YiPsan Bicycles

[YiPsan]

Hi Renold. I'm not a builder, but gotta say, that rando was perfect. Maybe too perfect, as I didn't even notice the sunflower. Thanks for taking the time at the show to tell me about the build.
Chris.

Chris,

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you for spending time during the show. Those are rare moments for me to speak direct with so many enthusiasts. What attracted you about the rando?

Cheers,

[Archibald]

I've fallen behind on my Smoked Out reading, again, but I gotta' say that Renold is the real deal and both he & his lovely wife are lovely folks. Always time well spent visiting with them. When Renold won the award at the Richmond NAHBS, Leigh was bursting with pride and shed more than a few tears. We always hear from the builders, but so often for the married builders it's really a team effort, so a shout out to Leigh too!

[zank]

Yo Renold!
Great stuff. Thanks for sharing so far.

To pick up on Josh's question a bit. You and I spoke for some time in Richmond about becoming known as the "_______ bike builder". Is there a particular style of bike that you'd like to become known as the go-to guy for, as in "Renold is the ______ bike guy"?

[YiPsan]

I've fallen behind on my Smoked Out reading, again, but I gotta' say that Renold is the real deal and both he & his lovely wife are lovely folks. Always time well spent visiting with them. When Renold won the award at the Richmond NAHBS, Leigh was bursting with pride and shed more than a few tears. We always hear from the builders, but so often for the married builders it's really a team effort, so a shout out to Leigh too!

Don,

You are right, she was probably more excited / touched than I was. And I have mentioned in many a conversation that without her, this would not be possible.

I will have to get Leigh to join the discussion so she can speak for herself.

Thanks,

[YiPsan]

Yo Renold!
Great stuff. Thanks for sharing so far.

To pick up on Josh's question a bit. You and I spoke for some time in Richmond about becoming known as the "_______ bike builder". Is there a particular style of bike that you'd like to become known as the go-to guy for, as in "Renold is the ______ bike guy"?

Mr. Z,

Thanks for stopping by, and great question.

I like many styles of riding and the bikes related to them, and at this time, I think it is more beneficial to have a broader spectrum. It keeps me thinking more and it is more refreshing to change the line of thoughts regularly.

However, if I were to pick a particular style, I would say bikes that can accommodate wider tires, fenders and lights, and moderate carrying capacity. I found these bikes to require much more thoughts ahead of the build and somewhat more demanding in the accuracy for all those mounting points. I also found that having the fenders painted provide some extra canvas to make a bike cool and certain paint scheme looks better when the fenders are painted to match as well. But in the end, the basis / foundation of the bike has to perform just like any good bike.

I also find it interesting that this type of bikes are usually painted along the traditional designs but I am looking for an opportunity to do it differently.

Cheers,

[minstrie]

Chris,

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you for spending time during the show. Those are rare moments for me to speak direct with so many enthusiasts. What attracted you about the rando?

Cheers,

Hi, again, Renold. You answered your own question in your reply to Zank: Classic constructeur integrated approach- attention to details of rack/fender/light/bag mounts. Like I said, perfect!

Chris.

[YiPsan]

Chris,

Thanks for elaborating.

I was very happy with the decaleur for the front bag. What is offered in the market right now is just too "bolt on" for me. It is sometimes annoying to see a nice bike ruined aesthetically with an add on decaleur that probably don't even work well. It would be great to hear more from salonistas who uses front bags of their view.

Hmm, is there a market?

Cheers,

[YiPsan]

Did a video interview for some cycling fans back home, it is in my native tongue, Cantonese, but there is translation of it when you scroll down.

.

[csbmo]

Renold,

if NAHBS richmond had a "best color" award you would have crushed it.
your bikes are wonderfully very rich hued. gorgeous.... the sunflower, the blue fendered !

anything about color, not just bike color, how you perceive it, you could share?

sincerely,
csb

[YiPsan]

csb,

Thank you for the kind words, and happy holidays.

I really don't think I am very good with colors, but I am happy with those I chose and suggested for my customers. I like contrasts, and think that for a custom bike, it is a good way to show it off and be different from those on the stock shelves. I think color combination is more important than the scheme, and some of my inspiration comes from clothing. I used to work desk jobs when I have to dress up everyday, and I was quite into how the suits and ties go with the shirt kind of stuff. I still would like to have a bike painted like a pin striped suit, but I have not find the right candidate. Moreover, many other objects help suggests color combinations. Cars have always been an easy target, although they are generally bland when compared with a custom bike.

This past season, I was very happy with the Reese concept I suggested to Heather when she mentioned she likes orange. I had wanted to do this for at least a year and it was my luck to have Heather as a customer.

IMG_4352.jpgIMG_4333.jpgIMG_4342.jpgIMG_4339.jpg

And I have to say that when a custom stem is included on the bike, it makes the bike so much more complete aesthetically and functionally. A painted to match stem picks up the whole bike.

I hope this gets at the point. What's your favorite color? ( This question seem to be the most difficult to answer for most customers.)

Cheers,

[YiPsan]

A little clip of me brazing the other day.

[YiPsan]

Show is over, and I finally got home yesterday. It was a great trip. Thanks to Don, volunteers, and of course showgoers to making it a great show.

I guess not all of you can get to Austin to join the festivity. Here are a couple of videos of features on 2 of the bikes in my booth. Check it out.





For pictures, go here.

Cheers,

[YiPsan]

time lapsed vid of my booth:

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3

[YiPsan]

An interview by RoadBikeReview.com about the rando bike, possibly a great bike for D2R2 or the like.

[YiPsan]

It's been a while, I just put something on my blog and I thought it would be nice to paste it here too.

[IMG]
05/06/2011 by YiPsan bicycles, on Flickr[/IMG]
A while back, my friend's father passed away and had left behind some tools for him. It took him some time to go through quite a quantity of tools that he inherited and realized he now has multiples of certain tools. The drill pictured above is one of them.

Knowing that I use various hand tools building bikes, he offered me a selection of such tools for free. I appreciated such a nice gesture and took a few of them. The drill is now on my workbench with a drill bit mounted and ready at all times. This is an older drill but it feels a lot more solid in the hand, and the control is of higher quality than the one I have for the past 8 years.

However, what I feel special about this drill is that it had so much history behind it. I do not know any of it, but I can see from its cosmetic condition that it had gone through quite a bit already. It is interesting to imagine what it might have achieved in its previous hands. I look forward to using it and add to its history; and wonder if one day someone will be riding one of my bikes and wonder about how it is made and where it had been to.

[MarkC]

Mr. Yip,

Nice segment on the USA Pro Challenge coverage.

Cool bike too.

--Mark

[YiPsan]

Thanks, Mark. I knew the clip is going on but not sure what time and so I did not get to see it. If someone has the clip recorded or know of a link, please let me know. My work for this raffle bike should start soon.

Cheers,

[davids]

Mr. Yip,

Nice segment on the USA Pro Challenge coverage.

Cool bike too.

--Mark

That's what I was going to say!

It was sometime Saturday afternoon, Renold. Sorry I don't have a recording to share.

[MarkC]

Dang, I deleted the shows after viewing. Will check tonight and see if they are recoverable on my DVR.

The race will have a PR office which can help. They should be able to get you just the clip as an avi or other file. I would contact whomever the main contact was for the piece and ask them to get you the segment.

Segment came across very well so kudos!!!

[YiPsan]

no worries, just would like to see it myself. the race was pretty good, i was distracted many times last week.