Team Fresh Air–Hunter Cyclocross

Hi, my name is Travis, and I’m that dork that works at Fresh Air Bicycles in San Francisco. For some reason, the nice people at Paul Component Engineering in Chico have been letting me stop by their facility and poke around for years. I’m still not quite sure why. I think it’s because I’m from Chico, so we share the common bonds of most Chico youth: hanging around bored, drinking gallons of iced coffee, swimming in the creek, trying to steal kegs from frat parties, getting poison oak, crashing our bikes drunk, eating too much weed laced cake, seeing shows at Juanita’s on Second Street, making out in a baseball field on a hot summer night in the itchy grass under the 4th of July fireworks.....well....maybe that was just me.....nah I’m sure they did that stuff too. Anyways, for some reason, being from Chico, they give me this free pass to wander around asking: “What’s is this room? What’s this do? What’s this for? What’s he doing? Why do you do it like that? Is this supposed to make this sound? Did I break this?” and other stupid questions.

   Over the years I’ve really come to appreciate the answers to these questions. The integrity behind this company and their unwillingness to compromise their bike parts by cutting corners is really impressive. Do their parts cost more than some of the competitors made in China and Taiwan? Of course. But they are made of such high quality materials and to such high tolerances, that they will last 10 times longer, are serviceable with small parts replaceable, and when you see how much work goes into making these parts, it’s a wonder they don’t cost twice what they do. So let’s take a little walk through some interesting phases of the manufacturing process of one of our cross team’s favorite parts, the MiniMoto brake. And well....it’s hard not to look at some of the other cool shiny stuff along the way, huh? Alright. let’s start walking around and try not to knock anything over!

   Here we start in the office. Design work is done in house. These complicated computer programs tell the CNC machines how much material to cut away. This is some serious math and computer skills stuff, but to somebody like me who knows nothing about how these computer programs work, it still looks pretty cool, an art form in and of itself. Here is part of the new Klamper cable actuated disc brake:

Okay, lets walk out to the back yard where the aluminum bar stock is. This is some of the highest quality aluminum you can buy. If you try to save money on cheaper quality, you can end up with voids in the metal that you don’t see until it’s being machined, or maybe it’s hidden away somewhere that wasn’t machined open, only to fail one day out on the trail. Not with this stuff.

You can guess what some of this stock is for, based on the shape. This looks like the Melvin jockey wheel, doesn’t it?

Yep, they even make the adjuster barrels for a lot of parts themselves, see the shape?

   Alright, let’s go back inside. Here you get to meet Tamie, AKA “War Eagle”. She’s our patient tour guide today, and she’s doing a cool spinning dance behind this big machine that cuts those long aluminum beams down...........

...into these blocks. Somebody that listens to metal has indicated these blocks will become Moon Unit cable hangers:

This machine is crazy. If I understand correctly, aluminum rod is suspended in oil in that long tube coming out the back, and it feeds into the machining that happens in the front end. Don’t you dare touch ANY of those buttons.

Here’s some serious work getting done. Tim is manning one of the many big serious looking CNC machines. I stayed the hell out of his way.

One of the coolest parts is also the hardest to see. CNC in action, this computer controlled bit is cutting away aluminum from the blocks under a jet stream of coolant:

All kinds of metal shavings are produced. It’s all recycled though. So chill.

Cool, look at these stem prototypes! Oh man, these stems are going to be sick! They are still being rigorously tested though, so be patient.

Every part that comes out of the CNC machines is meticulously checked for perfect tolerances.

Yes, they made their own trays for holding micrometers, magnifying glasses, etc. Pretty sick!

I forget what these gumdrop looking little green things are made out of, but this is where the fresh new parts are tumbled to remove the sharp edges.

Look, there’s some MiniMoto arms! The edges are sharp. They’ll bite your ankle, dog. Let’s tumble them.

I don’t know why I like this part so much. Now these parts are getting tumbled in walnut shells! It smells good in this room.

Fresh out of the shells, rounded and SO SMOOTH. Elegant.

Long aluminum chainring bolts, hollow and light:

Here are bins of small parts that will be assembled onto the bigger pieces. Springs, pinch bolts, pivots, reach adjusters......If you strip something out being a bonehead, take a deep breath, all these small parts are available to fix it.

Quick release parts, all machined in house:

Here is Brett Bolden at an assembly bench. This dude is very picky. If something doesn’t go together smoothly, is binding, or has excessive play, he rejects it. He’s doesn’t just put Legos together, he’s a crucial part of quality control. Watching him put Klampers together, you realize how tight all these tolerances need to be. We better quit bugging him.

These jigs under this bench hold parts for assembling. Yep, all made in house. See the Racer brake assembly jig on the far left?

Okay, these are starting to look like brakes.......

One of the shop cats, Wanda. Chilling the vibes out.

Where’s Paul right now? Doing some important product testing on his bike in Bidwell Park?......

Let’s wander around the shelves looking at all the finished candy, ready to ship to the bike shops. Oh man, I want it ALL.

Oh man, look what I found poking around. “Tamie! Can we buy some of these to sell at Fresh Air?!?”, “Yeah, we’ll sell you a couple.”   SIIIICK!

Poor misfit box of ano bits! I want to eat this stuff. Put it in a big bowl of almond milk and just eat it.

If you go to the Sierra Nevada Brewery restaurant, ask for some mustard and they will bring it out to you in this sick CNC’d mustard caddie that Paul made for them. If you jokingly pretend to steal it, they might come and promptly remove it from your table like what MIGHT have happened to me.

I’m not sure who received this award, but GOOD JOB.

Alright let’s let these nice people get back to work, before we wear out our welcome. If you are prioritizing your life right, you won’t keep wasting your money on stupid stuff, but you’ll save up so you can buy some rad bike parts made in California. But don’t just sit there staring at them, use this stuff to get out and have some adventures, all these parts are tough enough for your stupid ideas. It isn’t a good ride without a little road rash, a touch of poison oak, and some dirt stuck between your teeth. Thanks for joining me! -Travis