KELSON SITE

New site up. www.kelsonbikes.com
New stuff added soon.

O.R. Trade Show

August already? Wow, where has the summer gone? It has been a great year so far. Outdoor Retailer is this coming weekend and we will not be attending this year, but Kelson will......thanks to Gheen and Bryce. Nathan packs will be displaying a Kelson bike in their booth this year. It will be holding product and getting a lot of great exposure. Outdoor Retailer is where orders are written, new accounts are found, connections are made and brands are launched. Outdoor Retailer has proven to be the leading growth vehicle for brands that are interested in progressing and advancing into multiple channels of the outdoor marketplace. From small shops and regional chains, to the largest national and international retailers - OR attracts thousands of buyers and senior level decision makers that are looking for outdoor specific products, services, brands, fresh ideas, apparel launches, and outdoor innovation. Can't wait to hear the response. Also, the new site will be up and functional by Saturday or Sunday. Here is a test page of what to expect.
http://www.kelsonbikes.com/test
We are STOKED! Drop by and tell us what you think. It would be great to hear what you think.

JULY FRAME BUILDING

July was a busy month for frame building, training, and racing. It sure went by fast! August is here and snow is right around the corner. I don't know how excited I am about the summer ending, but hopefully Mother Nature will give us another couple good riding months. Here are a few pics of the new bikes that were built recently. We are stoked about the website coming August 9th. A special thanks to our good friend Gheen Hillman who has worked so hard on the design. All of you riders out there need to mark your calendars for next years Capitol Reef Classic. What an AMAZING race/ride it was. Here is the link http://www.capitolreefclassic.com/

Finally

Finally it is summer. That had to be the craziest winter I have ever seen. Idaho is a strange weather place. One day it is snowing the next thing you know it is ninety degrees outside.
I have been quite sick for some time. Suffering from some type of sinus infection. But after some good quality antibiotics I am feeling a lot better. I have been riding my bike a fair amount. Trying to get in reasonable condition after over a year of very little exercise, due to work and moving my family. I have a stage race planned in July called the Capitol Reef Classic in southern Utah. It is in my family's home town and I am looking forward to it. I am not looking forward to the 100 mile stage up fish lake mountain. It will travel through some of the most challenging terrain I have ever seen offered in a north American bike race. I just hope to survive.
I have been plugging along building some nice titanium bikes. I will also be working on a tig welded steel track bike. Any takers? I do not think I will be able to use it myself since I live on a dirt road. I am currently working on a new titanium/Carbon fiber bike. I hope to ride it myself at the race in July. Usually when I build one of these bikes. A friend of similar proportions will ride it and want to purchase it from me. That is why I always seem to be riding the same steel bike I have been on for the past five years. I don't mind I love that bike. There is nothing like the ride of steel. Often people ask me what the best material is for building a bike. I usually tell them that they are all good, it just depends on the bike and its purpose. But my favorite material for a nice road bike is steel. They are not usually surprised and will tell me about an old steel bike that they wish they had never sold. Well I will post some new pictures of some current build real soon. The fishing has been phenomenal here in Ashton so If anyone gets a chance come on over and we will drowned a few bugs.

Snow in June

When I woke up this morning I looked at weatherbug.com just to get an idea of what today would bring. It said expected snow showers. I thought how stupid could that be. What a lame site there is now way it could snow in June...... so I went out for a mountain bike ride and at the top of the mountain it began to snow. This has been the strangest spring we have had. The weather has been horrible. I have tried to suffer through it on the bike, but I keep finding myself ill with a cold that I just can't shake.

This week I finished a bike for a guy I have been riding with for the past 15 years. He has been riding the same Gurceiotti road bike for that same time. I recall when he got that old bike it was equiped with the best components, I was so jealous. Well, that jealousy eventually faded. It still is a cool bike definetly something I would hold onto. He was due for something a little lighter, and something that fit better. The bike turned out great. Complete dura-ace with a fizik saddle and Ritchey WCS bars and stem.

Utah Bike Fit Trip

(Steve, your bike is coming along pretty sweet)

Heading to Utah today to meet up with a few friends, do a little riding, and fit a couple people for custom bikes. I will let you know how the trip goes. Be home in a couple days.

Club Ride in Ashton Idaho

I had my first club ride of the year in Ashton. After nearly a year of very little bike riding due to building a new home and moving I finally got to start riding my bike as much as I want. The first club ride of the year consisted of me and my imaginary friends. There are zero cyclist in Ashton, and I do not understand why. The biking is phenomenal. Mountain biking is amazing! Tight single track, beautiful scenery, and very little motor vehicles. The road biking is equally amazing. I can ride 15 miles to scenic mesa falls, and up fish creek road an old abandoned road they where starting to build to West Yellowstone. On the club ride we saw river otters, moose, one skunk in the middle of the road (alive), and believe it or not a wolverine. Yes a wolverine. I did not think they existed in Idaho, but after some research I found out they do. They are just very rare and nocturnal by nature. Needless to say the first Ashton club ride was a success. We had a great time, I mean I had a great time. I even won the heavily contested city limit sprint, by a huge margin.

(Home of Kelson Bikes)

The frame building is coming along nicely. The new shop is rad and new equipment and supplies are coming in almost daily. For those of you who do not know I recently sold my bike/snowboard shop of almost 15 years to pursue my passion of building high end titanium, and steel bikes. I have been building them for some time, but due to a busy schedule operating a retail store I was unable to spend as much time as I would like building bikes. I just recently delivered a bike to one fast girl in Salt Lake City. She got hit by a car in Rexburg, Idaho destroying her carbon fiber bike. So we built her a new custom Ti frame painted to match her i-pod. It turned out great, the fit was perfect and her comment to me was that it was really comfortable and she felt safe riding it. I was very pleased with her comments on the bike, as a frame builder comfort is of huge importance. With comfort comes speed and enjoyment of riding a bike. I will post some pictures soon of finished bikes and some terrific looking welds.

KELSON ROCKS MY WORLD

My Kelson bike rocks my world!!! There is nothing that is cooler than riding a bike that is custom to your body and riding style. I can ride and ride for hours and hours on my Kelson with comfort. I did my first century bike ride on my Kelson a few years ago, riding 100 miles in a few hours was an incredible feeling. I feel I can conquer any obstacle that comes my way. Brian knows his stuff! Thanks Brian! Cool blog and photos!
Whitney

OUR STORY

The sport of road biking can involve intense exhaustion and pain, but a small town businessman has a way to help riders suffer more comfortably. Brian Williams of Sticks & Stones bike shop christened his own brand of bike in 2003, Kelson, which is designed to ease the strain for athletes on two wheels because they are custom built to each rider’s frame. “Building bikes, that’s my passion,” Brian Williams said. Williams began racing road bikes as a young teenager. At the tender age of 19 his passion for cycling turned into a small hometown bike business - Sticks & Stones. “It hasn’t been easy” he said. “Scrapping by from paycheck to paycheck and working 60 hour workweeks is not my idea of a good time”. It is something more that keeps him going. It’s the bikes.

Riding top-of-the-line bikes is Brian's passion, but none of the bikes gave Brian the efficiency he was looking for. When larger bike companies build frames, they design them to fit a person of average proportion. Not everyone has an average shape. Everyone’s a little different dimensionally; fit and comfort go hand-in-hand. After 10 years of selling bicycles he decided it was time to start building them. He wanted to build his “Dream Bike” something that would fit his frame perfectly. He decided to take a course in frame building and followed up his building education with titanium welding. He returned home to build his dream bike. With that bike, he founded Kelson, named for his two sons, Kelton and Carson, and began cranking out chromoly and titanium frames for riders all around the United States. Building the frames out of his home shop he is able to keep his costs to a minimum, making it more affordable for customers to purchase high end custom bikes. He is a small town boy with BIG town dreams. His enthusiasm toward cycling will always be a top priority in his life.
Ride on,
Heather Williams – Wife of a cycling fanatic