TGIF: Rubber Madness & Joong

First phase: cutting 

La Piccola Wallets.

When most of us are thinking of Halloween, we are knee-deep in preparing for Christmas!

This is the first part of our 'Rubber Madness', preparing for the Blue Monster sewing machine that will be with us starting tomorrow. The above image is a numerous amount of La Piccola Wallets in the first phase of cutting.

In preparation for Rubber Madness, Carolle decided to make Joong, a Chinese delicacy of sweet rice wrapped in banana leaves. I'm proud of her as she is probably the only non-asian, Quebecoise that knows how to make this delicacy. I'll bet my last penny on this. It takes a few hours to prepare but once ready takes minutes to cook and makes a delicious lunch. I'll help her with the prep, so check out Carolle's post on ...Joong.

Have a great Friday!

Return of the Cycling Inquisition Caps

Colombian Cycling Inquisition Cap

via Cycling Inquisition

The Colombian Cycling Inquisition caps are now available!

We made a small run of these Colombian beauties, so go ahead and order from Klaus!

The Return of the Blue Monster

To ramp up our rubber inner tube production, we will also introduce a brand new product...

This weekend is the return of the Blue Monster sewing machine!

Stay tune for the continuing adventures as we sew our way through the rubber inner tube jungle with the help from the Blue Monster...

And, we will endeavour to save as many used inner tubes from the evil landfill!

Fun & Practical: New La Piccola Wallets

The new 'John Deere' inspired Piccola wallet

All photos: Red Dots Cycling

It's about two-years since we made our first La Piccola wallet...

When I first saw the finished product, it was a happy moment carefully crafted from upcycled rubber inner tubes and looking every bit the pragmatic wallet ...I always wanted. Gone are the days of using my old heavy leather wallet that looked more burdensome than practical. I have a wallet for the daily essentials; enough cards and some banknotes and nothing more. It's super light and fits in the palm of the hand comfortably. It's made of recycled rubber and from time to time it gets dirty, a good thing or bad? That's subjective. If it gets dirty just wipe it with a damp cloth. Or better yet, polish from time to time with a little Armor-all for the royal treatment. If you prefer the faded timeless look of aged rubber, leave it alone.

We sewn in fabric for two reasons: the full-on fun effect and cards are easy to grab.

Here's a few brand new and very practical La Piccola Wallets... enjoy!

Richard

Our Superman inspired Piccola Wallet.

TGIF: Locomotive Clothing, Bicycling & Thanks-Giving!

via Locomotive Clothing.

TGIF, and for a good reason...

It has been a very busy week at Red Dots Cycling HQs as we're fully in our rubber inner tube production. Carolle is busy on the sewing machine and I'm feeling a little under the weather, nursing a cold. However, I'm managing the all engrossing computer work which is enough for me.


Last evening, we had a wonderful meeting with Aaron and Jay of Locomotive Clothing Co. They are a local clothing company offering unique and very original designs on screenprinted tshirts and clothing. I had met Jay on a recent FRFuggitivi Sunday ride and, of course, we chatted about what we both do. Call it serendipity. Last week, a potential client emailed us about producing cycling caps, with their logo of their cycling team. Enter Locomotive Clothing and the picture suddenly got better. We are in the early stages and a collaboration is in the works.

Red Hunting wool winter cycling cap

via Red Dots Cycling.

Thanks to Jennifer Sherry for the fantastic feature, '12 Stylish Cycling Caps' on Bicycling.com showcasing our Brits winter cycling cap. Today, Michael from the US purchased the Red Hunting wool cap and left this wonderful comment ...

Saw the shop on Bicycling Magazine. I've been looking for a gorgeous cap like this for years.

The full feature will be in November's issue of Bicycling Magazine. We can't wait to get our copy!


We will be enjoying Thanksgiving long weekend and Monday is our holiday, so that means orders won't be ship until Tuesday.


Have a very good riding weekend everyone!

Rubber Fetish: 3 Bags Full

...and 3 Bags Full!

We have a rubber fetish!

I just returned from Our Community Bikes where Jesse graciously provided us with an ample supply of free used inner tubes. We'll recycle it and do our part to keep this rubber out of the landfill. This important rubber inner tubes will go into our La Piccola Wallets, Piccolo Pouch and a new product (that's a secret).

We're busy making the Piccolo Pouch with new fun fabrics. This new supply of tubes will be put into good use. I'll start off by choosing the right tubes for production, then washing them and then the production stage. We want to be finish at the end of October and have products for our website and the upcoming Make It Show in November.

Jesse was the perfect host as he piled me with bag after bag, inviting me back if I run out. This may happen sooner than later.

We are proud and happy to work alongside OCB, a local community merchant. Many thanks to Jesse of Our Community Bikes for the used inner tubes!

Steve wins the Flemish!

Flemish wool winter cycling cap

Red Dots Cycling

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our Flemish wool winter cap contest!

This morning we happily shipped off a Flemish winter cycling cap to Steve in the UK! It was the highlight of the contest, reading all of the fabulous stories. It's a good thing we didn't choose the winner based on his/her comment. Considering all of the stories were fantastic and too difficult to chose the winner from.

Here is Steve's cycling story, a real gem...



I was attempting my first ascent of the Alpe D'Huez, when in all my finery and ego I was passed half way up at speed by a old wrinkled french guy in purple lycra looking like a purple walnut with a friendly 'Bonjour' as he passed by me and continue up the Alpe effortless leaving me flabbergasted. I said that when I "retire" I want to be like him and that's that's why I had "la noce viola" bead blasted on the top tube on my Passoni, I went back to the spot when I picked up my bike from Italy...



Congratulations Steve! And it's very heartwarming to see our Facebook followers on the increase. Many thanks to everyone for participating!