It was almost a year and half ago that we rented a minivan to move
ourselves, four bicycles, and whatever else fit... traveling a third of
the way across the country to start afresh in Detroit. New home, new
jobs, new appreciation for winter, and new business venture - Freighty
Cat.
Over the past year, the start of production has remained out
of grasp, while we have continued to learn more about the city,
ourselves, and how we want to shape our company. We've certainly stayed busy in the meantime.
After the new year, we headed out to Oregon to visit the Center for Appropriate Transport
in Eugene, Oregon. We returned with a jig we helped assemble, some
tubes we helped bend, a waxed canvas rain cape we helped fabricate, and a
vision of our place within the Human Powered Network
which we helped refine. We've found a number of options for shared work
space. All that's left is to find our own alignment table, settle into a
shop, and start making bikes. In the meantime, we've been doing a lot
of mechanic work around town, with Kyle presently working full time at the Hub and Leslie working upstairs part time at Back Alley Bikes. She has also been gradually building up her bicycle-powered
micro-distribution and promotion service, Bike-ro Distro, as well as riding for Greencycle. Meanwhile, during our
search for bike building equipment, we've thriftily acquired some
sturdy sewing machines and an entire silk screening rig, so there are
some side projects looming in our future.
Thanks for embarking on
this lurching journey with us. We still plan for our production to be happening here in
Detroit in the near future, but if you just can't wait, similar products
continue to be immediately available via Human Powered Machines (including an ever-expanding variety of rain capes in a number of colors and fabrics).
Please do keep in touch with us here or via Facebook and Twitter.
xo
Leslie and Kyle