Sunday, August 2, 2009

It's Official!

Rat Trap Press is no longer in the t shirt printing business. Sales dropped off considerably over the past six months. There are several reasons, but I think the biggest is the number of people printing bike designs. When I started selling on Etsy a few years ago there were just a handful of bike designs, now it seems like there are hundreds. I've had fun printing. I made some money and met lots of really nice people from all over the world (online of course). It's time to try something else.

I've already sold off some of my equipment which is going to pay for my son's college books and bills. The good thing is that after selling my equipment I was finally able to buy a bike. I bought an 80's Takara Overland touring bike this afternoon. Some of you may have seen it on Craigslist today. I cleaned it up a little this evening and took it for spin around the block. It shifts great but I need to adjust the brakes and true the wheels. I'm looking forward to working on this bike.

These are the photos from CL.


16 comments:

  1. Sweet! I hope you have plans to lose that crusty old pie plate!

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  2. VERY nice. I think it'll evolve as RT makes it his own

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  3. Hey, I'm sorry to hear about your business closing. But it sounds like you've had a good run, at least.

    Sweet bike! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

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  4. Excellent! Nice looking bike. Now it's time to plan that Fort Worth group ride.

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  5. Giving things a CLOSE look, those shifters look very unusual. They appear to be mounted on the top of the down tube. Is that a "plum" color?

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  6. Rantwick-If I have time I'll be tossing that pie plate tonight. I'm hoping the freewheel comes off without too much trouble.

    Steve A-The Suntour shifters are mounted on top of the downtube. I've seen that before on some of the old Univega road bikes. The color is more of a sparkly maroon with silver headtube. At least they didn't go with the popular colors of the day (neon green or pink).

    Apertome-I enjoyed playing businessman for a while. I think me and my nine year old daughter are going to learn to sew. We'll see what comes out of that, probably bike bags, holsters etc.

    Christopher-I see a large group ride in our future. It's time to get to work.

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  7. Etsy Fort Worth will miss you! My sales are no where near what they were last year... I'm hesitant to say the line everyone is thinking in their head... you know: "it's the economy!" LOL

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  8. I think...going to learn to sew...we'll see what comes of that...
    In the corner stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade....
    http://tinyurl.com/crbt4y

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  9. Sorry to hear about the shop, but I totally understand! It is very interesting how many bike related things have popped up on etsy recently.

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  10. Sara-Thanks, hopefully me and my daughter will come up with something we can make together and sell on Etsy. Too bad we'll have to change the name of the shop (I'm not changing the name of the blog). I hope sales pick up for you soon.

    Twister-I've heard that song a hundred times but never paid attention to the lyrics. Thanks.

    Dogwood-The bike stuff caught on pretty quickly. I sold lots of shirts the first couple of years but had trouble coming out with new designs towards the end. I'm not an artist.

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  11. Sorry about the shop; I've been trying to get City Cyclist to get with you, but it's too late now. If you know of another local printer, especially one with cycling ties, let me know.

    Speaking of City Cyclist, I saw your Univega mixte frame there, and when it's built up, I want pictures for my new project, The Mixte Gallery.

    I like your new bike though; reminds me a bit of my Raleigh Marathon, only better.

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  12. Oh no................I was just about to order some more shirts for our mule team to coincide with my arrival in america.Its very sad day. Although the shop is gone we still have you and your blog.Which is a bonus to the cycling community

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  13. Philip-I'm sorry, I would have liked to have printed shirts for the team.

    Oh, I hope you're ready for the heat! It's been a little warm here recently.

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  14. It is a great looking bike. Long long time ago, I had access to my cousin's CCM Targa, which also was similarly designed.

    Enjoy the new bike :)

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  15. Oh man, that sucks... no more cool t-shirts. I should have picked more up! I shut my Etsy store down earlier as well... my ROI was just not there. Be interested to see what you may get into next.

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  16. Triplemilled-Hey Justin, it's good to hear from you! I think I'll be teaching myself to use a sewing machine sometime in the near future. Be sure to keep in touch.

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