It all started in 2nd grade, when I put a Schwinn (Bendix) hub into my Monark bike, rebuilding the wheel in the process. While in junior high, I built choppers. That is when I learned to weld and braze. I raced my 15sp trike in my 9th grade picnic. While honing my brazing skills I built a 31, 16 tandem. Later I met Bill McCready of Santana Cycles. While still in high school, I started working at my local shop, and worked as their head mechanic for 13 years overall. I took a break from retail which landed me in the teaching profession. I taught bicycle repair for 4 years in the Long Beach, Ca. school system.

In 1985, I opened my own bike shop in Long Beach, Ca. We specialized in light, custom built wheels. Before long Gordan from Aerospoke Wheels and his Olympic wheels had me working late nights, Working in different race areas, starting with Cindy Stagger, winner of Race Across America. Triathletes Mike and Amy Filipaw ranked 6th in the world at the time. Also Don Scales track world champion. I also developed a long relationship with the Human Powered Speed Races..

In 1993 I move my shop from Long Beach, Ca. to Garden Grove, Ca. The growing MTB business led me to develop suspension modifications. We developed 6” travel forks for Dan at Topline Racing Team. We accomplished this by making mods to Rockshock Mag 21’s.

By 1997, my first son was racing BMX. To say the least, I was shocked at the weight the bike being sold for BMX (over 20 lbs.). Talk about old school! BMX had not changed in 15 years. I felt it was about time to change that.

So Y.D.K.D. (you don’t know Dick) was born. We started with the wheels. The cassette hub had not filtered in BMX, so I built one. Our wheelset started with 13 oz. Hubset, Ti spokes, and Velocity Aerohead rims. Which were hand drilled to 24 rear and 18,14,12 front. Proving they were strong enough. We had the pleasure of having 17 year old World Champion Matt Wind working in my shop.

Next we took Look full carbon forks, cut them, and rebonded the dropouts to produce 7 1/2 oz. Forks. We were starting to flirt with 8 lbs. ridable bikes. Our standard mini or junior bike weigh 10 lbs. Three lbs. less than most light BMX bikes at the time. Our new frames made by Billy Griggs, will weigh sub 3 lbs. for prosize.

Gearing is another area we went to work on. We believe we have proved the theory that Òsize mattersÓ. A typical small gear setup will be 60t chainring and 20t cog. While the large gear would be 80t chainring and 25t cog. We believe that’s it takes less pressure to turn the 64 inch gear than turning the old school (44t-16t) 55 inch gear.

We even presented this theory to Time Trialists. We the 45 year old State Champion. Raving about using an 80t chainring instead of his 54t-12t setup. We start his cog set at 17t to 30t.

Which brings us to recumbent bikes... we are starting to develop bikes and parts to make them faster and easy to ride. We also believe in custom paints, graphics, and accessories. We are developing custom wheel options as well as forks for recumbents.

     --Richard