Vintage bicycle photos

By Fritz

 

See more vintage posters here or click on the pic above to directly to the Flickr site for more of just the Michellin Man.

Commuter Bike Vest

January 28th, 2008 by Matt · 3 Comments

Okay, I admit it, I can compete with any woman who carries a huge purse when it comes to carrying stuff around with me. Wallet, keys, ChapStick, gum, MP3 player, camera, phone, etc. When I first started bike commuting one of the most frustrating things for me was having to repack all of my stuff everyday. For a while I just tossed it all into a backpack and that works, but is not really convenient. There are devices like the Cage Rocket which I wrote about a few entries ago, but it is not large enough to carry all that I want. Here’s a sample of what I pretty much carry with me everywhere when I ride.

Read more and see photos 

We’ll probably have to start adding this attachment after this weekend’s storm. –Corrie

Bicycle snow plow

By Fritz

RAGBRAI is sorta the big one of cross-state rides. This year’s route will not cross Crawford County where a cyclist died and his wife sued the county causing them to banish large group rides.–Corrie

2008 RAGBRAI names host cities for bike ride

by Gene Bisbee at 11:39AM (PST) on January 24, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa announced the eight cities that will play host to stops on bike tour from July 20 through 26.

The overnight towns on the west-to-east bicycle route are Missouri Valley, Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama-Toledo, North Liberty, Tipton and Le Claire.

RAGBRAI says the this year’s route is 471 miles long.

More of the story

We seldom leave our bikes for longer than an hour and then only where we can see them. But if you bike in town, doing errands, you can lock your bike but what about your tools? Take ‘em with you with the Cage Rocket.–Corrie

The Cage Rocket

January 23rd, 2008 by Matt · 1 Comment

When you commute or run around town you often lock up and run in and out of places. You still face the threat of that minor mechanical problem or flat tire so tools are a necessity. A variety of small bags for tools are designed to fit under your seat or possibly connect to your frame, but they are not easy to remove and if left on your bike can be appealing to others.

When doing some online searches I ran across the “Cage Rocket.” It’s a dumb name for sure, but it’s a great product. It fits in any standard water bottle cage and you can store all the major tools you might need on the road. The great thing is that when you leave your bike locked up, the bottle slips right out and you can easily take it with you. Get more info on cage rocket specs from their site.

Thanks to Jim McCracken for this piece. Now back to work, Jim. Quit wasting your time surfing the web.

Commuting in the liquid lane

By Susan Gilmore

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Bob Barrett pedals two miles across Puget Sound from Ketron Island to Steilacoom. “Here, you’re part of the Sound itself,” he says.

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

“I don’t have a death wish. I’m not here to drown and I’m not risking my life,” says Bob Barrett, who’s been making his water-bike commute for nearly seven years.

Related

• Video | Commuting by water bike

Nat Hong and Bob Barrett commute on Puget Sound by bike — water bike, that is — to their jobs in Bremerton and Steilacoom.

“This is pretty hard to beat in terms of a pleasant commute,” said Hong, who lives on Bainbridge Island and teaches at Olympic College in Bremerton.

The drive would be 80 miles round trip. But with his water bike, the trip to work is just 12 miles — including one mile on the water.

Read More

You wouldn’t expect me to give a hoot about style but these cyclists have panache–Corrie

New York Bikes with Style

Just click on the Bicycles link below if you want to see more stylish men and women from around the world on bikes.

See more sartorially stylish cyclists 

Bicycle lost and found: Leaving your bike on the bus

by Gene Bisbee at 07:24AM (PST) on January 18, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

In the world of bicycling, one of the biggest mysteries to me is how someone can lose a bicycle.

I can understand a person losing track of a bicycle that is stolen and ditched, but apparently people will occasionally park a bike and then not retrieve it. Do they forget it? Did they die? Were they whisked away by aliens?

For instance, the Seattle Metro transit system reported that 863 people put their bicycles on bus racks in 2007 and forgot to remove them.

Read more at Bicycle Bis

Of interest is this history of the invention of the bicycle by Scotsman Kirkpatrick Macmillan. I discovered this while looking into my ancestory. My great, great, great grandfather, James McCracken was born in Galloway Scotland, the region where the bicycle was invented. The scots also invented fly fishing. What a great bunch of lads!
–Jim McCracken

Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1812 - 1878)

Macmillan was a Scottish blacksmith who is credited with the invention of the pedal bicycle.
Kirkpatrick Macmillan was born in 1812 in Dumfriesshire, the son of a blacksmith. He did a variety of jobs as a young man, before settling into working with his father in 1824. At around that time he saw a hobbyhorse being ridden along a nearby road, and decided to make one for himself. Upon completion, he realised what a radical improvement it would be if he could propel it without putting his feet on the ground. Working at his smithy, he completed his new machine in around 1839.This first pedal bicycle was propelled by a horizontal reciprocating movement of the rider’s feet on the pedals. This movement was transmitted to cranks on the rear wheel by connecting rods; the machine was extremely heavy and the physical effort required to ride it must have been considerable. Nevertheless, Macmillan quickly mastered the art of riding it on the rough country roads, and was soon accustomed to making the fourteen-mile journey to Dumfries in less than an hour. His next exploit was to ride the 68 miles into Glasgow in June 1842. The trip took him two days and he was fined five shillings for causing a slight injury to a small girl who ran across his path.

He never thought of patenting his invention or trying to make any money out of it, but others who saw it were not slow to realize its potential, and soon copies began to appear for sale. Gavin Dalzell of Lesmahagow copied his machine in 1846 and passed on the details to so many people that for more than 50 years he was generally regarded as the inventor of the bicycle. However, Macmillan was quite unconcerned with the fuss his invention had prompted, preferring to enjoy the quiet country life to which he was accustomed. He died on 26 January 1878.

–Source

Bike production costs going up

By Fritz I’ve been sitting on this story since September and now Bike Europe has broken the news: Bicycle production costs are going up significantly in China. The Bike Europe article notes that labor costs are increasing in China, along with other costs of doing business such as new pension requirements and new taxes.

Bike Europe mentions a six to seven percent increase in the cost of bike components, which just happens to match the seven percent drop of the value of the dollar against the Chinese yuan. Bike Europe also fails to mention the skyrocketing cost of raw materials used to build bikes, fuel shortages in China that make it increasingly difficult to manufacture product there, along with rapidly rising costs of energy and fuel. While the cost of transporting product from China to the rest of the world is still negligible, this is also increasing.

I expect more demand for bikes in the USA, Canada and Europe, especially for the low end bikes that are typically produced in mainland China. Some of these cost increases will be passed along to consumers, but the increased production cost of bikes will eat somewhat into profit margins.

Read More 

The Bike Racks of Los Angeles

The good people at Bicycle Fixation have recently posted a colorful collection of photos showing some of LA’s more interesting bike racks.

From Richard Risemberg, who edits the site and did the bike rack photography:

“Los Angeles has for a long time been a city of dreary architecture, spaces seemingly designed under an imperative towards blandness,” writes Rick. “In an effort to improve both the functioning and the appearance of our city, Los Angeles has placed a number of bike racks in the area around downtown that try to do more than just give you a place to loop a U-lock: acknowledgement not only of the bicycle’s efficacy and nobility as transport, but also of the very real and fundamental human need for beauty. . .”

See the complete photo collection and essay on the bike racks of LA

More Bikes Than Cars Sold in Australia in 2007
Australia’s Cycling Promotion Fund released a report this week showing bicycles outsold automobiles down under by nearly 50% in 2007, with 1.47 million bikes sold vs. 1.05 million cars. It’s the seventh straight year that bikes have surpassed autos in sales in Australia.

“Soaring petrol prices, concern over climate change, crippling traffic congestion and the desire to lead healthier lifestyles all contributed to the record breaking year” said Elliot Fishman, Policy Advisor at the Cycling Promotion Fund.

Wonder why this never caught on? –Corrie

Inverse recumbent - Cycle-Licious

The text of the article from 1936 about this bike says:

Natural streamlining is accomplished in a new type of bicycle designed in England for use on speedways. Aware of the discomfort suffered by racers who must remain humped up over their machines for long periods due to air resistance, the designer has placed the drive pedals behind the rear wheels. The handlebars are lowered almost to the level of the front axle.

In this posture the rider is almost horizontal to the ground and in a naturally streamlined position. It is believed the new machine will produce speeds far in excess of anything yet accomplished.

Chris says it’s okay if he doesn’t ride in Moscow these days. Don’t know if he’s heard about the icebike boys. –Corrie

And from the same folks at Bicycle Quarterly this coffee table book looks gorgeous but it ought to be at $60. –Corrie

 The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles at Vintage Bicycle Press

If you are on the Palouse or just like me when it gets cold you might want o think about reading the road rather than riding it. Today I offer two publications that look attractive. –Corrie

Bicycle Quarterly

“The Discerning Cyclist’s Resource”

Bicycle Quarterly is a magazine about the enjoyment of the sport we love. In Bicycle Quarterly, you find professionally written articles (scroll down to read all

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by Gene Bisbee at 06:00AM (PST) on December 22, 2007 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

The latest tour for Lance Armstrong is a USO tour of US military bases in seven countries in the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.Armstrong is joined on the Road to Kabul by biking buddy Robin Williams (both at left), comedian Lewis Black, Kid Rock, Miss USA Rachel Smith, and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan.

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