Bad News/Good News!

The Bad:

The site has been in an awful, broken state for a couple days. It appeared that all messages, favorites, and even comments were gone. There were also issues adding photos, and random bad errors.

 

The Good:

It only appeared that way. No comments, messages, favorites, or anything else was lost. And the site is close to fixed now.

What happened was that over the weekend I was hard at work on the site, upgrading the site's software to the latest and greatest versions. The goal was to make everything better with the site, and ease development going forward.

However, it introduced an odd bug. Normally a responsible developer (usually me) would catch these before they ever went live. But in a rush to get released, I didn't do much testing of the site, figuring nothing would be terribly wrong since it was a basic upgrade that others had done several times over with no issues.

So I'm sorry about the issues over the last couple days! I won't let it happen again, through improved testing and not rushing stuff out to the live site.

I'm hard at work tonight fixing everything completely, and working on some new improved stuff too! Stay tuned!

-Coomer

Announcing Bike History and Forums!

Today I'm happy to announce the launch of two big new features on Pedal Room - Bike History and Forums!

Bike History
Bike history allows you to track progress as your bike evolves over time. Every bike can have unlimited stages of history, each containing specs, info, and photos.

More info / FAQ on Bike history | See an Example Bike with History

Bike_history

Forums
As Pedal Room has grown, so too has the need for the site to become more social and powerful. We hope that the forums become a thriving community for all things bikes.

Visit the Forums

I hope you all enjoy the new features! I'll be working hard over the coming weeks to continually improve everything on the site as well as launch a couple new cool things. Stay tuned, and let me know what you think!

Bloody Pista Bars and a Double-Edged Story

Bloody_pista_bars

It was Saturday night. A great night for riding, as long as you can dodge the drunks and idiots. The last thing I remember was the car pulling out in front of me, and swerving hard to avoid it.

I came to on the pavement with four screaming girls hovering over me. "Don't move! Wait for the ambulance!" I don't remember a ton. I remember I tried to convince the then-larger crowd that I was fine. Judging by the blood, I even tried to grab my bike and leave apparently. There was panic. There was blood. And pain.

Long story short, I broke my clavicle in three places, and only needed fourteen stitches in my head. I was banged up from head to toe, but lucky. It could've been a lot worse.

Always wear a helmet people. I wasn't when I wrecked. I'm very lucky to be typing this here today, and you can bet that I'll have a helmet the next time you see me on a bike.

Bad news - I'm out for a while as my clavicle heals from surgery. Good news - I'm alive and otherwise fine, I've got more time to design/work, and big things are coming on Pedal Room.

There's going to be a lot going on soon. I'm on the verge of releasing some stuff I've been working on for months, and I can't wait for you all to see it. It will be quite the change, and it's coming within the next couple weeks.

Stay tuned, and ride safe!

Shop Visit: Classic Cycles

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Classic Cycles of Bainbridge Island, WA, talk with the guys there, and snap some photos.

Classic_cycles_storefront

Their shop is just blocks away from the ferry terminal. If you're in Seattle, you just hop on downtown and you're basically taken here.

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Classic_cycles_2
Classic_cycles_1

The view when you first walk inside. Bikes everywhere!

1948_schwinn_paramount_tandem
Simes_family

The first Schwinn Paramount tandem, built for Jack Simes III and Jack Heid. Each of the shop's bikes on display has a story behind it.

1920_brennan

This 1920 Brennan has seen 80.5 mph.

1987_kirk_precision

Magnesium 1987 Kirk Precision.

Seattle_bicycle_license
1996_gt_superbike
Tools
1949_galletti_paris-roubaix
Headbadge_collection
Hetchins_millenium

As you can see, there are some incredible stuff here. One could spend hours just looking at everything. They also sell bikes, a wide range of nice parts (new and used), and apparel. And they'll be happy to talk bikes and work on them too. If you're in Seattle, you really need to make it to Classic Cycles to see the full collection!

Local Blogs on FourteenTeeth Released!

Ftt_local_1

Now on FourteenTeeth you can view local blogs for select areas! More locations and blogs are coming very soon, but we wanted to get the concept out there with a few local blogs and get some feedback.

So let us know what you think!

How it Works:

We guess your location based on your IP address (most websites do this, it's nothing to be worried about). We then find the closest supported city (or country) and request blogs based there. You can also change your location to view local blogs for any area! We optimized everything to make the experience as fast as possible.

Coming Soon:

Many more locations and blogs! We need suggestions! We also hope to break down some of the countries, like Australia, into regions. But most of all we just need more coverage in terms of locations and blogs. So send suggestions our way!

We've also got a few bugs to fix and some things to improve. The maps, for example, don't always look the best. We might go to a region-based approach, or allow blog ordering/filtering. Let us know how we can make FourteenTeeth better!