What appeared to be the most technically advanced Bakfiets in the world was present with this extraordinary front suspension incorporating the first bicycle ‘hub centre steering’ set-up I’ve ever seen (it crops up occasionally on show/custom motorcycles). Very awesome, if a bugger to keep clean – and I enjoyed the irony of such an over-engineered front end on a ‘utility’ bike. It didn’t have a rear mudguard either. Tut!

My highlight of the show – I was really chuffed to have an opportunity to shake the hand of Paul, of Paul’s Components. He was, by all accounts, taken aback and somewhat overwhelmed by the fandom and hero worship he felt from the British crowds. Nice. I didn’t take so many pics this year, partly because trying to get a clear shot was a nightmare with the sheer number of droolers present (I couldn’t make the press day on Friday), but mostly because, about two hours after I arrived, I ran out of any desire to see another bike. In a moment of profound realisation, standing there amongst the throngs and with some of the most finely crafted and beautiful bikes on the planet, I realised… that I was bored.

I hadn’t seen that coming at all.

I love handmade bikes, don’t get me wrong, and I’ll definitely be there next year. It’s not you Bespoked Bristol, it’s me. What I wanted to see wasn’t present at Bespoked. What I wanted to see was not elitist, posey, hyper expensive bicycle shaped jewellery. Without me even knowing it I’ve moved on. What I wanted to see was ‘usefulness‘. None of the bikes at Bespoked are going to persuade a non cyclist to take up cycling to work. None of these bikes are the answer to the problem of how to transport kids to school. I want solutions to everyday folk’s everyday problems.

This feels like my Damascas moment.

I am really excited by a bike which was sent recently from Barcelona. It’s sort of mass produced (once they get going and hit some production numbers) it’s heavyish, slowish and (relatively) cheap. I’m riding it home tonight. Watch out for the review. This. Is exciting. This:

Demand for the Windcheetah, first from friends, then other BHPVC members and then the wider world meant that Mike was devoting more and more time to making Speedies, but Burrows never wanted to be a bicycle manufacturer, and so he licensed production to good friend and Speedy fan Bob Dixon. Burrows went on to design bikes for Giant in Taiwan, his own long-tail cargo bike the 8 Freight, and a whole bunch of racing bikes. Bob meanwhile manufactured and sold Speedies to customers all over the world, did a bunch of development work and evolved the design, but now, after being located in Cheshire for almost 20 years Windcheetah production has moved north to new premises in Lancashire. It’s entering a new phase.

Karl Sparenberg and his company Advanced Velo Design Ltd. based in Darwen, have recently taken over responsibility of producing the iconic recumbent tricycle on behalf of designer Mike Burrows and has outlined his plans for the future.

“The Windcheetah has always been regarded as the most uncompromising high performance trike on the market and in pure performance terms it would be hard to improve on Mike’s classic design. However, the workshop relocation offers an opportunity to overhaul and improve the Windcheetah manufacturing methods, which in turn will bring improvement in engineering quality. With this in mind we have invested in new jigs and production tooling to improve the consistency and quality of the product. The Windcheetah will remain a hand built product , manufactured in the UK to very high engineering standards.”

Sparenberg’s commitment to continue manufacturing in the UK is unusual at a time when many specialist cycle manufacturers are outsourcing production of frames to Taiwan and China .

“A major part of the appeal of a Windcheetah is the superbly engineered chassis built by artisan engineers. Our customers know that when they order a Windcheetah it will be a hand built machine, manufactured up to a specification and not down to a price. An increasing number of customers also appreciate our policy of sourcing as much as we can locally. From an environmental viewpoint it would be hard to justify having our frames made in Asia, importing them to the UK for assembly and then shipping them back to our markets in America, Europe and Australia. It isn’t possible to source every component in the UK but where possible we do. The chassis is such a fundamental element to the character of the Windcheetah it would be unthinkable to outsource its production. We’re very proud to be a UK company manufacturing a UK product ”

We’re big fans of the Speedy around here. I’ve owned three of them (including, separately, numbers 002 and 003) and Jim still owns 007. Although it’s changed in detail over the years, (the chain doesn’t run down the left hand side these days). it’s a testament to the soundness of the original design that it has remained fundamentally unchanged since it first hit the road.

Windcheetahs are very special. They are iconic, legendary, revered even, and they are held in such high esteem for good reason. Riding a Speedy – flat out, hanging out of the seat to keep the inside wheel down whilst clipping the apex of a curve – should be on every cyclists ‘101 things do to before you die’ list. Nothing else comes close.

Last weekend that something was decorating this! It’s a lovely thing.

(though Caz did do most of it… TBF)

So if you know a Yorkshire based cycling couple (or non-cycling couple for that matter) who are making wedding plans – you know where to send them!

Almost makes me want to make an honest woman out of Caz, though I expect I’d have to do most of the pedalling…

I’ve been a fan of Grant Petersen for a very long time. I first became aware of him when he was head honcho at Bridgestone bikes. I even worked for a short time in a Bridgestone Bicycles dealership;  Hollywood Bikes in LA. Petersen continued to extol the virtues of steel as a frame material when the whole industry seemed hell bent on abandoning steel for oversized aluminum. Bridgestone bikes featured lugged frame and fork construction long after everyone else had adopted tig welding. What Petersen was trying to do was retain some of the features he valued, but in the fickle trend-led world of mountain biking Bridgestone bikes eventually became thought of as old fashioned, behind the times, obselete. I don’t know if this was the reason that Bridgestone (giant Japanese manufacturing conglomerate) stopped making mountain bikes and shut down their US operation. Probably.

Thankfully Grant Petersen went on to found Rivendell Bicycle Works. Which kinda picked up where Bridgestone left off. Rivendell bikes are steel, their frame tubes brazed together using lugs of various degrees of fanciness. But this is merely the cornerstone of Rivendell’s ‘velosophy’. Rivendell Bikes are the antithesis of the super-light-weight close-clearance carbon-fibre race-bred bikes which dominate the high end of the bicycle industry. They are also the antidote.

To modern eyes these bikes look old fashiooned, and they are, but it goes way deeper. These are not superficially retro styled bikes. Petersen recognised that lots of people were riding the wrong bike. Wrong in size, but more often wrong in type. The equivalent of everybody riding around in the bicycle equivalent of a Formula 1 car.

His occasional ramblings on the excellent Rivendell website have been condensed into an excellent book; Just Ride, A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike. As someone with a pretty clear set of notions about cycling this book was a revelation. Firstly he changed my mind on a bunch of subjects. As a self proclaimed seeker after the truth this was ‘interesting’. (it’s hard to be rewired so profoundly at my age). It also put in to words a few ideas which were already coalescing in my mind – his chapter on clip-in pedals smacked my right between the eyes.

And I disagreed with him on a bunch of stuff (Woo. Big deal you say? For me, sad old bicycle anorak who finds mistakes in every bicycle magazine or book I’ve ever read that’s quite a big deal), but he’s not wrong. We simply hold different views. And I loved it. Reading a book whose subject matter is so well thought out, so thorough and resolved. A radical and serious book by a true expert. It’s just about the best bicycle book I have ever read. There is not a single word of BS in the whole thing. Not just a book to read to understand Petersen’s philosophy, I understand my cycling better having read it, and I thought I knew it all. My only criticism? It was too damn short.

If you ride a bicycle I urge you to read this book. It might just challenge everything you think you know.

I sent Grant a copy of Cyclorama, I almost wish I hadn’t because his book is so bloody brilliant I feel embarrassed to have him read mine! What I really do wish is that I’d read his book before I’d written Cyclorama. That tells you something huh?

Mr Petersen and his publishers have kindly allowed us to reproduce an extract from his book in our Bike Culture section, here – The Shoes Ruse

There are lots more book reviews in Cyclorama’s Bike Culture archive here.

Anyhoo.

This:

… as you may already know, is my venerable Centenary Schwinn which comes out for the ’summer’, though this year’s rainfest barely qualified. The kind people at Nonusual sent me a set of their gorgeous Gropes handlebar grips recently. Black with red laces was the inevitable colour choice from the many permutations available. Now, it takes a lot for me to change the original parts on this bike. It’s ridden, regularly, which is more life than most Centenary Black Phantoms are allowed to enjoy. I swapped the tyres only because one of the originals had perished prematurely. I swapped the original steel dinner plate ring for a smaller – Profile Racing Imperial – only to save my knees from imploding. And it ‘fits‘ – this being the last (imperial) model Schwinn ever made in the US. The seat got blacked because I just don’t do brown. And that was it, until I spotted the Gropes Grips. I got the long version which, designed as they are for drop bars, has given me enough off-cut to do another two bikes. Yay! They went on easy enough. The lacing was a bit fiddly but not difficult to achieve a very professional finish following the very comprehensive instructions included. They’re finished off with some very nice cork grips with a big G. Initial concerns that these would immediately fall out were unfounded. They’re incredibly well made, straight, true, well finished and soft, thick supple leather. They suit the bike perfectly and I love them.

You may be aware that I never talk about prices on Cyclorama. A thing is worth what you’re prepared to spend on it. This is the kind of product, if you own the kind of bike that these would suit, that you’ll order first and ask price questions later.

If I had a 5 star points scoring system these would get a six. Highly recommended.

There’s a gallery of images on our FB page here:

This is my latest one (or at least it will be when I’ve finished paying for it…) the very coolest Brompton of all, (IMHO) a 3spd with Titanium ends. I haven’t even ridden it anywhere that isn’t carpeted yet but it’s great to once again have a Brompton in the family.

Anyway, waffle waffle. I was approached recently by Demano a Barcelona based bag maker, whose range includes a Brompton bag. Very few companies make Brompton bags, Brompton’s own are the most numerous, unsurprisingly. And then there’s offerings from tradish’ Brit’ companies like Carradice and Brooks which, though extremely high quality and desireable, seem to hanker after a ‘Tweed Run’ view of the world. They’re nice and all but, you know, I don’t wear brogues and a Barbour and a deer stalker hat.

One of the things which attracted me to the Demano bag is the very thing which attracted me to the Dutch Clarjis bags which now grace most of the families’ bikes – their recycledness. Just like Clarjis Demano use old vinyl advertising banners. The result is an attractive, tough, waterproof and durable range of bags which has strong environmental credentials. And they’re all individually unique. And a big chunk less expensive than most.

The Demano Brompton bag is available from CitiBici, Barcelona (who ship worldwide).

The one they sent me was manufacturered using a banner which once advertised a Barcelona sketeboarding event, and to my delight, features the city skyline which includes a glimpse of one of the loveliest buildings on earth, Gaudi’s Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia. Wonderful.

So, I await an opportunity to test this bag with eager anticpation. Full test coming soon.

It dawned on me over the weekend as people who know me – cyclists and non-cyclists alike – have been greeting me with big smiles and expressions of wow, isn’t it great? And I’m struggling to find the enthusiasm to crack a smile. I am, it cannot be denied, a miserable old curmudgeon. I have the kind of droopy middle-aged face skin which makes it look like I’m scowling even when I’m happy. But that aside, you’d imagine that, as a Cyclist this would make me happy. But it doesn’t make me happy.

The trouble is this: I was once in love with The Tour. I watched it every day – and the highlights on a rest day – and for twenty years I harboured an ambition to one day join the throngs lining one of the mountain stages. As someone who’d survived testicular cancer I watched Lance destroy the competition year after year from the edge of my seat. I was a fan.

Fignon, Hinault, Delgado, Lemond, Indurain, Millar, Pantani, et al. I was a devoted fan. I loved the heroism of it, and I loved the heroes. And then it all went to shit. Year after year I watched as the drugs scandal after drug scandal slowly ruined my sport. It became harder and harder to feel any joy in it. I tried to stay true but, like anyone in a romantic relationship who is lied to, whose lover cheats on them and, however deep the feelings, eventually, slowly, inevitably….. I fell out of love.

In recent weeks it has been announced that the US Drug people haved banned Armstrong from competition and are bringing charges against him. That was the final straw.

So last week when Wiggo was doing well, and then when he looked certain to win, and even when it was inevitable – I simply couldn’t bring myself to watch it. In my heart it’s broken

So well done Brad, great guy, worthy winner. But for me – it’s just too frickin late.

I had my own go at designing a messenger bag nearly twenty years ago. Unhappy with the short-comings of the available bags it was based broadly on the then market leader (Fellow anoraks with long memories will remember the arrival of Timbuktu bags on these shores C.1990) but (hopefully) advanced the waterproofness and on-the-fly strap adjustment to another level. I sold a few and I kept one for myself, but beyond that I never took the big step to turn it into a business. My personal McAllan bag lasted fourteen years of almost every day use. And it looked very tatty towards the end! So when the sad day came to replace it I set very high standards for its replacement.

In the search for the perfect bag I stumbled across Seagull bags from Columbus Ohio. There are lots of good bags out there but I don’t think many come close to Seagull’s levels of excellence. But it’s not just about quality, Seagull bags are completely customisable from an enormous range of colours and special features. You can even spec the colour of the stitching. But that’s not all. They can also adorn their messenger bags in the graphics of your choice.

My new Cyclorama bag got held up for weeks in UK customs (and even though I’m not able to ride my bikes at the moment!) I’ve been desperate to get my hands on it since the day I discovered Seagull’s excellent bag configurator. Anyway, it’s here now. First impressions? It’s everything I hoped it would be. You’ll have to wait until I’m back in the saddle to find out if it’s as practical as it is good looking.

Beyond their presence on the product pages of Cyclorama.net there is no financial arrangement, we don’t make any money on sales of this bag. We just thought you might like to buy it. The Cyclorama Seagull bag, along with all their other products, is available directly from them via their excellent website.

Just tell them we sent you.
Mick

]]> http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/reviews/special-edition-cyclorama-messenger-bag-by-seagull/feed/ 2 http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/anyway/ http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/anyway/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 10:06:19 +0000 Mick Allan http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/?p=3010 Cheer up! The sun eventually came out and it looks like it’s here to stay after the wettest spring in living memory. Woop.

Cyclorama is moving premises today to a new office nearer to civilization.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as. Stay tuned for a great raft of product reviews on the blog and new manufacturers and their products featured on the main site.

Mick.