Posts tagged “messenger”  

We're in Portland for a Mobile Social that weekend, but just the same the West Side Invite 09 is in Seattle this year:

"For the last eight years the Westside Invite has occurred in a place called Portland. Now in its ninth year we here in Seattle are fortunate enough to host this event (sans strip clubs). We hope to bring the same NW flavor that you would expect from a Westside, with a unique Seattle slant. What we are looking to do this year in Seattle is show everyone our beautiful Emerald City. Were going to take you to the places we hang out, the places we work and the places we play. This will not be just a metropolitan tour of the core, it will be cycling journey from south to north and from skid row to the top."

This bad-ass bag was a prize in the Milwaukee Messenger Invitational.

Uploaded by ibikempls | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

A Zugster Backpack in olive green and field tan and waxed canvas. A cyclist can never have enough bags like these.

Uploaded by Adam A. | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

From MASH SF’s blog. And here’s a German version. That’s Lame and Lamer.

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Before the daylight hours lengthen in the new year, cyclists will talk about nighttime visibility and the merits of this light and that reflective bauble, but I always think back to a time when my colleagues and I emphasized stealth at night. In the 1990s I lived in Gainesville FL, off and on attending the University of Florida. During that time a number of factors, some temporary, made campus pizza delivery by bicycle a great business move by the university’s corporate dining system… and an addictive employment for me. Yes, pizza delivery probably ruined my college ambitions, because it’s hard to get out of bed and pay attention in class if you’ve knocked out sprint after pizza-laden sprint past midnight and then washed dishes until 2am.

The PI is running a photos of the year feature and this photo of Huey Newton says much about urban cycling in Seattle.

It’s from an audio slideshow.

Photo credit: Mike Kane/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Socio-political, cultural messenger bag from Chrome.

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

These bags are designed and fabricated in Portland to meet the needs of urban cyclists. Eli, a one man operation, has focused on spacious, practical, backpacks. He’s been providing city dwelling bikers an alternative to the standard messenger bag. When he’s not stitching, you might catch Eli about town on his fixed Kogswell Porteur.

Have you experimented with backpacks or other alternatives for lugging your daily haul? What works best for you?

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

We don’t get into politics here, but as a bike culture item, the Obama Spoke Cards are making a statement. For equal spoke time, someone should offer Hillary Spoke Cards … .

Also noticed by the Goat.

still haven’t ridden in san francisco, but it’s on the list …

Uploaded by shaderlab | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Day at the Office, posted by Pseudothoughts

Our friend Jim Coudal needs some advice:

What do Bike Huggers think? Post your advice here.

I walked down to the market to retrieve my girlfriend’s bike, and I saw this messenger bike. Normally I wouldn’t have taken notice of a bike this beaten down, but I just had to appreciate how harsh this machine’s life must have been.

Notice the bludgeoned and dismembered Dura Ace STI still in situ. I’m pretty sure that the derailleurs were just screwed into a set position, and the rear brake was disconnected. The Chris King rear cassette hub might be the last thing salvageable on the bike. The owner didn’t even bother locking the bike at all while he went inside. I salute his cavalier attitude towards equipment maintenance and security… I just hope I am never, ever, ever invited to estimate or enact any repairs to that bike.

At Elliott Bay Bikes, we had a gang of Japanese bike enthusiasts stop in. Minato Seiya-san of Depot Cycle & Recycle, a shop in Ichikawa near Tokyo and Yamamoto Atsushi-san, maker of the Gunung label of hats, chatted with me when I emerged out of my mechanic station hole. I asked them about their travels in Taiwan, and then I told them about my downhill run in Nikko. It turns out they’re friends with Morita Yohei of Cog Magazine who stopped into the shop a couple months ago. Minato-san and Yamamoto-san are on their way to Philadelphia this month for a messenger race. While in Seattle, they are visiting the Seattle wing of Reload Bags.

The P. I. proclaims the immanent demise of bike messengers in today’s issue. It’s true I’m sure that the number of messengers are down, but I doubt Messengers are the urban buffalo of the late part of the first decade of this millennium. The reports of messenger death are greatly exaggerated from what I can tell — check the following: Transportation Alternatives from 1996 (The industry is too squeezed to pay messengers in NYC); The Economist from a decade later; the Sydney Morning Herald and BCBusiness from just last year. Meanwhile, if you like your media closer to home, check out Pilder’s blog, of one of the messengers in the PI article.

Photographer Yohei Morita stopped by my shop last week and dropped off a copy of COG magazine, a magazine devoted to the machines and culture of fixed gear, with a authentic Japanese influence. The current issue featured an article about pro keirin racers and the online edition features a collection of Tokyo messenger portraits.

I swear to God I remember seeing some of these riders last summer when I was in Tokyo. My friends lived in Akasaka, so I’d get food and groceries from Roppongi which was rife with messengers.

It looks like the P. I.’s stumbled on one of Seattle’s little secrets — R.E. Load bags. I’m still shocked at the number of people in Seattle riding around with bags made elsewhere when we have great bag makers right here in town. Out in Philly, where R.E. Load originated and still has the original branch, it sounds like the bags are endemic. R.E. Load makes the most unique, most stylish bags I’ve ever seen. Not good enough? Tell ‘em what colors you want and they’ll run you a custom anything. Bags range from huge, professional courier bags to more manageable sizes for those not hauling boxes of medical records around.

Amazingly, you can only see these bags in person at a few locations world wide, so I encourage you to drop by the E. Pike St (I haven’t checked out the Philly Store yet, please let us know if you have!). There’s plenty beyond bags inside — lots of clothing, art and culture that you can’t find on their site. R. E. Load’s just turned 10 years old. Personally I’m looking forward to seeing their bags for many more.

Late last year, right before our trip to Maui, I tried out Timbuk2s Build Your Own Bag site. Ordering up his and hers bags in the Hugga Comfort colors. The bag builder offered very nice interactivity, with lots of custom features, previews, and more.

I was initially bummed to see that 992 other bag builders created the bag I did, but then kept trying and got this message: “this color combination has been created just once.” An original bag … cool. While the Bag Builder works well, I’d like to see it have persistence. It doesn’t remember you, if you leave and come back. I’d also like to edit what I created or duplicate it and for it to send me what I made and let me download it.

Rode with the commuters and messengers this morning. Talked with several commuters about their ride and all of them were quite proud of the London Cycling Campaign and noted how much it had changed in the past 3 years.

I don’t doubt there’s still much work to do … other cyclists offered help. With the roundabouts, one-way streets, and traffic, I was lost and that was obvious. I rode along the Mall, Hyde Park, and more.

It seems that Hollywood is stepping back into the bike messenger scene. Looking at the photos from “Blonde Ambition” it looks like a far more glamorous portrayal of the lifestyle than we saw in the ’80s flic Quicksilver. Of course how real can it be if the troubled female in the movie is played by…