Industry Nine field trip day

Anybody heading to the Breck Epic wanna shack up with me in the Puritanical sense? Since we're on our own to find a place to sleep the night before the race I'm willing to hotel it, but I'd love to share the experience (all right, really just share the expense).

Lemme know.

teamdicky at hotmail dot com

And now back to whatever and whatnot...

On the way out to Dirt, Sweat, and Gears Will Bolt and I stopped by the Industry Nine factory and assembly cave.

While en route Will asked me to snap this picture of somebody hauling a body in the back of their truck for evidence.

The purpose of our visit was two... perhaps three fold. First off I needed to pick up my Flow rim to replace the 355 on the front wheel of my race wheelset. I found I was missing all the volume the Flow has to offer, so I'm willing to take the hit on the weight. While there I9's Jeff B. tempted my tummy with the taste of honey and let me know that the white Stan's rims were coming soon, so instead of walking out with my new Flow rim I left with some spokes and stickers instead. Yes, the white rims weigh even more than the black rims, but vanity always has a price.

I'm not sure what this beaker of pink liquid was in the bathroom, but it didn't taste very good.

A set of road wheels coming together on the purpose built road wheel jig. No, they're not mine.

After Will was done being wowed by all the wowie-wow stuff we went on a factory tour. Machines spitting out one spoke every two minutes, lasers doing lasery stuff, prototype thing-a-ma-do-bobs sitting in forgotten bins, anodizing baths so big you could hide a purple hippopotamus in them, and the smell of machining oil permeated my every pore... sweet.

This is a bin of not ready for prime time hubs, or as they call them "Dicky back-up hubs".

The guys at Industry Nine are also into Ultimate Fighting. Whodathunkit?

Between picking Brandi's brain and Jeff's factory tour I must say it felt a lot like a middle school field trip (with more obscenities and better access to the big, dangerous machines). I asked a lot of dumb questions, and I got a lot of patient answers.

"Yes, our wheels are made with love."
"No, we don't have elves running the spoke machine at night."
"No, that's not an elf... that's just Drew"

Thanks to all the guys at Industry Nine for spending a couple of hours with us. To all those folks who are currently waiting on their set of I9's, I apologize. I was told that as a result of our visit and my constant questioning production was brought to a screeching halt, and another day has been added to your wait. Sorry.

BTW: If you weren't paying attention yesterday you probably missed the link to my first installment of my BRECK EPIC BLOG on Mountainbike.com. Do yourself a favor and go read it instead of getting up for that second cup of coffee (you don't really need it anyways).

FYI: The kitten that The Pie has taken care of since it was two days old is still alive, and will be going into the general population at the Charlotte Humane Society on Friday. This little guy was bottle fed and never really had contact with other cats. It doesn't mind our dogs, and spends her spare time curled up on anything that smells like cycling. You need this cat.

Lemme know.