no. 24 JULY 19
Sorry to all those who either hate cameras or don't live in or around Portland, but John's organized this event with Will (right) and Roman (left) on next (this coming) Saturday, like the poster says. You can grill Roman and Will on why we won't or when we will introduce your dream bike, a cross btw a Quickbeam and a Hunqapillar, but with disc brakes, or when we're going to make a short-wheelbase road bike with a horizontal top tube, and things like that.
The event includes a casual ride with stopping to shoot along the way. I don't know whether John or Will or Roman will be instructing or just there, but I can promise you at least two of them will be, they'll answer any questions you have, if they know the answer.
If you believe in doing things in the spirit of the founder's intent, you'll bring a film camera and film, and if you haven't used one ever or in the last decade and need brushing up, it would be good to do a little of that beforehand. Bring a roll of 36, any kind of film you want, but they don't sell it at Safeway anymore, so plan for that.
After the ride, or at the end of it, a pedal down to Blue Moon Camera, which is the Nation's No. 1 camera store, totally dedicated to film, friendly, experts, and with a good selection of stuff.
Here's John's store:
And here's Blue Moon:
----------------------------------------------------
Remember this ol' TV show?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7YDcLP2DeY
We've finalized the Susie-Wolbis badge, but the badge maker might not be able to do it. Just because something can be designed doesn't mean it can be made, but this one is close to possible, and we'll find out in a few weeks. Don't buy a bike based on THIS, in any case:
Olivier Chetelat did it for us. There were about thirteen earliers, all over the map, all good, but then at the last minute when it would have been easy not to, O did this, and for me, that was it. It's a shame (to me) that this will probably make it onto no more than 200 frames, ever, but we're a small bike biz here. We're tinier than you think. We're shrinking, we're nothing, but we're trying hard, and this badge makes me happy.
------
I am thinking about a bike model of that name. I mean, I am thinking about that as a bike model name. There is a way to do it respectfully, but it's not automatic. It has to make sense and be specific, and as soon as I wrote the c in specific, like RIGHT then, I got it. People will tell me (this I know from living) that I'm doing it wrong. Well... I've written to Mr. Gallop at two different address I was able to dredge up. If I don't hear by July 31, it'll be something else. He can't own "gallop" or "hodges," but the combo, well--OK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUI-NRDflU
Well..I don't have quite that attitude, but it was a good excuse, and the song after it, not bad, too. There's a whole string of songs immediately following it, and they're all not bad. Dwell until you hear a bummer.
------
At Bstone during the last days when all was going to heck and the Japanese parent company said to us, enough, we've lost too much too often for ten years except for a few of them, so -- good run and all, but we've tallied the beans and it has stopped making sense, so we're closing our tiny U.S. office--that's when we started the Bridgestone Owner's Bunch (BOB) and started selling the last genuine pro-quality horsehide baseballs left in the country, and Pino Morroni t-shirts, and BOBshades, which are a fashion statement not everybody can get behind, but they were musa safety glasses with good optical quality, adjustable temples, and they were like $5, so say what you will.
We had them at Rivendell for a couple of years, then they went away, and recently I tried to find them again, but no luck, schmuck, the company that made them still exists (H.L. Bouton), but all of the current offerings are thugster style. Well...I recently came upon this Fine Firm, and they somehow have them:
https://www.fullsource.com/search/?keywords=H.L.%20Boutton%205900
You type in Bouton 5900, and there they are. This time there's no "no side shield" option, but you can snip those off, it just takes slight deftness. I got some grays, some clears, and greens. In the old days you could get LIGHT GRAY and LIGHT GREEN, and there were widths offered, but you know, you can't always have it all.
This same Firm has lots of neat stuff. I got reading safety glasses with 1.5 lenses, and I've no doubt they'll outlast my current faves, and cost less, too.
Here's one of their other products, modeled by a woman, Susie W. Longbolts, who'd rather not be modeling it.
Is it the plant cellulose plus synthetic, or is it all plants? "Cellulose requires water activation" <-- just say you need to soak it and wring it first, like a sponge.
"Ideal for use in hot environments for protection from the stress of high temperatutures." <-- just say it's a strange sweat band that works.
Are they one-use? You can get a box of 100 for $26, and if they're reusable, there's your lifetime supply of sweat bands, my friends.
Are they for visiting dignitaries to wear as they tour your business's hot factory floor?
They could be fun on a bike ride. Less bulky than a bandana to wear under a hat. Our hats are coming in soon. They'll come when I'm away. Darn, I hate that.
----
-------
We are slowly working on MUSA pants again, and shorts, and what's wrong with everybody in the world who doesn't like knickers as much as me and Hodges B. Gallop do? I can' see us doing more knickers again. Anyway, there will be some changes to them, and they'll still be good.
-------
Back to Hodges Gallop"
How sad, so young, the date.
I called his son, got a number, couldn't get through. I had a plan, but I don't want to chase or appropriate or come off as weird.
--------
Race Alert:
We got a dozen copies of this book, written in 1868, by Elizabeth Keckley.
-----
I read this in a day and recommend it:
It's the easiest-to-read political philosophy book that's ever come down the pike, and I think, actually, that you'll love it. We'll have a dozen of them as of Saturday. I bought five from my local bookseller--to give away, and I think if you read it you'll want others to, too. We're getting in only 12, so if we're out when you go to order, find it somewhere else.
Dave, former GM here, says he sees Robert Reich frequently in the hallways of UC Berkeley (where Dave now works). Here are three pages. These aren't the highlight of the book, but you can see the writing style and flavor.
If you want to get it from us, click HERE. We have twelve, and won't keep carrying it. Please buy one from us before you-know-where.
-----
I got a link to a CLEM SMITH JR review. It was over-the-top positive, and showed one of BLUE LUG's builds. BL is our Tokyo dealer, and as I've said many times before, has the best bike shop I've ever seen. Anyway, I got a kick out of the comment there at the bottom:
...but long is the point! It's OK. Most people would think that, who haven't ridden one.
----on the other end of the spectrum, and maybe it's a different spectrum, but certainly with tightened up chainstays----
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/specialized-turbo-creo-sl/
Good for Specialized, but the motor makes it a motorbike. I know there are lots of kinds of bikes, and that "bike" has come to mean motorcycle also, but I am more sentimental about "bicycles" than anything else, and I'm trying to not adopt the language. I fail half the time, but in the case of eMotorbikes, the motor is the point.
It's not bad, I know the good it does, how it improves lives, but all that can happen without it being called a bicycle/bike, even with the e in front. I'm not ready for it. I'm behind the times. Struggle is underappreciated. I know struggle, I struggle all the time. It's hilly around here. I'm 65, and it takes me an hour to warm up. The slight rise from house to the first stop sign, every morning, makes me feel like I'm 90, and when middle schoolers pass me, that doesn't help. But even though all of that, the bike is a miracle, and every time I struggle I think of how lucky I am to have functioning legs to struggle with.
Don't overestimate my struggling. The hills around here keep me healthy enough, but hooboy, they are hard and fantastic.
------
Action photo that shows the good in a lowish toppish tube. This is Dan just after not making a hard part of the climb, having to stop fast and jump off.
The canteen way of life. Sofia on a hot day. Canteens have saved more lives than water bottles have. She was really thirsty here. She is happy doing this.
I got a canteen for me for old-timey's sake and because it was cheap, and now, for new-time's sake, I prefer them absolutely to water bottles. I wear them with and without the anti-swing strap I was advocating a few posts ago. No problem. They lie flat, never get mucky, all's well.
------
We've had a hard time getting Phil hand cleaner. We have the goat milk and walnut-shell soap that works well without a plastic tub. It's not as fast as this, but there's no plastic. We're using our plastic equity cautiously, and this one made the cut, at least for now:
Since the year my mom was born.
A one-pound tub.
------
A customer came by on a Hunqapillar with a rack that was unsupported and scarily close to knobs, so Will ground off the knob-grabbing light mount, which they no longer have:
Will grinding a tab off a rack. Photo by iPhone 6, the big one.
------
I am still in need of an expert in QuarkXpress. One-time job. InDesign doesn't count.