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Back in August, Box Dog Bikes was broken into and over $60,000 worth of product was stolen, which is more than enough money to cripple a bike shop. To help keep their shop afloat, they’ve started a Go Fund Me. Any donation would help them get back on their feet and onto their pedals.
San Francisco’s Box Dog Bikes was broken into yesterday and the thieves took a ton of Kona, Salsa, and All-City completes. For shops like Box Dog, this is a huge blow, as the thieves took almost all of their stock. If you live in the Bay Area, keep an eye out for the models, which are listed below. Head to Box Dog Bikes’ Instagram for more information.
Like many framebuilders, Rafi Ajl began his love for the bicycle at a young age but it wasn’t until after graduating from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design that he began pursuing his love for building bicycle frames. Ajl’s background is fine art and as such, his bicycles began functional art. Something you would not only love to look at, but would love to ride and would be able to do so for the rest of your life.
Perhaps it was Rafi’s passion for art, design and the bicycle that drew Geoff from Box Dog Bikes, a local, owner run co-op bicycle shop in the Mission of SF to Raphael Cycles’ work. Or maybe it was the proximity. Rafi Ajl is no longer making frames, but when he was, Raphael Cycles was literally blocks away from Box Dog Bikes.
Geoff wanted a classic touring bike with external routing, fender, rack mounts and a 1″ threaded headset. A seasoned tourer, randonnée, cyclocross racer, shredder of vintage mountain bikes and all-around capable cyclist, Geoff knew exactly what he wanted and has been thoroughly enjoying this bike. As evident by the years of use.
A SON hub powers the S3 lighting and a well-positioned and broken in Brooks saddle cushions and inviting a ride, so much that I pedaled this bike for an hour or so before finding the perfect spot to photograph it.
Yesterday I went down to the LA River Camp Coffee meet-up to drink some coffee and see what this weekly gathering is all about. While I was there, I shot Errin’s Box Dog Pelican rando bike, set up with panniers.
This bike was made by Banjo Bicycles – they’re made by Winter now – in production runs and are sold by Box Dog Bikes in small batches. Errin’s has seen some mileage, which you can follow along on his blog Frontage Roads. I love randonneur bikes that become commuters when they’re not being drug through the shit on a brevet.
See more details in the Gallery and many thanks to Errin for organizing the LA River Camp Coffee meetups, more on that tomorrow!
Now that’s a great looking bike. Gabe’s Pelican is ready to rip around town and then roll out into the mountains for some weekend camping. Check out more on the Box Dog Bikes Flickr.
It’s not easy finding a frame builder to crank out a production run on bikes. Most builders are slammed, with full queues and lack the facilities to undertake even a small batch. But when Box Dog Bikes approached Eric at Winter about making six of their Pelican randonneur frames, he couldn’t resist. There’s a whole Winter Flickr set outlining the process and more information can be found at Box Dog Bikes. Regarding ordering, call the shop!
