Junk in the front: A personal history with the Basket Bike

When I got the Raleigh Crested Butte, it wasn't with the intention that there would be a basket in the front. It's just the way it turned out.

Y'see, if I go too long without a basket bike, I go into withdrawals. I don't realize my need for the basket bike until after I get rid of one, of course.

My first two bikes in Portland, my Giant Rincon and my 70's Schwinn three-speed weren't basket bikes per se, but each of them sported one of those Wald quick release baskets at some point. My first true "Basket Bike" was the Schwinn Collegiate given to me by my old room-mate Chris Larson in spring of 2006. True, it didn't sport a basket until I got one, but something about a vintage Schwinn just calls out "Wald basket".

The Collegiate in action at the Clown Wedding Parade, 2006. Yes, how Portland. Photo J. Maus.

I enjoyed the bike while I had it, but it only lasted me a year before it moved on. I couldn't stand it's primitive sixties rear derailleur, which would only ever get at best four (but sometimes only three) of the five speeds. Also I hated those Schwinn specific 26" x 1 3/8" wheels and all the problems it caused.

It wasn't long, however, until I found another basket bike: the Univega Safari Ten bought for $30 in White River Junction, Vermont (of all places.) I had the bike rebuilt as a three speed with a Sturmey Archer AW hub. And yep, on went a Wald basket! First was the venerable 139, then the uber basket 157. The Giant Delivery Basket hauled lots of groceries and the bike served me well for almost three years, until the bikes started to over-run the stable and I realized I didn't use the bike much.

Pedalpalooza 2009. Photo J. Maus.

And then the Worksman Cycle Truck entered the mix, with its more-basket-than-bike approach. Much has been written about that bike here.

And now, the Raleigh Crested Butte is basket bike number four!

What is it about "junk in the front" of baskets that I like? Well, there's a few reasons:

• It's nice to be able to see your payload. No worries if something fell off (or is about to fall off) and you can get to things easily in transit.
• You can carry objects that are too big to be transported in a typical pannier or backpack/shoulder bag. Those same objects can be carried on a rear rack, but can be unwieldy (unless it's a long tail cargo bike.)
• They look cool.
• Tres retro Americana. America doesn't have much of a tradition of utility bicycling, except when it comes to front baskets. And WALD baskets are still made in the USA, a rarity for American bike parts.
• Grant Petersen likes 'em. (Wait, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud.)

While the Crested Butte is Basket Bike Number Four, it's still the first time I've mounted the basket "The Rivendell Way", using a hardware-less basket ziptied to a front rack, versus the typical "bolt to handlebars" method. And I am seeing the advantages to this method. It's versatile, for one; if I don't want to use the basket for some reason, it's removed in a minute without tools or rerouting cables. And the rack sits lower than the typical basket would, meaning a more stable load. The lower basket means I can fit taller items in the basket and not have to worry about conflict with the handlebars. And I can use a handlebar-mounted bottle cage with no problem!

One of the things I've been doing for my recent basket bikes is finding a good lock-top water resistant plastic storage container. I find the largest one that will fit. This way I have something to schlep books, zines, and goods for store orders and various craft shows.

The only problem that remains is what to do with a battery powered headlamp, because I don't want to mount it to the handlebars. How I solved this problem will be talked about in the next post. 

Bike Comic: Saddle Theft, 26-28 March 2012

Yep, the epic telling of the stolen saddle saga, in comics! Remember, click to embiggen.

The Worksman Low Gravity: SOLD!

I had hinted about it a week and a half ago, when the Brooks B67 saddle on the "Cycle Truck" got jacked. But now it's official:

My Worksman Low Gravity, aka "Cycle Truck", is up for sale. has been sold. (see bottom of post)

This wasn't the easiest decision to make. I almost sold it during the Cross-Con Tour, when an acquaintance needed a cargo bike and I needed the money. But after being jerked around by said acquaintance for several months, I took the Worksman back. At that point, I was happy to get it back, because I thought I was going to do more with it.

But six months since our return to Portland, the Cycle Truck has languished way more than it has been used. I've only ridden it a handful of times: to Bike Craft Faire and to pick up a couple large loads of stuff.

To be honest: most of the things I need on a day-to-day basis can be transported by either the Long Haul Trucker or the Raleigh. I rarely need that much cargo space. This wouldn't matter as much if the bike was more nimble, lighter, etc. It ain't. It can be an effort getting the bike to certain parts of town, especially if it's uphill.

I did have plans to do more things with it: get a drum brake for the front (it only has a rear coaster brake), figure out a lighting system, etc. I even had some ambitions of using it as a delivery vehicle, maybe for pizza delivery. Or maybe start a Cycle Truck Delivery Service! Then the reality of these ideas hit me: starting a delivery business would mean a lot of hustle. Hustle on a bike that I didn't feel like riding that much.

Don't get me wrong. I still think this is a cool bike. But I don't have the room for it anymore, and I could honestly spend the money on other bike related things, like drivetrain replacement on the Long Haul Trucker. And I've come to the realization that I'm not necessarily in love with this particular bike, but the idea of the bike. I like Cycle Trucks. But I want a more modern, more nimble version, not this tried-and-true American classic. It's been cool to own a piece of American history for a year and a half. But it's time to let go and move on.

UPDATE 4 APRIL 2012, 12:45 PDT: The Worksman has just been SOLD! Josh, hope you have some fun with the bike!

You can file this day under: Bad Day.

I'm not in a good mood right now, so I apologize for the meh-ness of this entry. But please allow me to vent, as you'll see, I have a right to vent.

On Thursday morning, I went to go check on the Worksman Cycle Truck. Because we don't have enough room in the garage, it's been stored outside the apartment, in a covered bike parking area near the laundry room/mailboxes in our apartment complex. I've locked it out there for the past few months without incident.

Today?

Yep, that's right. There's no saddle. Gone.

And of course it was a nice saddle: my sprung Brooks B67, honey colored.

I'm a mix of emotions. Of course I'm pissed off. I feel violated. And I feel stupid.

I didn't really want to keep the bike outside, in case something like this happened. But there was no room in the garage. So I locked the bike as best as I could, and would check it every day or two.

I should have removed the saddle, and I feel stupid that I didn't. But I did lock it to the frame via a cable lock. That didn't stop a determined thief. They simply snipped through the cable, removed saddle, and off they went.

From January, when the saddle was still on the Cycle Truck.

It could have happened any time over the past few days, I'm not exactly sure when. It was most likely stolen by someone who knows what these saddles are worth. And who realized this bike has been parked there for a bit. Who knows, it could be someone else in the apartment complex.

I checked Craigslist, nothing. I went around to some local shops, those that were either in the immediate vicinity to my apartment or those who deal in used parts. No one has recently bought a Brooks saddle nor turned away anyone suspicious trying to sell one. And what can I do, really? Unlike bikes, there isn't a serial number on a Brooks saddle, nor distinguishing characteristics that could positively identify the saddle as my own.

I'm just going to have to chalk this up to "character building". I had hoped that cable-locking the saddle would have been an effective enough deterrent, but not in this case. Some folks have recommended using a bicycle chain to lock the saddle. While this would be beefier than a cable lock, a determined thief can still break it either with bolt cutters or a chain tool. All of these things are deterrents, what I really should have done was remove the saddle for outside storage.

The only bright side (if one could call it that) is they didn't steal the bike itself. It had quite the beefy ABUS chain/wheel lock combo, so that would have been tougher than removing the saddle. But the Cycle Truck is a unique bike, easily spotted. A Brooks saddle? Not as much. A thief would have had a harder time moving it. And the B67 on the Cycle Truck was my least favorite of the current Brooks saddles I own, but it's not like I wanted it to get stolen.

And I feel like this theft is the last nail in the coffin for the Cycle Truck. I've been thinking about selling it for a few months. I still like how it looks, but I barely use the bike. I never find the need. It's a beast and it takes effort to get anywhere on it. If I was doing regular big runs to the grocery store, it would be one thing. But with two markets in walking distance and runs to places like Trader Joes effectively covered with either the LHT or Wayfarer with panniers? I never find the need to haul that much stuff with it. So it might be for sale soon.

Comic of the Day: Worksman Low Gravity

Drawn Dec 23rd.

The Huckleberry Cycle Truck

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!

Bike Tires. Directly?

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.

Festive Lighting

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.

The Cycle Truck is back!

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...

More on that next time!

The Cycle Truck hauls the freight!

It's been awhile since I've ridden my Worksman Cycle Truck. It's a heavy slow bike so I only use it when I need it. Friday was one of those days, as I needed to pick up some stuff for the Long Haul Trucker (and a front rack for April's Novarra Randonee.) I think the Cycle Truck did the job, don't ya think?

Worksman Cycle Truck Updates

Don't let this picture fool you. April is afraid to ride this thing.

After all the extensive coverage about the Raleigh Wayfarer, I haven't talked much about my other recent bicycle acquisition, the Worksman "Cycle Truck." There's two reasons for that: 1)It's meant to be a cargo bike, not a daily commuter, so I don't ride it as often and 2)It was pretty much "ready" when I bought the thing.

But last week I had Oregon Bike Shop do some modifications and updates.  Nothing super major, but some stuff I've either wanted to do or needed to do.

First up, new front tire.  As stated in a prior post, the tire was showing signs of dry rot (which is another reason why I haven't ridden it much), so time for a new one.  I wanted to put white/off-white/cream colored tires on both front and rear because I thought it would look classy and contrast the black of the frame.  However, finding an appropriate white front on in the size 20" x 2.125" was a fool's errand, so I compromised and decided to go for whitewall tires.  Unfortunately the shop couldn't get any whitewall in that size either, so I gave up and just got a plain black one for the front.

Thoroughly. Exciting.

Oh yeah, Jim trued the front wheel.

Onto things that actually worked out...

I got a new front chainring!  I decided to go for a smaller one so it would lower the gearing.  The original ring had 44 teeth, now the new one has 36 teeth.  I've noticed that it is indeed easier to pedal.  I was hoping that it would switch the "main" gear (the gear you would pedal on flat ground) from 2 to 3, giving me an option of two lower gears.  But it seems to be more in the middle of 2 and 3, while not perfect, is a lot better than before.  Going up hills has gotten easier.  But it's still a bear of a bike, no matter what!

The other addition is a new rear light.  I decided against dyno lighting for this bike *so I'm looking at good battery powered options.  Still toying with the front end, but for the rear I got a new Portland Design Works Fenderbot light.  It's a cousin (not brother/sister) to their popular Radbot lights.  It mounts directly to the fender (dur!) with no quick-release, so it is theft-resistant.**  It has a solid and blinky mode. As for the light itself, it's good, though it lacks the throb-strobe option of the Radbot and is not as bright.  (See, cousin! Not brother or sister.)

The only other major thing that needs to be done is a front drum brake wheel.  That's not going to happen any time soon.  But someday...

*To bore you with details, the funky front end doesn't allow for a bottle dynamo and I don't know if it would work for the rear.  Theoretically I could build a new front wheel with a dynohub/drum brake combo that Sturmey-Archer makes, but the front hub and wheel are super-beefy (almost like a motorcycle wheel), so I don't know if the S-A hub would handle it.  Plus, I don't want to sink the money into it.

**Nothing is truly theft-proof, though it would be difficult for a thief to remove the light.

The Grocery Run

Friday was a "meh" day for me.  While I had the day off from work and had plenty of art to do, I felt sluggish and not-up-to-par.  But there was something I knew had to get done, and that was groceries.  So I pulled out the most appropriate tool for the job, my Worksman cycle truck!

The ride to Trader Joes in the Hollywood District was ok, though it was pretty wet the whole way.  (The weather report only called for a "slight" chance of showers, so much for the forecast.)  The ride to TJ's is mostly downhill, though.

The ride back was tougher, since I had a loaded basket and it was more uphill.  The cycle truck is no light bike, that's for sure!  Thankfully I didn't buy it with the idea it was going to be my daily commuter.  It works great as a cargo bike, though!

So how much did I get?  As you can see, I loaded it up quite good.  Two full bags of groceries, plus a 12 pack of toilet paper.  It's a tight fit, but it worked!

Obsessing over the not-so-important things: Bike Crazy Part 4

A little while ago, I mentioned that the front tire on my Worksman Cycle Truck was developing dry rot, so the tire needed to be replaced.  By itself, that's a simple problem, with a simple remedy: get a new tire.

But my bike obsession has entered new phases, where solutions to problems become more complicated than they should.

I started to think about what kind of tire to get.  Obviously it would need to fit, so I would get one of the same size, 20" x 2.125".  But what about color?  Black is what I got on there, black would be easy.  But no.  I decided to try to get a creme colored tire, since Lovely Bicycle has corrupted me.  Aesthetically, I think the creme would nicely contrast with the black frame, bringing more attention to the wheels.  And then I would have an overall black/creme/brown color scheme to the Cycle Truck.  Of course now this would mean I would also replace the rear tire, so I wouldn't have mismatched tires.

What kind of creme tire?  Schwalbe Fat Franks would be the obvious choice. And indeed they have a 26" x 2.2125" in creme for the rear wheel.  For the front? Nada.  In fact, Schwalbe doesn't have anything in creme in a 20" size.  Well, if not Schwalbe, then who?  I did a lot of searching and the only thing I can find in off-white in a 20" size is a CST Classic Venice. They look nice, but the width is only 1.75", 3/8" of an inch smaller.  I don't know how wise it would be to go with a smaller width tire on the front, especially since it's what's going to hold the load of the Cycle Truck.

Giving up in my personal search, I decided to let Sue from Oregon Bike Shop have a go at it.  All she could find was a BMX tire, and it might be too knobby for my needs.

Is my obsession and concern about aesthetics getting the better of me? Should I capitulate and just get another black front tire? Should I risk it and get a narrower tire? Or do you know of this magical, mythical 20" x 2.125" tire in creme/beige/off-white and care to enlighten me?

Please weigh in through the comments, if you care.

The Wheels Go Round: A few days in the life of my bikes

Hello blog readers, all 5 of you!

Nothing much exciting has happened the last few days here at the Urban Adventure League HQ. Down is not up and bad is not good (though sometimes it is.) The weather has been decent around here, as good as it can get 'round these parts during Groundhog Week. We started out with highs in the 50's but the last couple have been only around 40 with a stiff east wind. After a few weeks of spring-like weather, it feels like a brief return to winter. Though it's nothing like the several feet of snow everyone got east of the Rockies. (Yay, maritime influence for protecting us!)

I pulled out the ol' Worksman Cycle Truck for a couple rides. April and I went to Alameda Brewery on NE Fremont on Saturday to enjoy some beer with Russ and Laura of Path Less Pedaled. It was good to finally connect with the two of them after several months of living in the same city!* And it was good to hear "no bullshit" talk about bike touring. Makes both of us more confident in our future plans. While trying to lock my Cycle Truck, the locking mechanism on my Abus wheel lock wasn't engaging. After several frustrating minutes, I figured out that the "arm" was off-track, so I swung by Clever Cycles where I got it repaired. Also in bike concerns, I noticed that my front wheel was somewhat out of true. Jim at Oregon Bike Shop took a look, but needs me to bring it back at some point for a full go-over. I think I'm going to get some new tires on as well, as the front is suffering from dry rot. I'm also going to get a larger rear cog on the rear wheel, so I have better climbing gears. This bike needs all the climbing help it can get! I've also used the Raleigh Wayfarer. It's riding fine, but I really need the hub overhauled because I'd like all 3 gears, plus the gears skip a bit. I learned this the hard way on my return home from work on Tuesday. The gear slipped while I was standing and pedaling, causing me to slip on the bike and get a nasty bruise on my left calf. The left pedal and crankarm definitely still needs some work.

In other bike news, I've been purging some of my bike stuff. I've posted it on Craigslist and over in the new "Trading Post" on Lovely Bicycle, but I'm also going to put it on this website as well. More details can be found on the "Bike Stuff For Sale" page, but here's the brief list:

• Chrome Messenger Backpack
• MEC convertible Pannier/Daypack
• Brooks B66 Saddle

More stuff will be posted soon.

*That's nothing! Androo Robinson and I have lived in town for the last 10 years and only run into each other every other lunar eclipse.

Who says nothing's made in America anymore?

When I go shopping for bike parts, I've resigned myself to the fact that everything I will buy is made far, far away. Even in the later years (70's-80's) of onshore bicycle manufacturing, most of the components and accessories were made overseas. So it was a surprise when I picked up a "rear triangle" styled kickstand for the Raleigh the other day:


Made in the USA!

Is it ironic that one of the few "Made in the USA" bike parts still available is the bike part that is disparaged the most?

Enlarged and altered so's you can see it better.

The kickstand will go on the short list of American made bike stuff I own or have owned. This list includes Wald Baskets, Worksman Bicycles,* and also surprisingly Princeton Tec, the makers of my beloved EOS bike light helmet light/headlamp.

Anyone have additons to this list? (I'll also go for some Canadian and UK made stuff as well.)

*I also owned a Chicago made Schwinn a few years ago.

The Great Brooks Saddle Swap of 2011: Fancy Bicyclist Part 3

I mentioned in an earlier "Fancy Bicyclist" post my obsession with Brooks saddles. Up until the fall of 2009, I owned only 2 Brooks saddles, a black Champion Flyer that I've had on the Centurion (the one I got in Canada,) and a brown B-67 on the Long Haul Trucker. Then over the fall I lucked out on Craigslist and scored two more for cheap: a honey brown B-17 Narrow and a dark brown B-66. I bought another B-66 (dark dark brown) off of Win, a guy who stays frequently at the hostel. (Interestingly, even though the B-66s are technically the same model, the one I got from Win was narrower than the Craigslist find.)


I put the Craigslist B-66 (the wider one) onto the Worksman Cycle Truck, replacing the beastial saddle that came equipped with the bike. (Even though the B-66 is hefty, it was still pounds lighter than the saddle it replaced!) This saddle is pretty beat, with tears on one side, but I don't ride the Cycle Truck that much, so I'm not that worried. If it fails, it fails. Besides, I paid only $20 for it.


The narrower B-66 went onto the Raleigh Wayfarer on Sunday. It instantly made the bike look classier than the white saddle it came with, though April liked that one. Originally I intended to let April try the B-17N on the Novarra Randonee, but the narrowness scared her. So I decided to pull the B-67 off of the Long Haul Trucker (a saddle I never really got used to) and let her try that instead. We'll soon see if she's entered the cult of the Brooks! *

So the easiest thing would be throw the B-17N onto the Long Haul Trucker, right? Of course not! It's a touring bike, so I'd rather throw my Champion Flyer on there, because it's my most favored and broken-in saddle.

Long Haul Trucker in natural habitat of cluttered apartment.

I put the B-17N onto the Centurion because it goes with the sexy single-speed feel, plus the brown matches the bike better.

Ain't it classy looking? Y'know how I can make it even classier looking?

Yeah, that's right, sepia tone.

Ah, slave to fashion.

*The answer: NO.