but as of right now, we will not be accepting any special orders, spoke orders or custom wheel build orders until we arrive in San Diego.
We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our loyal online customers and promise to come back better than ever once we arrive in our new location.
*Please do not send us e-mails asking if you can sneak in an order after the 20th. Requests to do so will not get a response, as the entire shop will be packed up and we will be pretty busy playing real-life Tetris with everything we own.
If all goes as anticipated and planned, the site will be up and running again a few weeks later and our new shop will likely open the doors in early January.
Online orders placed before 10/20 will experience no delay in processing & shipping but as of right now, we will not be accepting any special orders, spoke orders or custom wheel build orders until we arrive in San Diego.
We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our loyal online customers and promise to come back better than ever once we arrive in our new location.
*Please do not send us e-mails asking if you can sneak in an order after the 20th. Requests to do so will not get a response, as the entire shop will be packed up and we will be pretty busy playing real-life Tetris with everything we own.
9/5/13
official moving details
As time flies by and we get closer to the date of our big move, we feel it's finally time to disclose that our new shop will be located at 2545 El Cajon Blvd in North Park, San Diego. Based on feedback from our SD friends and customers already in the know, we feel it's a perfect location for a shop like ours and are confident we'll be right at home there once the dust settles.
Although it may take a few months to get the new space built out the way we want it, fully stocked and work out all the kinks before opening for local business, the plan is to keep the site running as smoothly as possible right up until we leave MA and throughout the entire move (although there will obviously be a delay in processing/shipping online orders while we pack, make our way across the country and unpack). There WILL be a grand opening celebration happening once the doors do open so get your party pants ready!
Once again, amazingly huge thanks go out to our friends at The Awarewolfs, Leader and every single one of our loyal customers everywhere. We're the best because you're the best.
See you soon, San Diego!
6/6/13
RG/SD
As some of you may already know (we've hinted about it with or friends, regular customers and on our facebook page), the shop will be relocating to San Diego in the near future. Things are good here in ol' Beverly, MA but we feel there is more opportunity for Retrogression to continue growing, to be involved in new things that are also on the up and essentially kick even more ass on the West Coast (plus, we fucking hate New England winters). The plan is to spend one more summer season here before we close up shop, pack it all into a truck and drive it 3000+ miles clear across the country in November.
To say it's going to be a huge endeavor is the understatement of the year but we will try to make the move as seamless as possible because even though it's not all about money and sales, the reality of it from a business standpoint is: the more downtime we experience means less money coming in, which means it will take longer to get our new shop up and running, which means even less money coming in...and the viscous circle continues. It will be a lot of work, but well worth it.
We want to sincerely thank our friends at Leader and The Awarewolfs for being extremely supportive of our choice to make the move, as well as our thousands of loyal worldwide customers for giving us a reason for doing what we love to do. We promise to continue delivering the best stuff, prices and service - always and forever.
Retrogression may be getting a new zip code in the coming months, but we're not going anywhere.
-Scrod
3/18/13
Leader HQ visit
As most of you know, we were closed last week to spend some time on the west coast. In our travels, we dropped in to visit one of our all-time favorite companies to work with, San Diego's own Leader Bikes.
In addition to being treated to some world-class authentic tacos for lunch we were given a tour of the warehouse, then sat down with our friend and Leader owner Sal Lombroso to have a marathon conversation about his and Leader's pretty extensive history in the bike biz (which goes back further than most people think), discussed details about their products ranging from the design, construction, materials, geometry and finish of their frames to the vast number of things they've pioneered over the years - which are most often either completely overlooked or blatantly stolen by other companies - and even got an exclusive sneak peek of some killer upcoming projects (but don't ask, 'cause we won't tell).
The warehouse is jam-packed with complete bikes, frames and parts. We were like kids in a candy store.
Charlie - who does marketing for Leader and also runs The Awarewolfs and organizes Fullmoon Bikerides in San Diego - and Scrod talking about welds (or bubble wrap...or burritos...or something else).
From the new hydroformed headbadge, custom CNC machined dropouts and smooth welds to the internally-butted/reinforced tubes, the 2013 725 frame is nothing short of perfect. Believe it.
Trina - in addition to being Leader's National Sales Manager (and dealing with Scrod's nonsense on a daily basis via e-mail) - is an eleven-year Cat 1 road racer, two-year Cat 3 track racer and a cycling coach at the San Diego Velodrome.
Hamming it up with The Boss.
All in all it was a great day, an exceptional visit and we can't wait until the next time we get out this way to spend more time with these guys - which will be sooner than later. Leader have paid their dues, continue to innovate, are at the top of their game and here to stay.
In addition to being treated to some world-class authentic tacos for lunch we were given a tour of the warehouse, then sat down with our friend and Leader owner Sal Lombroso to have a marathon conversation about his and Leader's pretty extensive history in the bike biz (which goes back further than most people think), discussed details about their products ranging from the design, construction, materials, geometry and finish of their frames to the vast number of things they've pioneered over the years - which are most often either completely overlooked or blatantly stolen by other companies - and even got an exclusive sneak peek of some killer upcoming projects (but don't ask, 'cause we won't tell).
All in all it was a great day, an exceptional visit and we can't wait until the next time we get out this way to spend more time with these guys - which will be sooner than later. Leader have paid their dues, continue to innovate, are at the top of their game and here to stay.
2/15/13
Wow...it's been a really long time since we've updated this thing! Now that the shop has been open for a while and all the kinks are (more or less) worked out, we're going to try being better about this sort of thing. Maybe we'll even hire someone to be our official blogger. Any takers?
It's hard to believe the shop has been up and running for over a year! The time flew right by because you guys kept us super busy and on our toes at all times. It's definitely appreciated.
Let's kick 2013 off the right way with a bike check featuring a killer All-City Thunderdome built for local customer Tim Oliver:
Full specs:
headset: FSA Orbit X
bars / stem: Civia Emerson compact drop (40cm) / Dimension (100mm)
wheels: Alex AT400/Novatec
front tire / rear tire: Vittoria Rubino (25c) / Vittoria Randonneur (28c)
saddle / seatpost: Concor Supercorsa (black perf.) / Civia Micro-adjust
crank: Sram Omnium (165mm)
cog / lockring: All-City (18t) / RG Steel Reserve
chain: KMC Z410
brake / lever: Tektro R540 / Tektro RL726
bar tape: Lizard Skins DSP
It's hard to believe the shop has been up and running for over a year! The time flew right by because you guys kept us super busy and on our toes at all times. It's definitely appreciated.
Let's kick 2013 off the right way with a bike check featuring a killer All-City Thunderdome built for local customer Tim Oliver:
Full specs:
headset: FSA Orbit X
bars / stem: Civia Emerson compact drop (40cm) / Dimension (100mm)
wheels: Alex AT400/Novatec
front tire / rear tire: Vittoria Rubino (25c) / Vittoria Randonneur (28c)
saddle / seatpost: Concor Supercorsa (black perf.) / Civia Micro-adjust
crank: Sram Omnium (165mm)
cog / lockring: All-City (18t) / RG Steel Reserve
chain: KMC Z410
brake / lever: Tektro R540 / Tektro RL726
bar tape: Lizard Skins DSP
6/25/12
Bern Brentwood review
There are a few simple truths about people on bicycles:
1. Not everyone on a bike is a racer.
2. Cycling equipment manufacturers appear to believe that everyone on a bike wants to look like Lance Armstrong.
3. People don’t wear helmets nearly as often as they should.
Bern Unlimited, long known as a leading manufacturer of quality skate helmets, is seeking to solve that problem by producing a line of skate-inspired cycling helmets. Bern’s Sink-Fit design offers a low profile, full-surround fit that makes the helmet sit on the wearer’s head more like a motorcycle helmet than your typical “race” style lid. Fit can be adjusted with the extra-long chinstrap webbing, traditional cantilever clasps at the ears, and a single Velcro strap in the rear. The nice thing about the rear adjustment is that it’s designed so that the fabric underneath the Velcro folds under itself, rather than bunching up. This makes for a very comfortable fit, even for those like me who tend to fall between traditional helmet sizes. Oh, and speaking of sizes, did I mention that these go up to XXXL?
One neat feature of Bern’s cycling helmets is the incorporation of removable liners attached to the inner shell. There are several liners to choose from – the included “visor” style, which comes with a baseball-cap styled brim, a brimless “sweatband” style, and two styles with earflaps (one with a pocket for headphones, and one with an integrated skullcap for the winter months). These removable liners are easy to clean, and give the rider a great alternative to wearing a skullcap or helmet cover in the winter.
There are a couple of design choices made by Bern that are, in my opinion, a little iffy. First, there’s a little patch sewn onto the chinstrap, where it splits to attach to the helmet behind the left ear. This patch makes that part of the strap a bit stiffer, and it tends to not want to lie flat. I managed to solve this with a surgical application of my pocket knife, but it can be a little scary cutting into a brand new helmet. Secondly, I can’t use the sunglass channels (located directly above the front part of the chinstrap) with my Oakley Flak Jackets. In fact, I’m having a hard time trying to find a pair of sunglasses that work with these channels at all.
Forget about ventilation while wearing this helmet. While there are many more vents molded into the Brentwood (the model tested) than some of their other offerings, due to the shape and fit of the helmet, they do very little to get airflow down to the wearer’s scalp. Given the type of riding in which a typical Bern owner would engage, I doubt that any amount of venting would make much of a difference in terms of cooling. That said, if you’re looking for a comfortable, all-season lid that doesn’t make you look like a complete dork, you could do a lot worse than a Bern. Their helmets offer a great balance of style, functionality, and comfort in an affordable package, no matter what your budget.
-Derek Werner
1. Not everyone on a bike is a racer.
2. Cycling equipment manufacturers appear to believe that everyone on a bike wants to look like Lance Armstrong.
3. People don’t wear helmets nearly as often as they should.
Bern Unlimited, long known as a leading manufacturer of quality skate helmets, is seeking to solve that problem by producing a line of skate-inspired cycling helmets. Bern’s Sink-Fit design offers a low profile, full-surround fit that makes the helmet sit on the wearer’s head more like a motorcycle helmet than your typical “race” style lid. Fit can be adjusted with the extra-long chinstrap webbing, traditional cantilever clasps at the ears, and a single Velcro strap in the rear. The nice thing about the rear adjustment is that it’s designed so that the fabric underneath the Velcro folds under itself, rather than bunching up. This makes for a very comfortable fit, even for those like me who tend to fall between traditional helmet sizes. Oh, and speaking of sizes, did I mention that these go up to XXXL?
One neat feature of Bern’s cycling helmets is the incorporation of removable liners attached to the inner shell. There are several liners to choose from – the included “visor” style, which comes with a baseball-cap styled brim, a brimless “sweatband” style, and two styles with earflaps (one with a pocket for headphones, and one with an integrated skullcap for the winter months). These removable liners are easy to clean, and give the rider a great alternative to wearing a skullcap or helmet cover in the winter.
There are a couple of design choices made by Bern that are, in my opinion, a little iffy. First, there’s a little patch sewn onto the chinstrap, where it splits to attach to the helmet behind the left ear. This patch makes that part of the strap a bit stiffer, and it tends to not want to lie flat. I managed to solve this with a surgical application of my pocket knife, but it can be a little scary cutting into a brand new helmet. Secondly, I can’t use the sunglass channels (located directly above the front part of the chinstrap) with my Oakley Flak Jackets. In fact, I’m having a hard time trying to find a pair of sunglasses that work with these channels at all.
Forget about ventilation while wearing this helmet. While there are many more vents molded into the Brentwood (the model tested) than some of their other offerings, due to the shape and fit of the helmet, they do very little to get airflow down to the wearer’s scalp. Given the type of riding in which a typical Bern owner would engage, I doubt that any amount of venting would make much of a difference in terms of cooling. That said, if you’re looking for a comfortable, all-season lid that doesn’t make you look like a complete dork, you could do a lot worse than a Bern. Their helmets offer a great balance of style, functionality, and comfort in an affordable package, no matter what your budget.
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