First Ride on the Siren John Henry 02/23/2010
After a spritzing of Framesaver on the insides of the John Henry frame's tubes, it was time to build her up. Carried over most of the parts from the Zaka, but installed a Chris King BB and a Syntace cockpit. A Syntace seatpost is in transit as well and will join its other German brethren on the John Henry (aka Manila Vanilla). Inaugural ride was during a dawn patrol at the Camp Aguinaldo trail. So, here are initial impressions: The bike feels low and long, not sure why, but this to me is a good thing. Will compare geometries with my former ride and see. The JH goes where it's pointed and there's no unwanted flex from the rear end. Seems what little leg power I have goes to driving the bike forward. The Syntace goodies also help with steering precision - it felt like I was taking corners faster. Especially switchbacks. The JH was nimble, yet stable. Contradictory I know but that's the best way I could describe it. While not as supple as the ride of titanium, I personally dig the smooth all the time, stiff when needed qualities of steel. Can't wait to get more saddle time!  Hanging out with some heavy metal. Photo by Gary  Hammer time. Siren John Henry style. Photo by Gary.  Lean in, carve, then power through the corner. Buttah. Photo by Gary.  Managed to get some air too. Photo by Gary.  Back at the home base. Dirt matches the vanilla powdercoat job perfectly. Happy New Year! Happy New Gear! 12/30/2009
Before we suffer a massive hangover from partying like it's 2009, we're giving you guys and gals a quick update on what's in store for 2010. Specifically this January. Here we go, by the numbers... 1. Siren John Henry frames are in transit, and are headed from the chilly hills of California to our more temperate shores. Details of the first batch, below. If you want to be one of a select few riding these works of art, drop us a line pronto.  Siren John Henry in Vanilla, size M  Siren John Henry in Blazing Orange, size ML  Siren John Henry in Drop Dead Red, size M  Siren John Henry in True Blue, size M 2. Homebrewed Components are on the way. We're addressing the need for quality singlespeed cogs with these trick CNC machined bits. Made in the USA but we requested for a custom color set that we call Pinoy Pride.  Homebrewed cogs in 18,19 and 20T configurations  Custom anodized spiders for the cogs  This is how they'll look on your SS 3. Soul Cycles also in the mix. In case you haven't heard, we're also the Philippine representative of Soul Cycles! And we're bringing in a batch of Dillinger framesets. Yes, frames AND rigid forks. Here's some soul candy for you...  Soul Cycle Dillinger Gen3  Soul Cycles Dillinger cromo forks  Soul Cycles Dillinger EBB We'll be offering the Dillingers as a frameset - complete with matching rigid fork and anodized EBB. Check out the Soul Cycles website for more info, or hey, give us a holler! 4. That pretty much wraps it up. Or does it? Gearing up for 2010 12/03/2009
Just a short heads-up as to what's in the pipeline come the new year: - arrival of the first batch of Siren John Henry frames! - arrival of our first batch of Homebrewed Components cogs and rings. In Philippine colors to boot! Yes, we are the authorized local rep! - a wickedly-cool new model (or two) from VooDoo Cycles. - unveiling of a new brand that's got quite some soul in it. (won't let this cat out of the bag yet) - more 29er rim options for the local market! We're working real hard behind the scenes to make the last two possible and feasible for the local market. Because we strongly believe there shouldn't be a premium on 29er-specific parts! More details and good news soon. Till then, happy trails! This/last week, in the news... 11/16/2009
Well, if you haven't heard yet, Siren Bicycles has started to take over the world, with a little help from us, of course! Check out their recent newsletter here. While you're at it, you'd might as well sign up for it too. Here's a snippet: "Hey Brain, what do you want to do tonight? We're going to try to take over the world. Introducing... My Next Bike of Manila, Philippines, our first international distributor. MNB is a group of good guys who are stoked about handmade wares and will be our sole distributor in Southeast Asia." That said, we're more than ready to take your orders for any Siren frame. Off-the-shelf sizing or full-custom, we'll set you up. Brendan Collier Q&A 10/23/2009
While trawling (not trolling!) the interwebs we came across this March 2009 interview of Siren Bicycles' Brendan Collier. Guitar Ted and TwentyNineInches.com did profiles of master builders and Brendan was one of their resource people. Guitar Ted gave us permission to feature the interview here on the site. You, rock, GT! Click here for the jump. The John Henry Files 10/18/2009
Almost there! Everything's coming together nicely. Our frames are scheduled to go to the powdercoater later this week, can't wait to see them in our custom colors too! Details on the John Henry frame include: Paragon Machine Works sliding dropouts AND bottom bracket, True Temper top tube and Brendan's own proprietary, size-specific mix of steel tubing for the rest of the frame. Thanks to Brendan@Siren for the photos and updates regarding the build process! My Next Ambition by Jay Perez 10/16/2009
I’ve always loved steel and I always will. I think this stems from my early days of biking. 20 years ago when I first started biking (yoiks!) I broke the dropout on my Fuji Tahoe. I went to Performance bike shop in Cartimar (no relation to the mail order shop it stole its name from) to get myself a new frame. I got myself a white bike with a smoke finish made out of “high-tension” which was all I could afford. Gorgeous smoke finish- did they really put a lit cigarette beside the bike when they added the topcaot it? I never really found out but the results were awesome. Sadly that bike was MASSIVE. I had a sneaking suspicion that high-tension was a code word for “pipes stolen from the plumber”. The dream back then was to get a Chromoly frame in a bright neon color. Preferably the brighter the better. I dreamed of one of those elevated chainstay chromoly bikes in Tryon with the cantilever brake booster going for (gasp) 5,000PHP. One dream even better than that was to get a custom frame from Nonet near aurora who used to do the frames for the Tour of Luzon racers. Years later that same bike frame is in an unused doghouse right outside my bedroom window I’ve had many bikes since then but the dream for Steel continues. Now that My Next Bike brings in Siren, maybe its time to get that custom job steel job I’ve always dreamed about. Custom colors? Sure. Custom measurements? No problem Brendan himself can walk you through the requirements. Oh dear is this the dream come true? Dang I’m excited. To be continued. Somewhere in this pile of tubes... 10/13/2009
 is/are my/your next bike! Work's going smoothly at Siren Bicycles and our first batch of John Henry's should be off to the powdercoater by the weekend. Then comes the fun wait as they make their way across the Pacific Ocean to our shores. Our first batch consists of the following: 1 John Henry in ML, Granite, with red decals 1 John Henry in M, Flame Red, black decals, white border 1 John Henry in M, Royal Blue, with white decals, silver border 1 John Henry in M, Vanilla, with mango decals, black border (SOLD!) Want to be one of the first Siren riders in the Philippines? Contact us now! Thanks to Brendan for the build updates and the shop pic! |