From Sindri's forge...

From the account in Skáldskaparmál, Mjolnir was created by Sindri and his brother Brokkr. Mjolnir was forged with the interference of Loki, the Trickster, and though it caused a flaw in the handle of the war hammer, it was still one of the most fearsome of weapons made. So fearsome that it was given to Thor as his weapon or choice, worthy of his hand.

Mjolnir Cycles was born out of a want for something better out of a bicycle.

The impetus behind the idea was in 2004, when I was making a re-entry into the world of triathlon. I had made a study of bike geometry, weight distribution, handling, and position, and found that nothing on the market fit my concept of appropriate design. There was a reason that triathlon bikes had the reputation for being sketchy, poorly handling beasts. I was inches from contacting a custom builder when I found an old (okay, from the early 1990's) bike frame that came close to what I wanted. It shouldn't have taken that much to find a tri bike that fit me and handled like a bike should -- comfortable, stable.

Since then, I'd had it in my mind to make my own bikes, to my particular wants in handling. Even talking with many custom builders (some of whom I've bought from), their interpretation of my desired bike fell fairly in line with a narrow set of parameters that define the mainstream racing bicycle. I remember a particular comment on a cycling forum frequented by many framebuilders (both professional and hobby) where a budding builder was admonished to make their frame "like the million and one bikes out there, because they work well." It struck me as wrong, and my return comment was "maybe there are a million and one because there are a million." Blindly following what's been done before doesn't answer the question, in my mind.

It wasn't until I designed and built (with the help and guidance of Dave Levy at TiCycles Fabrication), that I solidified what I had suspected -- "accepted standards" don't really cut it. With this bike, I wanted maximum stability, a bike I could almost fall asleep on (a term I used when having my first custom bike built in 1991) and it would still track true. This bike does all that, and more. It served as a proof of concept, if you will, to validate my thoughts on design and handling. It's this philosophy that I bring to Mjolnir Cycles.

This blog will serve to be a sounding board for my thoughts on design, the industry, custom builders, and my own production as I build Mjolnir Cycles, the business and the bikes.