Eric is Crazy on his Bruiser

I met Eric out at this year's NAHBS. He was once a Milwaukee native and is quite acquainted with the Ben's crew. Now he's in Portland as one of Vanilla's painters! Apparently he is geeking out over his Bruiser and went nuts on some upgrades! Check them out...

From Matt:

Polo bikes are unique in their own way, especially my friend Eric’s, who lives and plays polo in Portland. His love for Polo and bike painting unquestionably shows with his recent Bruiser build, which he themed it after the band Heart.

-Black powder base coat with violet pearl on frame/fork
-Everything that can be powder coated is/was/going to be to match
-Reflective stickers are used as well for high visibility.

From Eric:

Had quite a few days of playing/practice/commuting(!) on the bike and am soooooo happy that I went with a Bruiser.

My boss(Sacha) was kind enough to braze on the V brake mounts for me and the double brake is working like a charm! Such an easy and highly beneficial polo mod it is hilarious. Props to Julian from Seattle for coming up with it. He rocks a Shimano XT lever/shifter combo where the innards of the shifter have been removed. I got a hold of an old thumb shifter with a two piece clamp so I can move it to the down sweep of the bars and not worry about clamp size. It also lets me adjust the angle and spacing of front and rear brake levers independently of one another... sweeeeeeet. Now get searching in Ben's old shifter box and see if you can dig something up:)

-Wheel cover/bike is....Heart
-Parts are pretty much stock everything - nothing too fancy, just durable and polo approved.


Thanks Eric, it looks great!

Earl