October Blahg OCT 23
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Story about "sustainable" bicycles. From a small magazine from way back in 2023, but it's good. It's short.
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I was looking for a big net for a backyard project, and being 72 and all, I know there are things called cargo nets, so I goog'd and found this one, which is billed as something it's unlikely to live up to:
It's OK, I just wonder why they do that.
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Bike dog death Central park related to helmet, riding position
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The Beatles thing, Ed Sullivan
related to that, but a little deeper or something, I don't know.
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V-brake update for those who like updates:
The slot height is 15mm. Most are 20mm. The thing. is, UNLESS your goal is to switcharound 700c and 650b, there's no reason to have more than 9mm, 9 being more arbitrary than mathematical. Technical design alert: The axle to boss distance for 700c is 284mm, and for 650B, its 263mm. The bugaboo is that to make max use of the slot in a conversion way, you'd have to have the bosses brazed on so that the pads were at the top of the slot on a 700c wheel, and at the bottom for a 650B, and even then, the adjustability isn't 20-21mm, because the pads are connected to a bolt that stops before the extremes. So this 15 will work great, and there you go.
Samples maybe mid-Dec. Production, hard to say. Late Spring 2027?
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Here's a simplification of the objective differences between our bicycles and many others:
Material: Always CrMo, because it's safer and allows more slender tubes and prettier frame joints.
Brakes: Rim brakes, because they work great and allow quick-release wheels, which are safe and quick and easy. A rim is a rotor, a rotor functions kind of like a lever, and a longer lever is more powerful, without resorting to hydraulic fluid. Even tho "more powerful" is not the goal, or shouldn't be. More power doesn't mean safer. If you're maxing out the power in any brake, something's funky with your braking technique.
Higher handlebars easier: For more comfort without resorting to extreme stems.
Longer wheelbases: More stable, more comfortable, safer in most conditions--all else equal.
Excellent tire/fender clearance: Fits more tires.
Threaded headsets/quill stems: So easy to adjust. More versatile. Better.
Graphics: We have our style and internal standards, and hope you like them. But we do, for sure.
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I'm a fan of Piraro. Comic-maker, been around a long time. Here's the stuff he's doing now:
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I have two Bstones. One, given to me by a former Bstone dealer in Minnesota. I modified it and haven't ridden it for 15 years, but I'm getting it up and running and fixed a bit for...well, I have my purposes, and they're normal. It's a 1984 MB-2. Before I had any influence, and it's no worse for that:
1984 Bstone MB-2.
Biopace chainrings. Not round, popular for two years, they're fine but never lived up to the fantastic billing Shimano gave them.
I took this bike out of storage, hence the cobwebs. I've been riding it around a fair amount.
I don't recall whether the quick-release binder bolt was stock. Probably not, but it comes in handy. Current Rivendell seat binders are compatible with q/r binder bolts like this, and for a while we sold them. If you know your saddle height and for watever reason don't like using allen wrenches, they're good. We should have them on all of our demo bikes, and I think at one point that was the plan, but over time they all got lost or went away, not sure.
Shimano's "Light Action" was a series about at the current 105 level. I remember liking it a lot, but was too snobby to ride it on my personal bikes. There were Light Action derailers and shifters, maybe shifters, too.
In the fender-fitting department, have a higher standard for customers' bikes than for my own. This will be easy to fine-tune, and I may or may not get around to it. But the focal point of this image is the distorted saddle. I think we can agree on that. Shown here with NItto's S83 seat post, the best in the world, and it didn't come with it.
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The NY Times is good to look at even if you don't read. The photography is way better than average. The Oct. 8 issue had a story about voters in India protesting the government's attempt to keep people from voting. That's a simplification, I don't know much about India's politics (I know more than many of my ilk)...but the issue I'm addressing here is photography, not politics. I read the story in the paper, but it was hard to get past the photo:
I wanted to see a clearer image of it and maybe some others, so I went to the online story and saw this:
Both are amazing, but I prefer the B/W one, although the red shirt and red in her tatoo, and the other bits of red and that orange bracelet stand out in the sea o' camo & faded khaki. The woman's face and teeth and rage make this one of the best photos of the year. I looked up Adnan Abidi, the photographer, and here's his deal.
I'm fascinated by everything about the event, the photo, the cop women who look like they probably aren't loving their task at hand and also probably wish they weren't in this photo, and the photographer. I would like to meet Adnan Abidi. I wonder if he rides a bicycle. Does he ride only eBikes? If you know him, have him get in touch, we'll figure something out. Does Reuters own all rights to this image, or does he? Can he, I don't know, have it printed with like laser detail and precision in a million megapixels or whatever they're going by these days? I'd put it up in our gallery here. It's not a fancy art gallery, but there's a lot of excellent art here.
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These things, see the photo below, just come to me, and Erik de Vlaminck is or was the younger brother of Roger, and both were hifalutin' and gnarly road racers in the 1970s and maybe early '80, who, AS I RECALL, between road seasons, both raced cyclo-cross in the Winter, and Roger the elder was proficiently enough to win at least one World Championship, when he and many of the others used down-tube friction shifters. Point BEING, that there's a difference between him carrying a child like this and others doing this...not that I condone anything. I wonder how the child mounted up on him. One thing noteworthy about the child, probably his son, is that the De Vlaminck bros both had massive sideburns, and the way this boy's hair is done up seems to mimic sideburns.
By the head badge, this bike seems to be a Raleigh, which, as I remember, was the De Vlaminck's team bike. The top models were brazed by a man named Gerald O'Donovan--maybe Scottish. The black thing in the middle of the hub is a slip-on clip that covered a tiny hole that let you lube the hub with oil from a squirt-can. Or, as I once did, you could put a tiny. nosil on a grease and squirt grease into it. The new grease fantastically pushed out the old grease in both directions out by the cones and locknuts, and then you were all set to go again.
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This is an interesting article an old friend sent me. It's a comparison of old outdoor clothing and new. There are some interesting related stories you can dive into if you like. Anyway, it's short, and you can't possibly think it's boring. I'd give it 4.5 stars.
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My oldest daughter, b. 1988, had one of the hardest high school commutes in the last century, and it wasn't me cracking the whip. She wanted to go to School X, so we got her into that school, but didn't want to drive her and fight horrid traffic. The bicycle way was shorter, but required the round trip required about 900 feet of climbing, and she did that on average about 4.9 times a week for four years on the bike below. She never has ridden recreationally--she's been a student and rode around the campus and towns, then more studentry and training and all, and then marriage and motherhood and a. "working professional,"...but she and her husband both ride Platypuses. He commutes on it, and both ride to restaurants on date nights or whatever, and she is comfortable slinging a leg over a bike as anybody.
It's a 51 with 2.5-deg sloping top tube. She was/kind of still is 5'-4 1/2" with PBH 77cm, and could straddle the bike with these tires, but barely.
Early cloissoné head badge. Didn't conform perfectly to the head tube, so some fell off. Hers never did, but we went to a different style, anyway.
Rapid-Rise rear derailer, triple crank. The pedals are newish. Chainstay mounted kickstand. Lockholder on the seat tube. She always rode with a monster saddlebag.
Lugged stem, cable housing not buried under the grips. Early cork grips.
It's a B.17-Ti saddle.
Phil front hub.
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Here's a story from the current issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, the bike industry's trade magazine. It's a rather interesting one, and I want to see how it plays out.
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This is fun unless you hate juggling and comedy. If you live alone, you'll round up a stranger to watch it the first time while you watch it a second. If you have a child or spouse or friend, no stranger needed.
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THis is the final (5th or 6th) Silver FroDer prototype, and we're approving it, and sometime in early '27 we'll get them. Patience is key here.
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Be one of the first ten people to correctly identify each of the three people below, and you may win a small something to be determined. We'll notify only the winners, but as might be expected when tragedy strikes, our hearts and prayers will be with the losers. This isn't intended to be controlling or punishing, it's just partly a way to get a feel for how many people read this far down in the BLAHG, and to encourage early BLAHG reading in the future.
Let's go "all analog" on this. Doing so will cut way back on the number of entries, because that's just the nature of postcards and stamps in 2026, but on the self-serving side of things, it will minimize the hassle of internally locating your account and then allocating a prize of some sort to it, and that is the kindest way for me to go about this. I will handle all of the prizes, if that's what they are, internally. Detailed rules follow under these images.
Rules/mostly a request: Postcards only. Must be postmarked by Nov 4, but keep in mind the timing (earlier is better). Going by postmark date eliminates a west-coast advantage and for sure will eiminate from the count a hundred or so people who have read this far but can't be bothered (understandably) to enter the contest. The prizes will be small but will easily cover the postage. Try to not use A.I.
The artist is Ian Johnson.
https://ianjohnson.bigcartel.com/
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As always, thanks for your support. We're trying hard to do good work, take on good project, and support good causes. The team here is great, work is good.
G