Here we are, the OTSG turned 1 year old today.  I really can’t believe she lasted this long. I thought for sure we would fall flat on our face after about two months, but thanks to lots of great folks—BSNYC to name one—this goofy site caught on a little. As of today, we’ve featured 171+ owner submitted OTS! That doesn’t count any of my other categories! We have a bike from nearly every year between 1964 and 1991! We have had bikes submitted from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and soon China! If I left a country out, sorry, I don’t have the stats in front of me. All this ten-speed love is certainly a good thing. Since starting this site I have been quoted in the New York Times, gone on a honeymoon, wrecked my beloved bike, became a father, got a new president, and made a few friends along the way.
All this is good. Really it couldn’t be better! Then, last week our friends at Google gave me a Blogoversary gift I could have done without. For some unknown reason, the OTSG’s Google PageRank dropped from a respectable 4 to an abominable 0! What does this mean? Well, it mean that if you search “Old Ten Speed Gallery” in Google, my page is not even listed first! As it has been for the past 11 months! Sure, it’s number two, but that’s not how it’s suppose to be. It also means that my search engine traffic—which accounted for about +60% of my traffic—is now down about 60%! I know I’m whining, but it leaves a bit of a bruise on the ego, when you work so hard grow your content and readership only to have it knocked back 8 to 10 months! Oh well, I’m sure we’ll recover.
Regardless of what the search engines think of the OTSG, I’m encouraged and thankful for all the visitors/contributors that chime in and send in on a regular basis. Honestly—it’s glaringly apparent—this site would not exist without all the great bikes that you all take the time to send in. As I’ve said before, You send it, and I’ll post it. Just remember, keep ’em crappy! I don’t want this place getting all highbrow.
Here’s to another year.