So in following the advice of Wu-Tang Financial Services to "diversify our bonds" and "protect our goddamn necks," Chapter Three LLC is launching its first offshoot business venture, which is naturally a boutique fixed-gear bike business: Mission Bicycle.

Today we (or mostly our bike-savvy partner John from Cincinatti) were interviewed by the influential Bike Snob NYC blog, where the snobs are sounding off (fwiw, the frame does not "cost $25 including shipping."). We're doing biz in the Bay, with no immediate plans for east-coast distribution, but this is still a good chance for us to define our brand and get our name out there.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

bq.. This is a San Francisco-bred bike. It can be pretty wet there. How come no braze-ons or fender eyelets?

It's a slippery slope. A fender eyelet here, a brake mount there, and pretty soon you'll end up with with 27 gears, lazy-boy geometry, and both of your Docker pant flaps pinned down by reflective yellow ankle bracelets. You can always toss a seat post mount or clip on fender if you're really in trouble.

...

Will riding without a hooded sweatshirt, colored chain or top tube pad void the warranty?

We are consulting with our legal team on this one. Likely we would probably need to know a little bit more about the musical tastes, coffee shop preferences, ironical abilities, and jean size of each rider before passing final judgement.

p. While my own disdain for hipsters is well-established, this is clearly a part of the market we're looking to hit once we've cleared our first and second-degree social connections. Don't hate the player, hate the game, etc.