Soma NYC Photodump Part 1

I know I said I would post these a couple weeks ago. Sue me. It's been busy out here. Anyhow, here's the goods.

The first day of the trip began a little way outside Hackensack New Jersey. I was lured into a local diner by this awesome sign. 10 points if you know what that's about.

I won't attest to the accuracy of this, but it was very authentic. They had a number of signed picture of celebs including Robert De Niro on display.

You have to love the Art Deco metal work in here; just gorgeous. I got the sense that the same folks that were eating breakfast had been coming there for years.

This was my first time in New Jersey, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My friends who come from NJ assured me that they no longer practice human sacrifice or cannibalism.

Here's our little Soma table at the Action Bicycles Expo.

I gave away a couple hundred stickers, Soma and New Albion catalogs and got to meet a lot of great folks from shops around the New York Metropolitan Area. Thanks to everybody for coming out!

Had a couple minutes to walk around and check out some of the other vendors that were there too. Thompson brought all the bling.

Maxxis had some nice skinwall 29er tires on display too.

After the show I grabbed my Chrome backpack and hit the road. Riding through NJ was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

The view of Manhattan from the NJ side of the Hudson River was quite imposing. Makes SF look like a fishing village by comparison.

Hopped a ferry across the river to Lower Manhattan.

The weather looked a bit ominous, but the temperature was actually very mild.

I snuck through the snarl of traffic and made it past all the tourists across the Manhattan bridge over to Brooklyn. After dropping off my bag and taking a quick shower I took off for a night ride to explore the city. Stay tuned for part 2.

Soma Fab is going to NYC!

Soma will be showing off some stuff at the Action Bicycle Expo in NJ the weekend after next. It's been a while since I've been to NYC, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to do a bit of bicycle tourism.

So, we retrieved the original Grand Randonneur prototype from the floor of American Cyclery where it's been on display for a few months now. If you're going to be at the Action show we'll have it on hand for people to check out, but don't stress if you didn't get an invite. 

I'll be dropping it off at it's new home in Brooklyn, 718 Cyclery. So if that's your neck of the woods be sure to stop in an check it out before somebody swoops it. There were only 2 Grand Randonneurs made in this color, and the other one belongs to Mike Kone, so it's a pretty rare beast.

If I may, lets take a moment to nerd out on this build kit. I would like to draw your attention to the Sun XCD drive train on this thing. It's sporting the Sun Exceed crankset with IRD Defiant chain rings. Very classic looking, but the chainrings still have the shift ramps and pins so you don't have to struggle to get into the big ring. And of course the matching Sun front derailleur works perfectly with this setup.

We used an IRD Rivendell 9 speed rear cassette which comes in a 12-34 gearing. In the past that would have meant using a MTB rear derailleur, but now that Shimano has messed with the cable pull of their 10 speed MTB group that trick no longer works so well. Luckily the Sun XCD rear derailleur has no problem handling that kind of range, and even has a built in barrel adjuster. Genius ;-)

When we began designing the GR we knew we wanted to make matching tires to go with it. We knew we needed an option that was sturdy enough to tour on, but with less rolling resistance than the other guys. The touring version of the GR tires with brown sidewalls is a perfect accent to the brown Cardiff saddle and leather bar tape.

Soma Brevet bars and Sutro quill stem with the Soma Double Row sealed bearing headset. An obvious choice.

So that's all for now. Check back later for pics from the trip!