Urban Adventure League

Giving the Wayfarer a little love

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've been talking an awful lot about bikes on this blog as of late. Most of the attention this month has gone to the Rudge, and we've heard a bit about modifications on the Long Haul Trucker and the return of the Cycle Truck. But what about the Raleigh Wayfarer?

Well friends, it is still very much a part of my stable. In fact, it's become my "go-to" bike for daily riding. The Rudge is the special fun bike (read: can not be ridden in the rain and has negligible cargo capacity), the Long Haul Trucker is the "let's go ride!" bike (read: headset needs work), and the Cycle Truck is the cargo bike (read: big and slow). So the Raleigh has become the workhorse. And it suits this stately steed, since that's what an old British three-speed is for, right?

The biggest improvement that has been made recently is installing a larger cog on the rear wheel. When I bought the bike it had a 19 tooth cog, so I upgraded it to a 20 tooth during the initial restoration. That was fine, but I wanted to get an even bigger cog so the low gear is lower, and that I can use the high (or "3") gear for more flat riding. (This is what Sheldon Brown recommends, if I recall correctly.) The Rudge only had an 18 tooth cog, so it would be appropriate to swap the Raleigh 20 tooth cog to the Rudge, and get a bigger cog for the Raleigh. I decided a 22 tooth would do, the largest recommended for Sturmey-Archer internal gear hubs.* The 22 tooth cog and 46 tooth chainring, it gives me the gear-inches of 40.9" for 1 (low), 54.4" for 2 (normal), and 72.7" for 3 (high).** Compare this to what's on the Rudge: 46.8 inches for low (1st) gear, 62.4 inches for normal (2nd), and 83.2 inches for high (3rd). Not a humongous difference, but still a difference!

Yes, I'm a nerd.

The gearing is definitely easier, a big bonus. (Though the low on the LHT still trumps it!) One of the reasons for doing this is I intend on doing a bit of three-speed touring this year, going on short overnight trips around Portland. The Raleigh can definitely carry stuff and can do well under many conditions, but I wanted to make hill climbing easier. The photos by "jedo2", aka Jeremy, of three-speed touring in Denmark has inspired me.

A trusty three-speed rests by the River Tuel near Alsted, Denmark. Photo courtesy flickr user jedo2

There's a few more things I want to do in the coming weeks. Firstly, I'm thinking of replacing the cork grips and doing the cork tape/twine/shellac style grips like I did on the Rudge. What can I say, I like that look! And it will make the bars look a bit more special. I also want to replace the rear rack with something a bit more modern yet still aesthetically appropriate. While the Dutch-style rack currently on there is definitely beefy and has served me well over the year, it's not really compatible with modern panniers. I've made it work, but barely. Now I could get Dutch-style panniers that work with these racks, but I already have enough panniers, no excuse for more.*** A rack will be cheaper than new bags.

And what about those pedals that prompted so much talk?

Well, I have grown to like them. They work, and work well. They've been grippy in wet weather too. As Mr. Raving Bike Fiend says, "When the pedals are beneath your feet, who's going to notice them?"

*The conventional wisdom is that you don't want to go smaller than a 2:1 ratio on the drivetrain of a Sturmey-Archer bike, as anything smaller (like 1.5:1) is too much for the hub and can damage the internal mechanisms. With a 46 tooth chainring and a 22 tooth cog, the ratio comes pretty close to 2:1
**From the same chart that I got the gear-inches on the Rudge
***I say that now, but you know I'll figure out an excuse for new bags at some point.

Letter Writing Month!

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Courtesy flickr user (cobrabyte)

If you read yesterday's ranty post, you know that I've got my pants in a bundle over the atrophying United States Postal Service. As someone who identifies themselves a Retro-Grouch, I love sending mail and also love receiving mail. And I don't want to see this go away or become prohibitive.

But there is a ray of hope in all of this, and it comes from writer Mary Robinette Kowal. Mary has declared February Letter Writing Month! Through the month of February she encourages you to write 24 letters, which is one a day Monday-Saturday. (Here in the U.S. of "eh", we have delivery every day of the week except Sunday, and Monday the 20th is ~~Washington's Birthday~~ President's Day.* So 29 days minus 4 minus 1 equals 24!)

Here's the challenge, as written on the website:

In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

As you can probably guess, this is right up my alley!

Do you want to join in? You can "register" on the website.

Do you want me to send you a postcard during February? (Yes, sending a postcard counts.) Easy! Email me your mailing address to urbanadventureleague -- ( at ) -- gmail -- ( dot ) -- com PLEASE NOTE: To make things easier, just email me your mailing address. You don't have to ask if I'll send you something. I'm putting myself out there for this! Yes, I will send you something! Even if you are not in the United States! If for some reason I get too many and don't feel like I can commit to writing everyone, I will let you know. But of course, if I write you something, you have to write me back!

Or if you aren't shy, put your mailing address in the comments below. That way others can write you as well!

And of course my address, if you weren't able to find it elsewhere on this site:

SHAWN GRANTON

P O BOX 14185

PORTLAND OR 97293-0185

USA

*Wherefore art thou Lincoln's anniversary?

Postal Woes, and how it relates to bicyles. (And trains!)

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Doing my part to keep the Post Office alive.

The "holiday season" is one of the few times in the U.S. of Something-Something that people even think about the United States Postal Service (USPS), aka "the post office." (In the course of this ranty post it will alternately be referred to as the Post Office, the Postal Service, or USPS.) And since the holidays mean the wait at the post office can quadruple from what it normally is, these thoughts are usually not positive. Every year or two postal rates go up, which creates more grumbling. As a government agency with well-paid employees, the USPS is an easy target for the hate, especially amongst the Right and free-market libertarians.

But when one starts to really think about it, we still have it pretty good. I can write a letter, stuff it in an envelope, affix a 44 cent stamp to the upper right corner as long as the envelope weighs one ounce (28g) or under and is not "oddly shaped", drop it in a big blue mailbox, tack it to the outside of my mailbox, or hand it to a letter carrier. Within the span of two days on average this letter will be delivered to its recipient, even if said recipient is 3,000 miles away on the other side of the country. And I don't even have to lick the stamp anymore! All for 44 cents! Now would UPS or Fedex deliver a document for that little? No.

But the USPS is hurting. As computers become more and more embedded into our lives, the need for physical mail lessens. Things like automatic bill pay has reduced the need to write a check and send it in the mail. Why write each other on cute stationery with a pen (handwriting?) when we can keep up with every painfully boring minute detail of our friends' and acquaintances' existences via The Book Of Face?

As its traditional revenue streams dry up, the USPS has been hemorrhaging money. So much so that they are forced to act. Now I will say that I don't envy the position they are in, and there are going to be tough choices if we follow the notion that services provided by a government agency are somehow supposed to be self-sufficient. But the solutions they offer up are draconian and non-creative: slow down first class mail, close post offices, lay off employees. I'm not the only one who thinks these "solutions" suck: Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon (who doesn't represent Portland but rather Eugene and I still like him* (and) **) had this to say: "this so-called Postmaster General should be fired because of a lack of any imagination or initiative...One hundred thousand people laid off! Oh, that's just what we need in America today -- let's lay off 100,000 people. Great idea!" Apparently the legislative branch of our government agreed with DeFazio (somewhat), as the USPS agreed to delay any changes, closures, and layoffs until May 15 while Congress "works something out."

Besides "teh interwebz", the Postal Service has predictably pulled out the spectre of labor issues and unions as another source of their woes. Now I'm not going to say things like retirement plans aren't an issue (and I don't know that much about retirement plans and the like to really comment on it), but I think there's another bogeyman as well. Direct mail. While First-Class Mail is their biggest revenue stream, all that junk mail that stuffs your mailbox is probably second. And those direct mail companies have quite the influence on the USPS. So much so that while postal rates for shlubs like you and me will undoubtably go up soon, the direct mail companies will still enjoy choice rates because the Post Office doesn't want to piss off their biggest customers. So we'll still get oodles of flyers for Papa John's which we'll promptly dump into the circular file, or if we're in a more enlightened municipality, a recycling bin.*** So sustainable! Talk about Occupy Wall Street correlations: we, the 99% of mail users are going to get the shit end of the stick while the 1%, the direct mailers, will still have it good.

*****
While I do realize that times change, what may happen with the Postal Service depresses me. I have a soft spot for real mail.**** This is due to being an "old-school" zinester. When I got into the crazy world of zines and mini-comix in 1996, mail was the way everything was done. (Al Gore was still inventing the internet.) When I wanted a zine, I would either put a buck or two in an envelope or one of my zines and put it in the mail. Then within a few weeks I'd receive something back. Then I would write a letter back to the zinester telling them what I thought of the zine. I made many pen-pals this way, some who would become close friends and remain friends to this day. There are similarities with the world of blogs, of course. I also count people I met through this blog as friends as well, and believe me, I do feel validation when people comment, even if it is to say those Lambda pedals are fugly. But to me one letter, postcard, or just plain cool piece of mail that finds its way into my post office box trumps ten comments on the blog.***** Commenting on a blog is a matter of keystrokes and an internet connection. Mailing a letter is a matter of a physical object finding its way into the mailstream. And you have to pay for it each time. Much more effort.

I don't want the USPS to fail. Nor do I want it to turn into a free market enterprise like UPS or Fedex. So I've been thinking of ways the Postal Service can improve and save money. And of course I started to think about bicycles.

Now using bicycles to deliver mail is not a new concept. As soon as bicycles became practical postal services around the world used them for mail delivery. And some countries still do. The United States used to use it extensively. This interesting link from utilitycycling.org talks about how bicycles were used to deliver mail between Fresno and San Francisco during the Pullman Strike of 1894.

Well, what about now? Surprisingly, the United States still has bicycle mail delivery! The catch is: it is in only three cities, which I learned from the above utilitycycling link: Sun City, Arizona, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Miami Beach, Florida.

An actual honest-to-god USPS bicycle delivery vehicle spotted in St. Petersburg, FL, Summer 2011. Yes, it is a Worksman Cycle Truck, just like the one I own. Photo courtesy of flickr user (cobrabyte)

Three cities? Is that the best we can do? In 2011?
How about...most cities?

I realize that bicycle delivery is not practical across the board. I don't propose it in rural areas, for example. But dense cities and small towns, like...Portland? Why don't we see this? The USPS has a fleet of a quarter million vehicles. Just think of the money required to purchase, maintain, and fuel those 250,000 vehicles, not to mention all the emissions being pumped out into the air. I don't know how many vehicles could be replaced by bicycles, but I'm guessing it would be a fair amount.

And think of what it could do for domestic bicycle production: the reason why the USPS is using Worksman cycle trucks for mail delivery in the three cities where it still happens is Worksman still makes its bikes in the US, fulfilling government obligations of "buying American". It was the same with Royal Mail in the UK using Pashley for its postal bikes. I'm not suggesting that the Worksman built bike is the answer (and I'm saying this as a Worksman cycle truck owner!) but it would be the most likely player for the big government contract if it came because there's no competition. Imagine if some other home-grown bike companies came into the scene with more modern cargo bikes, and could compete on the bid. Not framebuilders, bike manufacturers. I like the idea of all the artisanal independent framebuilding craftsmen (and women!) building their 15-30 bikes per year, but that ain't going to provide the USPS with a fleet. We need some large scale manufacturing. A fat government contract for say 250,000 bicycles might do a good job of jumpstarting that.

I realize that my plan isn't well thought out (yet) and there are obstacles. I'm sure there would be some resistance from postal employees and their unions if bike delivery was unilaterally prescribed cross-country. So why don't we test it in a few places first? I'm sure Portland would be a good start. If there's not enough regular letter carriers that would be willing to ride a bike, well, there's plenty of people in town that would clamor for that job. For example, I went to the UPS "cattle call" for seasonal bicycle delivery last month, and there were way more people wanting the job than openings. USPS talks a bunch about environmental commitment, let's see it try something different to reduce its carbon footprint. Because stamps is one thing, delivery is another.

*****
And where does trains, yet another one of my passions, fall into this scheme?

Via flickr user Mike Miley

It's probably no surprise that mail predominantly traveled by rail at one point. Most long-distance trains had a Railway Post Office car on them, which acted like it sounds: as a post office. Postal employees sorted mail en route, and then dropped off mail at the various stations along the line. This was common from the middle of the 19th Century into the middle of the 20th Century. After World War I some First Class mail moved by air but it was as domestic Air Mail. It got to its destination faster but one had to pay a premium price.

When passenger rail started its nosedive after World War II as automobiles and then airlines eroded at its market share, the subsidies provided by the Federal Government via the Postal Service contracts was a way to keep these faltering passenger lines afloat. As long as the trains had their Railway Post Office cars there was some cash flow coming in to counter the hemorrhaging losses suffered by pretty much every railroad at the time. This all came to a grinding halt in September 1967 when the Post Office cancelled all of its "mail by rail" contracts. The changes to the Postal Service brought on by the introduction of ZIP codes, including regional sorting centers, made the need for sorting en route obsolete. Now First Class mail could travel by whichever way was most practical, which meant more and more by truck and plane than train.

Via flickr user vrkrebs

While there were many reasons why railroads were failing, this was the last straw. The venerable Santa Fe Railroad lost $35 million in annual revenues. To stave off complete failure, the federal government took over the majority of remaining passenger rail service with the creation of Amtrak in 1971. Its skeletal network, a pruning of what used to consist of our passenger rail network, remains virtually unchanged forty years later.

Now what if mail started to move by train again?

Much of the United States First-Class Mail moves by air if it has to cover a long distance. There's no other way for my letter from Portland, Oregon to get to Portland, Maine in two days. It's great that it can move so fast, but does it need to? Especially in this day and age of e-this and i-that. If I really needed instant communication with someone "Down East", I can email them. Or call them. (I can't really telegram them anymore, as Western Union sent its last telegram in 2006. I can however use a company called iTelegram for the honor, if I felt like spending $19 for a 100 word message that will get there in 2 to 4 days.) Anyways, maybe we should introduce domestic Air Mail again? So what if it was discontinued in 1977! One could pay a premium price for that letter to go from Portland-to-Portland in two days, or pay a regular First Class rate for it to get there a day or two slower. And that First Class mail can get there by train.

Think about it. Rail is more efficient and inherently better for the environment than trucks and certainly better than airliners spewing out CO2s into the atmosphere. And America's passenger rail network is still hurting. Putting a Post Office car on passenger trains would definitely boost Amtrak's revenues, and would encourage the reopening of long-gone routes. (I'm thinking of the Seattle-Portland-Boise-Salt Lake City Pioneer for one.)

*****
As I've stated above, I don't have all the answers. But I have ideas. If the Post Office wants to survive the 21st Century, it needs to get creative. And maybe by embracing some Nineteenth Century technology, it might find salvation?

What do you think?

*Because I am from Portland, I am supposed to make fun of Eugene.
**I drunkenly talked his ear off at the launch party for the "Trek Portland" bicycle many a year ago. The free beer was flowing, what can I say?
***In more enlightened countries like "The Land Rush Comes From" one can simply tack a "No circulars" sticker to one's mailbox and not get that shit. Unfortunately that doesn't work here.
****I am not going to use the derisive term "snail mail", foisted upon us by the "early adapters" of the internet.
*****P. O. Box 14185, Portland OR 97293-0185. Hint hint.

I should be doing Something Else, so no better time for a bike ride

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a beautiful day 'round these parts. Sunny and dry, with temperature peaking at 47F/8C. I've been riding the Rudge Sports the past few days because the weather's been dry enough that I can get away with it. Soon the rains will be back, and the Raleigh will be the prime bike (until I get the LHT worked on.) But this time of year I'll use any excuse to ride the Rudge. And why not take a little ride?

Of course, I have "stuff to do". A deadline looms, and I should have had more done by this point. I don't know what it is with me and deadlines, but unless someone prods me along the way, or I have to show the work in stages, I'll cut it down to the wire. Do I just work best this way? At 36, I'm beginning to think so. Still, it makes me stress out. I don't have time. I should be "buckling down." No time for a ride. At the same time I realize this, I also realize that a nice bike ride is good for stress relief, for clearing out my head, for figuring out what I need to do. I figured spending a few hours on the bike isn't going to hurt things in the long run.

I have been wanting to take a longer ride on the Rudge Sports for awhile, to test its limits and see how it feels when I'm on it for hours. For a longer ride, the direction was obvious: eastward toward Gresham. The obvious way to do this would be take the Springwater Corridor the whole way. And this is convenient since we live close to the western entrance of the path. But why do obvious? I decided to ramble through some of the deeper SE neighborhoods and meet up with the Springwater around ~~Avenue of the Roses~~ SE 82nd Ave.

And I'm glad that I did. While I'm no stranger to this neck of the woods, I don't have many reasons to regularly get down this way. I made sure that I took some streets that I don't think I've ever been before. And I saw some streetscapes I've never seen before. This was cool. I've lived in this city for almost 11 years, and have seen a lot of it. But I have not seen all of it. There are still nooks and crannies that are waiting to be discovered. This is what I love about a city like Portland, Oregon: I have my own little world that I normally travel in, where I feel most of my needs are fulfilled. This leads one to feel like Portland's a "small town", and that's not always a bad thing. But Portland is a rather large American city, nonetheless. The current census puts our population at several thousand shy of 600,000 people. And the city itself covers an area of about 145 square miles. It feels small enough to live in, yet big enough to still be explored. My kind of town.

When I got to the flat and open Springwater Corridor path, I was able to "open it up" and see how the Rudge performed. She did well! I sped along the path at a moderate pace. While she's no speed demon, I kept up a good pace without feeling like the bike was fighting me. In no time I buzzed by Powell Butte and crossed the Gresham city line. I hit Linneman Junction around 4:45pm. With the sun just about to set, I decide that this would be as far east as I would go. I headed north on the Gresham-Fairview Trail until I hit Burnside, then headed west on the Main-Mill-Market bike route (or as I like to call it, "The Three M's", even though the easternmost section follows Yamhill.) This route brought me back into Portland and finally to the east flank of Mount Tabor in my old neighborhood of Montavilla. A hop, skip, and a jump down Woodward and Clinton to get back to my house. All in all I did a 25 mile loop, as you can see from this map.

The Rudge did fine, for the most part. There are still a few tweaks and adjustments that need to be done. My hands were a bit numb for the last few miles, so I'll have to play with handlebar position. The left crank is funked so that will need replacement. The rear hub is a bit rough, so I think it'll need more oil. And the bottle dynamo isn't properly aligned, so it's been busy chewing away at the sidewall. Not good! But these are minor things. Overall the bike is great. Now I'll just have to wait for another sunny day!

Ask a Civilised Cyclist: Shellac, 26 Jan 2012

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yep, more comix!
Got a question for the Civilised Cyclist? Ask!

Ask A Civilised Cyclist: Brooks, 25 Jan 2012

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yep, more comix!
And before you jump all over me, yes, I realize I misspelled "thief". I'll be able to correct it in a few days. Promise.
You got a suggestion for a question to "ask the civilised cyclist?" Fire away!

Cycle Wild Schedule for 2012

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends! You may remember that I am on the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Cycle Wild. Cycle Wild helps us city folk reconnect with nature by leading overnight bike camping trips to natural places outside of Portland. Check out the website for more info.

Over the past few weeks we've been busy formulating a schedule of fun bike camping trips for 2012. And now it's live! Here is the list. Note that most dates are weekends, so it runs Sat-Sun, except for holiday weekends which is Sat-Sun-Mon and the week trips.

Mar 10-11: Oxbow
Apr 7-8: Ainsworth (Columbia Gorge)
May 5-6: Milo McIver (group camp)
May 26-28: Silver Falls
June 2-3: Stub Stewart
July: Mt. St. Helens (need to flesh out)
Aug 4-5: Sunset Falls or Battleground Lake
Aug 11-18: Annual Trip A
Aug 19-26: Annual Trip B
Sep 1-3: Coast Trip
Sep 22-23: Clackamas River, Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest
Oct 6-7: Hwy 26 corridor, Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest
Nov 3-4: Clackamas, Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest
Dec 1-2: Champoeg

For more info, please go here.

Adventures in Shellac, Part 2: The Rudge

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Steve, I think you make enough to buy a new pair of jeans.

Welcome back to Adventures in Shellac! The last time I left you, we were talking about re-shellacking the cork tape and hemp twine on the Long Haul Trucker and the cork grips on the Raleigh Wayfarer.

Today, we'll be talking about the Rudge. But first...

Yep, more shellac on the LHT. I put another two coats of amber shellac. The only thing that concerns me is the worn area on top of the bars still feels "rough". I don't know if it's because it's worn enough that it's not "taking" the shellac anymore, or if I should have sandpapered it, something I normally don't do. We'll see.

I also shellacked a set of cork grips for my roommates bike, who was entranced by the grips on my Raleigh.

Now to the Rudge!
I held off on properly doing anything with grips or tape on this bike, because I wanted to make sure everything was "just right" before going ahead. While it was tempting to find some period-appropriate grips or spring for some nice leather ones like these from Walnut Studio, I am hella broke. I had some white cork Silva branded tape that I bought for $4 from Next Adventure, and decided the Rudge would be the appropriate recipient. And that's why I hesitated: grips can be removed, even if I shellacked them. Tape that's been shellacked? Forget it. And if I needed to get a different stem, I'd have to remove everything from the bars. I didn't want that headache, so I made damn sure the bars/stem combo works before proceeding.

And how should I wrap the bars? Obviously I would need to wrap the ends where the grips were, but there was more bar beyond the brake levers/S-A trigger shifter. At first I thought about wrapping pretty much the whole bar, since I can put my hands there, essentially giving me two hand positions. But I became fond of the clean and chromy look, and I found that I haven't been putting my hands there much. So just the grip area for now. I can always go back and tape it.*

I had the notion of putting actual corks from wine bottles in the bar ends, but the corks are too fat. I started to shave one down, but gave up. I'm obsessive, but not that obsessive.

After the taping, the twine. When I first twined bars in May on the LHT, I followed the instructions from Rivendell. Within a month it was unraveling. So Keith the Raving Bike Fiend showed me his methods: short sections of twine, wrapped around and around, tied into knots. It was a lot easier! Though I never feel like I do the best job of twining. Thankfully the shellac will make it all look better.

Then shellac! I used amber shellac and a sponge brush. This is after one coat.

Wow, looks so much different after one coat! Now coat two.

And three.

And four.

And finally, the fifth coat.

And how it all looks together!

I like how the amber color really goes along with the color scheme of the Rudge. And I did it cheaply: the tape cost only four bucks and I only used half of what I got. The twine was like three bucks for a ball, and it didn't make much of a dent in the ball. And the can of shellac was about eight bucks, and there's still plenty left!

*These are the internal debates I have.

Blog-cleaning: Pages New and Revised, more flickr flotsam

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

A megaphone and a floral print dress. My summer of 2005 in a nutshell?
Photo by drewish.

Hello friends! If you've been poking around the nooks and crannies* of this here website, you may have noticed a few changes and additions.

Store: Yes, the sale is over (but if you paid attention I let it run longer than I advertised!) But I got a few reports that some of the paypal "Add to Cart"buttons were not working properly, so I went through and fixed 'em. Should work now. If there's any problems, please let me know.
My Bikes: Added info on the Rudge Sports.
Three Speed Ride: Revised info so it is current for 2012.
Cross-Continent Tour 2011: Revised it so everything is in the past tense. 'Cause it's in the past, right?
Bicycle Touring: New page! Just basically a portal to information on bike touring workshops and the Primer.

As for flickr, I just recently recalled there is an Urban Adventure League group pool! It was started way back in 2005 by my friend Andrew Morton. Right now it's got some random photos from rides over the years (like the gems from the Atomic War Preparedness Ride shown in this post) and in the coming weeks I hope to beef it up. If you have any photos shot during an Urban Adventure League ride, walk, or workshop, feel free to add!

Bethany is ready for the Atomic War Preparedness Ride, Pedalapalooza, June 2005. Photo: drewish.

*What? What?

Fondness for the Bottle (Generator), 17 Jan 2012

2012-01-24T12:00:00.001-08:00

More comix! Drawn with pens, tweaked ever so slightly in Photoshop.

Thanks to Justine for the dynamo: midlifecycling.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Velouria for the title: lovelybike.blogspot.com/2010/11/fondness-for-

The Dry Between The Wet

2012-01-24T00:00:00.001-08:00

Monday was actually a dry day 'round these parts. Last week was pretty much a rainfest, and it looks like this week will be more of the same. So I decided to use this dry window for a bike ride. It would give me a reason to ride the Rudge, since it is not a rain bike. And it would also help me procrastinate on some things while "doing stuff" for others. Nice, heh?

Of course by the time I managed to get out of the house there wasn't much daylight left. My more ambitious plan of riding eastward on the Springwater towards Gresham was nixed, so I aimed for a southerly neighborhood route towards Sellwood, Portland's furthest south neighborhood on the east side of the Willamette.

Riding to Sellwood has been something I've done for as long as I've owned a bike in this town. Pretty standard. Still, I managed to jazz it up a bit: I passed through the Reed College campus. Reed is Portland's infamous liberal arts college. It's rigorous curriculum has led to a lot of drug consumption, and its dropouts go on to think up things like iPhones. Anyways...Reed has a lourvely campus. And at the heart of it is Reed Canyon, which Crystal Springs Creek runs through.

Crystal Springs Creek is one of the very few remaining (meaning one of two, the other Johnson Creek) free-flowing streams in SE Portland. Crystal Springs Creek's source is near SE Cesar Chavez just north of Woodstock and a bit beyond the view of the shot above. It then flows through the Reed College campus and through a series of parks around Sellwood/Westmoreland/Eastmoreland area. It then feeds into Johnson Creek near the Milwaukie city line, just north of the Springwater Corridor at Johnson Creek Park. Where it runs through Reed College it is known as Reed Canyon and a small pond is created by an impoundment.

A couple bridges run over the canyon to connect the campus. A nice spot to stop and reflect.

Further down the course of Crystal Springs Creek is "Harry's Bridge". This bridge on SE 28th Ave had always been nondescript until it got remodeled last year.

Still makes me wonder: who is this Harry?

The rains of last week have created flooding in a lot of streams in this part of Oregon. Johnson Creek near Tideman Johnson Park was pretty swollen.

It was a nice ride. The only bum note was the way my front wheel was acting on the Rudge. I noticed later that it didn't seem to be seated properly in the fork, so I brought it by a local bike shop where they figured out that the dropout on the fork was a bit small for the axle, so they filed it out a bit. Now it works much better.

First Three Speed Ride 2012! Sunday February 26!

2012-01-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, friends! Last year's ride was a lot of fun, and I knew there would be another one! So I've decided to schedule one for Sunday, February 26!

Details, of course!

THREE SPEED RIDE
Sunday February 26 2012
11am
departs from Ladd Circle, 1600 SE Harrison St

A ride celebrating the humble internally geared three speed bicycle. Once the ultimate in human-powered transportation, the three speed bicycle has been sidelined in recent years. Now let's give it a spotlight! Bring your trusty three speed or other internal hub gear bicycle. (If you don't have one, it doesn't matter, just come! But if you had the choice between a high-performance crabon fibre racer and an old beater, bring the beater.) Casual paced ramble of approx. 10 miles, mostly flat with a hill or two. (No shame in walking it!) Bring-your-own tea and snack stop at a park en route.

And this year we'll be seeing more than one ride. I plan on doing a whole series of them! There will be three different types:

Casual Day Ride. (easy) A ramble through the neighborhoods of Portland. The pace will be easy and casual, ride distance 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 km). Plenty of stops, including a picnic-style tea (or warm beverage of your choice) and snacks (maybe crumpets?) stop in a park, and ending at an indoor place where one can get food/drink. Note: you are responsible for food and drink. You can bring the beverage in either a thermos or brew the tea in the park with a camping stove. This ride (the Sunday 26 February ride) falls into this category.
Day Tour. (moderate) A longer exploration of Portland on three speeds. While the pace will still be easy and casual, and there will be a tea break, the distance will be longer, 30-40 miles (50-65km) and there may be a few hills.
Overnight Adventure. (somewhat of a challenge) Let's really go somewhere with our three speeds! People toured on them "back in the day", so why not us? The distance will range somewhere 20-40 miles one way. We may go to State Parks with cabins (like Stub Stewart or Battleground Lake), which means we would only need to take bedding, food, clothing, cooking equipment, and other sundries. Or we may also camp in one of the numerous campgrounds in the area.

All the questions you have (and more) about the three speed ride can be answered over on the Three Speed Ride page.

And for last year's ride, read the report here. See photos here.

The Bikes: Rudge Sports,11 Jan 2012

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

More comix! Finally got around to drawing the Rudge. Enjoy!

Return of the Rain (Cape), 20 Jan 2012

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm back with comics! It's been a while, and I plan on doing more. Much more. Here's one to start you out with. More to come.

A Raleigh on Raleigh

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, I couldn't help myself when I passed the intersection of NW Raleigh St and 22nd Ave.

(And just a quickie post! More interesting stuffs to come soonish, promise!)

Other Peoples Bikes: Pashley Pthursday

2012-01-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to "Other People's Bikes". I'm your tour guide, Treach.

Today's specimen was spotted on "torrential" Tuesday on SE Belmont St. It's a Pashley Roadster of unknown vintage, but by the condition its in, I'd say fairly recent. Pashley is a British bicycle maker that still makes traditional British bikes (i.e. three-speed roadsters, clubman road bikes). Never as big as Raleigh, but unlike Raleigh which today is a bicycle company in name only, Pashley still makes all their bikes in the UK. When the Royal Mail used bicycles, they were produced by Pashley. (I guess the analogue in the US to Pashley would be Worksman.)

Pashleys are not truly rare, but neither are they common. And that's why it caught my eye. I mean how could you not notice that chainguard?

And the leather saddle? Note that it is not a Brooks saddle, but a Lepper which is a Dutch company.*
Though I'm not cool with them leaving a leather saddle uncovered in the rain. (See here.)

The front wheel has a drum brake, but it's not one of the newer Sturmey-Archer drum brake/dynohub combos, as evidenced by the bottle generator.

Nice bike! Love seeing roadsters on the streets of Portland.

*Which explains the name no English-speaking company would use.

Slushpocalypse Then

2012-01-19T00:00:00.001-08:00

After two days of snow forecasts on the valley floor, and some snow flurries on Sunday that didn't do much of anything, we finally got "real" snow on Tuesday night. Everything aligned just right: the temps were cold enough and the snow fell fast enough that it stuck. The snow started around 9pm and fell at the rate of about an inch an hour. So by midnight there was at least 3 inches on the ground. Enough.

But snow is fickle here. Not only do conditions have to be "just right" for it to snow here, but there's no guarantee the snow will last long. It can be snowing like the dickens when you go to bed, snow sticking to everything, inches on the ground, but then the wind comes out of the south, bringing warmer air. Then you wake up to slush and wet streets, and by lunch its gone.

Even though I was a bit tired and worried about April (she rode to NW for karaoke*), I had to seize the moment. Right around 1am I threw on my boots, suited up (sweater/jacket/scarf/hat/gloves), and hit the streets. Thankfully there was enough crunchy snow that I didn't have to worry about ice underneath snow. I walked a loop around the neighborhood to catch Portland in a rare winter wonderland setting.

Of course no walk in snowy paradise could be complete without irony. So I walked to my local palm trees to see how they were faring.

They look a little sad.

And thankfully it was late enough and/or people were being cautious so I didn't have to worry too much about cars on major streets.

Looking west on SE Division (towards downtown) at 16th

I was out for about a half hour. While it was snowing when I left, I noticed it had turned to rain by the time I neared home. Not a good omen for the snow. Sure enough, by the time I got up on Wednesday morning, there was just residual slush left on non-pavement areas. By afternoon the temperature had already risen to 52F/11C, so the only snow left was random bits here and there, and some melted snowmen.

I'm glad I got out when I did. This could very well have been the only snow we see in the city this year.

*She took the bus home, but didn't get back until 2am.

Palm Tree Ride 2012 Quick Recap

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

The weather forecast for Sunday was so iffy, snow, that I was pleasantly surprised that we had a turnout of 12 for the Eighth Annual Palm Tree Ride! These intrepid souls braved the cool weather (38F/3C, yes I know people in other areas of the continent would find that high particularly balmy, but we are talking about the West Coast here!) and on-again, off-again snow showers (though it only stuck to grass in a few neighborhoods, a dusting at best.)

The ride clocked in at a little under 8 miles, winding its way through inner NE and SE Portland, and wrapped up by 2pm (departure at 11:30am.) Many classic palm trees from earlier palm tree rides were in full force like the Gardenburger house* at SE 36th and Main:

All photos in this post unless otherwise noted courtesy of flickr user guttmjo

And the "I can't believe it's Portland" example at SE 22nd and Stephens:

Note this location looks damper and colder than it did on Wednesday.

Or the beautiful specimen at the Del Rey Apartments, NE 26th/Glisan/Buxton:

And...the Santa Monica Apartments:

The end of the ride/grand finale was NE 11th Avenue north of Knott, where Sean of Cistus Nursery resides. Riders got a special tour of his exotic backyard.

Sean made an interesting point about growing palms and plants/trees that "don't fit in" with the image of the Pacific Northwest: most of the deciduous street trees we see in cities like Portland or Seattle come from areas east of the Rockies, mainly the Midwest and Northeast. They are not natives. So why not spice up things a little? Add some color to the dreariness of the winter?

I know a lot of people don't agree with that sentiment. But occasionally I like to see flowers in January!

For more photos, check out guttmjo's Palm Tree Ride set on flickr.

*So called that because this was the former home of the founder of Gardenburger.

The Rudge restoration: Assessment

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Rudge reposes at Mount Tabor. I test all my bikes on the slopes of Tabor to see how they handle hills. The Rudge did fine.

I have owned many a used bike in my adult life. Since moving to the West Coast I have owned eleven bicycles and only one of them (the Long Haul Trucker) was new. So I've had experience with the whole used bike racket. The majority of used bikes I have obtained were in rideable condition upon receipt. Two bikes were in remedial riding condition but then quickly converted into something different: the Univega Safari 10-speed that I purchased in Vermont in 2007 was stripped of wheels, shipped cross-country, and converted into a three-speed; while the Centurion Le Mans 10-speed I purchased in 2009 was converted into a single speed. One bike was barely rideable so I invested a lot of time and energy into it to make it a daily rider: the Raleigh Wayfarer.

To take a bike like any of the three bikes mentioned above and invest so much time, energy, and money into one takes a leap of faith. What happens when you put all that work into the bike and find out you don't like it? It doesn't fit you or work the way you intended it or it's not what you want? Sure, one can chalk it up as a "learning experience" and move on. But I'm one of limited financial resources and not a lot of mechanical aptitude so I can't really afford learning experiences. Yeah, I could sell it, but most likely you won't get anything near what you put into it. Case in point: the Univega three-speed had custom wheels and a Sturmey-Archer AW hub. I finally got someone to buy it for $175. The wheels cost more than that!

But at least with the three bikes above, I knew they were rideable before I started to restore or convert them. The Rudge Sports? It looked like it was stored underwater. There was no way to know if I would like the bike when work was done.

The Rudge (and myself) in action. Photo: Raving Bike Fiend

*****
Since the bike became rideable last Friday (Jan 6th), there have been many nice, clear, and dry days in Portland. The Rudge currently lacks fenders and is equipped with steel rims, the combination making for an impractical and somewhat unsafe bike in wet weather, so having so many dry days to test the bike before the rainy season is over was beneficial. I didn't have to wait until spring to figure out if the bike works for me. So far, the bike has worked for me. It's been a joy to ride.

It took a bit to get used to, though. The inverted North Road bars and smallish (21") frame creates quite the aggressive riding position, something that I haven't experienced since the Centurion Le Mans. It felt a little uncomfortable at first, but once warmed up, I got used to it. The position makes me feel like I'm going faster, though I would not consider this a fast bike. It's about as stripped down as a British three-speed can get, but it is still an old British bike made with hi-tensile steel and still has a heck of a lot of steel componentry. Ironically the only thing that's aluminum save the bottle cage and bracket is the rear hub shell!

The Rudge's geometry is similar to the Raleigh Wayfarer, with 72 degree angles, though the Wayfarer is a larger frame at 23". It's still amazing how versatile these old "sports" frames are. Put North Road bars in the upward position and throw a rear rack, you have a perfectly capable and civilized upright city bike. Drop those North Roads and you've got a sleek little machine.

And the sporty image translates into a sexy bike. While I've owned my share of nice looking bikes, the only other bike that fit the same niche in my stable was the aforementioned Centurion Le Mans. Neither bike was intended to be a practical bike. But still the Centurion was a bit more practical with alloy rims and fenders. The Rudge will be pulled out for special, sunny-day, fun rides. It won't be an everyday rider.

Photo: Raving Bike Fiend

It was (and to some extent, still) tempting to put some more work into the Rudge to make it more practical. Fenders and new alloy rimmed wheels would be the obvious upgrade. But why? I already have two practical, functional bikes: the Long Haul Trucker and the Wayfarer. And the wheels on the Rudge are perfectly functional. I don't have the money for that. Keith and I managed to do what needed to be done to make the bike usable, retaining parts that worked and replacing those that didn't. And the restoration approach was a bit "dirtier" than some folks who do a more meticulous job. Wheels were removed, but the hub wasn't opened. The bottom bracket did not get rebuilt. There was no power washing or touch-up. The philosophy with the hubs and bottom bracket was: oil it up and see how it did. Heck, we used the original chain until I got a new one!

All in all, I managed to carry out the Rudge restoration on the super-cheap. It doesn't hurt that I got the bike for free from Todd Boulanger, had available expert labor from Keith The Raving Bike Fiend, and a supply of some appropriate parts in the stockpile.* Here's what I actually spent money on:

North Road handlebars (used) -$10
New spoke for rear wheel -$1
Velo Orange handlebar water bottle cage clamp -$4
Brake pads -$12
New chain -$6
Cables and housing -$11
Seatpost (used) -$4
Random nuts, bolts, cotter pins, lock washers, etc -$6
TOTAL: $54

Not too shabby, I might add.

I'm really happy with how everything turned out. I've got quite the beautiful steed. And a unique one at that. Rudges are not rare here in the US, but they are nowhere near as common as Raleighs. The "hand" chainring is probably the most interesting part of the bike and has gotten the most attention. People also like the path racer look, or as Mechanic Mark referred to it, the "scorcher" look. It's currently the oldest bike I own** and appropriately looks the most retro. I also like how different this bike is to my others, as it is my most "aggressive" ride. When I ride the Raleigh or the Long Haul Trucker I definitely feel the difference, and can appreciate how each bike has a different fit.

The rains have returned to Portland, so the Rudge will be sitting in the garage, waiting for dry weather. And when the sunny day returns, I'll put her to work!

Big thank you to these fine folk for help or donation of bike stuff: Todd Boulanger, Keith "Raving Bike Fiend" Hallgren, and Roger Noehren.

*Not to mention the use of a cotter press from Roger Noehren!
**I don't know the age on the Worksman Cycle Truck. The design hasn't changed since it was introduced in the pre WWII years, so it theoretically can be as old or older than the Rudge, but there's no way to figure it out. Most likely the frame is newer than that.

Your Bike Geek Photo of the Day

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

I love old bicycle books, especially from the 1970's and earlier. The Bike Boom '70's were a heady time for bike books, and there were lots of them. And the Bike Boom was also the Ten-Speed era. Many pages of the books of this era were spent talking about gearing: how to shift, and especially what gears to have. While there were many a ten-speed back then, most of them were geared "high", just like the gearing that was on my '70's Centurion Le Mans. High gearing is appropriate to racing, but not so much for casual riding, commuting, or especially for touring. I only rode the Centurion a few times in its ten-speeded glory before I converted it to a single speed, and remember that I mostly had it in the next-to-lowest gear all the time. I wonder how many beginning cyclists were turned off from bikes because of this? How many folks were lured to ten-speeds either by eager salespeople or because it was "the thing to have?" Wouldn't they have been better served by a three-speed?

Anyway, I digress.

So these books talked a lot about gears. Anyone who wanted to seriously tour back then had to build up a better, more appropriate gear ratio than what was given on their bike, so they had to know exactly what they wanted. And you only had 10 gears to choose from, so they better be just right. (Triple chainrings were almost unheard of, and considered by some to be unnecessary. One book flatly said if the hill was too much, just walk. Wonder what they think about 11 speed cassettes?)

But it didn't stop there. Once one figured out what gears they had and what gear-inches they translated into, some books went as far as saying they should write down their gear-inches for each gear, and then tape to handlebars so they could be memorized. I found this a bit amusing since I subscribe to the school of thought that if the gear you're in feels too hard, downshift. Memorizing gear-inches sounds way too complicated! And unnecessary. Some things about the 1970's I just don't understand, like bellbottoms and pet rocks.

But something about the taping the gear-inch chart to the handlebars stuck with me.

*****
I found a gear-inch chart for Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed hubs in an old bike book. So for fun, I figured out what the gear-inches for the three speeds of the Rudge were, wrote it down, and taped it to the stem.

Don't know if I'll memorize it, though.

And if you are curious, the Rudge has a 48 tooth chainring with 20 tooth cog, on a 26" x 1 3/8" (650A or 590mm) wheel. This translates into 46.8 inches for low (1st) gear, 62.4 inches for middle (2nd), and 83.2 inches for high (3rd).

Yes, I am a bike geek.

The City grinds to a halt, as snow is forecast...

2012-01-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Earlier this evening as I rode the Wayfarer home from coffee, I marveled at how quiet everything is. A Saturday night at 6pm is no weeknight rush hour, true, but normally there wouldn't be such a drastic drop of people driving down Division St, nor would the nightlife hub of SE 26th and Clinton have such a palpable lack of "buzz". It can only spell one thing: everyone's staying at home since snow has been predicted to fall sometime tonight.

How much and when? Hard to say. There have been many times where snow had been predicted, yet nothing happened or nothing much happened. And there was the one time when no snow at all was forecast and we got several inches. So all this talk of snow over the next few days can mean nothing. Or everything.

The surprise snow of Dec. 2009, as observed from the Kitten Shack, NE Portland.

Since I no longer have a job to go to, a snowy day or two shouldn't be that big of a deal to me. But this time the snow coincides with Sunday's Palm Tree Ride. And I'm still determined to ride. How prepared should I be?

I have a studded 700C tire that can go on the front of the Long Haul Trucker. If the snow is bad enough and there is ice, this is the best solution for winter biking. But if there isn't either, then it'll be sucky to ride with. And it's a pain to mount that studded tire. I have a spare front wheel that it's mounted to and I could theoretically just put it on that way, but now since I have dynamo hub lighting on the LHT, it would mean no lights. Plus the rim is narrower than the one that is currently on the bike, so I'd have to adjust the cantilever brakes as well.

I got studs for the feet as well!

So I'm going to wait and see. If it's really that bad Sunday morning, I doubt anyone's going to show up, so throwing a studded tire is a moot point. (Riding in all ice and no snow isn't fun.) But if there's just some snow with no ice, I feel that the Long Haul Trucker in its current configuration will be fine. I rode the bike through snow last year when we went to Stub Stewart for New Year's so I know it can handle sans studs. And the tires I have on are fairly wide, 35mm (wider than the 32mm that I had last winter), so that's another thing in my favor. I could also use the Raleigh Wayfarer, which has tires of a similar width and a hub gear instead of derailleurs which could get gunked up with snow. But the canti brakes on the LHT offer superior stopping power in wet weather so it will probably be the bike I'll ride.

The Raleigh encounters the snow, Feb 2011.

Check back and see how all this winter weather biz-ness turns out.

And for more fun, check out this comic from early 2009 (click to embiggen):

Snow...tomorrow?

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the good weather has held out for quite a while here in Portland. Inevitably more correct "Portland winter" weather is returning.

But not typical to Portland is snow for the winter. We get maybe two snowfalls a year, maybe an inch if we're lucky. And the next few days look like there's a good chance for the white stuff to reach the valley floor.

That's all well and good. I enjoy one or two snowfalls a year. Any more than that, I'm reminded of Eastern winters, something I moved away from. So I'm mostly looking forward to this snow.

The operative word is mostly, as tomorrow (Sunday) is my annual Palm Tree Ride. In the seven years I've been doing it I've mostly had decent and dry-ish weather. I only had one year of significant rain. But I've never had to deal with snow on the ride.

I'm taking a wait and see approach. If it is snowing, it will definitely lower the attendance numbers. But it can also be a fun ride, as long as people are appropriately prepared. And I find it quite ironic to ride around observing palm trees while it's snowing!

So for now the ride is still on. If the weather truly sucks Sunday (like a sheet of ice), it ain't happening. But if it's not too bad, we ride!

Just another January day in Portland, Oregon (and this post also serves as the "Official Reminder" that the Palm Tree Ride is this Sunday, January 15!)

2012-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I live in a place that has nice Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, palm trees, and blue skies in January. So I'd love to live in a place like this:

But I'll have to travel far to get there. It might take a while. After all, this place is about a mile from my house. I might even have to use a bike.

Wait, you say, a mile? (For those living under the tyranny of the Metric System, that's about 1.6 kilometres.)

This scene exists in Portland, Oregon? Nonsense! Portland's all about dreary weather and pine trees!

Well, we do have our share of dreary winter days. And we do have pine trees, but you must be thinking of Douglas-fir trees. I know, I know, you come from one of those places where any coniferous tree is a "pine." It's okay. We understand.

But yes, this is not a doctored photo. No Photoshop (or if you live under the tyranny of Linux and other "open-sourced" software, "The GIMP"*) was used. And those are not potted palms, they are very much rooted to the ground. This scene exists at the corner of SE 22nd and Stephens St in Portland, Oregon, USA, zip code 97214. And this is one of the stops of this Sunday's Palm Tree Ride!

If'n you forgot the details:

EIGHTH ANNUAL PALM TREE RIDE!
meet at Coffee Division
3551 SE Division St (intersection of Divison and 35th PLACE)
11:00am - 3:00pm
get to Coffee Division early if you want coffee/food, we'll roll around 11:30am

It's the EIGHTH ANNUAL installment of the Palm Tree Ride! And this year we're bringing it back to our "routes", er, "roots" as we'll see sights and sites from the first couple rides. Come along for a tour of the multitude of palm trees and other tropical and evergreen vegetation growing in the city. Flat-ish terrain, approx 8 miles total. Plenty of stop and possibility of a refreshment break or two.

And...here's photos from years past:
Steev Hise 2005

Jonathan Maus/Bikeportland 2007
Brad Reber 2008
Brad Reber 2009

*Hey, I didn't pick that name. You would figure they could have thought of something better.

The Rudge's Progress: If I was to use a cliched expression, we're "Dialing it in."

2012-01-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

The last time we checked in, myself and the Raving Bike Fiend were starting to work on the Rudge. Because the original handlebars sucked, I decided to go the Path Racer route with dropped (or inverted) North Road handlebars and sans fenders. Over the course of a couple days last week (Thurs and Fri), Keith and I put the bike together, to a point I considered "85% done." Then this week on Tuesday we put the finishing touches to make the bike "95% done".

So what did we do?

Wheels/Tires/Mudguards: As stated previously, the front wheel was toast. So we replaced front wheel with another Sturmey-Archer steel rim 650A (26" x 1 3/8"), originally from my Raleigh Wayfarer. For the rear, we replaced the broken spoke, trued it (to some extent). I say to some extent since the rim is still a little bent. But as testament to the strength and quality of these old 40 spoke wheels, it still works! At some point it might be nice to build alloy wheels for the bike, but that's Phase B. When that will happen, I don't know. If I do decide to do it, we'd need to find a different shell for the AW hub because the alloy shell flange is bending. They didn't know how to work with aluminum back in the '50's.

To give it a lower gear range, we took the 18 tooth rear cog off and replaced it with the 20 tooth cog off the Raleigh Wayfarer. (We put a 22 tooth cog on the Wayfarer, along with replacing a spoke.) With a 48 tooth chainring and a Sturmey-Archer AW hub, this gives the following gear-inches: 46.8" for low (1st gear), 62.4" for middle (2nd), and 83.2" for high (3rd). Yes, I am a nerd.

And remember those gumwall Kenda tires and tubes that I found at the Citybikes free pile last month? Yep, they went on the Rudge. Ideally, I'd like something like creme colored Schwalbe Delta Cruisers. But those would cost money! These are free! And actually, the gumwall tire look is growing on me. When they wear out, I will probably upgrade to the Delta Cruisers. But they're fine for now.

And those fenders are gone! Yeah, not good for rain, but this ain't a rain bike. I think removing fenders reduced the weight by about 3 pounds!

Handlebars/Stem/The Cockpit: As stated last time, I found a nice set of used North Road bars that we installed in the dropped or inverted position. The short original stem with another Raleigh branded stem that came off of a roommate's bike. On the bars I put on a spare Crane Brass bell that I had in my stockpile. And for added classiness, I got a VO bottle cage handlebar bracket to affix my bottle cage to the bars.

I'm not sure if I'll keep the current stem so I haven't gone as far as to wrap the bars as I would like. For temporary purposes only, I threw some black OURY grips I had laying around. Yes, Oury grips, the same type I chided the owner of the modernized Phillips 3-speed for "rocking" last month. In my defense, they are temporary, and black does not stand out like pink grips.

Pedals: These came off my Raleigh since I have MKS Lambda pedals on there now. They'll do until I can figure something else out.

Saddle/Seatpost/Saddlebag: I used my Brown Brooks B17 Narrow saddle, last seen on the Centurion Le Mans. The narrow saddle adds to the "sportiness" of the bike, and the brown color contrasts nicely with all the black. My small Minnehaha saddle bag was pulled out of my stockpile. And I found a decent used steel 25.4 seatpost at the Community Cycling Center that replaces the ugly black one.

Lighting: I got a nice 70's vintage Union bottle dynamo/halogen headlamp combo from Justine of Mid-Life Cycling back in the spring. And I figured the Rudge would be a beautiful bike for it! I love the aesthetic. With a little polish it cleaned up well.

Of course, the biggest drawback to an old-school bottle generator lighting (besides the drag and whirring noise) is the lack of a standlight, a light that stays on while the bike's not rolling. Pretty much all modern LED dyno lights have this feature, but before the advent of LED lights in the aughts, a standlight was usually achieved by a complicated battery setup. So I found an old basic Planet Bike LED blinkie light of 2002 vintage. Remember these? They were the first inexpensive LED bike light that was readily available to the masses. It was such a relief after using sucky halogen lights that used C cells and went dim within a day. Yes, somehow I managed to hold on to one of these lights though it's been probably 5 years since I've used one regularly. This will do for a standlight for now.

Drivetrain/Braking/Etc: Threw on a new chain, replaced cables and housing for brakes and 3-Speed cable. Put on salmon-colored Kool Stop brake pads for better stopping power.

On top of all that, there was lots of tweaking, cleaning, oiling, scraping, and polishing. (Oiling a steel frame does wonders for its look, and aluminum foil and lemon juice does a good job of getting rid of surface rust!

And ta-da! The "new" sexy, stripped down Rudge Sports Path Racer!

Next up: Shakedown rides.

The Rudge Reanimated: From bike wreck to Path Racer?

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just don't know how something's going to turn out. Sometimes the turnout isn't pleasant.

Or sometimes it turns out more pleasant than you thought it would.

*****
Last year, Todd Boulanger of Vancouverland, USA had an old 50's Rudge Sports in unridable condition, taking up space in storage. He took receipt of the bike several years ago from someone who rescued it from a garage somewhere in Portland. It sat in storage, waiting to be forgotten. He had no time or energy to do anything with it, and wondered if I wanted it. This was the photo he sent:

When I saw it, I initially said no. It looks like it had been stored underwater! Look at those wheels! I don't need another bike project, since I just finished building up the Raleigh. What would I do with the bike?

Then I thought about it. Maybe another bike project would be fun. But I soon would be departing for the Cross-Con Tour. Any time, energy, and money on bikes should solely be spent on the Long Haul Trucker, since it would be my conveyance across the continent. And where would I store it in the interim? I told Todd I couldn't take it now, but if the bike was still around when I got back, I'd take it.

So I get back and the bike is still around, so Todd delivers it to me right before Christmas. This is how it looked then:

It was a wreck, indeed, but not as bad as I thought it was. Keith the Raving Bike Fiend looked it over and felt that a lot of the componentry was salvageable. Even the rear wheel, which I thought would need to be replaced.

*****
Fast forward to last week. The Raving Bike Fiend and myself made time to tackle the Rudge. We put it in the stand. It still pedaled! The hub still works! Woo hoo! We took off the wheels and had to cut the grips to get the handlebars in the "correct" position. That's when we discovered two things: these bars are not original, as they are Italian drops. And that at some point, the bike or the bars came from Goodwill:

This discovery guided what I would "do" with the bike. Last spring I thought about styling it like a Path Racer. The current path racer styled bike is the Pashley Guvnor:

From flickr user baudman

Nice bike. But at $1,500 or so, there's no way I could afford it (or justify to afford it) any time soon.

But then I thought: this is a post-war bike, not pre-war. This would be the era of "Clubman" bikes in British bike culture. So going with a poor-mans Clubman would be appropriate. I could use the drops that were already on the bike, or go with a Lauterwasser drop bar.

But we determined that the current drops wouldn't fit, aesthetically or to my riding position. Lauterwassers would run around $40 for the CroMoly ones, money I didn't really have to spend. But what about "dropped" North Road bars? That would mean it would look more like a path racer after all. The path racer look would also solve the question of "what to do about fenders?" The steel ones that came on the bike were salvageable, but in order to make the bike a poor-mans Clubman, I would need lighter plastic fenders. Path racers generally had no fenders. So it was decided. Take the fenders off! Yes, this means the bike wouldn't be a rain bike, but steel rims are sucky in the rain anyway. Besides I have other bikes that I can ride when it's wet out. This is going to be a fun bike. A sexy, stripped-down machine.

I found a set of nice used North Roads at A Better Cycle. Since the original stem was a tad shallow, we swapped it with a Raleigh stem originally from another roommates bike to give more reach.

It's already coming together!

The major thing that needed to be taken care of, though, was the cranks. Not only were the original pedals mismatched, but so were the cranks. And they were not "in line" either, a common problem when one cotter pin is replaced, but not both. Keith admitted with a heavy dose of sarcasm removing the cotter pins would be the most "fun" thing to do. But with a cotter pin tool and hacksaw borrowed from Roger Noehren and a lot of brute force, Keith removed them, got the cranks in line, and put new cotter pins in.

The other major thing was the rear wheel. Could it be saved? Yes, mostly. Keith put the new spoke in to replace the broken one. The other nipples were turning, so Keith trued the wheel--mostly. The rim is a tad bit on the bent side, so it won't get totally true without some force. And the flanges of the hub are a bit bent as well. Mid-fifties aluminum production isn't what it is today--they didn't realize that aluminum construction needs to be beefier than steel construction. But the wheel is still rideable. It's a testament to how well these old wheels were built: steel rims, 40 spokes, hand-built. And some elbow grease, lemon juice, and aluminum foil brought back the shine and ate away some of the surface rust, though the rim lost a lot of chrome in the intervening 60 years. Hey, it'll add to braking power, right?

The Raving Bike Fiend works his magic.

That's it for this time. Next up: the Rudge at 85% done.

April reunites with her Raleigh Sports

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy week around the Urban Adventure HQ. So busy that I haven't had much time to blog (boo) or draw (double boo!) But the fruits of all the labor will soon be shared here on Ye Olde Blogge. (And yes, the labor has been on the Rudge. If you can't wait for the report, you can always check my flickr set on the Rudge.) But first! Let's talk about one of April's bikes.

April currently has two bikes. You've seen plenty of shots of her Novarra Randonee, her touring bike. It's what she rode on the Cross-Con Tour. But there is also her 1961 Raleigh Sports, her first "real" bike. I use the term real bike because she's had several bikes in her life and used her mom's bike when she was commuting in the westside suburbs as an adult. But the Raleigh was the first bike she got in Portland and the bike that started the chain of events that made her an everyday bicyclist, a bike obsessive, a bike nut. (She's written a bit about it over on her blog, so go check it out for more backstory. And you can see more photos of it in my flickr set.)

April with the Raleigh before the changes, January 2011.

Before we left on the Cross-Con Tour in May, April loaned the Raleigh to her friend Katrina. Katrina didn't have a bike and wanted to get into it, and now she's hooked! Katrina returned the bike last month, and there were a few things April wanted to do to it before she started riding again. And with the Raving Bike Fiend in town, we finally got to tackle them! (I'll be using "we" because even though it's April's bike, myself and Keith Bike Fiend did the work.)

The first thing we did was remove the front basket. While practical, April felt that it would look better without it and also improve handling. (And she was annoyed with the way the brake cable was routed through the basket, causing it to rub against the head badge.)

Next: front wheel. We installed a Sturmey-Archer dynohub (1953 vintage) laced to a modern CR18 aluminum rim, 26" x 1 3/8" size from Dave of Portlandize back in the spring. The aluminum rim means better braking power in the rain, and the Dynohub means generator lighting! Right now we have a generic light hooked up to it, I need to install a Spanninga halogen front lamp when I get the chance.

Oh yeah, we also added a Portland Design Works battery-powered Fenderbot to the rear. It's the same light I have on my Worksman Cycle Truck. While it is definitely a modern light with modern technology, it looks appropriate.

We swapped out the brown leather saddle (supposedly from a '40's CCM via Keith) with April's Brooks Champion Flyer she picked up on tour in Missoula. And to top it off, we strapped the Carradice saddle bag to saddle and seat post. So appropriate! Unfortunately the support for the seat post strap broke when April loaded the bag with books, so I got it repaired at Mountain Soles. That's why a few shots don't have the Carradice, as we haven't reinstalled it yet.

A few minor tweaks courtesy of Kieth (like brake adjustment) and some cleaning courtesy of me. To bring out the black paint I used oil and a cloth. I heard how traditionally many folks in Britain protected the frames of their three speeds with motor oil. When I first heard about it, I was all "ew." Then Keith convinced me of its benefits by demonstrating it on a section of the Rudge's frame. So I oiled April's frame, and it hasn't looked this good in a long time.

And how does April feel about all these changes?

I think you can tell by her face!

She's ridden it a few times since Thursday, when it was ready, and has fallen more in love with the beautiful Raleigh. Now we each have a black British bike.

Next up: THE RUDGE!

Loaded Carradice Porn, another installment of The Fancy Bicyclist

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned previously, I have a certain fetish for traditional Carradice saddlebags. There's something about them that evokes the image of touring through the English countryside and drinking tea. Romantic imagery is one thing, but they are very practical and durable bags as well. I've owned the Carradice bag on my Raleigh Wayfarer for almost four years, and the smaller green one that used to be on my Long Haul Trucker for about a year.

Carradice on Raleigh Wayfarer.

The bag that I had been coveting was the "ultimate" in Carradice saddlebags, the Camper Longflap. Big. Capacity 24 litres. After hauling two sets of panniers plus handlebar bag plus small Carradice on the Cross-Con Tour, I was looking forward to shorter tours with less stuff when I got back to town. That's why I decided to take the rear rack off the LHT for now. It was my hope to have a Camper Longflap on the rear to hold things like sleeping bags, then have two front panniers with maybe a handlebar bag. But the Camper Longflap isn't cheap (retails for $130 at Citybikes) and is hard to find used in the States.

Before Christmas I got not one but two Carradices through my "hook-up", Mr. Todd Boulanger of Vancouver, Wash. USA. I decided to keep the larger longflap bag for myself, give April the smaller bag, and then give Mr. Raving Bike Fiend the green bag that was on my LHT. So the longflap went on the Long Haul Trucker.

The Cycle Wild New Year Excursion to Stub Stewart was the first time I tested the new (to me) bag. I loaded the Carradice up the night before to make sure that everything I wanted to get in there would get in there. This included my down sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, inflatable pillow, camp towel, and rain gear in the main compartment. Strapped to the outside was my U-Lock. It all fit fine. The longer flap on this bag (with an extra set of straps) meant that a lot could fit in there. But how would it ride? Fine. There was a little leg rub on the bag (a common complaint for transverse saddlebags) but nothing that bothered me. So far, a success.

Because it worked so fine, I started to reconsider the idea of getting a new Camper Longflap. If I could hold what I need to with the current bag, why get another bag? So I decided to test my current longflap on the LHT by stuffing both my sleeping bag and sleeping pad in the main compartment, then strap my bivy sack to the outside of the flap. Everything held.

Now I started to doubt that the bag I have is a Nelson Longflap. Maybe it's a Camper after all? I rode over to Citybikes and held the current Camper Longflap next to my bag. The Camper still looked slightly bigger in a couple dimension, but they were the same length (14" or 35 cm) and I could only tell them apart by really looking. So my bag might be an older version of the Camper? Hard to tell, especially since Carradice doesn't bother to put model names on their products.

In any case, my bag is a keeper. And I'm going to put it to work.

The Cycle Touring Primer makes its way to the UK

2012-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Just a quick one. Here are two posts about my Cycle Touring Primer from the UK! I sent my Cycle Touring Primer to a couple bloggers living in the UK because I wanted to get feedback on my guide from those living outside of the US and Canada. So check it out:
Naturally Cycling: Manchester
Lazy Bicycle Blog

My New Years 2012, where April and I ride out to a cabin in the woods (again)

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

New Year 2012 went down pretty much the same way New Year 2011 went down: riding our bikes to Stub Stewart State Park in the Oregon Coast Range. The Stub Stewart trip has become an annual Cycle Wild New Year's tradition. We were supposed to meet up at 10am on Saturday morning (Dec 31st) at the west end of the MAX line in Hillsboro, Portland's western suburb. However, it was only 22 miles (35km) of riding from there to the park. April and I had done this ride so many times before, and there was an ample amount of daylight. So we opted to leave late.

And this was a good thing. It had rained on Friday and then the temperature dropped dramatically overnight. So those riders who left early were greeted with black ice. There were a few spills. Since it had thawed by the time we left the house around 11am, we didn't have to deal with that. It was still pretty cool all day, though.

The MAX ride to Hillsboro was uneventful, and we started our ride around 1pm. It was a peaceful trek. The first half of the ride uses lightly used rural roads (read: farmlands and nurseries). The second half is exclusively on the Banks-Vernonia State Trail, an old logging railroad turned bike path. In the middle is the town of Banks where we supplied up for the two days.

While the roads out here are quiet, there are some people who don't want bikes around.

This small sign can be seen on Wilkesboro Rd about a mile SE of Banks. At first one might think, "Yeah, uninsured drivers suck!" But the size and the low placement of the sign isn't directed towards motorists, but bicyclists. And that's who the sign is talking about. Any ambiguity in its message was dispelled when some other riders passed by on the Verboort Populaire Ride in November, and the homeowner came out of his house, shouting: "GET OFF OF THE ROAD! YOU ARE NOT INSURED!"

Anyways...we got to the park around 4pm. Cycle Wild had rented four cabins and there was 20 of us, so five per cabin. Most people on New Year's Eve hung out at the fire pit, though there was movie viewing as well. I wouldn't know, I was too far gone at that point and sleeping it off. Yes, I slept into the New Year. And vomited shortly thereafter. Go Shawn! (It didn't help that a group from another cabin was loudly and drunkenly "singing" "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes at the time of my regurgitation. If I needed any help doing the deed, hearing the song that signified all that what was wrong with "the Grunge movement" while simultaneously signaling the death knell of said movement would have helped it along.) But hey, looking on the positive side of things, the years I have rang in the New Year with retching featured significant changes to my life, usually for the better. So maybe this is a sign of something "epic" for 2012?

New Year's Day (Sunday) was the chill day. Most people hung around the cabins, making food and talking. Some folks attempted to ride the muddy mountain bike trails with their touring rigs, with comical effects. Some rode 10 miles down the Banks-Vernonia Trail to Vernonia for beer and restocking of supplies. While some took a walk in the woods. That's what we ended up doing.

We all had to depart the park on Monday, January 2nd. Everyone left at random intervals. April and I left in the last group (of course) which included Matt and Kristy, Erinne and Kirk. While the weather remained dry for the rest of the trip, we had to deal with rain on the return ride. So it was a good idea to stop and break in Banks for mediocre Chinese food. The rest of the ride was good, and we got back to Portland before dark.

*****
And while we're talking about bike "camping" (and I use quotes since we had cabins so no tents, but still had to bring sleeping stuff and cooking stuff) and all that, I figured I'd talk a little about gear.

A joke I frequently made on this excursion is that a Cycle Wild trip can automatically turn into a photo shoot for: Klean Kanteen, Trangia stoves, Surly bikes, Showers Pass rainjackets, and/or Ortlieb bags.

Tomas looks off into the middle distance.

But as April says, these things have been proven through time. Especially my Trangia stove. Initially when I purchased one before the Cross-Con Trip I was intending the spirit fueled Trangia to be the back-up stove to my canister fueled Varga. But now the Trangia has become my "go to" stove, and the canister fueled one sits in my camping supplies box.

Right before leaving, I purchased a new pan, this MSR Flex Skillet. During the tour we had a generic non-stick camping frying pan that worked so-so. If we used it on the Trangia it would burn the pancakes we like making for breakfast, and if we used it on the Varga we worried about balance. But the MSR sits nicely on the Trangia and cooked the pancakes nicely. A success!

I also picked up a Bleuet solid-fuel stove. It's basically a Esbit stove made by someone else. I also decided to bring my GSI camping moka pot for this trip and use the Bleuet stove for it. It's pretty bulky but I don't mind bringing it on a one or two night trip. Unfortunately it wasn't a good combination, as I had to use almost two fuel tablets to make a cup of coffee.

No coffee yet?

You live and you learn.

Carrying Coffee on the Bike comic

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Drawn 30 Dec 2011.

The Final Post of 2011: To the Cabins, LHT Futzing, Rudge ruminating, and Art with a Capital "A".

2011-12-31T01:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome readers to the last post of the last year before the end of the world (according to the Mayans.)

Just like last year, today (that would be Saturday, December 31st) finds myself and my sweetie April riding 22 miles (35 km) from Hillsboro, Oregon* to Stub Stewart State Park for the annual Cycle Wild New Year's Trip. We'll be camping with a group of approx. 20 people in Stubby's luxurious cabins for two nights. Should be a lot of fun, and we may even see a little snow up there! Don't think it will be the winter wonderland it was last year:

We'll be riding back to town Monday, January 2nd. Which also happens to be the NEXT TO THE LAST DAY OF MY BIG SALE! You fine folks have until 11:59 PM (Pacific Standard Time) on Tuesday January 3rd to take advantage of the savings. Check it out!

*****

As I mentioned this week I obtained a "Nelson" Longflap from Todd B. and mounted it to my Long Haul Trucker. I say "Nelson" in air-quotes because it's an older bag that's similar in size to the newer Nelson on the Raleigh, but it's still a bit bigger (but no Camper size.) Last night in preparation for the Stub trip, I stuffed it with my down sleeping bag, bag liner, inflatable pillow, and a few other things. It stuffed the bag enough to need to use the longflap and it's resting on the fender. But it holds! I tested it around the block and it was fine, though there was a little leg rub. I'll see how I feel after riding tomorrow.

The Long Haul Trucker has three bottle cage braze on mounts: two on the down tube and one on the seat tube. The mount on the bottom of the down tube I've mounted my pump, but I decided to put another bottle cage there for now. The cages I've been using are the Klean Kanteen specific cages. While I wouldn't call them "handsome" (all the plastic would make purists cringe), they work remarkably well for what they do. Designed to hold the stainless steel Klean Kanteens snugly, there is no rattle due to the polyproplyne construction. When I got the first two cages before tour I worried that they would break due to the heavy use. Almost 5,000 miles later they are still intact!

Now for the most part I don't need three bottles on the bike. But the third cage will hold my stove fuel bottle for the cabin trip.

When I mounted a traditional bottle cage in this spot before, there would be conflict between water bottle and fender unless I used the absolute smallest Klean Kanteen with a flat top. But these Klean Kanteen cages allow the bottles to be lower than normal cages. So even with the fairly large fuel bottle in this position there is just enough clearance.

Just enough!

And I mounted the pump to the seat tube-for now.

*****

In Rudge updates, Keith the Raving Bike Fiend and myself put the 1953 Rudge Sports into the stand on Friday to take a look. And the more we look, the better the prognosis gets. It doesn't seem like there will be that much to do to it to get it ridable.

The rear wheel spins when pedaled, and is remarkably straight for a wheel with a couple broken spokes and loose tension on other spokes. Chalk it up to steel rims, 40 spoke count, and British manufacturing! Hopefully the wheel is still repairable, because it would be a shame to have to replace it. (Even if I did, I would still consider rebuilding the wheel on the extant hub, as it's a 1953 Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed with alloy shell.) Front wheel is toast, but thankfully I have a replacement.

It looks like what will be needed is realignment of cranks (which according to Keith could be the hardest part), possible bottom bracket overhaul, flipping of the bars. hammering out the dents on the fenders (initially I was going to replace them, but I'm keeping them as-is for now), replacement of needed cables, and lubing of anything that needs lube. I think the only things I'll need to purchase is a rear light (a Fenderbot) as the rear reflector is gone. We might even be able to salvage the chain!

So I'll have a vintage British three-speed that is mostly original. This won't be my daily rider as the Raleigh takes the role. But this will be the fun sunny-day ride. I'm excited!

*****
And to close out this post, let's talk about art.

I've been doing art for awesome community bike shop North Portland Bikeworks for almost as long as they've been open, which is ten years. I just whipped up a new sticker for them:

And I'm currently working on a comic with Sarah Mirk! Sarah is a reporter for the Portland Mercury, an IPRC staffer, Carl's girlfriend, and the writer behind the Portland History Series comics. I've already been featured in one, the Dead Freeways comic, but this will be the first one I will illustrate. What's it about? Portland bicycle history, of course. So we've got Portland history, bicycles, and comics, three of my favorite things. If we managed to throw in coffee, beer, burritos, pizza, and 80's underground music from the Twin Cities, I'd be all set. The comic will be published in early March, I'll keep y'all posted with updates!

*****
That's it for 2011! Hope you'll stick around for 2012 with the Urban Adventure League!

*We'll be taking the MAX (light rail) from downtown Portland to get to Hillsboro.

The Randominum of Notes: Post Xmas Bike Rides, The Carridice Fairy, Pedals (yet again), and the Photomat of Memories

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's the fifth day of Christmas, right? So do I get Five Golden Toques?

Monday December 26th, April and I went on a group bike ride that I sort of led. I say "sort of" because while our friend Ryan was the technical organizer of the ride, I was the one that picked the route. We met up at Ye Olde Bi-Partisan Cafe at SE 79th and Stark and rode across the Columbia into the depths of Clark County, Washington. We used the I-205 (Glenn Jackson) Bridge to cross. And just like the (next to) last time I crossed this bridge, I got a flat. The bridge has it out for me. Thankfully like the last one it was a front flat, since I hate dealing with rear flats. (How did I go 4,000 miles on tour without a front flat, but have got two since I got back?)

Anyways, we rode east on Old Evergreen Highway (the old Route 14) to Camas where we had coffee and then turned around. Old Evergreen is quiet since most traffic is on the new highway, and moderately scenic. But man, it's got some of the worst pavement in the area. Don't think they bother re-paving it since the new highway opened up! I can make a list of all the things that came off or loose from the Long Haul Trucker, but it would be too long.

It was 16 miles (25 km) one-way, so by the time we got back to town we were ready to eat and have a few beers. And beers and food at Laurelwood we had.

*****

I forgot to mention* that when Todd dropped off the Rudge last week he dropped off not one but two Carradice saddle bags! I got these two bags in trade for some illustration work. They are both older bags that Todd somehow obtained through his mysterious ways. Both black, both longflaps. The larger one I believe is a Nelson longflap, the smaller one I can't really tell. The Nelson longflap went on the Long Haul Trucker, replacing the green Pendle. The smaller longflap was a Christmas gift to April and it will go on her Raleigh Sports. The green Pendle was gifted to Keith the Raving Bike Fiend. He's using it on his Raleigh Twenty while in town, and will be used most likely on one of his other Raleighs when he returns to Edmonton. Carradices for all!

*****
Meanwhile, in more pedal news, I did my seasonal swap of pedals on the Long Haul Trucker. In the winter I like removing the Powergrips*** and replacing them with my grippy BMX-styled pedals to allow boots and bulky shoes.

*****
And if you are either interested or bored this tween-holiday season**, feel free to check out my flickr photostream. I've been adding a lot of photos from tours over the past few years. If anything, summery scenes will help you deal with gloomy winter. (If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, of course.)

*Lie. I did not mention this because I did not want to ruin the surprise.
**Meaning "between the holiday", not a holiday for tweens. Well, I guess Christmas is better enjoyed if you are a tween...
***Yes, I know, I use Powergrips instead of SPDs. I am a "woos".

Comic of the Day: Worksman Low Gravity

2011-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

Drawn Dec 23rd.

Comic of the Day: Tweed Ride Every Ride

2011-12-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Drawn Dec 22nd.
No, this never actually happened.

Comic of the Day: The Saddle Cover Fairy

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well friends, I've drew a few more comics! This one was drawn on Dec 21. Hope you enjoy it!

I'll be publishing a few more through the course of the week. You can check out the others now if you want on my flickr photostream.

Bike Crazy Part 2: The Rudge Reports

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Day before Xmas!

Friday I got a Christmas gift of sorts: A 1953 Rudge Sports from Mr. Todd Boulanger. As I've mentioned previously, Todd received this bike many years ago but never found the time to do anything with it, so he's passed it on to me. As the photographs will tell, the Rudge is in fairly rough shape. Those wheels are shot, all cables will need to be replaced, and for god sakes the drop bar needs to be flipped! But amazingly the finish of the bike is in decent shape. Yes, there's plenty of surface rust here and there, but nothing some elbow grease, lemon juice, and aluminum foil can't fix.

Since Mr. Raving Bike Fiend is in town, I hope to tackle the restoration project in the next few weeks. When the idea of getting this bike came about last spring, I was thinking of doing an extensive restoration. Because of lack of money, I'm more concerned with getting it rideable and keeping it as original as possible. The short list of things that I want to do to it:

Flip those bars! Instead of grips, I want to wrap cork tape and shellac it. I know that rubber grips is more period appropriate, but what the hey.
As for wheels, I'll put the 26" x 1 3/8" steel wheel that came from the Raleigh Wayfarer on the front for now. As for the back, it might be able to be fixed. If not, I'll find another wheel. Building new wheels will either be a "Phase II" project or not happen.
Brakes: Replace the calipers with the old ones from the Wayfarer if needed. Put salmon Kool Stop brake pads on.
Fenders: Take the current ones off and either leave it fenderless for now, or put white plastic fenders on.
Replace cables.
Replace pedals if needed with the ones I took off the Wayfarer. Fix cranks.
Overhaul anything that needs it (bottom bracket?) and lube/oil everything.
Install my Brooks B17 Narrow saddle.
Install my Union bottle dynamo/lamp (which I got from Justine of Mid-Life Cycling) on the front fork.

I love the trigger shifter!

And that chainring! Talk to the hand!

Well worn...but still there.

When you used to lubricate bottom brackets with oil instead of grease, an oil port is handy!

The wheels are shot, but the front has a cool S-A hub with oil port.

And the AW hub from 1953.

I'm not going to put all the photos I took of the bike on the blog, so go check out my flickr set 1953 Rudge Sports Three-Speed for more.

*****

Another year, another bike. I can't go by a full year without getting another bike! It's been a trend since 2006, where I've at least received one new* bike per year. Some years I received two! Here's the rundown:

2006: Schwinn Collegiate ('60's vintage), Centurion Accordo (mid '80's)
2007: Univega Safari Ten ('70's vintage)
2008: Surly Long Haul Trucker (new!)
2009: Centurion Super Le Mans ('70's vintage)
2010: Worksman cycle truck (unknown year), Raleigh Wayfarer ('70's)
2011: Rudge Sports (1953)

So the question is: what bike or bikes will I acquire in 2012? Time will tell.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and ride your bike!

*New to me, that is. All the bikes were used except the LHT.

Today's Urban Adventure League Question of the Day (and Pedals, again)

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today's Question of the Day:

Can you break a Surly Long Haul Trucker?

Answer: Yes.

Now before you all get WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR BIKE on the comments, this is NOT my bike. It was the (former) bike of my roommate's brother, who ran his LHT into a parked car at speed. This is the old frame, as Keith swapped out the components and put it on a new LHT frame.

Watch out for parked cars, kids.

*****

And today I put the MKS Lambda pedals on the Raleigh Wayfarer. So far they work fine, but I haven't ridden it enough to really test them. I think they look fine, though I'm still on the fence if they are "aesthetically appropriate." Any strong opinions?

Randomized Notes: Pedals Part Two, Weird Bike Murals, and the Holidaze

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. Weather here in Portland has returned to more of the normal state for December: drizzly, grey, high temp in the 40's F (4-10C). Today the fog never seemed to lift.

*****

Last week I talked about my pedal dilemma. I wanted better, "grippy" platform pedals for the Raleigh Wayfarer. For the time being I put my BMX pedals on the Raleigh, while wondering if the MKS Lambda pedals would be a good fit. The MKS pedals sounded good, but they're about $60 new. Well, it just happened a few days after my fretting I came across a listing for these pedals on Craigslist. And on Tuesday I bought them for the sum of $25.

I need to eat that Larabar at some point.

They look good. I still have to put them on the bike. I'll let y'all know how they work. Hopefully they are griptastic in wet weather.

*****

While wandering through the NW Industrial District on Tuesday I came across this mural on the side of Cyclone Bicycle Supply:

It's pretty cool. Pro-helmet people might raise the whole "Not everyone has a helment on!" argument.* Pro drawing bikes correctly people (that would be me) might raise the issue of the questionable geometry of some of the frames.** But everyone will find the gent in the pink shirt in the middle...interesting:

*****

And the holidays are upon us! Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northernmost Hemisphere. And Christmas is almost here, too. (Plus Hanukkah and Kwanzaa!) Because of the fact that many of us will be busy, the blog posts might slow down a bit in the next week. Don't fret over it please.

*Do not argue about helmets and/or helments in the comments. Please.

**Feel free to argue about questionably drawn bicycle geometry.

OPB Tuesday: A vintage Phillips three-speed modernized

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to Portlandland's favorite game show: "Other People's Bikes". And I'm your host, Guy Smiley.

Today's specimen was spotted on Sunday December 18 in the on-street bike corral on SE Taylor St at Water Ave, in the heart of the SE Industrial District. The bike: a Phillips three-speed. Unknown model, unknown age (but we can assume sometime between 1950 and 1975.) Now spotting a nice old British three-speed is nice enough. And so I stopped to take a closer look. And with the closer look I noticed there's a lot more going on here.

First off, the wheels. Besides the rather fun "bullet" valve cap, the big deal with the wheel is that it's an alloy rim. British three-speeds normally had 26" x 1 3/8" (or 650A, or ISO 590mm) steel rims. Alloy rims meant someone took the time to build new wheels. This means the person uses the bike as a daily rider in often-damp Portland and cared enough to spend time and/or money on building new wheels. I don't know what brand the rim is, but the tires look to be some nice Continentals.

Next up, the brakes. While I think vintage British three-speeds are 90% perfect as daily riders in their pure state, the weak spot besides steel rims are the brakes. In order to have better stopping power, one needs to either put on better brakes or build a wheel with drum brakes. This person chose the former.

And finally (and this is what puts this bike in over-the-top category): the crankset. British three speeds used cottered cranks. This Phillips has cotterless cranks. In order to do this, since most British three speeds used non-standard (26 tpi) threading, in order to convert to cotterless one either needs to rethread the bottom bracket or get one of those fancy Phil Wood threadless bottom brackets as talked about by Saint Sheldon. We are talking about a serious investment of time and/or money, friends!

It's all topped off with a lovely Carradice saddlebag (a Nelson, I believe) attached to a Brooks B66 saddle.

I really like this. Just like me, this person truly likes their three-speed and has put a lot of thought into the modernization of it. Most of the changes mentioned above make the bike much more functional for riding all year, while retaining the aesthetic of the era the bike was built in.

Except for the grips. Come on, OURY grips? And PINK ones at that. This ain't no fixie! I hate getting all Joan Rivers and shit, but this one thing prevents this bike from being a "10". It's only a 9 until those grips go. And that's not just me. Mr. Raving Bike Fiend backs me up on this one. (Maybe if this bike is here again, I'll put some cork grips on?)

Anyways, it's still a nice bike. And to wash away the image of the pink OURY grips, I leave you with these parting images.

Weathered logo on seat tube.

Sturmey-Archer hub. Assume it's an AW but can't tell.

And on the chain guard!

Drool!

I drew some bicycle-themed comix...

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! In my last post I mentioned that I've been working on something special that has taken time away from my blogging, and I would share the fruits of my labor soon. And that time is now!

I've decided to draw some bicycle related comics! Woot! I haven't really worked out a "theme" yet, it's just about myself and those around me and our life with bicycles. There are no characters like Yehuda Whatshisface, though sometimes I'll use potato-shaped people and girls with aviator helmets as stand-ins. (That's about as close as I get to "characters" these days.) I've tried to be as productive as possible on these, with a goal of one a day or every other day. It's taken awhile to get back into the groove of drawering, but I hope to keep the momentum (ha, ha) going!

So here's what I've done so far (remember you can click on any of them to "embiggen"):

12 Dec 2011: I decide to draw one of my bikes.

13 Dec 2011: Yes, based on an actual conversation I had in front of People's Co-op.

14 Dec 2011: God bless you, Captain Beefheart!

17 Dec 2011: I can draw a good Keith Giffen homage every once in a while.

18 Dec 2011: I decide to draw another one of my bikes. One more to go!

I intend to keep on doing them and see where it goes.

And I'll be posting them occasionally on the blog here. You can also check out my sito art page and my flickr photostream, where they will also be posted.

What do y'all think?

Random Notes: Talking about the Weather, Pedals, and the Raving Bike Fiend is Back!

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I've been a bit quiet on Ye Olde Blog this week, my apologies. I've been working on something special, and you'll be seeing the fruits of my labor* relatively soon.

*****

December has been a dry and somewhat cold month in Portland. The temperature has consistently dropped to near or below freezing each night, which while not uncommon, doesn't happen often. I guess you can say we've had a cold snap. Usually when it gets that cold here, we have bright, cloudless days and a stiff easterly wind. But the wind did not come, so with poor air circulation and the nightly temperature drop we had many mornings-into-afternoons of fog. And since it was near or at freezing, sometimes there was a bit of frost or black ice on the roads, making for some sketchy riding situations. Thankfully I didn't slide in any of my travels, but since I'm still a bit paranoid of falling since "The Accident" in November, I've been worrying about the ice. So much so that I almost went to the Santa Lucia edition of Breakfast on the Bridges on Tuesday, but when I departed from the house I got freaked out about all the frost on the roads. So I baled.

Now the temperatures have risen slightly and the rain has returned, at least on Wednesday, so we'll be back to more typical Portland winter weather.

*****

And with the wetness returning, pedals on the Raleigh Wayfarer were on my mind. The Wayfarer originally came with small rubber block pedals, and I replaced them with period-appropriate "rat traps". The pedals work fine, but the catch is...the catch. The pedals only have grippy stuff on one side.

Now these pedals are designed to stay "grippy side up". From my experience this happens nine times out of ten, but the tenth time the non-grippy side will be up. If one is not paying attention and stomps on the pedal when it's grippy side down and its wet, one's foot may slip off the pedal. This is not good, especially if one is in traffic. Now normally I would look down and make sure that the grippy side is up before I push on it. But when I wear the rain cape it blocks my view of the pedal, and if I'm wearing the rain cape it's raining enough that if I stomped on the non-grippy side it could spell disaster.

So I installed my grippy pedals on the Wayfarer. These are technically designed for BMX use, when one would be wearing sneakers instead of SPD's. They don't look super-ugly, but they definitely are not designed for looks. Since I've become a "fancy cyclist" I care a bit about aesthetics, so I ask you: do these pedals look out-of-place on a British three-speed?

And does anyone have good recommendations for griptastic pedals that look good? (I'm thinking about the MKS Lambda pedals they sell at Rivendell and Velo-Orange, but these pedals are not cheap.)

*****

And the winter brings the annual appearance of Mr. Raving Bike Fiend! Keith got in Tuesday morning. He'll be in town for a month. Oh, the bike projects we have in mind for him! (And when I say "we" I mean everyone in my house, which is four people.) Besides some minor stuff on my three working bikes, I can think of a special project I can put Mr. Raving Bike Fiend to work on:

Yeahhh!

*****
And finally, my awesome sale is now extended into the new year! You have until 11:59PM (PST) on Tuesday January 3, 2012 to get discounted prices! Head on over to the store to see what's up.

*Or, if you must, labour.

Design Overhaul

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! You might have noticed a few changes on the blog (if you don't just look at it through Google Reader (hi, April!)) I redid the header, changed the background image, redid the color sheme, and changed the font. After six years of tried-and-true Trebuchet, I decided to give "Molengo" a try. I think it looks classy and readable, but that's just me. Any strong opinions pro/con the new font? Please let me know.

Other People's Festivly Decorated Bikes

2011-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

It was a beautifully sunny day in Portland Friday December 9th. The mercury reached 47F (8C), so it was a beautiful day to cruise around on the Raleigh. In my crusings through North Portland, I spotted this greatly decorated bike locked to a porch railing:

It appears to be a well-worn Schwinn Wasp. A classic mid-century American balloon tire or "Cruiser" bike. Ah, Cruiser. Such a misused term. 80% of the listings using the term "cruiser" on Portland Craigslist are not actually cruisers. But I digress.

It's hard to tell in the daylight, but along the rims are tiny LED lights.

I wanted to go back later in the evening to check out the bike, but the temperature had already plummeted, and with the descending fog there was risk of black ice. It will have to wait for another night.

The Huckleberry Cycle Truck

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

The "cycle truck" is a style of cargo bike that has a large front basket or platform that is attached to the frame, not the front forks, so the payload does not affect the steering. The payload area generally sits lower than a normal front basket would. And to accommodate the larger and lower front payload area, cycle trucks usually have a small 20" wheel at the front, while the rear is usually a 26" wheel. The low payload, frame-mounted platform, and small front wheel offers stability for cargo loads up to 100 pounds.

Cycle Trucks have been around for a long time. In Europe, cycle trucks are known as "butcher bikes" or "short johns" and are part of the greater cargo bike mix. In the United States, it was one of the few (if not only) two-wheeled cargo bike styles that were produced during the middle part of the 20th Century. Schwinn produced a highly collectible one from 1939-1968 while Worksman, the last "old-school" domestic bike manufacturer, still produces a cycle truck, the "Low Gravity", in pretty much the same way that they did in 1950.

A beautiful example of a restored 1964 Schwinn Cycle Truck. Courtesy Cricket Press.

Transportational cycling has taken off in the last decade, and the idea of a cargo bike has finally caught on in the U.S. While this means the selection of different cargo bike styles like the long john, bakfiets, Christiana trikes, Xtracycles, and what-have-you have exploded, the selection of cycle trucks is still pretty sparse. As I mentioned above, Worksman still makes a cycle truck with a base price about $550, the cheapest you can buy one new. Going up from there, Civia has introduced their Halsted model which retails at around $1100, while local frame-builder Ahearne has his own version that starts at $2750 fully-built ($1750 for frameset) and A.N.T. out in the Boston area has a cycle truck that starts at $3,000 and can go all the way up to $7,000.

For someone like me who already owns a Worksman but who might like a more modern, more lightweight, and more nimble version, the pickings were slim. The Civia Halsted was the only mid-range model, but I'm not that thrilled by its look, nor the fact that it's derailleur-geared. Derailleurs are fine for most purposes, but a heavily laden cargo-bike is better in my opinion with an internally-geared hub, allowing one to downshift several gears at a dead stop if needed. While the Ahearne and A.N.T. versions are beautiful, their pricing is out of my reach for the indefinite future.

Then Huckleberry came along.

Last week, when I went to retrieve my Worksman cycle truck, detailed in the post The Cycle Truck is Back! On the way home I stopped by Oregon Bike Shop to get the bike checked out. There at the shop was a Huckleberry cycle truck on display. Huckleberry is a local frame-builder and Oregon Bike Shop is one of the few shops to carry his cycle truck.

The look of the Huckleberry is closer to an old Schwinn or Worksman than the other modern versions. The classic American mid-century look is something that appeals to me with a bike like this. But the most interesting aspects to the Huckleberry is the deliberate simplicity and the amount of thought that has gone into the overall design. The payload area is a simple platform that another cargo box can go into, like a recycling tub. The front wheel uses a disc brake, and the cable from brake to lever runs internally through the stem, allowing the front wheel to do a 360 without getting caught up in cables. The rear wheel has a new Sturmey-Archer two-speed kickback hub with coaster brake. This means there is no need for cables to go to the rear wheel.

Looks is one thing. But how does it ride? I couldn't resist taking a test ride to find out.

I spun around the neighborhood for a little bit. The two-speed kickback works thusly: the hub starts in low gear, kick back a little to go into high gear (38% increase), and then kick back harder to engage the coaster brake. After braking the hub automatically goes back to low gear. It took a little bit to get used to it, but when I did, it felt natural. Two gears seems like it would be okay for mostly level terrain, however, if more hills were involved, I can see wanting something more like a three, seven, or eight speed hub. This would mar the clean, cable-free look of the bike, though.

As for handling, it did fine. I tried a couple tight-radius turns to see how it did, and it felt good. Of course, I tested the bike with no front load, so I don't know how the bike would feel or handle with a load. But the man behind Huckleberry says he's done extensive riding with an 80 pound (35 kg) load in front.

I have a few minor quibbles with the bike (it would be nicer to have more gears, and dynamo powered lighting would be awesome), but I can't argue with the price: $1100 for a full bike! This puts it at the same price as a Civia, but unlike the Halsted the Huckleberry is built in the U.S. I say that's quite a good deal. Now I'll have to save up my pennies to get one!

Special Offer: Free "Cycle Touring Primer" Giveaway

2011-12-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I made a bunch of my Cycle Touring Primers for the holidays. At some point in the near future I want to make an updated 2nd Edition. And since my cycle-touring experience is strictly limited to the U.S. and Canada, I would love to get more insight and perspective for those of you who have toured or are touring elsewhere.

So I want to give out free copies of the Cycle Touring Primer to those outside of North America!

Do you want to get yourself a copy? You can qualify if:

You must be from outside of the U.S. or Canada.
You must have toured, or are planning to tour in a place that it outside of the U.S. or Canada
You promise to give me feedback

If this is you, and you'd like a copy, please:

email urbanadventureleague ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com In the email, you must include your full name and mailing (postal) address. Please do this with your initial email to save time. I assure you that I won't give your address away to nefarious spammers and the like.

There is no end date on this contest, however it is limited to the first five people who respond and meet the criteria.
UPDATE 10 DEC 2011: Four free copies left!

UPDATE 19 DEC 2011: Three free copies left!
UPDATE 20 DEC 2011:Two free copies left!
UPDATE 20 DEC 2011:ONE free copy left!

BONUS: Write me a nice email, and you'll get extra stuff!

And in case you ask, yes, I know how expensive international postage is. It is one dollar and eighty-two cents in filthy American dollars* to send a copy to you fine folks overseas.

*$1.36 to Mexico. I would put the price to Canada here as well, except I'm not sending any to Canada with this offer.

Bike Tires. Directly?

2011-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 4th. April and I were departing the Bike Craft Fair and heading to the Bike. Walk. Vote. event at Crank bicycles. We decided to use the SE Ankeny Bicycle Boulevard to get between the two since it seemed the most obvious route. This route passes by venerable Citybikes, Portland's long-lived, long-loved worker-owned bicycle shop. There are two locations on Ankeny, the original at SE 19th and the annex at SE 8th. Sometimes there are free bike parts in front of the main shop at 19th, sometimes left by worker-owners, sometimes dropped off by others. I generally scan "the pile" when I pass by. And Sunday night something caught my eye, basically because it's designed to catch a headlight in a dark environment:

This bike tire. So I hollered at April to stop so I can analyze it. Turns out it's a Michelin city tire, 700x32C, in perfect shape! Sweet! April needs a new-ish tire for the rear of her Novarra Randonee. While this tire is not as nice as a Schwalbe Marathon, it is also very very serviceable and very very free.

Also in the pile of tires were these two:

A set of gumwall 26" x 1 3/8" (650A, 590mm, E.A.3) tires also in great shape! With tubes, even! They're Kendas so they're pretty basic tires, but they are free. And they will go quite good on the Rudge project that is up-and-coming. (Yep, that is still a go!)

I may have won the Raving Bike Fiend scoring of free bike stuff award for the night.

New Zinester's Guide is here!

2011-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

I alluded to it in an earlier post, but the 5th Edition of the Zinester's Guide to Portland has just been released! Edited and mostly written by myself and published by Microcosm Publishing, this handy 128 page guide details tons of low-to-no budget and interesting things to do and see in the Rose City. It's a great resource for those of you who might want to travel to Portland at some point, or live already in Stumptown and need something to give your out-of-town guests.

While the super sale is going on ~~(until December 15th)~~, (until January 3rd, 2012!) the 5th Edition will be only $4.00 POSTPAID for delivery in the U.S.!

And since I still have a few, I'm selling the older 4th Edition for only $2.00 while it lasts!

You can check these cool items plus many more over at my "Store".

My Crafty Weekend, where I sat behind a table with my wares for two days then went to a political event where the wife of our possible next mayor said I resembled a former mayor

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

But wait, I never smile! Photo Tomas Quinones

This past weekend was the annual Bike Craft Fair in Portland. It's a bicycle-themed take on the traditional (or truer to form, the hipster version) craft fair. It's happened every December since 2005, and I've tabled every single one. It is the biggest sales-related event that I do annually.

It was mostly a fun experience. But sitting behind a table for seven hours each day and being "on" for those seven hours is a bit exhausting. Especially if you're not getting any attention (or at least not feeling like you're getting attention.) For me I'm on edge until I make the first sale. On Saturday it happened in the first hour, on Sunday it took almost three hours, which meant I was much more on edge for that day.

I've been tabling at events for almost fourteen years. My first tabling experience was at the Alternative Press Expo (APE), an "independent" comics show in San Jose, February 1998.* I embarked a four-day roadtrip in a small car with three other people from the East Coast to get there. It was my first time on the West Coast. And it set into motion the series of events in my life that would lead me to abandon the East for the West, attempt to live in San Francisco, fail, retreat to Portland, succeed to some extent, get into bikes, create the Urban Adventure League, start this blog, go on bike tours, meet and fall and love with April, go on a really long bike tour...you get the picture.

I've done dozens of tabling events in those fourteen years. Some aspects of tabling get easier, while some things never get easier. I think I have an existential crisis at every tabling event, whether it be comic, zine, or bike craft, until I get that first couple sales. "Why am I here? Why am I doing this? I'm a failure." I pretty much say that every time.

Now you might be asking yourself, "If it sucks so much, Shawn, why do you keep on doing it?" Well, because it doesn't really suck. Overall, it's fun and I do well. I see a lot of my friends, meet new people, and check out other cool things. Like I don't think I can go a Bike Craft Fair without buying a new Deller hat:

Shaun Deller is a cool dude. He crafts his hats in this lovely studio somewhere in rural Columbia County:

I'm serious here.

*****

Anyways, Sunday night after drinking free beer from the remaining kegs at Bike Craft, April and I headed up the road to the Bike. Walk. Vote. launch party at Crank Bicycles. Bike. Walk. Vote. is a political action wonkery type thing that works to get pro-bike, pro-pedestrian, pro-transit candidates elected to local offices. They were active a few years ago but went dormant and now are getting back into the thick of things. I went primarily because my awesome friend Steph Routh, head of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition is involved, and also because there was promise of free beer and food. Shawn likes free beer and food.

Courtesy of Portland Afoot.

I didn't really know what to expect with the event. It turned out to be more important than I thought it would be. We got there late, and there was at least 100 people while someone was talking.** I found a corner to dump my stuff and beelined for the free beer and pizza.*** While stuffing my face I said to myself, "Isn't that Earl Blumeauer getting up to speak?"

Ah venerable Earl, my Congressman. His bicycle obsession Steven Colbert found "borders on the interesting", and his bicycle lapel pin even fascinates the British media, causing them to ask "Where can I get one?"****

Earl wasn't the only "big player" in attendance. There were also two mayoral hopefuls: Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith. Hales was a former city commissioner in the 90's and was famously pro-bike and pro-transit. In the bicycling scene Hales is possibly best remembered for his participation in a Critical Mass ride: at the time the cops were being very aggressive on the Mass so CM invited Hales to ride along. The cops were extreme even in front of Hales, which led Hales to tell the police to tone it down.

And somehow I found myself talking to Charlie Hales and his wife Nancy for about ten minutes. I don't remember much about the conversation, since it was mostly my friend Evan talking. But at the beginning Nancy tells me that my rather distinctive form a dress reminds her of former mayor Bud Clark:

She was less referring to any physical resemblance, as I do not have the same St. Nick facial hair as does St. Bud (though I am trying to grow a mustache of epic proportions). More so my clothing attire. I was wearing my wool knickers (which really are the only pants I wear in winter*****) which must of reminded her of Clark's lederhosen, ****** which Bud was fond of wearing.******* Knickers, lederhosen. You say tomato...

If there is one thing in common, both myself and Bud have been known to ride Univegas with rather large Wald front baskets:

Circa 1989. Note Retro-Grouch behind Bud. Is it supposed to be Yehuda Moon's dad?

Circa 2007. Photo J. Maus/Bike Portland

Anyways, it was a good time. Then I went home and crashed, exhausted from the weekend.

**********
Here's a story about Bike Craft on Bikeportland.
Here's a story on Bike Walk Vote on Bikeportland by Michael Andersen.
Here's another story on Bike Walk Vote on the Portland Mercury blog by the S. Mirk.
**********

*Always remember this: Before I was a bike blogger, I was a zinester/comix artist. And I am still a zinester/comix artist.

**Jeff Cogen, Chair of the Multomah County Board of Commisioners

***Beer from Coalition Brewery, pizza by Hot Lips
****I've still got a couple of those pins.
*****For our friends in the Commonwealth, replace "knickers" and "pants" with "somewhat shorter trousers" or "plus-fours".
******For our friends in the Commonwealth, replace "lederhosen" with "lederhosen".
*******If I find a pair that fits, you know I'll be rocking lederhosen too.

It's an OPB and Yarn-Bombed Toosday

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey kids. It's another installment of "Other People's Bikes" here on this beautiful Tuesday in Portlandland. You're tuned in and hanging out with your old buddy Shawn Granton. It's a chilly but sunny December day and traffic once again is backed up on the Banfield. But it doesn't matter, we're on bikes. Anyways...

Yesterday (Monday December 6th) I had a morning meeting with Mirk at Floyd's Coffee on SE Morrison. In front of Floyd's is one of Portland's on street bike corrals. This one happens to be unique because some resourceful and crafty soul or souls has decided to yarn-bomb many of the "staples" in the corral.

With the colors of the rainbow!

Of course I chose the "blue" one. Color coordination and all, since I was riding the Raleigh.

In the non-yarn-bombed area of the corral rested two interesting bikes: a Jorg&Olif loop-framed lovely and a Gary Fisher Simple city bike.

I believe the Jorg&Olif belongs to Michelle P. Cute front wheel bottle dynamo and decorated light.

The Gary Fisher has a Shimano Nexus three speed hub.

Later I had to run a couple errands around SE Grand Ave and Stark Street. This is where I spotted this interesting specimen:

A Columbia Sports 3. Columbia was an old American bike manufactures. During the first bike boom of the 1890's, Columbia under the direction of Colonel Albert Pope was the dominant and most prestigious bicycle manufacturer in the United States. Eighty years later during the 1970's, when this bike was most likely manufactured, Columbia was an also-ran, not as good as Schwinn, yet not turning out millions of pieces of crap like Huffy or Murray. The "Sports 3" was Columbia's attempt at an adult "lightweight" bike in the tradition of a British three-speed. By the '70's, three-speeds were also-run bikes in the U.S., not as cool as a 10-speed.

By itself the bike is not that remarkable. But here's what makes it unique:

A SunTour three speed hub!

SunTour was a Japanese bicycle parts manufacturer renowned for their derailleurs. Their "slant parallelogram" derailleurs revolutionized the industry and they became the dominant and best derailleur manufacturer until their patents ran out and Shimano basically ran them out of business. I've seen SunTour derailleurs before, but never an internally geared hub.

I've seen older Columbia Sports 3s with Sturmey-Archer hubs. When Shimano started making their less-expensive "333" three-speed hub, pretty much all American companies that made three-speeds switched from Sturmey-Archer to Shimano. So I would assume the Columbia would have a Shimano hub for this bike. Why a SunTour? I can only guess it was cheaper.

But how cheap?

Intrigued by the hub, I went to teh internets to find out more. Turns out according to this article that SunTour did not actually make internally geared hubs. They simply had Sturmey-Archer make them some AW hubs and stamped "SunTour" on the shells. This would explain why the SunTour trigger shifter looks more similar to a Sturmey-Archer trigger shifter:

Rather than a Shimano trigger shifter:

It still boggles the mind, though. The Japanese during the 1970's were renowned for taking bike componentry originally designed and/or manufactured in Europe, the UK, and US, and making cheaper and usually better versions of it. Why did SunTour have an English company make their internal geared hub? And wouldn't that make the hub more expensive than it should be? Why would a bike manufacturer like Columbia get a rebadged Sturmey-Archer hub from a Japanese company when they could just get a Sturmey-Archer instead? Global capitalism is a weird thing that I don't fully understand.

Festive Lighting

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I'm not much for the "holiday season". Yet I don't mind getting a little in the mood for it every once in a while. For instance, I often decorate my bicycle with Christmas lights. I've done it off-and-on for many of the years I've lived in Portland. And just like bicycle lights, battery powered string lights have come a long way in the last few years. It used to be that you were stuck with standard bulb lighting powered by 2 C cells that would be dim by Day 3 of use. Now you can get LED string lighting powered by 2 AA batteries that stay bright for weeks.

This week I made the jaunt to a big box store to pick up lights. I'm not disclosing which one it is, besides the fact that it specializes in Scandinavian designed home furnishings. I picked up a few light sets for myself and April.

I decided to do the most festive displays on the Worksman cycle truck. The front of the basket would get a string of white lights and the top tube red. The basket makes a convenient place to mount the battery pack.

While the saddle bag holds the battery pack for the red top-tube lights.

And of course you can really only get the full effect at night.

I may ride this bike up to North Portland on Monday night, where Portland International Raceway has its annual festival of lights. This is normally a "cars only" thing, as it requires driving around the circuit to see all the lights, but they reserve one day for bicycles and pedestrians. I've attended the past couple years, and it's always been a fun, if not chilly, night.

REMINDER: Bike Craft Fair THIS WEEKEND! (Dec 3rd and 4th)

2011-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey folks! I'll be splitting a booth with Elly Blue at Bike Craft Fair at Sandbox Studios, 420 NE 9th Av, this Saturday and Sunday (Dec 3 and 4) from 11 am to 6 pm! Admission is always FREE and there will be plenty of nifty bike crafty goodness to purchase.

And remember if you want to get the discounted rate on items, please mention the "blog discount" or "website discount".

The Cycle Truck is back!

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000-08:00

Spotted at NE 60th and Davis

Yesterday (Tuesday November 29th) I got my Worksman Low Gravity bike, aka the "Cycle Truck" back. You may remember me talking about the Cycle Truck in such "classic" posts such as Bike Crazy, Obsessing over the not-so-important things, The Grocery Run, Cycle Truck Updates, and The Cycle Truck hauls the freight!

I loaned the bike to an acquaintance before leaving for the Cross-Continent Tour. Figured it would be better if it got used. Unfortunately some drama ensued (which I don't want to get into) whether they were going to buy it or not. Finally I went today to collect the bike.

I stopped by Oregon Bike Shop to have some things checked out and adjustments done. Importantly, the Brooks B67 saddle was missing a nut where the rails attach to the spring, so it was a bit loose. Jim gave it a good bill of health so off I went!

Before leaving on the trip, I wasn't so sure what I was going to do with the bike. It was, and is, a beast of a bike. When I need to carry big, bulky things, it's the right tool for the job. But it's not a bike I would use everyday. Riding back home tonight, however, felt different. Somehow the bike felt lighter and more nimble than before tour. It was about 5 miles back home and I had fun every minute. It didn't hurt that another bicyclist shouted "Cycle Truck! Woot!" in passing.

Still, I don't think I'm going to hold on to the Worksman indefinitely. At some point I'll want a cargo bike that's either a more nimble or has more capacity. When I have money, of course.

And I think I found something that has caught my eye...

Healing...

2011-11-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

So it's been a week and a half since my "accident". The healing process has done its wonders so far. Each day the scab above my lip has grown less conspicuous. Some of that is due to it getting smaller, but I've also started to grow a mustache since I don't want to shave around it and to draw attention away from said scab.

I think it hides it well. And anyway, I was looking for an excuse to grow a mustache again. (April doesn't like mustaches.) Maybe in a few weeks it will be of Tweed Ride epicness.

A mustache that would make Greg Norton proud, maybe?

As for the knee, it is coming along well, though not healing as fast as I was hoping. Earlier last week, when I started to ride the bike after taking three days off, I thought I could pull off the Cycle Wild camping expedition that occurred over the weekend. But as the weekend drew closer, I was still hurting. I didn't want to push myself on a 50 mile (one-way) ride when I wasn't sure how my knee would do. And the Clackamas River valley is not the appropriate place to find out--if I couldn't ride anymore, I would have to hope a random vehicle would come by and transport me back home. Once past Estacada, there is no public transport, nor cell-phone service.

It is doing better now. I barely feel the soreness, though in the shower on Sunday I noticed how bruised my right foot is. I must have also hit it in the accident, maybe against my pedal clips. The foot hurt a little last week, but I never looked at it, mostly because I've been wearing socks all the time. Oops.

Hopefully by next weekend my knee will be 100% again and I can go on a long ride.

Other People's Bikes: A Trio of British Three Speeds*

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and welcome to another installment of everyone's favorite game show, "Spot that bike!" And this one is all-British edition. While British built bikes are not uncommon stateside, most of them seen over here are Raleighs. Which makes sense, as Raleigh was the behemoth of the industry and exported a lot of bikes. The three bikes featured today are less commonly seen badges.

First let's go back to the Cross-Continent Bike Tour. While April and I were in Minneapolis, we spotted this beauty outside a liquor store:**

A Dunelt ladies bike in delightful condition! Not a heck of a lot of info online about Dunelt. Sheldon Brown indicates it was a second-tier brand, not as nice as Raleigh/Humber/Rudge. Doesn't matter. Still a beautiful bike, and a lot better than anything Huffy, Murray, or AMF could make at the time. (If you are interested, here's an interesting account about another black ladies Dunelt from Minneapolis from the same era.)

Later on in the tour, but not much later, we were riding through the beautiful Mississippi River valley, the "bluff" country of Minnesota and Wisconsin. We stopped at River Rider bicycle shop in Wabasha, MN and peeped this looker:

A Triumph in terrific condition! Triumph is more known for its motorcycles. Raleigh earned the bicycle rights in 1956 via its acquisition of B.S.A. and used the Triumph badge for more "second-tier" bikes. Triumph bicycles should not be confused with the band Triumph, which was a second-tier Rush.***

Fighting the good fight with bellbottoms. And no, this is not Rush. Seriously.

Finding my way back to the item on hand...Dave, the owner of River Rider said he was basically given this bike for nothing. It sat in someone's garage for 40 years, and they "figured he could do something with it." Yeesh. How I wish I was so lucky!

Finally, we'll come back to Portland where April and I spotted this specimen outside the Clinton Street Theater:

A Philips in phantastic shape! From Sheldon Brown, "A division of B.C.C. (British Cycle Corporation), Phillips, based in Birmingham, was the second-largest British bike maker until merged with Raleigh as part of the TI takeover in 1960. Raleigh-made Phillips models are near the bottom of the quality range." Near the bottom? Pshaw. You're a good bike, Philips. Don't listen to what that mean Sheldon man has to say about you.****

Lamp bracket with "P" cutout.

This Philips is different than the other two bikes featured because it is actually a single speed with coaster brake, not something I normally associate with British bikes of the era. Too bad the day was wet, because I can only imagine how awesome that saddle is that is concealed by the bag. (I was tempted to look, but the owner of the bike came out of a store and gave a disapproving look to all my paparazzi biz-ness.)

Unknown coaster hub.

Tune in next time for more interesting bikes, possibly from far-off lands. And in the meantime you can check some of the interesting bikes I've peeped on my flickr set Interesting Bikes Spotted.

*Okay, two three-speeds and a single speed. But British roadsters and sport-roadsters of that era are generically called "three-speeds", much like road bikes up until the 90's were called "ten-speeds" even if they had 5, 12, or 15 "speeds".

**Surdyk's.

***Yet they were both from Canada, eh?
****No, I don't really think Sheldon Brown is "mean".

Random bike stuff on None More Black Friday

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Flickr/Wikipedia, Joe Goldberg

Black Friday came and went. I did indeed work at the hostel, though I never went to that Bollywood party. Alas.

At the hostel I managed to find this:

I did also find that awesome hemp satchel with the image of a very Euro utility bike at the Hostel , but we'll be talking about the light here.

I lost this Portland Design Works Radbot 500 rear light sometime before I quit the hostel and took off for the crazy Cross-Continent bike adventure. Nowadays having another battery powered blinky light isn't that big of a deal since both my primary bikes, the Raleigh Wayfarer and Surly Long Haul Trucker, have front and rear dynamo powered lamps. But I like having backup blinkies, just in case something happens to a rear light or I really feel like I need the extra "oomph".

On the way back to "the house" I swung by Clever Cycles. And...I bought some stuff. Yes, I know that it's "Buy Nothing Day". Does this make me a bad leftist or something? Anyways...I found these in their "Bakfiets of Bargains":*

A dynamo powered headlamp and taillamp, made by Basta/AXA, a renowned European bike parts company. And for $2 each. Sweet! The catch is these lights are halogen, not LED, hence the sooper-dooper discounted price. (As I was perusing the "Bakfiets of Bargains", Todd, one of the owners walked by and exclaimed, "Halogen is dead!") As far as Todd and I can tell the headlamp does have an LED standlight, as the package indicates there are two LED "safety" lights between the bulb and reflector. I figure we can use these lights on April's Raleigh Sports when we install the dynohub front wheel. I might also pick up an extra headlamp as backup for one of my dyno-powered bikes, in case one gets broken or a tweaker somehow yanks one.** For two bucks you can't go wrong. And now you know where you can get ridiculously cheap halogen dynamo lamps.

(I also picked up a pair of wool undies for ridiculously cheap, but that's a different story.)

And when I got back to "the house" I found this scene in the kitchen:

Why yes that is a Moka Pot in the background!

Our room-mate Donna was "baking" her Brooks. She just got a new Brooks B67 saddle to replace her worn out old one, and decided to expedite the breaking-in process by putting a bunch of Proofide on it and sticking it in the oven for a couple hours. Non-standard, yes. I'm assuming it's also "kosher", because if it wasn't, Mr. Raving Bike Fiend, aka "her husband" would have said something.

Yes, we are bike crazy round these parts.

*Yes, they actually do have a bakfiets filled with bargain-priced items. Alas, I did not take a photo of it.

**I've heard of at least one tweaker attempting to do that here in Portland.

My Sooper-Dooper Sale is continuing on through December 15!

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Black Friday! While some people have been camping at Best Buy since Monday, and some are getting ready to protest the whole ridiculous circus of this consumerist event. I'm assuming you, dear reader, are warm at home somewhere, or maybe on a fun bike ride. Myself? Well, I'm working at The Hostel in the morn (while I did indeed quit before the Cross-Con Tour, I do fill in from time to time), and then going to a Bollywood themed party in the pm.

But maybe at some point, whether today or in the near future, you might be thinking of the whole idea of buying gifts for "The Holidays" or just for yourself. Well, if you like bicycle themed stuff (and I'm assuming you do since you read this blorg), maybe you'll consider purchasing some fine items from myself?

Well if you are, you are in luck! I've decided to continue the special Sale prices through Thursday, December 15! What does that mean?

Posters for $8 each, postpaid!
Postcards and buttons for $1 each!
Zines from $1 to $3 each! This includes the Cycle Touring Primer at $2. You'll be paying $3 for that after the 15th.

Please head on over to my Store to see the selection and purchase what you want! (Prices shown reflect the discounted rate.)

And if you are in the Portland area and rather shop in person than get it through the mail, then please stop by Bike Craft Fair at Sandbox Studios, 420 NE 9th Ave, on Saturday December 3 and Sunday December 4 (11a-6p). Mention the "web special" or "blog special" and get the discounted rates!

More Blog Mentions, and Yes, Tomorrow is a Holiday

2011-11-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Seems like the Urban Adventure League is getting a bit of internet attention this week! First it's the Old Three-Speed Gallery. And today I found out that Adventure Cycling talked about some photos I uploaded to their Group Pool. Highlighted is this piece of bike touring graffiti found atop Loup Loup Pass in Washington:

And if you are in the United States of Something Something, you know that tomorrow (Thursday the 24) is indeed the holiday we call "Thanksgiving". April and I will be celebrating it this year at her family's place in the western suburb known as Beavertron, er, Beaverton. As per tradition, I will stuff myself with Tofurky.

Hope y'all have a good holiday out there!

The Wayfarer Gets More Blog Love!

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! My Raleigh Wayfarer just got selected for an entry on the awesome Old Three-Speed Gallery blog. Check it out here.

Laying Low, Easing In, and Itching to Ride

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Spotted at SE 28th Ave and Brooklyn St, Portland. 11/20/11

Hello friends. Since my spectacular bike crash on Thursday night, November 17th, I've been taking it easy and keeping a low profile. And that hasn't been that hard, since I'm currently unemployed and had no obligations to fulfill over the weekend.

The healing process has been working its thing. My upper lip was pretty swollen on Friday, then subsided Saturday. As of now (Monday night the 21st) it is still slightly swollen. The wound above my lip has scabbed over. My right knee was quite swollen and a bit painful on Friday but the swelling has gone down. I've mostly hobbled around the house, though I've made a daily trek outside for groceries and to get the Long Haul Trucker checked out. One of the great things about where I currently live is that I'm two blocks from a food co-op and a bike shop; how's that for convenience!

I've kept off the bike for three days due to the knee. On Monday I made my first journey on two wheels since the crash. I wanted to see how both my knee and my bike were handling. Both did well. I was a little nervous and shaky as one tends to be on the first few rides after an accident. (I did ride after I crashed, but I was full of adrenaline then.) I'm taking baby steps with getting back into riding; Monday's journey was a 2.5 mile (4 km) round-trip. Each day I hope to increase the mileage a little bit more. I hope I'm in good biking shape by the weekend because I plan to go bike camping.

Bike camping? In late November? After a 4,000 mile bike tour?

Yep. Despite the road taking its toll, I'm itching to get out there again. I was thinking how I could do that at this time of year with my limited (read: no) finances. And then Matt Picio put out the call last Thursday for those interested in biking out to the Clackamas River in Mt. Hood National Forest this Saturday. The Clackamas is a beautiful area, and a favorite bike camping destination for many of us due to its scenery and access: it's about 30 miles (50 km) from the eastern suburbs. As for its beauty, I'll let some of these photos from Brad Reber speak for that.

It won't be this dry and warm this weekend. Photo: Brad Reber

Doesn't this look like fun? Photo: Brad Reber

Of course it's going to be cold* this weekend, highs maybe 45F (7C), lows maybe 35F (2C). And damp. (There is the chance of a little snow at the elevation we'll be camping.) And dark early. Not exactly the most conducive conditions for camping. But I've been wanting to try my hand at off-season camping for awhile. I've done it once: March of 2010 I decided to trek up to Battle Ground Lake for an overnight. Unfortunately I did it alone, so it wasn't as fun as I hoped it to be. This time there will be company, and hopefully a good fire, something to keep us warm. Hopefully the ride still happens. And I'm ready for it.

*Yeah, we know how cold it is in the upper Midwest right now, thankyouverymuch.

New stuff for the Raleigh Wayfarer Mystery File

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Wayfarer reposes on the pedestrian bridge by Union Station, 10/29/11

It's been almost a year since I purchased my trusty Raleigh Wayfarer from the bowels of East Vancouver. What initially started as a lark, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a vintage British 3-Speed?" has turned into something more. An initial $30 investment turned into an almost $400 project. I made a bike that was remedially rideable into something appropriate for everyday use. In the process I learned a lot about classic bikes and vintage British 3-Speeds.

What I haven't learned much about is the particular "Wayfarer" model. When I got the bike I looked anywhere I could on the internet for information. Scant info came up. While Raleigh is/was a rather large bicycle manufacturer, this particular model was elusive. I shared what I knew in the post The Wayfarer Mystery back in December, 2010. It can be summed up as such:

Sheldon Brown has no mention of this model.
None of the Raleigh catalogs I could find online featured this model.
All of the other photos of the Wayfarer that I could find online were from the U.K. (See this search on flickr for more.) When I got the bike, the brake levers were the reverse of what would normally be found on a U.S. bike (left=front) but what would normally be found on a U.K. bike (right=front). This led me to suspect it was a U.K. only model that somehow made its way over here.
Every single Wayfarer I have seen is blue.
There is also evidence of a BSA branded Wayfarer. Here is an illustration of one.

As described by Mr. Raving Bike Fiend in the comments from the original entry: "The B.S.A. Wayfarer looks nearly identical to the Raleigh although it does not have the Heron chain ring...It would be a good guess that Raleigh kept the Wayfarer model in production after dropping the BSA variant and offered it at a lower price point than the Sports."
As described by Mr. C of Manchester Cycling in the comments from the original entry: "Raleigh had an unhelpful habit of using the same names on different bikes and at different times (for example, the Stowaway). many times the same basic bike was given a different name or a different captive brand was used so that Raleigh could sell what was essentially the same bike to different companies with the benefits of calling them exclusivity deals. The main differences between these models would often be no more major than the chainring pattern, headlamp bracket or chain-guard style (in addition to bundled acessories). "

In the intervening year I haven't found much more about the Wayfarer model, but there have been intriguing developments.

Firstly, I've found some photos of a B.S.A. Wayfarer. This example come courtesy of flickr user niniferrose:

Ladies frame. By niniferrose. Note BSA chainring.

Looks pretty similar to this 1971 model of Raleigh Wayfarer:

Courtesy ninferrose.

Raleigh owned BSA and the last year that I saw the BSA Wayfarer listed in photos was 1970. It's a good assumption that Raleigh dumped the BSA moniker then, as Raleigh owned like half of the UK brands at the time. They wanted to continue the Wayfarer model after that (maybe for market share or name protection) so rebadged Wayfarers as Raleighs, with minor cosmetic changes (badge, Raleigh front fork, Raleigh Heron chainring.)

On a side note: BSA stood for Birmingham Small Arms, a manufacturer of guns, bicycles, and motorcycles. The bicycle division got eaten by the giant Raleigh megalith around 1957. BSA bikes are uncommon in the States. But Americans should know about BSA. Yes, they should. At least if they were alive and coherent in 1987.

The assumption so far has been that the Wayfarer was a lower-priced model than a Sports. Though if it was, some of the Wayfarers were equipped with Sturmey-Archer Dynohubs (in the rear hub) as seen on this photo:

Courtesy niniferrose.

Wish I could have gotten a model with a Dynohub in it!

The other interesting tidbit came recently from an ad in Craigslist. Someone is selling a Western Flyer "Wayfarer".

Western Flyer was the house brand of Western Auto. Typically these bikes are American boat-anchors, usually made by the likes of Huffy, Murray, or AMF-Roadmaster. But the seller indicates that the bicycle is labeled as "Made in England". It has cottered cranks, lugs, 26" x 1 3/8" tires, and a Wrights saddle. All tell-tale signs of British bikes. It looks like Western Flyer did the same thing as some other American bike makers did in the 1960's: If you want a quality adult three-speed, import one from England and put your badge on it. Huffy did it with the Sportsman. So it's possible this was simply a BSA or Raleigh Wayfarer with a Western Flyer badge. Interesting!

Big thanks to niniferrose for gracious use of his photos in this post.

Bike Photo of the Day: A Set of Four Brooks Saddles

2011-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, that last post was heavy, so here's something lighter.

On Thursday November 17 I stopped by the Seven Corners New Seasons Market on SE Division and spotted three bikes with leather Brooks saddles. Of course I had to add my bike to the set! Of course I had to take a photo. Of course the three dudes who owned the bikes came out when I was taking the photo, and gave me a puzzled look.

The bikes, from rear to front:

Custom Milholland bike

My Surly Long Haul Trucker

Univega Gran Turismo

Custom Ira Ryan bike

The saddles all look to be B17s, except for my Champion Flyer, which is basically a B17 with springs.

For fancy notes on the photo, go check it out on my flickr.

Eating It: (Mis)Adventures in Urban Cycling, or Stupid Bicyclist Tricks

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

From flickr user Faceless B

The tracks. Bane of the Portland cyclist's life.

Portland is almost as renowned for its rail transportation as it is for its bicycling. But our current rail transit network is pretty recent: the first MAX light-rail line opened in 1986. The Portland Streetcar came in 2001. We don't have "heavy rail", so much of our network is street-level. And we have a lot of freight rail across the city as well. Which means there are plenty of crossing of tracks in this town.

And those tracks love grabbing bicycle wheels.

Now the easiest way to avoid "eating it" on the tracks is to avoid streets with tracks. But inevitably one will need to cross tracks, so the best way to do it without crashing is crossing perpendicular to the tracks, at a right angle. Still, the tracks claim so many bicyclists each year, inexperienced and experienced alike. I know too many people, whether personally or friends of friends, who have eaten it in the tracks. Stories of broken arms, wrists, collarbones, teeth. The adage is if you haven't eaten it yet, just wait.

For ten years I managed to keep off that list. I followed the safest practices when dealing with tracks, and prided myself on that.

Until last night.

*****

Thursday November 18. A dark and rainy night, a little after 9pm. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance just had a little shindig to celebrate their new digs in the Pearl. But it was done, and I was done, so I headed home. I opted to use the bike lanes on the Burnside Bridge. After crossing, my plan was to turn right onto Martin Luther King Blvd and then right onto SE Ankeny in order to get to SE Water Avenue. MLK has a fresh set of Streetcar tracks running down it here and turning right and staying in the right lane put me in between the rails. This was a stupid move, hands down, but I don't know what I was thinking. (Especially since I could have just stayed on Burnside for a few more blocks and cross all the tracks perpendicularly.) So turning right meant onto Ankeny meant cutting across a track. A wet track. And not perpendicularly. At speed. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn't.

And you can guess the outcome. BAM. I'm down on the pavement, face first.

I quickly got up and dragged myself and my bike to the side of the road. MLK is a busy street, thankfully no car was right behind me. Shaken and jacked up, I assessed the situation. Nothing felt broken. Bike doesn't look obviously broken. But my face: shit. I'm bleeding quite good from above my lip. Fuck. And I didn't have a mirror to see how I looked. I stood there for about five minutes, dabbing blood off of my face with a handkerchief, cursing myself for my stupidity. I had no one else to blame for this but me.

So I calmed down and got on my bike. It still rides, good. I rode home, occasionally dabbing my face with the kerchief. When I arrived at home I looked in the mirror. Shit. I took out a good little chunk of skin above my lip, plus scuff my chin a bit. And my right knee: it was bruised and hurting as well, but not a dire oh-shit pain. April assessed the sitch and said "You need stitches." Fuck. And no place to go but the Emergency Room.

Somehow I have managed to go my entire adult life without having to go to the ER. I've been to Urgent Care a few times, but the last ER visit for me was back in 1978 when I needed stitches on my chin. Guess there's a first time for everything, but I was really hoping I would still be on health insurance when this happened. (I think if I had insurance I would have just rode to the ER without going home first.)

I was in no state to bicycle the four miles to Legacy Emmanuel Hospital so we enlisted the aid of a friend, Heather. She drove us to the hospital with a Zipcar and left us to deal with the hospital. Thankfully the ER experience moved through relatively fast, and no one gave me shit. When they found out that I ate it on the tracks, I got a knowing nod. "Yeah, we've treated a lot of people here that have done that." There was some debate amongst the doctors whether stitches would do any good since I lost enough skin, but they ended up doing it. Now I have five stitches on my face, a fresh tetanus shot, and a packet of antibiotics and pain killers. Three hours it was done and April and I took a cab home.

*****

This morning I look like I took a hit from a boxer. My upper lip is swollen and I have a good gash above it. My right knee swelled up and is in mild pain. No bicycling for a few days until it goes down. I feel stupid more than anything. If I was thinking clearly this whole experience could have been easily avoided.

But it could have been worse. I could have broken something, which has happened to a lot of people who ate it on the tracks. The bike I was riding, the Surly Long Haul Trucker, survived as well. I hobbled over to a local bike shop to have it checked and they gave it a clean bill of health. To be honest, I was almost a more worried about breaking the bike than myself. The hospital is most likely going to write off my bill as a "charity case" since I am so broke, but there ain't no such service for a bike. And blood is easily cleaned off a waxed cotton rain cape. (I'm sure you wanted to know that.)

Yes, it could have been much, much worse. I could have been eaten by an alligator.

From bikeportland.

WPC "Thanks!"

2011-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey, I don't really show my art on this blog, but I probably should start.

Here's a little something I did for the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition. Steph Routh, their Executive Director, is a friend of mine, and needed an image to go on their thank-you cards. They just had their big awards ceremony a couple weeks ago. This is what I came out with.

What do you folks think?

Adventures in Shellac: Fancy Bicyclist Part 7

2011-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome friends to another installment of the Fancy Bicyclist!

Today we'll be talking about shellac.

No, not those guys.

Shellac is a natural resin which comes from the lac bug and is normally used as a protective coating or finish on wood. But it can coat other things like cloth, twine, and cork. This comes in useful for bicycles, as one can shellac cork grips, cork tape, or cloth tape. As Velouria explains so eloquently on Lovely Bicycle:

When you cover your handlebars in cloth tape, two things will happen to them over a surprisingly short time period: They will get dirty from your hands rubbing road dust into them, and they will get soggy from rain and sweat - which can cause the tape to distend, discolor, and even rot eventually. Shellac will form a protective layer that will prevent this from happening.

So it's pretty...and functional. I can attest to both. If I didn't shellac my cork tape on the bars of my Long Haul Trucker before the four month Cross-Con Tour, I would have needed new tape by now.

Still, the shellac doesn't last forever and will start wearing off from the constant rubbing of hands against bars. Once you decide to shellac, you are committed to shellac. You will need to reapply. My fancy twining (that I spent three hours on before departure, three hours that could have been spent, I don't know, sleeping*) started to unravel by the end of month one, and by month two it was pretty ravaged.

Thankfully I was in Edmonton, where Mr. Keith Raving Bike Fiend saved my ass (or would that be arse?) once again. He fixed the twine, showing me a better way than I did it, and re-shellacked everything.

Of course by the time I got back to Portland the shellac was pretty worn so I went out and bought myself a new can of shellac.** This time I opted for amber color vs. clear. These were the results after about four coats.

I think they came out nicely.

Unfortunately one 100 kilometre ride wore a bunch of shellac off. I think it was all the rubbing of wet wool gloves. So I reapplied another layer. I don't have photos of this time, but for some reason some parts came out grayish. I don't know what exactly caused that.

And since I did the bars on the Long Haul Trucker, might as well re-shellack the cork grips on the Raleigh Wayfarer.

Not too shabby either.

Join us next time at Fancy Bicyclist for our next installment: How to obsess and futz with every little detail on your bike!

*Sleeping is for loooosers.
**Of course one can get shellac flakes and then mix it with alcohol, because that is so old-school and "artisan". But I'm just a Fancy Bicyclist, not a Fancy Ass Bicyclist.

Don't Know What You Got ('til it's gone)

2011-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Oh Tom Kiefer, you are so right.

I've been thinking a bit about the upcoming Palm Tree Ride in January. In the couple months leading up to the ride during my wanderings around town I keep my eyes open for new palm locations. This is how I have found all the palms for the rides I've done over the past seven years. It's also how I find other interesting things around town.

The upcoming Palm Tree Ride is themed "back to our roots". As I've tried to explore different regions of the city after the first two rides, this one will be a return to the palms of the first couple rides. So I've been passing by these palms to make sure that they are still there. For the most part they are. But on Wednesday November 2nd I made a shocking discovery: one of Portland's tallest, if not tallest, palms is no more.

There was a Chinese Windmill palm growing in front of the apartment building at 2525 NE Glisan. I unfortunately don't have a great shot of the palm, but thanks to Google Street View, you can see what it looks like:

View Larger Map
And in case that don't work:

I don't know for sure when this palm was planted, but it's been long enough for it to be as tall as the three story building. The apartment building was built in 1922. I don't think it was planted then (though I think windmill palms can live quite long), but it had been there for awhile. I remember that this particular palm was featured in a Willamette Week "Best of Portland" piece years back and someone mentioned it might have been planted in the 1940s. I can't find that piece (no thanks to Google) and the date they determined was conjecture anyway. It's safe to assume the palm was old.

So I was startled to find out that it was gone.

I wonder what happened. Was the tree sick and old and needed to be cut down? Or did the owner simply decide they didn't want it there anymore? If it's the former, I can understand cutting it down. But if it's the latter, that's a shame.

I know that some people hate palm trees. Too much association with California, and more specifically, Californians. So cutting down the palm could be seen as a "justifiable" act. Let's face it: there are no protected palm trees in Portland. You'll never see one be considered for Heritage Tree status. Palms don't look like they belong here. But how many of Portland's Heritage Trees are actually native to this area? Or most of our street trees? Those lovely trees that we admire, most of them are native to areas east of the Rockies or the Mississippi. How's that for local?

And that spindly windmill palm, clinging on for dear life to the side of that apartment building, was the closest thing to a heritage palm tree we might ever get.*

Let's face it: we're more apt to tear down things from our recent past or things we don't feel belong here than "historic" buildings. But what is historic? Don't we need to preserve some aspects of every era, even if we find it ugly at the time? In the 1950's Portland went to work tearing down block upon block of 19th Century cast-iron buildings. Why? Because they were "ugly" and "old". We lost a great chunk of history. Thankfully in the 1970's the tide changed and preservation was a buzz word. But preservation of things of a certain age. Or of "historic value".

Who determines historic value, anyway? As documented in Dan Haneckow's excellent blog Cafe Unknown Portland just recently down Hotel West where the famed punk club Satyricon was located. While the building itself was not "architectually significant", Satyricon was culturally significant. It was where Kurt met Courtney, for one. But that mattered little in the eyes of the preservationists. So down it went. Twenty years from now, will we look back on this and think that we were foolish?

I was a bit steamed, to say the least.

Thankfully the palm tree just around the corner was still standing.

I think the palm compliments the Del Ray Apartments quite well.

And I found something else to cheer me up: a madrona tree! I spotted this beauty on NE Everett near 24th.

Love the exfoliating bark!

Now ironically enough madrones are native to this area. They are in fact the only broadleaf evergreen we got native to this part of the Northwest. But you rarely see them around town, because they make bad street or yard trees. Not so much due to the litter of leaves and exfoliating bark but more due to soil. Madronas like well drained soil. That's a reason why they cling to hillsides, and why most of them are found along the bluffs lining the Willamette. Most people don't want to go through the trouble of planting them on their property.

I like including madronas along with other "exotics" as eucalyptus on my Palm Tree Ride. So I lost an old friend and gained a new one for this upcoming tour.

*The palm on SE 22nd and Stephens would be the runner-up.

Other People's Bikes, Part 4: A Vegan Block Twofer Tuesday

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's Twofer Tuesday here at the station rockin' the Willamette Valley, KUAL!*

And the bikes chosen for the "twofer" were found at the on-street bike rack on SE Stark St at 12th, in front of Sweetpea Bakery/Herbivore/Food Fight/that tattoo place. Yes, Portland's "Vegan" block. The bikes were spotted last Wednesday, November 9, when April and I were on our way to Vancouver.

First up is the mystery bike.

The head badge and any identifying decals have been removed or covered up, replaced by a gaudy lime green paint job. What kind of bike is it?

I'm no bike expert, but I think I've guessed what this vintage three-speed ladies frame bike is. A Sears. Or more specifically, a "Made in Austria" Sears. I mentioned this interesting "collabo" while talking about the Ska Huffy. During the '60's Sears seemed to really want to compete with bike shops by offering decent quality bikes that were cheaper than what could be purchased at a bike shop but better than a Walmart. Since no America company save for Schwinn were really making "quality" bikes (and Schwinn wouldn't make rebadged department store bikes by this point), and Japan was a blip on the horizon, the place to go was Europe. (The dollar was much stronger then!) It would have seemed logical for Sears to get Raleigh to make a three-speed for them, but instead they went to Steyr-Puch in Austria. Steyr-Puch primarily made three-speeds for Sears, but did also make a few early ten speeds for the behemoth American retailer. By the mid-seventies it was more economical for Sears to get its bikes made in Japan or the US and they seemed to care less about quality at this point, so they stopped selling "Made in Austria" Sears bikes.

The main clue that makes me think it's a Sears-Puch is the three speed hub:

It's not a Sturmey-Archer, nor a Shimano.** It's a Sachs Torpedo.

Sachs Torpedos were used on the Sears-Puch three-speeds, and I doubt there are other bikes that we'd find of this age in the US that would have a Sachs hub. More about Sachs/SRAM here.

It also has three piece cottered cranks, when all American bikes of this era (save high-high end Schwinn and small framebuilders) used one-piece Ashtabula cranks.

And lugs. Also something you didn't really see in the US.

And the tires? 26" x 1 3/8", aka E.A.3, aka 650A, aka 590mm. Still in pretty nice condition.

The one major bummer of this bike besides the paint job is the lack of parts. No front brake, shifter cable, etc. No worries! The person selling the bike ($45 when I last checked) has all the parts. They can be found at St. Francis. Why don't you go make an offer?

*****
The other bike that caught my eye was this pinkish lovely:

The first thing that caught my eye other than the paint job was the brand. Ray Inkley. Not much I can find on the internets other than Ray Inkley was a racer and framebuilder from the UK, building bikes in Lincoln, UK during the 70's and 80's. So it's quite exotic as it is.

But upon closer inspection I notice: IT'S A THREE SPEED! Sturmey-Archer, of course.

I couldn't tell which S-A hub, though. I thought it might be a more exotic fixed gear three-speed hub. But when I blew up the photo, I could tell it is an AW hub, the "standard."

I really like all the attention to detail, like the matching grips and U-Lock "cozie". Someone really loves this bike.

And loves Brixton as well.

*****
Next up a "twofer" from BadCo!

*Yes, I do realize there is a KUAL and it is located in Minnesota. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KUAL

**I don't think there was ever an American manufacturer of three speed hubs. The most we got was the two speed kickback, which was made by Bendix and/or New Departure. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

I'm in a book! (Or two.)

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I've been so busy getting settled back into Portlandia that I've forgotten to mention I have written a chapter in a brand-new book about bicyles!

Amy Walker, former editor/publisher of Vancouver based Momentum Magazine has put together a book on the "new" bicycling. Titled On Bicycles, it featured contributions from a bunch of different peeps on various subjects. I wrote the chapter on "Traveling with Bikes". Here's the official description:

Bike culture is exploding in cities like Portland, OR, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal, and Vancouver, BC. Whether people are riding folding bikes to the commuter train, slipping through traffic on streamlined single speeds, or carrying children and groceries on their cargo bikes, bicycles are making urban life more dynamic and enjoyable — simply better.

Amy Walker has been at the forefront of this trend as cofounder of Momentum magazine, which chronicles and inspires urban bike culture and transportation cycling. In On Bicycles, she gathers a wide-ranging group of cycling writers to explore the ways that biking can change, and is changing, people’s lives. From utility bikes that are becoming the primary mode of transportation for entire families to the artistic creations of freakbike riders, On Bicycles has something for everyone who has ever ridden a bike.

Topics include:

* cargo bikes * bike parties * a history of bike advocacy
* the bike-craft boom * folding bikes * recumbents * biking with kids
* handmade bikes * car-free streets * relocalizing * bike style
* collective bike shops * women and bikes * and many more

You can pick it up from your favorite local bookstore, or order online from Powells or Amazon.

*****

I didn't write anything in it, but somehow I got asked to do a pull quote for the back cover of the Second Edition of The Portland Red Guide by Michael Munk, with great art by Icky Apparatus. It's a handy history of various progressive/radical things that have occurred through Portland's history, but done in guide book style. You'll get to see where these events happened and what's there now. You can also purchase it through Powells

and Amazon.

My First Randonneuring Adventure!

2011-11-14T00:00:00.001-08:00

I remember the first time I heard about randonneuring. It was probably 2002 or 3 and there was a story about randonneuring in the now-dead Oregon Cycling newspaper/magazine. The person who wrote it was definitely a hard-core randonneur who did 1000 kilometre rides. She talked about taking quick naps while holding onto a signpost, still in the bike saddle, because they were that exhausted and did not have time to properly sleep. This did not appeal to me.* So "randonneuring" got pushed to the back of my mind.

Fast forward to the last couple years. I start hanging out with folks who are into randonneuring. I learn that it's not all about 1000k rides but more on the 2-300k. And that while there is definitely a "roadie" contingency to this recreational activity, it's not dominated by that type of bicyclist. My friends who randonneur aren't that type of cyclist. It started to sound more appealing. But I still didn't participate in a ride, mostly because most events are on the weekend, and I tended to work weekends.

And there's the whole "sport" aspect of it. I never was sports, got picked last for the team, hated gym, all that jazz. While getting some exercise could definitely be seen as a reason for getting into cycling, I got into it more because of the transportation and environmental aspects, not for competition. I don't really like competitive activities. And while randonneuring is no race, there is somewhat of a competitive aspect to it. My friends who liked randonneuring tended to be into other competitive bicycle things as well, like cyclocross.

Now since I've gotten back from the Cross-Con Bike Tour, I'm unemployed, so that means weekends are free! And then I caught word that the famed Verboort Sausage Ride would be happening on Saturday, November 5, so April and I signed up for it.

Even though I felt I was ready for the ride, I still was nervous. Would I complete the ride?

The two things I worried most about was the length of the ride and my bike.

I've done 100 miles on my bike fully loaded, so I know I could pull of riding 100 km (62 miles) unloaded. And with a little bit of preparation I could pull off 200 km (125 miles.) But I've never done a ride within a certain timeframe. And that is one of the core ideas of randonneuring: a time limit. I would have six and three-quarters hours to complete the 62 miles. This would mean I had to maintain an average speed above 10 miles per hour, including breaks. I know I can keep up a speed like that for awhile, but for how long? Would I get tired and wear out before I was done? Would I be at the back of the pack?

As for the bike worry, my primary "road" bike is the Long Haul Trucker. It's great for touring, but it's a heavy, not-fast bike. Would I need something with "low trail" and 650B wheels? Would everyone else have bikes with "low trail" and 650B wheels? Didn't somebody say that you couldn't have a handlebar bag on a Long Haul Trucker because "it doesn't work?"

Ryan and son on Ed's Santana tandem

*****
Saturday morning, November 5. April and I wake up at 5:30am. Damn early. We shovel food and coffee down our throats and get ready. At 7am, James, our ride, picks us up. Normally I don't care for the idea of "driving to ride", but the start of this ride is in the far-west suburb of Forest Grove, a 30 mile ride from the house, or two hours by transit. Neither of us relished this idea. The ride to the start was dark and uneventful. A steady rain fell. It figures; the days before (and after) the ride were nice. The only rain all day type of day would be the day of the ride.

We got to the meeting point, McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, at 8am. People started to filter in. At first they seemed to be more "roadie" looking; older, lycra, nice road bikes. Then folks that are more my peer group started to show up, including some of my friends. As for me worrying about my bike, I spotted at least five other Long Haul Truckers. With 60 riders, that's 10% of the bikes! Besides a full array of Showers Pass jackets, the catalogs of both Rivendell and Velo Orange were well represented.

We signed papers, paid a $2 entrance fee (the first time I've ever paid an entrance fee for a bike ride), got our brevet cards, and heard a speech by David, one of the organizers, it was 9am and time to go!

Before the ride, April and I decided that we would go at our own pace, so I ended up ahead of her. The first segment to the manned checkpoint at Longbottoms Coffee** was pleasant. I got passed by riders and passed some riders. I got to Longbottoms just before 10am. I had kept up a pace near 14 m.p.h. Sweet.

The first segment was nice, but had some suburban aspects to it. After Longbottoms the ride changed over to rural. The route crept closer to the Tualatin Mountains and we had a few climbs. Passing through North Plains I had one of our few hiccups of the ride; a group of us got scolded by an Oregon State Trooper over his loudspeaker to "keep it single file unless passing."*** Dude, you are misinformed.

My bike against Ed's CETMA Long-John cargo bike (which he rode from Portland!) at the Snoozeville control.

From North Plains it was a meandering, gentle upgrade along Dairy Creek Road to the "town" of Snoozeville. This seven miles one-way (14 round-trip) was my favorite. Low traffic, scenic, alpaca farms, other cyclists to keep me company. Snoozeville wasn't a town anymore, but Ed was there, waiting for us and providing vegan sausage. Yum! The descent was fun, though my hands were cold for the first mile or so.

Lovely bicycles at the Snoozeville checkpoint

By this point I was passed the half-way mark. I was feeling a little worn, but not much. I was happy that I managed to keep up the pace. When I started I didn't know if I would able to finish or not, but now I knew I would, and I was looking forward to finishing the route. More farms and woods were in store. The route passed through Banks so I made another bathroom and food pit stop.

I finally rolled to the endpoint in Verboort, right at 3pm, exactly six hours from when I started (and forty-five minutes before the event ends).

Can you see how tired I was passed the smile? Photo Theo Elliot.

My brevet card at completion.

And my cycle computer. 61.3 miles in 4h38? Average speed 13.2 mph? Not too shabby. Photo by Theo.

I was tired, hungry, happy, and excited. I completed my first randonee! And got a pin to prove it.

I waited for April to show up. She showed up right at 3:45pm with Elly. They were the last riders. April managed to get a flat which slowed her down. We hung out at the stop with Theo and Caroline and then rode another seven miles from Verboort to Hillsboro to catch the MAX into Portland. (We couldn't get a ride home).

*****
I am happy with the outcome. I managed to overcome my fears and did something new. The completion of my first 100k rando event was a big confidence boost. I've been down a lot lately, struggling to get back into the swing of things, stressed and depressed about my financial situation and lack of job. Knowing that I still have it in me to see things through is encouraging.

And you know what? Randonneuring is fun. While I figured that I could probably complete 100km in 6:45, I didn't know if I'd necessarily enjoy doing it. Now since I've done it I can say I do. I will definitely pull a 100km Populaire at some point, and want to be able to do a 200km Brevet at some point too. Maybe even 300km after that. After that? Maybe I will come to enjoy sleeping while holding onto a signpost while still in the saddle.

*****
For more perspective on this Verboort Sausage Populaire, check out April's writing here.
The fabulous Ms. Elly Blue wrote about it twice (twice!) at Taking the Lane and Grist. (and photos here.)
David Parsons, one of the ride organizers (he rode "sweep" behind Elly and April) has a report here.
Theo Roffe, another organizer, has photos here.
And Ryan "Captain Hairdo" Good, a rider who rode a tandem with his son, has shots here.

*Nor does it still. But who knows how I'll feel after a few more years of this?
**No, I do not like their coffee.
***The only other time I've ever had this happen while on bike was by another Oregon State Trooper going up to Mackenzie Pass. Don't know what it is about them.