Meet Danny! G!RO Workshop Wizard
As we kick off a new series of Mechanics evenings here at G!RO this week, we thought we'd introduce to the man behind these evenings, Danny! Danny, as we're sure many of you already know, is our head mechanic here at G!RO, as well as being a wealth of technical knowledge, he's also weapon on the bike and all round great guy. Many of you will have met him handing a bike over for a service or out on a G!RO bunch ride. We wanted you all to get to know this legend a bit better before we kick off these Workshop Evenings, so we sat down with him and rattled off some quick fire questions, to find out some fun facts about the man himself! Grab a brew and get to know Danny in our latest blog post and hopefully we'll see you at one of his mechanics evenings soon*...
*November Mechanics Evening has SOLD OUT, we will be adding more dates this week - so stay tuned!
Hey Danny! We're really looking forward to learning some serious knowledge from you this week at the first of what we hope will be many Mechanics Evening sessions! But before we get stuck into those, we wanted to find out some fun facts from you and get to know the man behind all these amazing bike builds and fantastic workshop services a bit better... So let's start with some easy quick fire stuff and then get into some more exciting stuff a bit later on. Ready! GO!
Name: Danny
How Tall Are You: 184 cm
Place of Birth: Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Why did you move to the UK?!: Urrrr.. Its questions like this that keep me up at night in the middle of winter.
How Long Have You Been Here: 3? years.. Maybe?!
Role at G!RO: Workshop Legend, Chief Food and Coffee consumer and Curve Sales Big Cheese
Favourite Tool: @lewishcharlesgregory and his cassette brush
Favourite Size Allen Key: 5 mm
Least Favourite Bike/Brand to Work On: 2020 Cervelo S3 headsets
Years Cycling: 28
FTP: Not enough
400w @ 80kg or 300w @ 60kg?: 400@80 no question. Then I'll just do 3 weeks off the pies.
Favourite Bike: Curve V3
Favourite Ride Route: Dolomites, Sella Ronda for scenery. The G!RO Belgie for mud slinging fun. Join me and the rest of the crew for a longer off road group ride 20th November
Favourite Memory on a Bike: Bikepacking off road from top to bottom of New Zealand with a mate a few years back. We followed the Tour Aotearoa route which goes mostly off road from Cape reinga to Bluff. Selected highlights include sinking the front wheel into a hole and front flipping into freezing slop, battling filthy headwinds on a 90 km section of beach, meeting a pair of Kiwi legends who we joined up with (and drank our weight in beer with) for a few days on the North Island, and seeing the (shrinking) glaciers on the South Island! Also my mate breaking his arm on a jump in Queenstown but finishing the next few days of riding with a cast on. Highly recommended!
Describe Your Dream Riding Weekend: Lifted MTB day Saturday in Morzine (still never been but looks ridiculous fun), road riding big climbs sunday, evenings with good wine + friends. Probably somewhere in the Alps.
Cafe Stop Brew of Choice: @workshopcoffee Batch brew or filter
Night Out Brew of Choice: Some sort of delicious beer - I've been really enjoying the Amelia Pale Ale from Park Brewery we've had on tap in the cafe. Will likely be having a few of these at the G!RO Christmas Party - maybe see you there!?
Riding Heroes: Brandon Semenuk on the MTB side (Emil Johannson is coming for him on my hero list though). For the road, it's probably a bit of a boring choice but Wout van Aert is so versatile and great to watch. Him or Monsier Julian Alan Phillip.
Non-Riding Heroes: Whoever invented air compressors (turns out it was Otto von Guericke in 1650, cheers Otto)
Gravel or Road: Both
Crits or Cross: This time of the year would be cross for sure, but I have only done one race this year. Grass Crits are something I want to get into..
Roubaix or Flanders: OOOOFT. Roubaix this year was unreal. So roubaix for now.
Disc or Rim: Disc. They're just better. I will die on this hill.
Pressfit or Threaded BB: Threaded together press fit
Tubeless or Clincher: Running tubeless on road + mountain, love it... So tubeless.
XBOX or PlayStation: PC
Bath or Shower: Shower, ain't nobody got time for baths.
Cats or Dogs: Dogs. I've never met a cat who was happy to see me.
Patagonia or North Face: Patagonia pro deals all day.
Favourite Holiday Destination: Nepal. I've been there a couple of times now, once for hiking/climbing and once for mountain biking. The people, the scenery, the food are all amazing (though Dal Bhat does get a bit old the 10th day in a row).
Worst Fear: Getting dropped by @lewischarlesgregory - a more and more imminent threat as the days go by
Fun Fact About Yourself: I've never been dropped by @lewischarlesgregory...
Favourite Song: The ice cream van jingle
Favourite Film: What We Do in the Shadows
Favourite Book: Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials are still a series I have loved since I was like 14.
Who Would Play Danny in an Autobiographical Film: I'd love to say Jason Statham but it's probably more likely Jim Rash
First Car: '74 Volkswagen Beetle, loved that thing.
Dream Car: Landrover Defender with ALL the fun bits
Superpower of Choice: Flying, no question..
One question, why flying?: Just imagine it mate... You could go anywhere, so much fun. Imagine the rush!
3 Things You Can't Live Without: Jess, bikes, Tesco meal deals
Your Favourite Word: Defenestration... 'Definition: a throwing of a person or thing out of a window... For example; assassination by defenestration.' Not only do I like this word, it's actually a useful verb for day to day up in the workshop.
Starter, Main, Dessert: Pizza, Pizza, Dessert Pizza
Mechanics Moisturiser of Choice: O'Keefe's Working Hands
War Story (workshop): Scrubbing muc off nano lube from a cassette for literally an hour. Don't use it.
War Story (racing): Tour of the Great South Coast 2017! FILTHY crosswinds, rain, gutter action, and taking about 2 hours post race to stop shivering. There's even a vlog
We hope you enjoyed getting to know our very own Workshop Wizard, and we look forward to welcoming those of you who signed up for his first mechanics evening along on Wednesday and hopefully more of you along to the future dates!
Also in Friends of G!RO...
UK Gravel Unlocked!
GALLERY AND Q&A: ABDULLAH ZEINAB’S RHINO RUN WINNING CURVE GXR
Blistering heat, deep sand, long climbs and extremely remote terrain make the Rhino Run one of the hardest off-road unsupported bikepacking races in the world.
This year, Abdullah Zeinab rode his Curve GXR (AKA Kevin) to victory in just 7 days, 20 hours, and 4 minutes after an exciting hard fought battle with Kevin Benkenstein (Benky), who finished only 17 minutes later on a prototype Curve Karoo.
Curve were good enough to send us over some shots of Abdullah’s GXR when it arrived back at Curve HQ, still covered in premium Namibian dust.
Four Reasons Why Titanium Bikes are Best for Bikepacking by Jesse Carlsson
Titanium bikes have featured more prominently in bikepacking races in recent years. It's not just racing, more and more riders are choosing titanium for bikepacking and cycle touring adventures. So, why do titanium bikes work so well for this application? Jesse Carlsson, one of Curve's owners, has ridden tens of thousands of kilometers on Curve's titanium frames - from the Trans Am Bike Race and Race to the Rock to touring remote outback Australia. Here Jesse explains the four reasons why titanium bikes are best for bikepacking. Read on to learn more.