BLOG! BLOG! BLOG! The Barking dob blog We hare happy to unveil our new blog at dobermannbikes.blogspot.com
Working on our regular production plus developing new products is taking most of our time, updating the web site has been some what of a problem lately.
As our friend Will will be working on a completely new version of the website, we will post news and let our friends and consumers know about what is going on at DOB through our blog.
The blog will always be a work in progress as we will change things on it as we feel. We'll do our best to post everyday. Posts will not only be coming from Gab and I, but also from friends in the industry and riders.
Big thanks to Gen for creating the blog, you rock!
Cheers!
Alain
2008.03.01 : B.I.K.E. @ RAY'S From Plonka's website : www.allaboutbikes.tk My friend Vincent Allard just finished editing and uploading a video of the rays bike competition that went down few weeks ago. Its mainly showing Justin Guignard and me (Michel Plonka) as we were fighting against other teams to get our 4th place overall. Good times, friends, riding bikes, what else can you ask for? Maybe a freestyle rap about Quebec from the famous Catfish? we got that too! haha. Big thanks to Alain and Gabo @ dobermannbikes and to everyone else that made this trip possible! VIEW THE CLIP ON VIMEO
2008.01.22 : RYE AIRFIELD 2008
2007.11.22 : A FEW UPDATES AND MAJOR PROPS to our rider FRANKI VASS who made it in to the final round of the Drop-In "Be a dirt bag" contest. My name is Frankie Vass. I'm 21 years young. Ive been riding ever since I got a BMX for my 14th birthday. I mainly ride street and skate parks because thats what we have in and around London, Ontario. I'm trying to get some dirt jumps going but its hard to find a spot that wont get plowed.
The trip to Whistler with the Drop In crew was amazing. Whistler has some amazing spots to ride. I wish I could have stayed longer. Hopefully next time I go I'll have some working brakes and be able to use the mountain more.
Thanks to everybody at Rip.tv for putting on a great contest and providing first class treatment.
- Frankie Vass Esquire
Support FRANKI and the DOB's by voting on www.rip.tv.
2007.10.22 : IMPORTANT : EMAIL PROBLEMS During the past 3 weeks, our internet supplier's servers have been suffering from many hacker attacks which resulted in serious problems, including email malfunctions.
We've apparently been unable to receive most of the emails that have been sent to us.
If you tried to email us in the last 3 weeks and never heard back from us about your request, I would appreciate if you could resend that message to us.
We are very sorry for all the problems that might have occured, please understand that it was completely unintentional from our part and that we did everything we could to solve the problem as fast as possible, but since most functions of the server were working as usual it was very hard to locate and fix the problem.
Cheers! - Alain
2008 EVOLUTION & NEW PRODUCTS
Dobermann Bikes is proud to introduce its 2008 line-up.
This is a big year for us, after 3 years of production we have proven that we can produce top of the line street & park frames that compete in quality and price with any manufacturer in the world. The best part being that everything is all made in-house in Canada! It is now time to to step outside our regular market and show what we can do in different fields.
The Choker Rigid fork.
A powerful tool for all park, DJ and technical street rider. It helps to keep the flow, save weight and give precision
steering (mushiness of suspensions often results in loss of momentum). The down side of rigid forks is that until now it was almost impossible
to find one that would last a decent amount of time. Most of our friends and riders were tired of replacing their rigid forks so they had no option but
sticking with more reliable, almost locked-out, suspension forks.
To solve this problem we bring you the Dobermann Choker Street / Park & DJ Rigid fork.
The Dobermann Choker fork was designed to give a stronger option to the rigid fork enthusiast. Super solid and stiff, without the weight of a
suspension fork, makes this baby the weapon of choice. Simple solutions like using larger diameter tubes for the fork blades and an internal
vertical gusset truly brings the fork to our standards without adding weight.
Evolution of the 2008 Pinscher. It is no secret that our Pinscher frames have received a face lift for 2008. In fact the 2008 Pinschers has
been available for a couple of months now.
New seat-stays for a stiffer rear-end, new dropouts for disk-brake adjustability, SHORTEST CHAIN-STAYS in the market at 365mm (14.37"). These evolutions raise the 2008 Dobermann Pinscher as one of the top North American made street park & DJ frame.
We are also very proud to say that it is one of the most affordable high end frame out there.
The Taxmann 29er Frame and Fork.
The bike world doesn't revolve around the park and street scene and as frame builders we enjoy and ride many different types of bikes. We have received a very strong demand to put Mathieu's 29er frame into regular production so we decided to
listen. The Taxmann is not your typical light weight 29er. This one is made to take anything you can throw at it… from Whistler's A-line to a trip around the globe. Tired of flexy delicate XC 29er's ? This one is for you ! The Taxmann will be available with our 29er rigid fork. Just like our frames, the Taxmann 29er fork.
Complete bikes!!! Yes it's true, for 2008 Dobermann Bikes will have a limited number of complete bikes available. The Dob's completes are
straight forward, efficient, single-speed, rear-brake-only bikes. We have chosen parts to give you the best weight, strength, performance and price ratio.
You can choose to go rigid with the Dobermann Choker fork, or suspended with a Rockshox Argyle 409. Chris King head-set upgrade also available.
Frame & Fork Combo's. A complete bike is more than you need ? For 2008 we are happy to offer frame, fork and headset combo's.
The combo consist of your choice of Dobermann Bikes Frames, choice of a Rockshox Argyle 409 or a Dobermann Choker fork .
A Cane Creek Tank II head set is included. Chris King head set upgrade also available.
GLC Slope-style FS and Taxmann 29er FS.
It's no rumor we are currently working on the development of a single-speed, short travel, 4130 slope-style full-suspension frame; the GLC. Using the same pivot/integrated BB system as the GLC, the Taxmann 29er FS will also be a single-speed-compatible, short travel 4130 frame. The GLC and Taxmann FS will be officially unveiled this winter and should be available this spring.
Big thanks to everyone for their support!
2008 DOB JAM VIDEO !
For those who couldn't show up at the Dob Jam this year, here's a little clip of what went on ! PLAY
CRANKWORX' COMING - AND SO ARE WE !
We've been planning this road trip for a couple of months now and we want you to come and meet us in Whistler, from July 25th to the 29th. We're bringing our welding equipment and you'll be able to witness a true frame builder at work. Demo bikes are going to be on hand for your testing pleasure. You'll even get a first glance at our new rigid fork and 29er frame. T-shirts and clear-out frames are going to be for sale under our tent, first come, first served. You will also meet the owners, designer, sales guy and welders of Dobermann.
See you there!
Mathieu Alain Gabo
NEW FAVORITE COLOR !
We paint custom color frames every day... but so far, this one has to be my favorite ever!
Transluscent Candy Raspberry! Very very sweet!!!
HEADING OUT TO Mt-Ste-Anne !
That's right, MSA World Cup weekend and we'll be there welding DOB frames in the parking lot and cheering for our guys to shine in the DJ comp of Sunday night ! Come say HI !
OUT THIS WEEK!
FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE Here's a couple new clips :
First we got Frankie Vass riding the park... after just a month on a MTB here's what he can do on a DOB :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABXB3QE24I
And Vincent Allard also knows how to ride that bike : http://vimeo.com/clip:194524
USB / NYC ! New stuff over the last few months here at dob, new frames and a sweet trip to NYC.
Its no secret by now that we have been working on the production of Joe Prisel 26" Signature bike from Union Street bike the "Working class hero".
They are sweet frames and we are proud to make them for our friends at USB. More info on www.unionstreetbikes.com
We have also been working on the 2008 version of the Pinscher which will soon be available and officially unveiled (The 2007 are all sold out and the 2008 design was ready... so we started the 2008 production).
Last weekend i was down in NYC to introduce the new Pinscher to Peter from Distilled Magazine.
Central park is just such an unreal place... I'm amazed by it each time I'm down there... Is there a better place to do an interview and photo-shoot!?
The trip to NYC also lead us to brooklyn to see our friend Patrice from BayridgeBikes which is now our first official American stocking dealer (Way to go Patrice you ROCK!)
A FEW INTERESTING THINGS . . . FIRST OFF : BIG NEWS : Our friends' GREG & GENTILLON - The Movie is finally hitting the big screen!
Live from our hometown, featuring «LA BRASS», birth place of DOBERMANN BIKES, great laughs guaranteed!
DOBERWEEKEND FROM HELL... This is the embellished version of our last road trip, you just wouldn't believe what really happened. It started out as an ordinary bike show in Toronto with the traditional 5 hour drive from the Dobermann factory in Gatineau. Little that we knew that the next 3 days would be the worst days of our young lives. Get ready, it's a looooong story!
Alain and I were invited to represent our products at the consumer bike show last week end. Since our Toronto dealer had a good selection of Dobermann frames, we decided to travel light. So I borough my Dad's car, instead of taking the huge Dobervann. We left The shop at 6 in the morning in the the middle of a snow storm. After fighting true crappy road condition, snow, slush, freezing rain and rain, we finally made it to Toronto... And this is when everything started to go bad.
I was driving, we were on the busiest highway of the country, the 401, and it was a little wet on the road. We're in the left lane and all of a sudden, I see the minivan in front of me slowing down, so I started to slow down too. But then, it just started to brake like crazy, so I slammed on the brakes to avoid collision. I saw this black car that was side ways, in the middle of the left shoulder and the left lane, this is why the minivan was stopping. With the speed I was carrying, about 90 km/h, and the wet road, I wasn't going the stop in time.
So I had 3 options, 1st was to run right into the side of the stopped car, and seriously injure who's inside. 2nt was to hit the minivan in the rear bumper and destroy the front end of my car, and get hit from behind by the cars that are coming behind us. Last would be to try to avoid the minivan on the right. Alain suggested me to take the third option, but the problem was that their was this big rig in the right lane beside us! Since the car was sliding closer and closer, I waited to the last second to release the brakes and squeeze between the minivan and the big van. So here goes nothing, Bang, Spishhh, these horrible sounds of metal to metal collision, exploding glass and braking sounds still keeps me up at night.
After being sandwiched between these vans, the car came to a stop approximately 20 meters farther. The 18 wheeler never stop, the car is a total loss and I just put a full tank of gas in it! It was a seven car pile-up and no one was injured, not even a scratch or whip lash, even the bike and frames were untouched, hell, the air bags didn't even deploy in our car. So this is the first thing that went wrong. THE CRASH RESULT!
We got to the show after leaving my dad's car with the towing and transferring all the stuff in a cab. 40 bucks later, we were at the convention place one hour late. So we set everything up for the show. Then I started to call the insurance company to get a rental car... My personal nightmare began. Between being transferred 2 dozens times and being on hold for more then an hour, I finally gave up for Friday. We got a ride to the hotel with Rian, his girl and Ozzie, thanks guys.
Saturday morning, We were refused the entrance to this nice breakfast place because it opened 10 minutes later, Alain was really pissed at that. We ate some muffins and went back to the show and I gave the car rental thing an other shot. Same deal that day, transferred, put on hold, and confused receptionist. The best I could do is a car just for Saturday and Sunday and in Toronto only. While I was searching for a ride to the rental place, Alain was eating with hot mamas.
I found a ride with Jean-Martin. As soon as I got there, I had to call my dad's insurance company so that they can fax the required info for the paper work. I got an incompetent on the phone who refused to fax me the info and he refused to give me his name or direct me to his supervisor. I was getting angry. So I called back, I got a nice lady on the phone who faxed all the info immediately! Same company, different policy!? But I had to put an 350$ deposit for the rental, but my my and the company's back account were off line or something and my credit card was full!! One phone call to the credit card company and a 400$ credit raise, I'm good to go with the rental. Finally, I thought...
When I got back to the show, Alain gave me shit for not getting a car to go back home. Now that I didn't need. We were tired physically, mentally and I was hungry. After the show, I drove Alain back to the Hotel and I went out for a ride downtown Toronto. I also called my girlfriend to get some steam out. I got the answering machine !&#$@. 2 hours and a couple of nice pics later I got back to the hotel.
We bought 12 beers and 13 oz. of Rum the day before and their was only 4 beers left and no more Rum? Alain was having fun now! I took a shower and we went out at the Devinci party in a nice little bar on College street. Since I was driving, I only took one beer at the bar and my partner withdrawal some more cash and kept on drinking, which is OK... But when you get throne out of the bar because your throwing stuff at the staff, then it becomes a problem. So I had to calm down the bouncer and call a cab to get Al back to the hotel, cause I didn't want this to ruin my night out. So I kept on talking with these really cool guys from Norco and Devinci and enjoyed the great vibe of the place. When I got back to the hotel, one hour later, Alain wasn't in our room, not even in the hotel. His coat was in the room, but not him. So I go out to look for him. I saw a guy sleeping on a bench on the other side of the street, nope, just a freezing hobo. (I guess he was having a worst day then I was!) I walked the sketchy streets for 20 minutes and I came back to the hotel. He wasn't there. He came back in 30 minutes later, telling that he was looking for a phone to call an ex-girlfriend, but he only got the answering machine. (Dah, it's 3 o'clock!) He fell asleep fast and so did I.
Sunday, final day. Alain and I woke up without any problem. (surprisingly) I refreshed Alain's memories, cause he forgot what happened the night before. The only thing he knew, is that he must have drank a lot for is head to be hurting that much. So he spent a good part of the morning, calling is ex-girl to explain the late call and then called is Dad who was called by the ex and who called my girl... As Alain said, «Their should be Alco-tests on pay phones.» He also had to apologize to a few people and swore to me that he would never drink again when we're on the road. (If you see him with a drink, take it and throw it in the toilet.)
Luckily, the rest of the day went well, people seemed to love testing our bikes. They all had a big smile on their faces when they came back with the bike.
I had to bring back the car to the rental before 4, so Rian gave me a ride in between is runs. He was in the dirt jump contest. We got the car back and after stopping to fill up the car for gas we left the place in a hurry so that he won't miss the finals he qualified for. We made it on time. So far so good for a last day at the show. Until we started to pack is truck with our stuff. We realized that we forgot our personal baggage in the rental car with our keys to our homes and the shop and the place was closed. Tabarnack! What can you do. We left with our, now very good, friend Rian. He dropped us at the bus stop. That bus ride felt like an eternity. The bus actually stops in the middle of the trip for a coffee stop and then stop at 3 other small places in Ottawa! Let me out!!!
In retrospect, the weekend was not all bad, Alain and I are in good physical shape, we sold a couple of frames for our dealer, I got to meet interesting people, we might get some new frame building contracts, Rian finished 2nd in the dirt jump comp and Ozzie finished 4th. But the best for me was when I talked with Jay from Winterborne bicycles and Hugh from True North Cycles. These guys have been collectively making frames for more then 17 years! I don't know if they were just polite or they really meant it, but they both told me that I was doing great work. They liked the craftsmanship and welding of our frames! It touched me so much that my eyes were full of water cause I was choked up with emotions. (Probably because of the lack of sleep and all the crap that happened that weekend) Earring that from them made my weekend.
We left the shop with a car, one bike, 3 frames and luggage and came back home, on a bus with nothing! I feel 2 years older.
I hope to see you soon on the road...
Mathieu
P.S. Monday night, when I went to my brothers place to get the spare key for the shop, I got a flat tire on my car and it was -32°C.
Ya, you can call me lucky now!
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN WELD... Next weekend (Feb 9-10-11) at the 3Ride comp in Ray's MTB indoor park, Cleveland OH, the Dobermann Bikes crew will be down with their riders and welding gear.
(Photo's Jacques Sennéchael - Vélo Mag)
You are all welcome to try out our bikes, take a shot at welding and most importantly; say hi and have a chat whit us!
All weekend, Mathieu and Gabriel will be doing some welding demos where you'll be able to give it a try and learn some tricks from some of the best welders in the industry.
If melting metal is not up your alley but would be interested to see how the Dobermann frames are welded, every day between the main events of the 3Ride comp, Mathieu will be welding a complete Dobermann frame inside the Ray's MTB indoor park complex.
In our quest to educated riders on how bike frames don't just drop from the sky in a container, welding frames on the road is the ideal way for us to show our skills and share our passion for the beautiful art of frame building.
We're looking foreward to seeing you there!
V.I.P. appointments are available on request for the media.
More info on the 3Ride comp and Ray's MTB indoor park are available here : raysmtb.com .
GRASSROOT RIDER MICHEL PLONKA
SENT US THIS LITTLE TAIL WHIP DROP VIDEO ! GOOGLE VIDEO HERE
Keep on whipping that dob Mich!
GRASSROOT RIDER NICK PALFREY
SENT US THIS SWEET LITTLE VIDEO ! GOOGLE VIDEO HERE
Keep on rocking that dob Nick!
FIRST PRODUCT REVIEW IN A MAG...
OUR AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR'S BEEN WORKING HARD !
And here we are with a full page review in REVOLUTION, a nice australian magazine.
We probably enjoyed reading their impressions on the Pinscher even more than they enjoyed testing it out... We're just glad to see people are able to recognise and appreciate quality products, and positive feedback like this is always welcome!
Thanks to the guys are REVOLUTION and XXIV.
In Australia, please contact
XXIV for any enquiry about the products.
THIS PAST WEEK, AT THE DOB SHOP
HUH, well yeah, I guess it may sound like we're running a Dobermann puppies factory, eh... hehehe, no quite yet, but... our days have been crazy busy at the shop lately, and Hoolygan's just not the lazy kind o' dog that will sleep all day waiting for us to eventually take 10 minutes to throw him the ball a couple times... So we got him a pretty cute little sister to play with... Just in case you're wondering, the first puppies are due in a couple years or so from now, and go figure out, just like the frames, they're all sold out before even being available... hehehe
Oh yeah, last friday was, for most high-schools in Quebec, the «career day», which allows students to spend a day in a real work environnement instead of going through yet another day in a classroom. This is a great way to help them make up their minds on what kind of work they might want to do when the school party glory days finally come to an end...
We like to call this very special day the «FREE LABOR DAY» !
For our first «FREE LABOR DAY» we were lucky to have 3 young lads from the Montreal region (yeah they we pretty motivated to take a 2 hour bus ride to get to our shop!). So you want to built bike frames when you're older?? Wel, we can get you started with the basics!
After going true a auto CAD/ frame design 101 basic crash course with Mathieu, we got them down to the shop were they helped us out cutting some tubes, mitering some seat stays, punching breather holes in the head tubes, powder coating, and frame prep. When the day ended those kids gave us a good help on the basic but time consuming job and witnessed all the work requireed to make a frame, from the basic drawings to shipping.
If you want to spend your next «career day» with us simply get in touch and we will see what we can do!
On top of that, we also got a sweet update from BikeMagic.com in the UK, who just posted a review of our frames for the British folks, and a pretty interesting sneek peek at a rather flattering article that will be posted in an upcoming edition of an australian bike mag... We'll keep you posted on this one when it comes out!
For
those who missed the show and the 4 replay's last week, and those who
simply dont get Musique Plus (French Canadian Much (the canadian MTV)),
heres the TV show from the Dobermann Dirt Jam comp that was aired on the
SPAM show from Musique Plus.
Including interviews with Kyle Hebbett, Joe Prisel, Scott fish and much
more. Enjoy!
Well, maybe
this will interest you... News is the fast growing demand of the DO*BER*MANN
frames is taking a serious toll on the Dobermann boys. So we need some
help.
We are looking for a full time (year round) professional TIG welder. Even
if experience is great, we are mostly looking for someone with pure raw
talent.
A cool part of being part of a small team, is that your input is vital
to the success of the company. So, one day, we might see one of your ideas
on one of our bikes! Most important of all, we are looking for someone
who is as passionate and dedicated about bikes as we are.
If you want to be part of the DO*BER*MANN team, give us a call at the
shop
819 682 5948, or email Alain at dobmaster@dobermannbikes.com
Cheers!
Alain & Mathieu
NOTHING BUT THE HOTTEST DEALS ON BRAND NEW (AND SOMETIMES SLIGHTLY USED) FRAMES AND PARTS!
SWAG
For all those of you who'd like to support the brand, visit the SWAG
& STUFF section. We still have a few of our first run of TShirts
in stock...
