Getting close to another year's end.

This is the deal, right now, my deal, at least.

Unfortunately, the Stella met an untimely demise a couple years ago, just after I'd gotten it right. I hit a parking lot wheel stop one night riding home in the dark and bent the frame. She awaits some sort of art project.


I replaced her with a curbside find, a Peugeot UO8

From My Pictures

My Picturesthat someone abandoned on 41st Street. Just the frame was there, along with a Raleigh and a Gitane and a Schwinn Mountain Bike. Anyway, I built up the Peugeot with the parts from the Stella and continued on fixedly.

In February, Laurie and I visited Indianapolis for NAHBS, guaranteed to incite gear lust in any red-blooded bicycler. The only catch is that there is so much great stuff, I could hardly fixate on any one bike. A 20 inch wheeled cargo bike from Hunter Cycles came close but I lacked $1500 to buy it so I bought a wool cycling cap from them.

A few weeks later, my friends at Acme Bicycle Company called me in and told me that it was time I rode an Acme. They had a handmade track frame in my size. I told Christi that I wanted to be able to use a rack like one of those from CETMA. We talked for awhile and I thought about it.

2 weeks later, Christi called me in to see something. There was a built-up track bike with a custom front rack. She had me ride it around the block. I took it up the alley to 17th Street and came downhill on Locust before I realized it had no brakes. No problem.

The plan was the have it painted whatever color the painter was using that day. Fortunately, it was bronze, about the color of a beer bottle. It took awhile for it to get done but it is definitely my bike now. I could not be happier.

Same story, different location

Here

Sad Day

I heard about it awhile back and it's like someone cut the heart out of our bicycle community. We're tough, we're resilient and we'll keep growing. Sometimes a business is like a play. You have a good run and then it's time to do something else. Sarah and Christi at Acme Bicycle has made a great difference in my life, connecting me to a new community, guiding me through the baby steps of fixed gear, teaching me to fix my bike, giving me a place to drink beer, and most importantly building the perfect bike for me.

When I should be thinking about something else.

I have to think if it's worthwhile to bail out GM.

On one hand:

All the jobs, GM, the steel companies, the tires, the freight people, the sales people, the service departments and those that depend on them for their living.

On the other hand;

We don't want their cars anymore. We're never going back to the days of buying a new car every year and might be better off if half the cars in the country were raptured or something.

They seem to think a bailout would just maintain the status quo. Not for R&D for better, more fuel-efficient, cars but for more of the same cars that we don't want anyway.

Couldn't we just pay them, like farmers, not to make anything?

Tag

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?
Probably my Panasonic Touring Deluxe, I can't imagine a better bike.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?
I suppose if I went to Christi and Sarah at Acme with my bikes and tried to figure out what would make me like it better. Maybe disc brakes or a Rohloff hub, or the SA Three Speed Fixed Hub.I can't imagine.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life?
Probably someone who holds the purse strings. I can imagine worse fates.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded?
Yes,
Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.
I've ridden someone else's, around the block. They just seem inelegant to me and hard to see in traffic.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?
I tried a couple times and I freaked in the swim. Training for a Triathlon is too much like a job.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? Ice Cream.
Could I still have Gelato?

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?
I can't even ride the same route to work 2 days in a row. Forget that idea.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?
Ride faster than the people with me.


Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.
Ok, I tag anyone reading this who has not updated their blog in more than two weeks. Everyone else, ignore this.

So Long Captain Bike

It was a beautiful afternoon to ride home and I had time to think about Sheldon Brown. What a wondrous time we live in now! I feel the loss of a cycling friend with whom I never got to ride, or to drink a beer or even talk face to face. Yet due to the internet, I was able to be friends with Sheldon Brown, through his postings on the BOB list, on the Bicycle Restoration List, on the KOG list and more that escape me right now.

If you ever had a bicycle question on the internet, you had to have encountered Sheldon and you couldn't help digging deeper and getting distracted from what you had come to look up. If you ever posed a bicycle question on a list or newsgroup, you stood a pretty good chance of getting an answer from Sheldon, directly and a reference to his page. His few podcasts about English 3-Speeds and recumbent bicycles were informed without a hint of condescension.

Left hand drive? Done it.

Build a tandem from two old bikes. Sheldon had done it.

He made it clear, for me, at least, that bicycles existed to be ridden not hung on a wall. His 1918 Mead Ranger was all the evidence anybody needed.

And to ride a fixed-gear, one couldn't build one up without consulting Sheldon once or twice.

He was opinionated, informed and I would have loved to have met him and drank a beer or two with him. He was also generous with his time, energy and knowledge, answering most of the 500-1000 emails he received daily. I recall he responded one time to a question about buying bikes at the Salvation with a diatribe about "monotheism" and had to be restrained by the moderator. His home page included these 2 lists, along with every book, movie and television show he watched or read.

Some Things I Believe In

* Democracy
* Duty
* Equality
* Exogamy
* Family
* Freedom
* Justice
* Kindness
* Law
* Love
* Loyalty
* Mathematics
* Science
* Space Exploration
* Truth


Some Things I Do Not Believe In

* Angels
* Astrology
* Death Penalty
* Devils
* Elves
* Faeries
* Faith
* Gods
* "Intelligent Design"
* Leprechauns
* Luck
* Magic
* Racial Purity


I often say that I don't, myself, believe in eternal life, physically, at least as religious people describe. I do believe that good people live on in our memories or in the good deeds we repeat after learning from one another. Sheldon will live on, everytime someone needs information about fixed gears or rebuilding a 3 speed hub.

Searching for The Holy Grail

There is always one more part that will make my bike perfect. For the Twenty there are several. Some day, all that might be left from the original bike is the frame and fenders. The most pressing is the fork. The original Raleigh-built fork will not fit a fatter tire that I want to use for winter commuting. Actually, it's a studded tire but the bike will not fit a tire over 20 by 1.75 inches. So, what I need is a BMX fork with a 7.5 inch steerer that also has cantilever bosses.

There is not such a thing out there or at least not easily accessible. I am beginning to search.

New Jerseys, Cycling Jerseys

Like nearly everyone else who has ever touched a bicycle, I get a weekly catalog from Nashbar or Performance, less often from Terry or Title 9, REI and Sahalie. So I'm aware that the cycling manufacturers want to put us in spandex jerseys with classic album covers from the Rolling Stones, KISS (of course, available on any flat surface, the KISS logo), The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynrd, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd.

I'm a little jaded, I guess. I'd wear jerseys with less mainstream albums like Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's Weasels Ripped My Flesh or Todd Rundgren's Utopia or the wonderful Little Feat's Sailing Shoes originally titled Thanks, I'll Eat it Here, along with the Zappa album, artwork by the wonderful Neon Park. Maybe some of the classic Santana or Mahavishnu Orchestra would make some sweet jerseys. Or Ian Hunter's first solo album.

I don't wear the jerseys that I own now all that much, save for a wool Fox Riders jersey and and a solid orange from Ground Effect. I've tired of having advertising all over me and I don't especially want it across my backside. Maybe if they'd make some with albums I actually liked.

The Best Critical Mass I've Been On.

Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth? - Jackson Browne

I got to Westport about 6:30 after carrying a bag of dog food home and getting a set of housekeys made. But I wanted to be at Critical Mass, tonight, especially.

I had met Lewis Bailey a few times, first after my first Critical Mass in July of 2005. A bunch of us were sitting in front of Cave Dave's in the Crossroads, drinking cheap beer and telling stories and Louis came by with his knapsack, saying that he had an alchemy textbook from the 1870's. He may have even shown it and passed it around. I would see him at Acme from time to time and he had something going, comic books that were going to net him a fortune. According to others, he was a drug addict but he made his living, such as it was, salvaging flowers and reselling them. He was a character, the kind that makes a city into a collection of human beings, that makes life interesting.

He was killed this past Wednesday,just after midnight, by a motorist. I can't call it murder but I have to wonder how much of our humanity that we're willing to sacrifice for our cars.

Due to work commitments, I was unable to attend the vigil on Thursday but I did find my way to Critical Mass. We took a long time getting out of the Sun Fresh parking lot and made it into the Plaza with what seemed to be a hundred of us, completely filling 2 lanes on the Plaza and looping around for awhile then heading into downtown KC and across the ASB Bridge where we looped around the site of Lewis' death, the intersection. I set one of the empty PBR cans next to the plastic flowers and drew a breath. We headed back to Acme.

Sarah, at Acme, had lights from Planet Bike, one of our successes for the Kansas City Bicycle Federation. We gave them out to a lot of people who had no lights. I took a couple sets for people who work with me at Whole Foods. It seemed an appropriate way to remember Lewis. I hope someone else's life will be spared.

The Twenty is on the Road

Awhile back, Matthew on the Kogswell Owner's Group list posted about how building a new bike made him appreciate the thinking that goes into a Schwinn Suburban.
Having the Twenty all built up, I get some of the same feeling.

The front fender is really well designed. That's my Reelight added on the Front wheel, a Nitto Technomic stem, Nashbar Moustache bars wrapped with Salsa Cork Tape, old DiaCompe quick release levers. I put on some 20 x 1.75 Kenda Tires, this past weekend and it rides much better. A Brooks B5N saddle completes it, along with a Live Free or Drive sticker from Prescott Alternative Transportation.

Twenty is on the Road

I've got the Raleigh Twenty up and running. The final bit of business was replacing a cotter pin on the left side this afternoon. I stuck a washer under the L-Bolt and it seems to be steady. I put a new gold chain on it and a used BMX rear wheel with a fixed cog and a bottom bracket lockring and it's rideable. In my stash of stuff was a package of Salsa Cork tape that really ties the bike together on the cheap Nashbar Moustache bars I put on the ginormous Nitto Technomic stem. It seems to have a slightly taller gear than my first fixie, the Stella Scorcher but still quite rideable albeit a little more compact. I'm due several photographs which I'll take tomorrow but I've put about 30 miles on it and it's fun.

One thing that really impresses me is the set of fenders. When I look at the front fender and see where it comes down to keep any off me, I just smile. It's really an amazing achievement to build a nicely integrated bicycle like that.

My own hinge

What does the bushing look like that goes here?

Raleigh Twenty

What part goes inside the yellow box?

The stable, as it stands now.

I have to chime in on all this, too. I suppose if somehow I never got another bicycle (and that may well be a good idea), I could be happy with the ones I have. These are the ones I have to ride

Panasonic Touring Deluxe - As nice as any production bicycle I've seen. With a coat of new paint, it might be perfect. Nice long wheelbase, cantilever brakes. and soft ride, suitable for a long tour. Like Sarah, I have to tinker with my bikes so I might convert this one from 27" to 700C, just so I can switch my dynamo wheel between bikes and I'll probably put bar-end shifters on it when I'm ready to take of the cork grips.

Stella Fixed Gear Mock Porteur - Currently sitting over at Acme Bicycle Company a couple miles away while we try to get the stuck stem to move, but it's comfy and fun to ride.

Sam Benotto Cazenave Three Speed Derailleur Model 650B- This one is like a stray cat, that I just wonder how it came to find me. It has a sticker from a bike shop in Ames, Iowa (World of Bikes) that doesn't seem to exist any more, at least under that name. I just use it for Coffee Shop rides and such.

Bridgestone MB6 - Adequate for my trail-riding needs. I think I'd like it better as a single speed or a touring bike. I have this one but haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Cannondale 1988 SR500 - The only new bike I've ever purchased new. I keep thinking it may find new life as a 650B conversion but it doesn't really meet any of my bicycle needs anymore.

A New Year

As I sit at my desk, evaluating the last year and taking droppersful of Kick Ass Immune Activator from Wish Garden, wishing that I could go for a short ride or something, these are the thoughts I have.

1. I love riding fixed. Stella has seen so much use that I need to overhaul the bottom bracket and rebuild a hub and headset so I've been riding the Panasonic lately, which I also love, but I miss fixed gear.

2. I love working on bikes. Not enough to try to make my living at it, but it is what I think about enough. I also like seeing other people take up riding, at whatever level they can.

3. Bikes are not inanimate. They respond to love and use. Just as our human bodies were built to be exerted, bikes need that, too. The Peugeot Mixte that I've been tuning up for Rebecca needs to be ridden. It has some bad mojo for a derailleur I tried to install. After I got that set up properly, with much assistance from Mis Chief, I took it home and then took it for a short test ride. I stopped at the end of the block and it felt like the brake cable wasn't tight enough and had slipped from the cable hanger.
No, it was much worse. The brake shoe had broken off the shaft.

A New One on the Way

Well, new to me, that is. Since reading Sheldon Brown's page extolling the virtues of the Raleigh Twenty and finding others, like Tarik, I have coveted one. So last night, tooling around on eBay, I found one with a $49 bid on it and an early morning ending time. I looked before leaving for work this morning and after calculating freight, put in a bid that I found comfortable. These things have been going for $200 - 300. I got to work and did a few chores, then checked my email. To my shock and excitement, I won. Now I get the fun of making it work for me.

The appeal of these bikes, I find, is the "hackability" of them. Certainly, there are lighter, more advanced folders out there now but Bike Fridays and Dahons and Airnimals don't take on so readily the personalities and whims of their owners.

Doesn't take a Lot.

We visited my family last week in North Carolina. The weather was pleasant and we relaxed. I didn't have any particular agenda, other than to relax and recharge my batteries before the holiday season.
We managed to get in a bike ride although we didn't take our bikes. My sister-in-law has a Schwinn, which we chose for her from Bikes and Trikes a couple years ago. My parents have a pair of Pinnacle bikes, 15 speeds, which I suppose would get me kicked off the BOB list for riding them. Maybe not, they have crowned forks and are steel, gaspipe steel, but steel. Nothing special, they have the cheap stamped brakes that make me cringe.

It's been awhile since my parents rode. When I tested the bikes, I realized why. The run up the driveway would tax the Polka Dot Jersey winner, much less a couple in their late sixties. Dad's bike wasn't able to shift out of the small chain ring, or more precisely, stay there once shifted, making the severe incline that much more difficult.

So, we went off on Saturday, loading 5 bikes in John's Honda Odyssey to Todd. 2 for the boys, aged 6 and 9, and one each for Laurie and I and my brother John. Starting around 2 in the afternoon, we rode until 5, the younger of the boys going with waning enthusiasm, as the ride on a single speed BMX style bike wore on him. Sammy did well though and recovered quickly once in the van, particularly after his father purchased him a set of novelty teeth.

When riding someone else's bike, I remarked later to Laurie, I begin making mental notes of what I'd do to make it work better, usually a set of Albatross bars. She felt the same way about the borrowed bike she had.

Democracy Now and Thoughts

Last weekend, I went to see Amy Goodman from Democracy Now speak, along with her brother David at a benefit for KKFI, my favorite local radio station. They have just published a book called Static I also attended a potluck, pre-show, for the Planned Parenthood of South Dakota at a friends house.

As we have sold our truck recently and are going "car-lite" I rode the 4.7 miles on my bike, carrying the cheese and crackers I was assigned as an appetizer in my basket. Laurie was going to a party out south so I didn't have the car available. No big deal for me and to get to the show from Trudy's, I was able to throw my bike into another friend's Toyota Highlander and ride over. I wouldn't have had a problem riding over but she offered so I accepted. I find it amazing how many folks think it's a major deal to ride a few miles on a bicycle, not for exercise but for transportation.

What I found a little more disturbing was that I was the only bicycle there at Community Christian Church unless there's a bicycle rack in the back somewhere. For all the rhetoric, facts, about America selling our collective souls for oil, everyone there was feeding the beast which we say that we're seeking to slay.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam, the city of bicycles, pictures of which I have yet to massively load to Flickr or otherwise edit. But this was done in 73 minutes.

Not suffering enough, I guess.

I was coming home from work on Friday afternoon through Mission Hills and noticed a long line of cars parked along Indian Lane, one bearing a license plate marked "Senator". Traffic along State Line Road was bumper to bumper and I made my way across State Line Road and through the Carriage Club parking lot. Ward Parkway was blocked off so I walked my bike across to the median and I was whistled over by a cop.

"Where you headed?"

"Just trying to get home."

"Well, I can't have you going that way. The President's going to be rolling through in a bit."

So I carried my bike across the Parking Lot that was Ward Parkway leading to State Line Road and onto the campus of Pembroke Hill.

Some driver asked me, "What's going on?"

"The President"

"(a bunch of curses)"

"Haven't we suffered enough?"

Turns out it was a fundraiser for Jim Talent, a Missouri Senator and stooge of the Religious Right, in Mission Hills, Kansas. Go figure.

I know, the President rides a bike. Just wish he'd been riding one at that moment, somewhere else than on my way home. Laurie's plane was delayed coming in while Air Force One was taking off. Who's working for who here, anyway?