Bike Jerks

01/06/2025

What to wear from 0-20 degrees.
I’ve been riding through Midwest Winters for 20 years now and here’s my gear for those cold Winter days.

07/01/2024

*Rent Our House in Crosby*
We’ve got most of July and August available, including 4th of July weekend!

Hey friends, we’re renting our 🏠 in the mtb paradise of Crosby, MN out to our network.

Two blocks from the trails, three blocks to Main Street and restaurants and bars, amazing fishing and close to the big water of Lake Mille Lacs. Super easy to park your car for the weekend and walk.

House is three bedrooms, one bath. Big garage.
We’re asking for $100 per weeknight, $125 for Friday or Saturday. Local single room camper cabins without a kitchen or bathroom run about $130 so we think this is a pretty good deal. We prefer to not rent to public, just to our circle if possible. FYI, no pets due to my allergies.

You can either clean it yourself and wash all the linens and bedding you use (onsight laundry) or pay a cleaning fee. Your choice.

Hit me up if you’re interested.

02/26/2024

Come ride bikes with us in Michigan!

⚡️Rough Stuff Rally -Copper Harbor⚡️
A Non-Competitive MTB Festival 🌲

Camping, community, a big lake, and the best trails on Earth!

Please, share and tell your friends I need help getting the word out. Info is up on bikejerks and bikereg.

Here it is folks, a chance to gather the extended family to shred some of the best trails in the world in one of the most special and beautiful places I’ve ever been. I invite y’all to come join us in Copper Harbor, Michigan for an old school mountain bike experience, a 43 or 22 mile big loop of singletrack at the edge of the world.

August 2-3rd
The 2nd Annual Rough Stuff Rally
- Presented by Wilde Bicycle Co. and Rock Solid Trail Contracting -
Two nights of camping, community, world class mountain bike riding and revelry at Trail’s End Campground in Copper Harbor, Michigan.

Route: 43 or 22 mile loop on some of the best single track on Earth. A mix of machine built flow trails, rocky old school tight single track, double track and gravel roads. Ride fast or take it slow, all options are valid. Route has three aid stations featuring gourmet food and cold beverages. We’re bringing in Chef Adam Blake to cook the best food you’ve ever had on course at the East Bluff aid station. This is an event for experienced mountain bikers. It’s not overly technically hard, but there are some challenging sections and it’s a real big day on the bike.

Full details on my website!
Register here: https://www.bikereg.com/rough-stuff-rally

02/19/2024

Hey Friends,
I'm uploading some of my bike videos to Youtube now and it would be really helpful to me if you subscribed to the BikeJerks YouTube channel.

Here's a look at a spectacular fillet brazed in Philadelphia, PA Bilenky Deluxe Touring bicycle. This build features a full Campagnolo drivetrain, Brooks Swi...

01/03/2024

I did an interview with Path Less Pedaled on the realities of starting a bike company. I think it turned out well, though I must admit I didn't know we were doing video, I thought it was for a podcast. So here's me in my jammies, talking about bikes.

We get tips on how to start a bike company from Jeff Frane of Wilde Bikes.https://www.wildebikes.com/PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/PathLessPedaledSTICKER ...

01/01/2024

It was a very busy year in the Bike Jerks workshop. Here are my top ten favorite builds that I completed in 2023.

They represent my personal sensibilities as well as what my customers like to buy from me.

11/21/2023

Howdy Folks,

Today I took out the Breezer Ignaz X for a spin around the neighborhood and realized that it's had some upgrades since I last photographed it in 2020.

For those not familiar the Ignaz X was a throwback model produced by Breezer bikes as a tribute to the cruisers that started it all: According to Breeze "The "Iggy" is my tribute to Ignaz and Frank W. Schwinn. They gave us the balloon tire and the legendary Excelsior X bike. The mountain bike was built around these two elements, and it was Schwinn that developed them. In the 1970's some young cycling fanatics, looking for a new thrill, discovered the soulful but stout bikes in old bike shops and junkyards and resurrected them for the joy of riding off-road on Marin's Mount Tamalpais. I was one of those people and, believe me, we were just havin' fun - loads of it! The "Iggy" takes you back to the early days of the sport. I have tried to retain the look and feel of the Excelsior X as it existed when Charlie Kelly and Fred Wolf held the sport's first timed races at Repack in 1976. At the same time I've made the bike even more enjoyable to ride. Shedding 15 pounds and adding seven speeds can be helpful."

It originally was priced around $700 and came with cruiser bars, a chain guard and a Shimano Nexus 7 speed internal hub. I had been lusting after one for a long time when the opportunity to pick up a single speed version from a buddy came up. The only thing remaining from his build are the Crupi cranks and the Thomson post. I've rebuilt it with parts from my bins to my mount whenever "Coaster Brake" rides are organized.

Over the last few years I've upgraded the wheelset, adding a Coaster Cooler from Mone bikes, one of their hopped up Shimano coaster hubs, a White Industries front hub and raw brass ni***es from Sim Works. I really like how the spoke washers on the rear hub, and the brass ni***es complement the gold accents on the logos. I also swapped out the headset for a Chris King 2nut. In my eyes, it's just about perfect now.

10/04/2023

Prototype Cross Check

As I’ve stated several times, I believe that the humble Cross Check is the single most influential bicycle of the last 30 years. I’m not claiming it invented anything, but it certainly popularized and democratized several key concepts such as big tire clearances, versatility, utility, parts compatibility, etc. and ushered in the steel bike as a cult “bicycle person” trait. Owning a Cross Check was a major waypoint in countless riders journeys through cycling. It was THE bike that made people realize that perhaps the dominant paradigm that the industry was pushing wasn’t all there was out there.

Again, for my friends who love to argue that so and so did it first, I’m not saying it invented, rather that it made it accessible and popular.

This is a bike that launched a thousand adventures and helped people think outside the box. It was gravel, before gravel, even though it actually has a pretty high bb.

This specimen is the rarest of all Cross Checks, one of eight or so original prototypes. Note the tt cable routing and horizontal tt.

I plan on doing a mild build on it and will document it properly.

07/01/2023

did an interview with The Gravel Ride podcast, here it is if you're interested in the All-City and Wilde origin story and a bit about gravel geo.

This week on the podcast we dive into the origin story of Wilde Bicycle Co with founder, Jeffrey Frane. As a child, Jeffrey found the bike and along the way found freedom, adventure, and ultimately, a calling. Jeffrey has spend over twenty years in the bike industry finding himself at QBP managing t...

06/06/2023

Hey folks, I've got the first ever Bike Jerks posters! The Reaper design by Doomented on poser stock in a five color screen print. Printed right here in Minneapolis. Limited Edition of 20. Handsigned and numbered.

Size: 19x12.5 inches

https://bikejerks.com/collections/bike-accessories/products/reaper-screen-print-poster

04/06/2023

1993 BRIDGESTONE XO-1 COUNTRY BIKE

I had been trying to buy this frameset for years from my pal, Hurl Everstone of Cars R Coffins fame. I almost nabbed it before he moved to Portland but he wasn't quite ready to let it go, and I wasn't quite ready to buy it with the parts and price he wished to sell it at. Fast forward a year and he had come into an XO-3 in a larger size and realized that he greatly preferred that fit to his smaller XO-1 and was willing to sell the frame and fork to me for the sum of $666 (natch).
I knew that I had no interest in a catalog build or one with moustache bars, I was going to build it into a Riv inspired "Country Bike." The parts kit is my favorite Shimano XTR M900 with Deore XT M732 thumb shifters with the "hidden" extra click so they'll index eight speeds. Not that I want to run them index, but it's there if I ever feel spicy.
All of the parts came from my bins and nothing was purchased specifically for this build with the exception of the front hub, spokes, and nips. We did build up the wheels fresh as previously the Sunrise Fade Mavic 217's had been laced to other hubs. Even if you don't care for the stance of my country bike, I think the parts selection is pretty spot on. The exceptions I'll grant you are the levers and the grips, but I have reasons... Namely, the levers have been with me since I bought them new in 1997 and I'm a bit attached to them. All the scars are marks of the journey they've been on with me. I may swap them out for some XT's as they would go with the bike better and present more cleanly, we'll see. The grips are merely placeholders because I want to make sure I like the stem length before mounting a set of foam grips which are a PITA to remove to swap stems.
There's still a lot of snow in Minneapolis so finding bare spots to shoot photos is a challenge. This is the reason for the grim backdrop. Sometime this Summer I'll shoot it frolicking in the wildflowers which will be much more suitable to the spirit of this country rambler.
Bridgestone X0-1
Headset: Chris King tall stack - no logo
Stem: Salsa
Handlebars: Nitto B802HT
Seatpost: Shimano Dura Ace
Cranks: Shimano XTR M900 175mm
Shifters: Shimano XT M732
Derailleurs: Shimano XTR M900
Cassette: Shimano XTR M900
Brakes: Paul Moto Lite
Brake Levers: Avid Speed Dial
Grips: ODI
Hubs: White Industries
Rims: Mavic M217 Sunrise Fade
Skewers: Salsa
Seatpost: Shimano Dura Ace
Saddle: Brooks Professional

04/03/2023

REG IS OPEN⚡️

Currently half full - camping and non-camping options

Full details at www.Bikejerks.com and link to reg on Bike Reg!

2nd Annual Hodag Country Ramble
Ride/Tour
Sept 8-10th 2023
Rhinelander, WI

Two nights of camping, community, riding and revelry in the beautiful Northwoods.

Long, medium, and short routes consisting of gravel, two track, and pavement. Gravel bikes or hardtails will work great. Recommended minimum 38c tires.

Registration is limited, so don’t sleep on it.
$145 gets you two nights of camping, t-shirt, sticker, patch, dinner by Chef Adam and beverages Saturday night.

Last year was a truly special event and this year features route improvements, more food and more friends.

It’s going to be the social event of the season 🌲

03/31/2023

This is my 1989 Yeti F.R.O. (For Racing Only) it's a special one as it's an early FRO made in California and later updated by Yeti in Durango to Pro Fro specs. It also features a rare steel Frank The Welder made Yeti stem.

The most astounding thing to me is how forward thinking this bike is compared to other late '80's mtbs. Gone are the slack angles and present is the geometry which would carry mountain bikes all the way through the next 15 years until 29ers became prevalent.

The red powdercoat is not the original color, judging by the overspray on the fork purple was, and the decals (which state "Made in Colorado" and Tange double butted tubing) are also incorrect though obviously consistent with what Yeti was doing at the time the frame was reworked (seat collar added?) and the gusset was added to the chainstay junction.

The bike came to me pretty much as is and only required cleaning and a few small changes. I swapped out the tires for a set of modern Smoke and Darts, changed the brake pads to make it rideable, swapped out the purple King for a silver one and added the white housing and my preferred pedals. I have every reason to believe that the parts kit are all native to this frame circa 1989 with the possible exceptions of the Titanium American Classic seatpost and the titanium bulge handlebar of unknown maker.

1989 YETI FRO

Build List
Frame: 1989 Yet F.R.O.
Fork: Yeti Accutrax
Stem: FTW Steel
Headset: Chris King 1 1/4"
Handlebar: Titanium - unknown maker
Grips: ODI
Brake Levers: Shimano bodies with aftermarket carbon levers
Drivetrain: Shimano Deore XT M730-M735
Hubs: Shimano M732
Rims: Araya RM-20
Seatpost: American Classic Titanium
Saddle: Avocet Racing 1

01/03/2023

Hey Folks, I put my journalistic cap on today and dug into the existence of some 1976 Andy Gilmour made mountain bikes, which pre-date the 1977 Breezer Series 1's that are widely held to be the first purpose made mtb's.

If you care about such nerdery, tuck in.

Recently on one of the vintage MTB Facebook groups I frequent I came across a stunning bicycle and claim.... That a bike was a 1976 Andy Gilmour made mountain bike. We've all heard the story about how Joe Breeze created the first purpose built mtb's in the late 70's with his Breezer Series I's. From...

12/12/2022

So excited to launch the Great Minnesota Bike Swap with my friends Michaels Cycles and Gringineer!

Dig through your parts bins, clean out the garage, and come buy and sell modern and vintage, new and used bicycle related goods. We're hoping to make this the biggest swap in the state and an annual tradition.

Swap will be held in the courtyard of the South Lake Village Mall, it's a really cool heated indoor space with good light and vibes. There'll be music, a maker's market, and a bike show.

Free to shop, and tables are $40. We've got 60 tables available, shoot me a message if you want in. Maker's and brands are highly welcome as well as individual sellers. We'd love to have ya.

11/25/2022

Hey Friends,
I'm running a little Black Friday / Small Biz Saturday / Cyber Monday discount over at Bike Jerks.

Use Code BikeJerks15 for 15% off your order, through Tuesday.

Support the lil guys.

https://bikejerks.com