Jeremy Neal
Jeremy

Jeremy is a co-founder of blaq design.

Jeremy's blog

On Halloween 2009 we had our Dead on Arrival Alleycat here in Kent, setup by our friend Brian Marsh. It was a great day and an awesome race. Anyways, the point is that the prize bag, won by Chris Sans, was this guy:


A Blaqpack and one of the nicest bags we have done. It took a bunch of people to pull off and I'll describe a little about the process of getting it done.


I had a vague idea of the artwork I wanted and floated it to our friend Chris Pitts. He came back with this and lets just say it is amazing. Paul (co-owner) did the background which really set it off. We got hooked up with the guys at Inflatable Images who can print in full color on vinyl. They make Macys parade floats and gorillas for the roof of car dealerships; a really great operation. The prints came out great and the sewed right in.


I really wanted to do something special to set it off even more and I came up with the idea of doing a spine and ribcage in the back panel through the foam. We were all a little uneasy because we hadn't done this before.

I swear a lot, but I think those present could attest that when I was laying down those stitches I was a lot worse than a drunken sailor. It was one of the most difficult jobs I've ever had to do because of how you have to fold up the foam to clear the machine. We will eventually get a pimped out long arm machine that will make this childs play. Besides that, I finalized the changes to the backpack design that are still the same now. In the end, I didn't really want to let it go.


The point of the story is that this was an awesome bag. Chris rides with it all the time and we are watching it to see how the image quality holds up to long term abuse. I saw it recently and it looks good 4-5 months later. I'll soon have a similar bag of my own to show off - except way more pimp because I'm making it for me. Check back and I will drop a post about it once its done.

 

My Bikes

October 28, 2009

Since this is my blog, time to write about some of the things that interest me and what I work on other than what we sell. Lets start off with my bikes:

Titus Switchblade

My 2002 Titus Switchblade. Bought it new when I rode lots of cross-country and still have it all these years later. It is a little differently setup now.

 

Porn King 3

24 Porn King 3. My dirt jump/street hardtail sitting in my office. Again, it looks a little different now.

 

Canfield

Canfield Formula 1. Can't find any pics of just the bike, but here is me riding it downhill on 007 at Seven Springs. Can't get much better of a downhill ride than this.

 

2009 Motobecane Jury fixie, also known as The Lung Buster because, well, I punctured a lung riding it (on the day this pic was taken). Five days in the hospital was no fun.

 

Titus SuperMoto

My 2005 Titus SuperMoto which was my DH bike before the Canfield. Doesn't get ridden much anymore, but is still kickin. Again on 007 at Seven Springs.

 

Trek ZX2100

A Trek ZX 2100. This one isn't mine, but is similar - I'll update when I get photos. One of the first commercially available carbon and steel roadbikes. I got a killa deal on mine.

 

Thats it for my current stable of bikes - 6 in all. Commuting is generally split between the Trek and the Motobecane depending on which is running at the time. I have never had all 6 bikes ridable at the same time - too little time and money. I do although commute year round in Ohio, which means lots of rain and snow.

 

When we started Blaq, we initially were going to be a frame and component manufacturer. To that end, I designed a few frames in Solidworks. Here is the Adrenochrome:

 

Gonzo Adrenochrome

Designed for 24" or 26" wheels. Never built - maybe someday.

 

DH Proto

Downhill race bike prototype. We actually started building one of these in carbon fiber, but have been too busy with bags to devote the kind of time a project like this takes to finish. The design was finalized in 2007 before you saw these kinds of shapes in frames. Still would be sick to finish sometime even if just for the thrill.

 

Fast Plant

And a sweet pic of me riding.

 

Well, thats about what I have time for today. Keep your eyes peeled for the next update.