Hey Ya’ll, So our Bike-a-Thon is over and that was a total hoot.  Much fun was had and a group of us rode bikes in hopes that you would give us money.  But now I got a few events that you can participate in besides just being a donor: Monday January 21st Perhaps you correctly recognize this date as Martin Luther King Jr. Day?  Good, we’re all on planet earth here.  Well, the awesome folks that bring you Tour De Troit are doing a ride on MLK Day.  And guess what?  It is FREE!!!!  They are just asking that...

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A fresh batch of newly rebuilt bikes are featured in Bikes of the Now. We highlight a Schwinn tandem, a Peugeot & a Pro-Built Miele. Miele was – or is – an especially fine Canadian company with a noble history – as well as a quite different alternate history. Has anyone noticed a rip in the space-time continuum?    

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Hey ya’ll, Sunday was awesome!  I didn’t really sleep Saturday night as I was busy until 10pm and I know that this is true for other folks here at Back Alley Bikes as well.  Plus how can you sleep when you are about to embark on a 24 hour adventure?  Right. At midnight, when Saturday turned into Sunday, Joey was watching the shop while I rode with our new friend Diane Weiss.  Sure it was cold outside in the middle of the night with a light snow falling, but after our first five mile lap we were taking a...

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I feel a little bit behind being that many folks start posting their 2012 ‘year in reviews’ before 2012 is even over!  2013 has only been going for a few days, so I feel as if it is still a good time to look back.  Especially as I am getting ready for a major fundraiser this Sunday I gotta tell you why we are fundraising.  So lets look back at what has been done first. Volunteering Donation dollars go pretty far, but they go even farther with a volunteer base.  Many organizations put a dollar amount on the volunteer...

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Hey ya’ll, It is cold outside.  Like serious.  Winter is definitely here, but things have failed to slow down here too much.  At the end of the year there, Back Alley Bikes took a week off, but getting back in the office has proven that there is still plenty happening! One big thing coming up that you may know about is our Bike-a-Thon.  A little while ago when it wasn’t freezing out Heather and I came up with this idea to ride through January as far as we could so people would pledge money to us.  So far we’ve...

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Hey ya’ll, So as the year ends, the Back Alley Bikes office is gonna be empty most days as we take a break.  But I wanted to leave you with this one last web update for the year.  There isn’t much time left, but if you would like to take a wheel-building class we are offering one in January. Here is how it works: What: Wheel-building class.  Learn wheel, spoke and hub sizing.  Lace wheels, truing and spoke tensioning.  Also, at the end of the class you walk away with a new wheel-set! When: There are four classes all...

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Hey ya’ll, In celebration of the solstice, or of African American heritage, or of the coming of the Christ child, or…crap, we already missed the Jewish festival of lights!  So many things happen in December we can’t keep up so we are just gonna take a little time off.  Here are the details: The Hub of Detroit: Closed Mon, the 24th – Thurs, the 27th The Hub of Detroit will return to regular hours opening on Friday, the 28th. Back Alley Bikes: Closed Mon, the 24th – Tues, the 1st So no YEAB on the 29th and no Adult...

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This is from an article called “Those Wild New Bikes” in Popular Mechanics, July 1969, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/zazdatabaz/4719829727/in/photostream/ via http://boingboing.net/   What really sells it is the RACY THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHAIN GUARD.

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So the first thing I am going to say is that you should totally come to our Movie Night Fundraiser tomorrow night.  See ya there. Alright, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, we can move on.  I was cleaning out my desk today and found a CD titled “Wolf’s Photos BAB”.  It was a CD full of old photos from Back Alley Bikes.  I’m guessing the photos are from around 2006 but I’m not sure. If you go to our MEDIA section you will see a link to our PICASA page which has many of our...

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Hey Ya’ll, I know that we’ve been bothering you all the time to shake loose any funds you have here.  We’ve got our events coming up we are looking to make successful, but I recently got word about an event this weekend that is very important. You see, Rob recently had some heart problems that put him in the hospital.  You know Rob.  Really, you do.  If you’ve biked in the city you’ve probably seen him or had him fix your flat before.  I’ve seen him at all of the group rides I’ve gone on.  Rob also works at...

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