Bike Hugger 

Byron recently posted an aged picture of two men with bicycles strapped to their back. I recognized the photo from somewhere as being WWI Italian soldiers, and in my net search to verify I came across the webpage of The BSA & Military Bicycle Museum. One hundred years ago, shortly before Serbian nationalists assassinated Franz Ferdinand, this Bianchi Model 1912 was ordered by the Italian military to equip their Bersaglieri, or light infantry units with an emphasis on high mobility. At the time, Bianchi made 45,000 bicycles, 1,500 motorcycles, and 1,000 cars yearly. This Model 1912 was a fairly ambitious design, incorporating front and rear suspension on a folding frame. After WWI, Italia expanded the number of bicycle troops as part of tactical commitment to mobile warfare (as opposed to the stalemate of WWI trench warfare), though those divisions converted to motorization before WWII.

BSA Bicycles were a well-known, quality brand in the United Kingdom from the beginning of the bicycle until the company sold bicycle assets to Raleigh TI in the mid-1950s. The company came about from the consolidation of several munitions factories in Birmingham that came together to meet a critical British shortage during the Crimean War, eventually selling rifles to a handful of countries. In 1880 with military arms sales flagging, the Birmingham Small Arms Company diversified into bicycles since the industrial processes of guns and bicycles apparently had a lot in common. BSA’s bicycles introduced many innovations that paved the way for cycling’s popularity, while simultaneously serving as a critical supplier of military arms during the two world wars. Besides guns & cannons, bullets & bombs, bikes & bike parts, BSA seemingly had a role in every British machine that moved in the first half of the 20th century, including Daimler (autos, engines), Triumph (motorcycles), and de Havilland (aircraft).

BSA’s story bears similarity to that of Spanish cycle manufacturer Orbea, which also had a start in small arms in 1840 before building bicycles. Orbea’s transition to bicycles had more to do with Fascist dictator Franco’s policy of dismantling regional autonomy and arms production; the Basque company was prohibited from manufacturing weapons during the 1930s.

It is often said that bicycles today are soul-less products for mass consumption, but perhaps we are deluding ourselves if we romanticize the history of the bicycle. If we can only approve of a bicycle if is handcrafted in some one-man shop, then we should admit that we want luxury artisanal goods. Bicycles are as much an industrial product as automobiles, aircraft, sewing machines, and machine guns.

Limited visibility

Over the weekend, on Sunday, rode the I-90 bridge by memory. This photo is from an onboard iPhone camera in front-facing mode and shows visibility at about 10% from car spray. An earlier squall left standing water on the road. Anticipating an epic crossing, I quickly took the photo as we descended the ramp to the bridge bike lane. Then put my head down and kept a steady pace to the other side. The spray was as constant as the wind and polluted with run off from the cars. I’ve crossed that bridge thousands of times, but never like this. Gluckman was on my wheel and I knew all he could see was my tire.

We were here and could barely see

On Mercer Island, after the bridge deluge Gluckman said almost poetically

I get a rush from mastering the elements. Being comfortable in miserable conditions with the right gear.

Don’t know if I could sum up riding in the rain better or how we get through it hour after hour, then treating it as a challenge in itself. Especially when the weekend before, I failed at it and Mother Nature reminded me who the boss is.

To get a photo that fast on the move, I used the Cypher Gloves and the iPhone was in a Biologic Reecharge case.

Start with brand new Veloce Powershift Ergo levers

Finish sanding, righthand unit is a dummy lever and left hand is the most comfortable brake only lever created by mankind

When it comes to the ergonomics of dropbar levers, Campagnolo absolutely nailed it with their third generation Ergopower. I want these for my fixed-gear handlebar, but unfortunately the levers have that annoying and useless shifter mechanism. So in order to convert a new set of Ergopower levers into something really useful, namely the most comfortable brake levers ever, here’s what you do.

1 Gut the shifters.

2 Cut the cross section of the shifter cavity into thin cardboard

3 Trace cross section onto 2x4”

4 Start carving

5 Keep carving. The righthand unit is purely a dummy lever, so the goal is to completely fair in the gap underneath the body and replace the brake blade, since without the shift mechanism there is no return spring to keep the blade from rattling without a brake connected. With lefthand unit, you’re trying to fair in the underneath and as close to the blade as possible while still allowing the blade to complete its travel all the way to the handlebar.

6 Now that the carving and sanding is done, ideally I’ll get these painted to protect the wood and to improve aesthetics. I’m still considering options for that.

After the jump, see photos of intermediate stages.

Chuckled at this Scotch review and then thought, wait, I think I can make that work for a bike.

Imagine a bike shop several hours after the torches were turned off. Riding this bike, you get a whiff of acrid smoke, sweat, paint, distillates, and the personality that went into the frame. You can still see the fingerprints on the tubes from the hands that built it and know you can pronounce his name.”

All I got so far, but working through it.

Twitter version

Reviewing a bike like Scotch: in a shop after the torches were lit, a whiff of acrid smoke, sweat, distillates, & the builder’s personality.

Also, the Macallan Oak 10 isn’t anything like warm strudel.

Velo Couture from photographer Brian Rose

As Brian Rose said

I like street photography, fashion photography, and bicycles, so to have these come together like this was pretty darn cool.

It is cool. Brian is the community manager for Google+ photos.

Before the Fat Tire Mothafawkers called ‘em Gravel Grinders, when there wasn’t any pavement, bros like this carried their bikes across fields. Then rode some more.

The Tour of Ireland vs Kathy Ireland:

One is a former swimsuit model/actress (ok, so “actress” might be a stretch), the other is a former stage race that runs through the land of James Joyce, Guinness Stout, and hurling (it’s a ball ‘n stick game, not the result of too much stout).

The Tour of Ireland has been held in the month of August, off and on since 1953 (just barely more on than off, actually). In 1985, the race was renamed the Nissan International Classic. The race then enjoyed a stellar eight year run, capturing the height of Irish success in cycling. Legendary hardman Sean Kelly won the race a record 4 times, while countryman Stephen Roche finished 2nd in 1987, the year he won the Giro, the Tour, and the world championships. Interestingly, the race director during those years was Pat McQuaid, today’s reigning…oops, I meant current…UCI president. Following a 15 year hiatus , the Tour of Ireland returned in 2007 but the economic turndown caused it to be shortened to a three-day event in 2009. In June of 2010, it was announced that finances were dire and the race was cancelled. Talk of a 2011 comeback came to naught, and presumedly there will be no 2012 version either.

Kathy Ireland first appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition in 1984 and did so for another 12 years. She appeared on the cover 3 times, including the 25th anniversary edition which became the highest selling swimsuit issue ever. From Wikipedia: “In 1993, Ireland put her name on a line of socks. After they proved a best-seller for Kmart, the retailer gave Ireland her own clothing line. She then founded “Kathy Ireland Worldwide,” a brand product marketing company in which she holds a majority stake. By 2004, Ireland was marketing products from 16 manufacturers, including those of Standard Furniture. Ireland’s long-term exclusive contract with K-mart Corporation lasted until 2003, after which the company contracted with thousands of independent mid-tier retail stores for distribution. By 2005, KIWW products were sold at over 50,000 locations in 15 countries, generating an estimated $1.4 billion in retail sales. Ireland’s annual take is thought to be around $10 million, which has prompted Forbes to name her the ‘prototype for model-turned-mogul,’ in an article about the trend of ‘modelpreneurs.’”

Let’s break it down.

Born: Tour of (1953), Kathy (1963) winner: Kathy (we’re not talking about aged Scotch here)

Sport Illustrated covers: Tour of (0), Kathy (3) winner: Kathy (skin to win)

Financial status: Tour of (broke as f*** in 2010), Kathy ($10M net for 2010, corporate gross equal to 1% of Ireland GNP in 2010) winner: Kathy (one of these Irelands has a LOT more green)

Overall: Kathy Ireland, who turns 49 this year, is dirty rich and still smoking hot. It wasn’t a fair contest even from the beginning.

CXWorlds is this weekend and Mark V has written a couple posts for the occasion:

• Specialized: A Legacy of Pink

• Before Cyclocross Was Tamed

• A text buzzed my phone at 4:00 AM, Saturday, Seattle time from the Juniors race, cause Redline Bicycles-sponsored Logan Owen was 16th, 3:15 down on the winner M. Van Der Pohl. Andrew Dillman was top USA rider at 13th 3:06 down. I interview Logan last year at MFG Cyclocross.

Matt Haughey took this iPhone Video of Logan and Dillman getting it in the sand.

Also see this last lap recap formated to stream on iPhones. What’s Cyclocross? It’s a type of bike racing on dirt with road bikes and obstacles. For the Belgiums, it’s their superbowl. We’re super into here too in the States.

Photo: MPLSMINX

Follow along on Twitter with the #cxworlds tag and on G+. As I finished up this post:

Niels Albert is cyclocross world champion followed by Peeters and Pauwels

See the recap video on Sporza.

Here in Seattle, the Cross season ended last month. we’re all riding big miles in the rain.

A friend just linked me to this…………

From Sacremento Craigslist:

Want to look cool on your sweet fixie, but can’t even do a trackstand? Want the illusion to be complete on your ghetto POS singlespeed with one brake to get that fixed gear look? Looking for instant street cred?

trades also accepted for hip pouches, pbrs, american spirit cigs, or anything american apparel. not looking for anymore loose beanies nor wayfarer style glasses.

I was catching up on the European cross scene in the lead up to this weekend’s world championships, and I saw that the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Stybar won at the world cup event in Lievin. The 2-time and reigning world champion has been out shined by the exploits of Nys and Pauwels, and now suddenly he emerges from their shadows to take a win…..on a pink bike? This ain’t the Giro and Stybar’s not Italian, so why? Well, Stybar is a professional with Omega Pharma- Quickstep, the same UCI team as Boonen and now Leipheimer. With the demise of HTC-Highroad, the Belgian team picked up Specialized as their bike sponsor. Never slow to capitalize on an opportunity, Specialized lost no time kitting their hopeful for a cross world championship with the latest Crux carbon cyclocross bike.

Yeah, yeah, I get that….WTF’s up with pink?

Well, Specialized’s first mountain bike team in 1984 was called Team Stumpjumper. In the early days of mountainbike racing, this first ever team of professionals consisted of mainly road and cyclocross racers, and they used dropbar bikes painted PINK. As best as I can tell, the bikes used 26” wheels/tires, but they surely do like cyclocross bikes.

That mean besides John Tomac and Jacquie Phelan famously riding with dropbar offroad, the whole effing Team Stumpjumper was using them. I’m hot to build another dropbar mtb for myself; it’d be rad to have a modern pink Specialized Stumpjumper S-works.