Bike Bling

The great thing about bike towns is the variety. There are so many different types and styles people choose to ride. Portland runs the gamut of sleek and custom to just pure wacky. Once you start to appreciate the shape, make, model and style of bikes, you simply can't stop. I get a kick out of seeing just how far people go to customize their ride, what color grip tape is used, handlebar setup, components. . .an ocean of detail. Once your radar is tuned to it, every bike is up for inspection.


My latest interest are the art bikes. Much like the art cars (The clapped-out Volvo with hundreds of matchbox cars glued to it) art bikes are for people to scratch their heads at and wonder who would ever do such a thing to a perfectly good bike. But that's just it. Bikes are so damn versatile, custom and easy to upgrade. . .yet they almost always retain their original purpose as reliable transportation.



Oh yes. Bullets beneath the bananna seat. Ape hanger bars, huge mirror, squeeze ball bike horn and festooned with stickers. This bike is ready for anything. It probably starts with a sticker or two. My favorites are, "Death to bike thieves" and "It will be a great day when the schools have all the funding they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." Ok, that second one seems impossible until you take an X-acto knife to the words and spill it all over the frame.


A holiday trip to Seattle also produced some good specimens. This particular beauty was parked at an independent coffee house (big surprise, right?). There is something cool about seeing a kids toy, wonder woman and a coiled-wire impression of a mummy all hanging out together beneath the rider.


Bring on the bike bling! More is sure to follow.

Blind Pilot

There are rock bands and then there are mega bands. Regardless of your musical taste, any band that can charge hundreds of thousands of people $50 (before the Ticketb@st&rd fees) for a ticket in a giant stadium are either mega, on their way or doing a reunion tour.


Last summer, U2 attracted a bit of unwanted attention thanks to David Byrne's scathing accusations on his blog. Mr. Byrne wrote of the huge tour's expenses as, "excessive." Each trip to concert venues included 100 large trucks rumbling through the area, transporting the elaborate stage design and all the gear necessary for four people to entertain 80,000 fans. Considering their huge public profile in combating world hunger, eradicating 3rd world debt, you would think they would tread a bit lighter.

This story hovered around in my mind when I heard about the bike adventures of an up and coming, non-mega Portland band, Blind Pilot. They toured the west coast by bike, slept in tents and crashed in some people's back yards. A clever documentary has come out sharing their adventures and challenges of pulling off such a tour. They have to get pretty creative when one of the band members plays a stand up base--custom bike trailers. Think about taking your drum kit on the road with you the next time you ride somewhere.

Where Are You Go

Following a wonderful week of complete internet “Blackout” I found myself eager to return to modern times. There is something liberating about not being able to check your email/facebook/web news pages 5 times a day—but the thought of missing all that was familiar proved to be too much. I suppose it is like being away on an extensive travel adventure and loving every moment, but nearing the end you long for home only because you know the return ticket is in your hand and burritos and pizza await you.

Upon my return to the interwebs, I came across an inspirational preview for a different kind of bike race. One that adheres to the Woody Allen-esque quote of “ 90% of life is just showing up.” Much praise and thanks must go out to my good friend Shawn, who brought my attention to the documentary by way of his fantastic web site onehundrethmonkey

The film is in limited release at the moment (l i n k), but hopefully will catch on and gain more popularity. Based on what I have seen from looking at the remarkable still photos and beautiful video—it’s a winner. Any race on a bike down the length of the African continent deserves reverence and admiration.

With so many New Year’s resolutions floating whimsically at the top of most people’s thoughts, imagine seeing on your list, “Complete bike race down the length of Africa” next to “exercise more” or “be healthier.”

Little Red Headless Tricycle

I keep seeing this sad little tricycle around town and wonder what it means? My first reaction was sadness, like empathy for the poor kid who had his tricycle handlebars ripped off.



Is it a metaphor for an artist's childhood, short and incomplete, like someone ripped the innocence right off with the stringers in the handlebars? Hopefully the little RADIO FLYER will one day, ride again.

The second thought seeing this little guy is recalling the "Roller Racers" from my childhood. Damn those were fun. The photo is of the blue seat, but I vividly remember the red "hot" seat with the yellow handlebars.

Soulcraft

There was a time when we had a connection with the people who crafted our goods and tended to our needs. Through the decades, our relationship with craft and care has eroded to a point where most of us have no idea how things are made, fixed, forged or cared for. This disconnect has enabled the wool to be thrown over our eyes. Our collective ignorance and naive expectations have allowed sub-standard products and services to dominate our choices—to the point that we bought the idea that if something is Goliath-like and “too big” that it will never “fail.”

Perhaps we should not review the past decade, but several decades past. Re-direct our scorn and disdain of the modern financial institutions that “failed” us and focus on the few remaining people that truly create and repair things in this country. Things that we rely on to get us to work, haul the groceries and guide us home. We don’t need to wait a few years to cast a ballot for change. The loudest vote is also the one we unwittingly submit multiple times a day: Vote with your dollar! Support local, quality, hand made goods that will last a lifetime and support your community.



The best local craftswoman I know is Jude Kirstein. She is young, smart, talented, wickedly funny and driven by a passion for riding and understanding the mechanical nature of bicycles. She followed her passion and interest by completing a course with UBI (United Bicycle Institute) as a certified bicycle technician, then went back for more specialized instruction later. Jude continued carving out her path by starting up her own custom wheel building business, EPIC Wheel Works. When she is not busy teaching at UBI, she is working with clients who want quality, classic, custom wheels that will stand up to anything and are "...guaranteed to rock your world."



After talking with Jude and viewing her operation first hand, I was convinced my next set of wheels will be custom. Jude shared a few stories from her work journal, entries that ranged from the original notes she took with the clients on day one up to the final tension measurements with the finished product. One client returned from a 3,000 mile touring trip using her wheels for a tune up and the spoke tension was still dead on. Herein lies the beauty of the custom bike wheel. There is a written history with it, a person who recalls its inception and knows the exact measurements on it.



She displays her UBI certificate on the wall, not so much out of pride but as justification to others--skeptical men who wonder what this young woman really knows about wheels. Even though she teaches at the institute now, she says, "A lot of men still pull tools out of your hands."
Her only window in the workshop doubles as a message board--parts orders, reminders, messages and lists. Resting on her work table are five glass jars of soil she collected from bike trips across the world. Jude may be starting off small, but is making a big impact in this community. Her dedication, hard work and determination is beginning to pay off. People like Jude deserve our respect and support. She is in every sense, a true craftswoman putting her heart and soul into her work.

KNIT HAPPENS

From now on, holiday shopping for me will be done exclusively on a bike. Driving in any major downtown area near Christmas is insanity. It is certainly more challenging to the bike rider too--with drivers increasingly impatient and distracted.There is a dual benefit of having my panniers limit those big ticket items so not only do you save on parking a car downtown, but you have an excuse not to buy the lawn mower (unless they throw in a free CD with it too!). Weaving between and passing long lines of cars who are all stuck because one person wants to wait for a parking space brings a deep sense of satisfaction.

While locking my bike up outside of Powells City of Books in Portland, I stumbled across a little treat. Knittags. This particular one was like a tea cozy for the bike lock bar. I was a bit confused as to how it was attached until I looked underneath to see the secondary stitching. Curious about this little urban art piece I sought more info: http://pdxstump.com/directory/graffiti/knitting/tag. Its a brilliant little project that hopefully gets some more traction. Why not bring some more beauty and creativity into our normally mundane objects. It certainly brought a smile to my face and made me want to lock my bike up there and not on some boring, naked steel frame.
Have a happy and safe holiday everyone! Cheers!

Get out there

Certain images are worth more than a thousand words. In this particular case, its worth a few thousand miles. No matter what you ride, no matter what the weather is like, no matter how tired you are, get out there on your bike and watch the smile get bigger and bigger!