Mission Bicycle Blog
Check out Andy and his Mission Bicycle
Hello Everyone!
Andy was nice enough to drop by Dolores Park the other day and talk to us about "Trotz", his Mission Bicycle. Keep your eyes on our youtube page, (http://www.youtube.com/MissionBicycle) for more videos each week. If anyone else wants to send us a video with their bike, we would love to feature it here.
Orders are going great this month thanks to local word of mouth and this wonderful thing called the internet! Currently we have a black beauty with pink wheels on the way and a green machine that will catch some eyes out in the Sunset of SF. We'll take some pictures soon and post them ASAP!
Keep riding those beautiful fixies!
Some feedback from the blogs
We've gotten some pretty awesome feedback on the internets. Thought I would share some of it with ya'll:
"I absolutely love this bike. A very beautiful, clean and simplistic single-speed road machine"
"I do like this company’s approach though. Order online, keep in simple with one product, but customize as people desire. Start small. Focus on quality. Here’s the founder’s blog. I hope these guys succeed!"
http://mikehollywood.wordpress.com
"one of the bikes I was drooling over"
"I would kill for one of these bad boys."
"my soon to be new bike"
http://www.patternsinthesound.com
"mate that is an awesome bike"
"Now sexy design and custom is no longer a dream"
"Simple. Efficient. Nice. One of the first customer is Joi Ito for cogsake! I know a few companies which were blessed to have Joi as early customer, there are probably worse ways to start a business ;)"
The News from MB Headquarters! Myspace, Yelp and Other Updates!
Hello all,
There have been a lot of of changes at Mission Bicycle in the last month and I just wanted to give everyone a shout and let you know what we're up to. Well, first of all, hello! I am Kirk, and I just came on board to head up customer service and to help spread the good word about Mission Bicycles. So if you or anyone you know has any questions about the bikes or just want to chat us up, I am the one to talk to: kirk@missionbicycle.com.
Next up, check out our new crazy order form page!
https://www.missionbicycle.store/order
We did a complete overhaul to make it easier to use and add in lots of information about each of our bikes components and upgrades. Take a look and build your own dreamy fixie, and we'll work with you to make it a reality.
Also, we just put together a new page up that explains all about Fixed gear bicycles and a little FAQ for all you newbies. You can check that out here:
https://www.missionbicycle.store/fixed_gear_faq
If you have any other questions we didn't cover on the FAQ, shoot me an email (Kirk@missionbicycle.com).
So, friends, It's spring time and we're really starting the push to to get Mission Bicycle into the public eye and hook up more fine folks with a sweet ride. If you could do us a favor and help us spread the word we would really appreciate it. If you know someone who is looking around for their dream bicycle, put them in touch, we would love to talk to them.
Keep checking our pages for updates don't forget to add your friend, Mission Bicycle!
Review us on Yelp (the big one)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mission-bicycle-san-francisco
Add us on MySpace. We also need help with people adding us to their Myspace and putting us in their Top8! If you want to be in our Top 8, hit me a message and you got it!
http://www.myspace.com/MissionBicycle
Add us on YouTube. Keep your eyes on the Youtube page because we're working on a few videos featuring Mission bicycles and also a complete walk through on how we build up a bicycle by hand.
http://youtube.com/user/MissionBicycle
Add us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mission-Bicycle/9544152825?ref=ts
Welcome to our new website & easier-to-use order form
Over the past month, not only have we been expanding our product options and bringing you more color choices, but we've been working to redesign our website and improve our order form's ease and functionality.
Previously, you might have noticed that our order form did not allow you to see all the options available. For example, you had to select a product before seeing what the color options were:
Bring in our new order form. Now you know exactly what colors are available for each part before you select the item. We have also improved the color selecting design, so that an arrow points out your color, as opposed to just making the color larger on the screen. Like before, as you customize your Mission Bicycle, the subtotal automatically updates.
Throughout the site, we've featured more pictures of our bikes so you can get a good sense of our product. In the very near future, we will be adding product descriptions, with pictures, of all the products we offer in our order form so you will know exactly what your options are. We will also be offering our customers an easier way to customize their bicycle beyond what our order form offers. Stay tuned.
The Latest and Greatest Colors and Customization
The last month has been a pretty wet and cold month in San Francisco and that puts a damper on the bike riding. Most of my friends purchased some removable fenders and the pleasure riding to Tiburon and Sausalito has been limited. With our extra time, we were able to do an update to the Mission Bicycle ordering process and are pleased to offer several new customization options with a few new colors and an improved order form.
We now allow our customers to customize their chain color (silver, red, black, pink, purple, white, or blue), their hub color (silver. black, blue, red, white, yellow), or their headset color (silver, black, blue, yellow, green, or red). These color combinations - when done in conjunction with the existing frame, wheelset, handlebar tape, and tires color options - will make even more colorful and rad bicycles. I am now rocking a wonderful purple chain on my bicycle.
We also improved our ordering process to include the new options and allow customers a little bit better idea what kind of color combinations they are picking. Using the wonderful Jquery Plugin for customized color picking we were able to manage our colors using our inventory management system and allow users a colorful and obvious way to select what color they want. Behold:
Next on the agenda - a new site design for www.missionbicycle.com and another round of the improved order form!
Meet the Mission Bicycles
Last week we completed and delivered our first run of Mission Bicycles. Here they are:
The first cusomters to recieve their bicycles were good friends Joi Ito, Andy Smith, and Neil Drumm. It's been quite a journey so far getting to our first run but getting this first run on the road has been really rewarding, save a rectified mix-up at our powdercoaters (for a little while the red frame was pink, and the pink frame red), everything turned out wonderful.
When we put the pictures up on Flickr something unexpected happened, the picture of Joi's Bike became really popular on Flickr, peaking out as the third most favorite'd picture featured in the explore section Last Thursday!
To celebrate the first run of bikes we had a small launch party with our friends. Mollie C was kind enough to photograph the scene.
The party was really fun. It's really something to have friends getting excited about Mission Bicycles like we are. We're talking about having a second larger / open party some time in January or Febuary. We'll be sure to keep all of you posted if and when that happens.
Mission Bicycle #1 - The Canvas
Many thanks to Colin for letting us use his fancy camera and Katherine for helping us schlep. If you're curious about our photo set-up take a look. We bought a giant backing sheet for $60 and rented the lights, amp, radios, and bike stand for $100 from Pro Camera Rental.