This installment of the PDW Good Neighbor series continues our quest to get to know our neighbors along the N. Williams Ave ‘Bicycle Corridor’. Our friends over at the Portland campus of United Bicycle Institute are a good bunch. They play a big role in anchoring bicycle-based businesses in our 'hood and we couldn’t be more stoked to have them as neighbors. If you’re not already familiar with UBI, they offer a number of classes in both bicycle maintenance and frame building. Too many local frame builders to count honed their chops at UBI (stay tuned for more about UBI in the future!).

Our good buddy Dylan Robbins pulls some shifts as an instructor at UBI as well as steering the ship of the in-famous Team Jens Voigt Army (JVA). We welcome Dylan as our next good neighbor profile!

Name, AKA: Dylan Robbins AKA Admiral Longpour

 

Kevin Murphy (KM): Okay...First and foremost, Admiral Longpour, what the heck is Team JVA and why team JVA? 

Dylan, Admiral Longpour (AL): Team JVA is a loose collection of like-minded and like-rumped individuals dedicated to the proposition that cycling should be, above all else, an enjoyable pursuit. Unless your ability to pay rent and buy groceries depends upon your cycling prowess, you shouldn't take yourself too seriously. We try not to lose sight of the fact that we are lucky enough to have the ability to engage in a recreational endeavor where we can inflict suffering on ourselves and derive reward according to our whims. JVA is all the stupid/hilarious/juvenile moments that happen during rides between true friends, writ large for others to experience. If any of it resonates, rad. If not, we're riding and laughing anyway. 

 

KM: What's your involvement in JVA? Chief rear-end soigneur?  

AL: Rear Admiral. Founder and spiritual advisor. Mustache consultant.

KM: Who runs your twitter and hilarious yet long-winded blog? Ahem…

AL: On the blog, I write the words, Goggles Paisano writes the songs. He is the visual Merlin to my wordsmithing Morgan laFey. The photoshopping Captain to my verbal Tennile. Our Twitter feed is co-managed. Goggles and I have a good cop/bad cop arrangement. If a post sounds like it was written by a guy with Tourette's who just drank a bunch of lighter fluid, it's probably my work.

KM: I have to say, your work has legs, JVA is all over the internet and when meeting Jens Voigt at Trek World last year, he told me he didn’t know the guys behind it, but was indeed a fan of the soundboard.

KM: Why Paisley?

AL: See JFA: Jodie Foster’s Army [ed. Note: this link puts the subject to bed. Probably the longest diatribe I’ve ever read about a textile pattern.]

KM: Well then, Cordurouy or Camouflage? 

AL: Truth is stranger than cordurouy's friction

KM: Velveteen or Plaid? 

AL: Argyle

KM: What is your title and role at UBI? 

AL: I'm a full-time instructor. Molding tomorrow's mechanics, today. I also write curriculum and help manage UBI's online presence.

KM: Background prior to UBI?

AL: Meso-American archaeologist.

KM: You’re kidding..?

AL: Nope.

KM: Penny Farthing or recumbent?

AL: Recumbent Penny Farthing.

KM: Calvin or Hobbes?

AL: Hobbes, FTW.

KM: Is that a fake mustache?

AL: It’s not a mustache, a terrier died on my face.

 

KM: Braze or TIG, who’s the boss?

AL: Ron Sutphin. He was building fames when all of you were in short pants.

KM: I’m in short pants right now.

AL: I know.

KM: Who would win in a fight, Jens Voigt or Lemmy?

AL: Lemmy.

KM: Jens Voigt vs Cippolini?

AL: Jens Voigt.

KM: Jens Voigt vs Jan Ulrich?

AL: Jens Voigt.

KM: Jens Voigt Vs. Lars Ulrich?

AL: Of course, Lars. 

KM: So for most folks already familiar with JVA and its sister site/project Jahvahaah Internationale, you guys like to give our buddies over at Rapha a good ribbing now and then. We like to ask our interviewees about various wrestling or arm wrasslin’ scenarios between rivals. Could you please envision and describe a wrestling match between the clothier Rapha and Team JVA?  

AL: A romantic cabin in the Hamptons. An autumnal Wednesday afternoon. Tiny Tim plays softly on the HiFi. The Southampton silence is broken only by the crackling fire, the beating of two hearts, and the sensual rustling of polar bear fur against skin.  Two champagne flutes rest demurely on the mantle. "More Martini&Rossi?, I hear Rapha ask, his voice a swirl of French lavender and gravel. My reply is halting, breathless even. "Any more and this little JVA may forget how to behave like a lady." I lean closer, lips ablaze with wantingness and wantonness, but realize that Rapha is talking to his own reflection. (Scene)

 

KM: Also will Team JVA ever win a race? Or a best looking competition? 

AL: Check the OBRA results, my husky friend. We have palmares for days. And we're only one season in. Best looking? You best be looking in your rearview, lest JVA swaggerjack a brother.

KM: Do you crush it? Why or why not? 

AL: Not. If you crush it they won't give you money for it when you put it in the recycling machine outside the grocery store. 

KM: What is your smallest gear? 

AL: I once made a pair of snowshoes for a hamster. That was some small-ass gear.

KM: Tent or bivouac sac? 

AL: Frigidaire box behind the Plaid Pantry.

KM: Climb or rappel? 

AL: Scrapple (that's Pennsylvania Dutch pork mush for the provincial amongst you.)

KM: favorite animal? Or spirit animal? 

AL: I like turtles.

KM: Misfits or Ramones? 

AL: Misfits for cat litter recommendations, Ramones for everything else.

KM: Doubt it...

KM: Stevie Wonder or Stevie Ray Vaughn? 

AL: Stevie Ray Wonderwoman

KM: Do you guys ever ride mountain bikes? We only ever see you on the road.  

AL: Then you haven't been looking. Goggles Paisano and I destroyed the 6 hours of Mount Hood last year. And he totally crashed on his face.

KM: (Scene)

 

 

.Let's go for a ride..

I can personally promise you this event will be awesome. You should be there.

Sometimes you just need to get down. Rock on, you glittery genius. Rock on.

 

Good morning and welcome to the next installment of the PDW Good Neighbor Series. This time we gathered with Mitch Pryor of MAP Bicycles, yet another neighbor of ours along the N. Williams Ave "Bicycle Corridor" as it's affectionately known 'round these parts. We talked, we laughed, we did cartwheels, all the while sharing a frank discussion on what it takes to build some of the purtiest brazed steel bikes out there.

KM: First of all, is M.A.P. your initials? What is your middle name if so? Isn't that a girl's name? 

MP: Mitchell Allen Pryor 

KM: I need to know what is that track from your stop lapse video? It’s upbeat, enchanting and the Shazam app on my phone can’t seem to find it. Instead it returns this song, which is also pretty good.

[A typical afternoon in the shop with Mitch. from Joseph Ahearne on Vimeo.]

MP: Shop-mate, Joseph Ahearne, made the video. He had the tripod pointed at everything for a while, and the music is by Martin Dosh. [ed: http://doshfamily.com] His music builds great momentum, great for someone easily distracted like myself.

KM: Where are you from originally?

MP: (gasp) California, bay area

KM: How long in Portland?

MP: 8 years

KM: How’d you get into the bike biz?

MP: I swept up daily and broke down boxes all summer at my LBS when I was 13 and earned my first serious bike, a Specialized Rockhopper Comp. I've been messing with bikes in someway ever since.

KM: Snorkel or S.C.U.B.A.?

MP: SCUBA

KM: Braze or weld?

MP: Braze

KM: When and where did you learn to build like that? (Accusatory tone implied--only kidding. Your frames are beautiful.)

MP: It's got nothing to do with bikes, really. I mean, I think bicycles have tremendous potential for beauty and for me that beauty is in the details and execution, but this can be true of anything one is passionate about.

KM: Who is Doug Fattic? How did you come to work under him?

MP: That link kind of hits the nail on the head. I sought him out to teach me how to build and paint. I've never worked with him long-term, but he's been someone who has introduced me to a lot of new skills. The real learning happens later, on your own, but he literally has a lifetime of experience and is someone I've learned a lot from.

KM: He-Man or G.I. Joe?

MP: He-Man

KM: File or hacksaw?

MP: File

KM: Can you tell me more about the batch process project you have going now? Semi custom? Fully standard? What is the deal (with airplane peanuts)?

MP: Fully custom, batch produced in house, many options to make it your own as long as you don't ask too many stupid questions. Seriously, I try to be accommodating and make the process as straight forward as possible. It's a lot of bike to build. I make certain components, the racks, stems, lights. It's very much the core of my business and I look forward to it every year.

 

KM: I hear you’re quite demanding of your painters. Care to comment?

MP: They should do better.

KM: Oh, snap. I think being meticulous is a good thing. I feel like it’s overlooked in the mass-production bike world. Can you enlighten how being diligent and detail oriented in your professional life has ruined parts of your personal life? We love gory details. Not really.

MP: I don't know that I agree with all that. Portland's manufactures are no more diligent and detail-oriented than a lot of mass-manufacturers, we have a different manufacturing challenge and have to attend to different details. We all make mistakes. I believe it boils down to the individual's or company's commitment to their product and craft and this is a very individual thing. As a custom builder if I don't get the details right, what do I have to offer?

KM: Well put. That's a good insight. Hypothetical question: Say your shop suddenly caught fire (no that’s not a threat) If needed, could you carry Joseph Ahearne out of the burning building fireman style? Think a Backdraft-esque scene…

MP: I'd probably throw him on my Ahearne cycle truck.

KM: True dat. We'd probably do the same.

KM: Karate or Kung Fu?

MP: Kung Fu

KM: Long johns or union suit? 

MP: Union suit

KM: Why randonneuring? Or Rando-ing, if you will. 

MP: The ultimate expression of a bicycles simplicity, beauty, and practicality. 

KM: Dpow! Says he’s never seen you without a cycling cap? Are you like a never nude, but for bike hats?

MP: Naw, it's my work hat. Keeps sparks and flux out of my hair is all.

KM: Lastly, in a throw down drag out last man standing hot dog eating competition between your shop/building mates (Signal, Ahearne, Corsa Concepts, or Metropolis) who could eat the most wieners?

MP: Metropolis for sure.