FlashBak inventor, Brad Beneski

If you’ve been on any of the Thursday Urban Night Rides, you’ll have seen Brad Beneski. Well, you may not have seen Beneski., but you certainly will have seen his flashing back, lit up like a helicopter landing pad. The lighting system that he is sporting, called the FlashBak, was developed by Beneski in the last year to solve an age old problem for cyclist: how to be seen after dark and thus not get hit by traffic.

The FlashBak is certainly bright and an ingenious way of tackling the problem. We’ll be doing a review of the product in the coming weeks, but first a little more about Beneski and the development of the Flashbak.

“I was tired of friends getting hit by cars.”

Brad Beneski did not come to develop his product from a bike industry background. In fact, he started biking in the mid-90s for recreation and only owns one bike. In the 1990s, Beneski built a nice business destroying confidential documents for most of the big tech companies in town. He was so trusted and successful that when national companies tried to poach his business, they got nowhere. Failing to out compete Beneski, they were forced to buy him out of the market, and Beneski sold his company to Iron Mountain in 2001.

With cash in his pocket and free time, Beneski went to school at St. Edwards to get a undergraduate degree and learn more about business. Unsatisfied with just the book learning, he also relied on the SCORE program through the Small Business Administration which pairs retired business executives with new entrepreneurs. Beneski would use these resources heavily when developing his product.

His original product was a lighted collar for dogs inspired by his experience walking his own nearly blind dog after dark. While he was developing the collar, one of his friends took one of the collars, cut it, and put it on his bike. A light went off in his head, and Beneski started developing a new product. “I was tired of friends getting hit by cars,” he said. He thought there had to be a better way of being seen.

Flashbak Development

Beneski wanted to build the best, most visible lighting system out there, and he started by looking at the way lights are currently made. Most rear bike lights are small and red in color designed to mount on your bike. “I talked to my opthamologist about what the brightest color would be,” Beneski continued. “It turns out its white or yellow, not red.”

The bright flashing rectangle of the FlashBak

He started developing an amber colored system but needed to deal with Texas law which requires rear lights to be red. “I spoke with the Travis County District Attorney’s office, and they indicated that they would not prosecute someone [regarding] the color of their lighting system,” Beneski explained. “They said the intent of the law is that cyclist be seen.”

Legal hurdle jumped, Beneski got to work making the system as bright as possible. First, he increased the size of the light by making it a large square with ten lights instead one small spot.This allowed for a lighting system that would attached to the rider instead of the bike, invaluable if when you fall off your bike. The large rectangle of lights were put on a nylon backing so the system could be removed, folded, and put in a bag when not in use.

He next positioned the lights above the rectangular structure for higher side visibility. “One of the problems with conventional lights is that the bulb is recessed in a reflector, ” he stated. “This is great for improving light to the front, but it all but eliminates side view light.” Having tossed aside reflector shells, Beneski worked with an engineer to create an electronic pulse that increases the maximum brightness of the bulbs many folds without shorting the their life. The bulbs, which are not replaceable, have a 100,000 hour estimated use life.

Alligator clips allow the FlashBak to be attached to any shirt, bag, or rack

Putting prototype FlashBaks on riders backs also improved the product as well. The original design had velcro straps to wrap around a backpack, but Beneski quickly moved to alligator clips which allows the FlashBak to be put on messenger bags as well as shirts. He also answered one of the constant questions of after dark riders, “Is my light still on?” Beneski put a light in the on/off button that clips on your shirt so you can quickly look down, not back, to see if your lights are on.

Beneski realized he had a great system when he sponsored a team for the 24 hours of Dirt marathon ride in Smithville. After dark, he noticed that none of his sponsored riders had their lights on. When he asked them why, they said all the other riders were complaining that the FlashBak was too bright. Maybe not good news for riding mountain bike races, but certainly great for on-road visibility.

FlashBak comes to market

With his prototype fully developed, Beneski arranged for production and began working to get the FlashBak in stores this summer. He developed a recyclable cardboard packaging to reduce waste and set up an online ordering system. The FlashBak is now available at Austin Bikes, Bicycle Sport Shop, and Mellow Johnny’s with more stores expected to carry it soon.

The FlashBack can be purchased online or locally for $39

“It was pretty exciting to see the first rider I didn’t personally know wearing a FlashBak,” Beneski concluded. “Mainly, I’m just happy to make something that saves lives.”

FlashBak
Power: 3 AA batteries
Brightness: Visible up to 2000 feet
Retail: $39
Available online at www.flashbakonline.com or locally at Austin Bikes, Bicycle Sport Shop, Mellow Johnny’s, and other local bike shops.

From the start, Nando has planned on making both technical t-shirts and cycling jerseys, both “stock” designs and custom designs, and fits for both women and men. This has been quite a challenge. Getting started took a lot of research. It was hard to find the right manufacturer for his shirts, because his orders are very small (once things get up and running, an average order might be 150 shirts at a time). Not only that, but he wanted just the right fit. It was difficult to find a manufacturer that would produce jerseys and shirts to his specifications and allow him to order such small quantities. Nando said he researched over twenty potential vendors before settling on one.

Chronic did not take pre-orders, Nando said, because he wanted to make absolutely sure that quality and fit were up to his expectations. His goal is to make products that he himself would love, and by extension his customers will love. Most of his business is expected to come from word-of-mouth referrals and he wants as much input as possible – and to keep on improving his shirts.

Nando moved to Austin about seven years ago and says they have met lots of friends in the local cycling scene, and they love it here. When I asked him about bicycle infrastructure here in Austin, he was relatively happy “In Puerto Rico we had no bike lanes at all,” but would still love to see more attention put into closing the gaps. On his own commute, he points out that crossing Walnut Creek at Metric boulevard is really dangerous because there are no bike lanes at that point and it’s fairly narrow – “you have to either keep up with very fast moving traffic, or hit the sidewalk.” He loves events like the Tour De Fat, and wishes we had more like it. “It would be great to have something like that every month, that brings all types of cyclists together.”

On Christmas Day, Nando had a crash where he went over the bars at the greenbelt and suffered a couple of hairline fractures in his right arm so he’s been sidelined from riding to work for a few months – “I can’t wait to get back on the bike.” right now, hIs work commute is about fifteen miles each way, and there are no showers so he wears cycling clothes and changes at the office. Inventive, Nando has also put in a hidden hook where he can hang up his clothes under his desk at work.

Will you be seeing Chronic products in your local shop soon? Well, maybe. “It would be pretty awesome” to have them carried by local Austin bike shops, but the launch needs to go right, first. He hopes his shirts will also help grow the local cycling community.

Look for more on Chronic Cycling’s t-shirts and jerseys when they have products officially for sale. For now, you can learn more at Nando’s site, ChronicCycling.com.

Independent Fabrication's flagship carbon/ti XS model

Today, I joined Gary Smith and Joe Ingram from custom bicycle framebuilder Independent Fabrication for a Tour of Austin ride sponsored by Bicycle Sport Shop. This ride was part of a roll out of Independent Fabrication as an offering at BSS which now joins Freewheeling as part of the IF dealer network.

Gary Smith is former president of The Timberland Company’s outdoor group who purchased a majority share in Independent Fabrication in 2008, and Joe Ingram is IF’s CFO. I spoke with Ingram on the ride and sat down with Smith afterwards.

Independent Fabrication was started by three framebuilders who had worked at Fat City Cycles, one of the frame building pioneers of mountain biking. These founders had a social vision of the company as employee owned and run. Through the years only Lloyd Graves remained at IF from this group.

Gary Smith’s introduction to IF came 5 years ago while still at Timberland. His company was approached by CNN to take part in a show called the The Turnaround where executives from established companies give advice to startups. Timberland was paired with Independent Fabrication for the show where Smith found IF’s biggest problem was undercapitalization, as is common with many startups. Smith liked the company and invested in IF to help solve this problem after leaving Timberland.

Gary Smith with IF talks before the ride. Behind him is a display of IF bikes currently at Bicycle Sport Shop Central including a very cool track bike.

So will the introduction of an outside corporate executive ruin Independent Fabrication? Hardly. “A good bike is an extension of the rider,” Smith said. “We want to improve the company by making our delivery more consistent.”

Ingram echoed this when I asked him about the company’s biggest challenge. “I would like to get where we consistently build 4 frames/day,” Ingram told me. “Right now some days we build 6 and some days we build 1. It’s the nature of custom building where every order is different, but we’d still like to improve on this.”

Smith indicated that an IF customer is touched in someway 12 times during the ordering process. This includes frame material selection, consideration of riding style, paint choices, fitting, and component build up. The average order takes about 2 months from initial customer  interview to delivery of a completed bike.

“We are not the first bike a cyclist buys,” Smith continued. “We rely on feedback from the customer about riding style and what they want out of the bike to craft something that will meet their desires.”

IF currently offers a range of models covering road, mountain bike, touring, and single speed, and they are not limited to materials. While steel is their most popular material, bikes can be ordered built in stainless steel, titanium, or carbon as well. While their model line up has remained the same for some time, that doesn’t mean they aren’t improving the product.

“We aren’t blindly chasing the latest trend just to roll out a whole new product every year,” Smith stated. “We’ve kept the same models but continue to tweak them to yield a better bike.”

Smith compared it to the auto industry. The Toyota Camry has been around for decades, but today’s Camry is far different from one in 1984. They are looking to improve their flagship XS, which is currently carbon tubing with titanium lugs. IF is looking at making a full carbon XS but will put it to the test to ensure it performs as well as the current model. In addition, their stainless steel SSR now uses super light Reynolds 953 which was developed in the last few years for the military.

The well attended lunch Tour of Austin ride stops at the Capitol for a group pic.

I also asked about how the brand has been promoted. Independent Fabrication began promoting their bikes by having racers ride and win races on them and has also been well received at Interbike and the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. They have developed a cult status with their customers who have their own IF Owner’s Club site, which was established and run without any involvement from the company.

“We have a better brand than marketing,” Ingram said as well sped down the road. “We don’t even have marketing staff. Much of our success can be placed at the feet of our customers” who have promoted the bikes extensively the last decade.

While the recession has effected many companies (one of the guys on our ride just got laid off from Continental Airlines after 16 years of service), it doesn’t appear to be hurting IF.

“I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but our sales have been strong,” Smith said. He indicated 2008 was a banner year and winter sales have exceeded last year at this time. Yet, they do not want to grow any larger at this point, instead focusing on improving efficiencies. To this end, it took Bicycle Sport Shop two years from first contact with Independent Fabrication to become a dealer.

Finally, I asked both cyclists what their favorite model. Ingram immediately answered the XS, but Smith demured, “That’s like asking which one is my favorite child!”

So it looks like IF’s financial picture is strong and their products are still top notch. For those wanting to see what the buzz is about, Bicycle Sport Shop currently has a display of IF bikes at the Central store (517 S. Lamar Blvd) and is ready to order just the right bike for you.

Brad Cason, founder and builder of KirkLee Bicycles

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series of articles we are doing to profile Texas handbuilt framebuilders.

Life is good right now at KirkLee. In just over 12 months, framebuilder Brad Cason has taken a  framebuilding business that was just an idea and generated a tremendous amount of buzz as an up and coming custom carbon brand to watch. KirkLee has been reviewed in the Nov/Dec 08 issue of Road, drew some notice at Interbike, was recommended by Velonews Tech writer (and framebuilder) Leonard Zinn, and is being found under the body of U.S. Road Champion Tyler Hamilton as his bike of choice when sponsors don’t force him to ride another bike. Yet, KirkLee founder Brad Cason is humble while exuding a quiet confidence in building a successful business that hopes to offer more styles of bikes in his lineup, not grow too big, and “be a pain in the asses of the big guys.”

The Genius of KirkLee

Brad Cason has a passion for cycling that is the prerquisite for any good framebuilder. He spoke lovingly of his first racing bike, a 1994 purple Schwinn Paramount mountain bike. “I got it for $500, which seemed like a lot back then, but it turns out that’s been the least I’ve spent on a bike,” Cason joked. He was hooked and started mountain bike racing while attending Texas A&M.

Tubes designed in partnership with Easton

An engineer by training, Cason continued to race after he moved to California where he was introduced to the joys of road bike riding. He was also exposed to custom bike building. “I was really impressed with a brand called Tsumani Cycles“, the lanky builder continued. “They made great bikes and had a cool name. I love building things, and I started getting inspired to try framebuilding myself.”

At the same time, Cason was roommates with cycling coach Sean Burk who introduced him to John McGuire, a engineer that was working with carbon for Easton at the time. Brad and John hit it off and began working together to design tubing for their prototype road bike with Easton providing the fabrication.

Brad Cason shows off this wife's bike, the one Tyler Hamilton wanted to trade his DeRosa for

By 2007, Cason helped build the floor bikes for Q Rotors at Interbike, and things went so well he decided to jump in with two feet and start his own brand shortly after moving back to Texas with his new wife. His bikes were well received, and much to his surprise, pro racer Tyler Hamilton offered to trade is personal DeRosa for the KirkLee he test rode at the Austin Rocks Crits. Cason had to demur as the bike in question was a wedding gift for his wife, but shortly thereafter, Hamilton had his own KirkLee for training.

So where does the name come from? Cason and McGuire tossed names around for weeks and finally settled on a hybrid of the middle names of both men.

Design Philosophy

I was eager to hear more about how Cason builds his bikes and his thought process on design. As a builder who uses and rides steel, I’ve always been a little leery of carbon. Sure it sees like a decent material for racers who change bikes each season, but does it hold up? Well, he explained the technology behind his design and the short coming of production carbon bikes which are likely the cause of any of carbon’s bad press.

All KirkLees are custom build starting with computer designs.

Cason likes to use as much carbon as possible in his bikes. Not only does the resin embedded carbon fiber he uses provide a weight savings over metal, he also feels it limits the potential for erosion which is the main cause of carbon frame failures. Cason has used titanium over aluminum in certain instances despite a slight weight penalty for this reason, and I spotted a new Chris King headset that allows KirkLee head tubes to be fabricated without reinforcing metal rings on the inside.

All of this yields light weight, custom frames that are built to take a beating and keep on riding. In fact, he told me a side story about a friend’s mountain bike who’s chain stay had broken and asked Cason to repair it with a carbon fiber wrap since the frame was out of warranty. Cason received a call after his friend raced a 24 hour mountain bike marathon to be told the frame broke again, however to his pleasant surprise it was the other chainstay, not the carbon wrapped one that broke. His friend was able to ride the 12 miles on the course back to the aid station on just the single carbon wrapped stay!

While the KirkLees are incredibly light bikes, Cason also does not want the stiffness of the frames to suffer in an attempt to make a the bike ever lighter. In fact, he has two tubesets to choose from but usually recommends the heavier (which still yields a sub 14 pound bike) for better performance. The tubes designed with Easton were ovalized providing additional strength with relatively little additional weight.

Having said that, KirkLees are not for everyone. Aside from their $4000 plus price tag for a frame, these are performance bikes built for people with performance bodies. “I’ve had to refuse a few builds to folks pushing 300 pounds,” Cason said. “I can definitely build bikes for people who are 225 or even 250, but at a certain point you have to realize carbon may not be the best material for you.” Also, while he is available to do fitting sessions for his customers, most KirkLee buyers are already tuned in on fit and just want the performance custom carbon can deliver.

The Future: Not Letting Success Ruin the Brand

Part of Brad Cason’s design philosophy is a desire to be involved in the building of all his bikes. In an age where mass produced, soulless carbon road bikes fill most bike shops, Cason is sensitive to keeping KirkLee home grown and handmade.

“Custom performance bikes are a response to the mass production of carbon bikes today,” he said with intensity. ”I want our brand to remain special for the customer.”

He wants the business to grow but realizes that at some point he’ll reach the limit of how many bikes he can produce. He wants to avoid what Santa Cruz and other popular custom builders have done by going off shore to build custom.

“Anyone can make a few phone calls and have a factory in China making carbon frames for them in a few weeks,” Cason stated. “Once you’ve done that, you’ve fundamentally changed the product you are selling.”

With only a single road bike model, we discussed the future of KirkLee. Cason would like to emulate Cervélo which has developed somewhat of a cult following among racers, especially triathletes. To that end, I saw some exciting designs of a time trial/triathlon KirkLee with a UCI legal double triangle design offering and possibly a second non-conventional frame for triathletes to pull in some seriously fast bike splits. He’d also like to see more Austin racers riding his bikes. His current client base is mostly West Coast, but Cason has partnered with Austin Bikes to give Austinites a chance to see and test ride these custom machines.

Cason sees the business growing where he may have additional staff helping him build, but he still wants an hand in every KirkLee that is built. “I want to be small enough to make quality, niche bikes but big enough to be a pain in the asses of the big guys.”

Contact Info

KirkLee Bicycles
www.kirkleebicycles.com
info@kirkleebicycles.com
(512) 371-9661
KirkLee Bicycles are available for test riding at:
Austin Bikes
1213 West 5th Street
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 468-9557