Sad news yesterday in my inbox. Aaron wrote
It is with great sadness in my heart that I bring this news to you.
My dear, dear friend Val Kleitz died yesterday, August 10th, 2011. He was 51 years young. He was born on June 8th, 1960 He worked for years on Sundays at my shop and turned one corner into The Bikesmith, his old shop in Wallingford. Here is his bio page.
He died of cancer. As many of you know, he was battling it. The end was peaceful for him. He was surrounded by his family. There will be a wake soon and I will let ya’ll know time and place.
I am dedicating the next (and all following) Cargo Bike Ride(s) to Val. He and I started the first Seattle Cargo Bike ride during Bike Summer 2005. In that time Val only missed a couple of rides and most just recently. Val loved the utility aspect of bicycles. The next Cargo Ride is this Labor Day, September 5th. Meet at 20/20 Cycle on Capitol Hill. More info.
Val built our Cargo bikes. The Bettie, Bettie 2.0, and 2.5 was his spec and work. He was a Go to Guy when I starting writing about Cargo and urban, utility cycling. As I wrote last night, 
Every bike community has one. The mechanic that can fix everything who is also a historian. That was Val. He built our cargo bikes.
Val and I would debate topics at length, often on the side of the road, when we passed each other.
I think in these photos, the topic was Di2 or that QBP had bought Xtracycle. Possibly the Yuba Mundo. Val’s photos are on Flickr too and he’ll be missed.
Our thoughts are with those that knew him longer and better than we did, like the crew at Seattle Bike Supply.
More Val
See the Val tag for more posts, including the Best Shop Prank he pulled. Also, Cap’n the Pug was quite fond of Val too. Cause he had pecan sandies in those pickle buckets on his Dreadnought.
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