#17: Erik Noren of Peacock Groove, Part I

Among the many builders I’ve interviewed in my career, I can say that Erik Noren is truly unique. In a room full of unusual cats, he still manages to stand alone. This episode, and the next, because honestly, the conversation was that long and too interesting to chop into a half hour, are going to be unlike anything I’ve produced previously. Part of that is Noren’s fairly colorful use of language. He drops f-bombs in this interview like flakes of snow in a winter storm. Fortunately, iTunes has an explicit setting. So if you’re offended by coarse language, maybe drop by two weeks from now. Noren’s mantra for Peacock Groove is “deep custom.” By that he means more than just designing a bike that fits you and handles the way you want. More than picking the perfect tubeset. He is referring to his preference for creating a bike that speaks to your passions, and very often that leads him to build theme bikes. It takes a different sort of builder to dig such a rabbit hole, and Noren is just that guy. He himself is as unfiltered as his language, and that makes this particular interview unusually revealing. I never have builders open up to this degree. Not all of this interview is easy to listen to; he talks about some difficult issues including depression and child molestation. Because our conversation went on for nearly two and a half hours and because I could find so little in it that wasn’t interesting, I’ve cut the interview into two episodes. Not only that, there were elements of our conversation prior to the official start of the interview that were just too good to leave on the metaphoric cutting room floor. With his blessing, I’ve pulled some of those moments out to share with you.