Hey bicycle friends. Happy almost-August! Holy moly. This summer is flying by. We’ve been treated to some beautiful riding weather here in Oregon this summer. Cool temps, mid-summer rainy days, only a handful of smokey horizons... Can’t ask for more.
As you can imagine, we’ve also been quite busy in the shop. You haven’t heard much from us since we took on Paragon. We’ve had our heads down, trudging through a million tasks–some very necessary foundation-laying as we execute a plan to keep these parts alive and kicking. There’s been so much learning and organizing these past few weeks; I’m quite proud of the work our team is doing.
Speaking of team…
WELCOME SARAH & SAL
We’ve got two new(ish) team members onboard here at Firsthand.
Sarah Williams has been with us for a few months now, having come on as our Operations Manager in March. A true task master, Sarah has proven herself invaluable since her arrival. She’s leading the charge on all things business at Firsthand, skillfully guiding our team through everything we have going on and setting us up for long-term success. I'm so, so grateful she’s here.
Sal Torres has also joined us here in the shop. You might know Sal's personal small business, Shovel Research. Sal’s work has long caught our eye, and we’re so excited she’s officially a part of what we’re building here in Portland. She’s joined Firsthand as our Product Manager and is in charge of our in-house CNC shop and all things Products. I’m more impressed by Sal every day, and can’t wait to see the systems she’s putting into place fill our shop shelves with quality stuff down the road.
PARAGON UPDATES
Thanks for your patience as we’ve worked to get all of the Paragon inventory organized and listed on the web store. Everything we have on hand is now available for sale; if it’s not in the store, we don’t have it. We’ve also started receiving new stock of some critical parts. We have a ton of 44mm titanium head tubes on hand, steel head tubes and BB shells and a plethora of small parts in various materials are going to start showing up soon, and dropouts and inserts are next up. Over time, the store organization and whittling down of the catalog will start to make sense. Progress, slowly but surely!
SCHOOL UPDATES
Speaking of progress, our new school’s building is starting to take shape. Check it out:
Those photos were taken a few weeks ago during one of our weekly site meetings. We’ll be moving down to the new shop this fall, and getting ready for our first round of classes in November. Our first class is sold out, but there are still spots to be had throughout the winter and into next spring. As a reminder, the class schedule & registration portal is now live on the website. Send it to someone in your life who you think would enjoy some time well spent.
That’s all we’ve got for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy building.