Sizing Bicycles Specifically for Women A few years ago, Time magazine ran a cover article titled 'Men and Women are born different'. "No kidding," I thought, "why can't the bicycle industry figure that out?" Women have always been expected to adapt to bikes that are designed for men. This means that the handle bars are too wide (men usually have broader shoulders), the reach to the bars is too long (men have their height in their torsos, while most women have their height in their legs), and the bars are too low (men generally have longer arms). The way that the men's bikes were manufactured made these bikes difficult, if not impossible, to adjust to fit women comfortably. We tried talking with all of our bicycle vendors to try and address the issue, to no avail. So, in 1996, we took on the monumental task of designing and manufacturing a line of bicycles specifically for women.... read more

Blending Comfort with Performance The Perfect Blend A couple weeks ago, a man came in (we'll call him Jim) during a busy spot in the day on a Thursday afternoon. I had just walked up from the frame shop, and noticed that Smiley and Scott had their hands full, so I stepped in to help him. He said he was looking for a new 'go fast' bike. I asked him what he was currently riding. He said "well, I've got a 25 year old Motobecane." I asked him if he'd been test riding other bikes, and if he'd ridden anything that he'd liked. He said "as a matter of fact, I've been test riding bikes for a year but I haven't ridden a bike that I liked better than my Motobecane." He was about to give up looking, but then a friend of his suggested that he look over our website (thanks friend). He liked our focus on comfort as well as performance, and thought our Rodriguez Arrow Race (now the SL Veloce) would be worth a try. I fit him to an Arrow Race, and set him up for a test ride. As he left the shop for his test ride, a woman (we'll call her Jane) happened.... read more

Rising To A New Challenge A lot you have been in a noticed how busy we've been this winter, but we were actually a lot busier than it even seemed on the surface! I thought I would give a you small look behind the scenes to see what we've been up to. So, today I decided to go down to the frame shop and take a few photographs of some of the new improvements we'd made, and as it turns out I didn't even realize how much we accomplished! Over the years we've always tried to figure out how to make our hand built Rodriguez bikes in more efficient ways. Our manufacturing style went toward 'batching' bicycles. We would try to batch several similar bikes together. This way when we set up a machine to cut a specific size of tube, we could cut several (maybe 10) of those tubes at the same time. This would save us time in having to set up the machine 10 times (about 10 minutes each set up). Well, as our models and size offerings increased, and our customers needs diversified, it became increasingly difficult to batch similar bicycles. Therefore, the batch sizes were decreasing to 3 or 4 per batch, and this 'setup time' savings was diminishing substantially. There were also times that a batch of bikes had to be moved several times to make way for a different batch that was in a different stage. If numbers or tubing got confused, then things got messed up and a batch of bikes had to be started over. STOP THIS MADNESS I SAY! One definition of insanity is "doing things the same way and expecting different results." We needed a new way..... read more

Ultimate Travelling Bicycles Super Portability! Over the last several years, we've noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of people buying touring bikes. At R+E Cycles, we've always built a lot of touring bikes, but the invention of S&S couplings has spawned a different kind of adventurer, the ultimate traveller. You see, when a bike is equipped with S&S couplings, it can be packed into a suitcase that is 26" X 26". This means there are really no limits to where you can travel with the bike.... read more

Tandem Bicycles RODRIGUEZ production tandem frames are different from other production tandems in many ways. First of all, we have analyzed the numbers from the fit sessions of the couples we have measured for the decades and then designed our frame sizes around the most common combinations. Fit wise, we have designed the tandems to be very versatile and easily adaptable to many riders. Hand-built one at a time ensures the frame's alignment as well as the integrity of the joints. All our production frames utilize our exclusive RODRIGUEZ oval top tube, and keel tube combination, making them extremely responsive, as well as comfortable... read more

The Convertible 8-Ball When S&S couplings first came out, I immediately thought about a 'convertible' bike. One that would not only pack into a small flight case, but serve both as a travelers single bike, and a traveling couples tandem bike. It made sense to me. I drew one up before we even had any couplings in stock. But, my head frame builder at the time didn't think it made sense, so we scrapped the project. A few months later, our service manager drew up a design for a tandem that he could fit into a back pack. Our frame builder brought the design up to me (it looked very similar to the convertible that I had drawn), we combined the 2 designs, and with a few modifications, the Eight ball was born... read more