{"id":197,"date":"2012-06-02T22:20:50","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T22:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tjkopena.com\/blogs\/outdoors\/?p=197"},"modified":"2012-06-02T22:20:50","modified_gmt":"2012-06-02T22:20:50","slug":"prodoli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tjkopena.com\/blogs\/outdoors\/2012\/06\/prodoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Prodoli"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following today’s workshop I was wandering about and heard the “faint” stirrings of Euro-pop way off in the distance. It turns out all these little walled-in town squares and narrow roads basically turn the whole city into an amplifier… \u00a0Obviously compelled toward it, halfway across the city I found an open air concert, apparently a benefit “for the gorillas.” Which gorillas or why or how were a complete mystery because that’s literally all anybody said, with no explication and no signage, pamphlets, or anything—in any language—but I am sure some primates somewhere feel better about themselves now.<\/p>\n

In any event, there were a lot of stands filled to the brim with sausage, many other stands baking fresh cinnamon rolls, and then there were these folks!<\/p>\n

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The Prodoli Bikes stand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prodoli<\/a>, it turns out, is a Czech manufacturer of high end road, mountain, and cyclocross bikes. I gather the frames aren’t made here, presumably the carbon is laid up in Asia with everyone else’s, but it seems like they do the painting, finishing, and final assembly here, though I could be wrong. \u00a0Almost all are carbon fiber with a mix of classic lines and newer, Specialized-style compact sloping road frames. \u00a0Part of their deal seems to be a heavy emphasis on aesthetics, with some really good basic stylings as well as more ornate, airbrushed artwork. \u00a0A lot of them look fantastic.<\/p>\n

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Seemed like their top-of-the-line road bike. Handlebars look awesome, I'm a big fan of the comfort of fat-wing geometries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Bumpy bikes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The blue lava frame in the background is very nice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another road frame---this stem not slammed, the horror!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I'm not sure I'd want to ride it forever and ever, but I certainly love this frame art.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gorgeous. But a bit expensive to hang as art...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This I find a bit too creepy, but it's well done.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Their more traditionally styled bikes also look pretty sharp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The crawling ants on hexes—a combo that seems to happen often, for some reason—is my favorite of those on display and looks amazing. \u00a0Prodoli’s gallery<\/a> has a bunch of other good designs as well. \u00a0Even some of the wheels<\/a> have ornate patterns. \u00a0I particularly like the Butterfly<\/a>, the blue variant of the Romance<\/a>, also the blue variant of the Lava<\/a>, the Square<\/a>, and the Oxygen team design<\/a>. \u00a0In general I prefer a lighter, more open aired aesthetic, but\u00a0Flames<\/a> is a super well executed design that I could see a lot of people getting behind. \u00a0The Spider<\/a> design also looks a lot less creepy on a solid background with less realistic bloated creepy-crawlies. \u00a0However, in addition to the Ants layout above, which must be new as it’s not in the gallery, my favorite is probably the clean, simple\u00a0CSK team design<\/a>. \u00a0There’s a whole bunch more in the gallery beside these, plus a custom design program.<\/p>\n

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I thought it was neat to see a local bike company, and to have a high end manufacturer—I don’t see anything of theirs under about $3500 USD; divide the CZK prices on the website by 20 for a rough idea—out at a smallish, random Saturday benefit festival. \u00a0I don’t know why I went to all the trouble and worry of packing up my bike to bring over here when I could have gotten one of these beauties around the corner, especially now that I’ve got that credit card linked to Caitlin’s account. \u00a0I mean, it’d be supporting the Czech economy, buying local, helping an independent manufacturer, all that kind of good stuff…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following today’s workshop I was wandering about and heard the “faint” stirrings of Euro-pop way off in the distance. It turns out all these little walled-in town squares and narrow roads basically turn the whole city into an amplifier… \u00a0Obviously compelled toward it, halfway across the city I found an open air concert, apparently a … <\/p>\n

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