We went to 34th running of The Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee bike ride with some of the crew from Schlick Cycles.
I have a few Schlick bikes myself but, for some reason on this day, I chose an oldie-but-goodie that I'd recently updated with some modern gear including a Shimano Nexus 8-speed Internally Geared Hub (IGH). In a nod to its original build, I think the only original part, is a set of Avid Tri-Align brakes that I got at Interbike in 1992 or so. Might be that the Control Tech seat binder bolt is original too, but I forget.
For a bit of history this is the first bike frame I had design input on back in about 1991 or 1992 in collaboration with Ralph Henderson and was built out of Reynolds 853 steel tubing by good friend and legendary frame builder, Tom Teesdale.
Since I had the Ralph ready for the ride, I found some old Ralph gear and outfitted some of the crew as an homage to Ralph who died in a plane crash a couple of years back. Dave’s one sock was an original from the 90’s as he too was a Ralph frame owner!
Naturally, we saw several Schlick bikes on the ride. This is Jason’s Trail Genius edition Northpaw that he has been riding for several years. Jason also happens to be the Organizer, alongside wife Amanda, of the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee (FTTM). That Sony should system he has on the back of the Northpaw is awesome and pairs with speakers on Amanda’s Salsa.
Tony was rolling FAT on the Riverwest 24 race bike sporting a Green Guru Tubular Insulated Can Sleeve. Keeping 3 cans of beer cold for a ride like this is essential! We’ve got some other Green Guru gear that we are testing and will have a story coming up on fat-bike.com.
Dave rode his Schlick APe towing the 30-pack on a customized BOB trailer, complete with fatbike tire!
Ken has had this Northpaw for several years and commutes year-round on it along with a select few other bikes.
We are already looking forward to next year’s event. I wonder what the theme will be?
Coming up on June 15th, 2019 the Everyday Cycles crew will be riding with 400+ like-minded individuals on the 35th edition of the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee.
Started in 1985, the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee is the oldest bicycling group ride in Milwaukee and an annual event that cyclists from far and wide look forward to. With several bar/brewery stops along the route covering 20 or so miles, the ride is a rolling party that lasts the entire day.
The Everyday Cycles crew headed north to Manitowoc, WI for the 7th running of one of the best fatbike races in Wisconsin!
It felt like this year some of the fun and festive atmosphere of Shelltrack has returned while the competitive nature of the race was not to be diminished.
