Police Attack NYC Critical Mass Rider

Regardless of how you feel about Critical Mass, this is a pretty disturbing video. I'm actually fairly ambivalent about CM, and I don't endorse anyone intentionally breaking traffic laws while riding, but I do believe that cyclists have as much right to the road as anyone else. That the fellow was arrested and charged on top of getting randomly creamed by a cop, is just the height of absurdity.

Via BoingBoing and Gothamist.

The Wheels of Justice...

Edit: I've been re-subpeonaed for early September.

...need their bearings cleaned and repacked.

I've been promising a few folks that I would blog about the car v. bicyclist road rage incident I witnessed last year, but the case (in which I was scheduled to testify this morning) has been continued, which means it will come up again, and I'll be subpoena'd again. I don't want to compromise my testimony in any way, so I'm not going to give the details of the incident yet. Mind you, this happened about ten months ago at this point. I'll keep you posted.

Another Year Older

The OBB is TWO years old as of yesterday! I celebrated the event by taking the Columbia, my first restoration, on a grocery run and then I made another one today. Huzzah for transportational bicycling! Thanks to all my loyal readers (81 Followers as of today, plus all the other feed-readers and lurkers), you folks rock!

Happy Birthday, Old Bike Blog!

Today is one year since I started this blog to record the process of refurbishing my 1971 Columbia Sports III. Several design changes, lots of new content, three new (old) bikes, and many new friends later, here we are. Huzzah!

I may or may not have bought myself a little OBB birthday present yesterday, but I'll save that for tomorrow. I'll give you a hint: it's English.

About the image: while casting about the interwebs for "bicycle" and "birthday" images, I came across this perfect one from the exceptionally excellent BuyOlympia, run online from Portland, Oregon (they started in Olympia, Washington, hence the name) and featuring the very awesome cards of Sesame Letterpress, based in Brooklyn, New York. The image above is cropped from their Happy Birthday Bicycle card. Go buy some. Really. Go do it.

How's That? Forbes Says San Diego #3 Most Bike-Friendly?

Just a week after Kathy Keehan's (San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) critical observation at the Voice of San Diego that "it takes more than a bike path" to make a city bicycle-friendly, Forbes Traveler ranks San Diego as the third most bicycle-friendly city in North America, behind only Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado and ahead of bike mecca Davis, California.

This in itself is bad enough, but among Forbes' most glaring gaffs, the statement that San Diego is "flat." That's so wrong, it's funny. The photo shows Upas Street between Florida Street and Park Boulevard, coming up from Florida Canyon on the north side of Balboa Park. Indeed, the city is built around canyons. I can't think of one core neighborhood that doesn't have at least one substantial hill. Obviously, these Forbes people have never tried to squeeze into the bike lane alongside two narrow lanes of aggressive traffic to get either up or down the epic Texas Street hill between Interstate 8 and Adams Avenue. Or how about trying to get from the vaunted velodrome on the east side of Balboa Park to the zoo or museums on the west side? Yeah, there's a hill. Don't even get me started on Little Italy or Banker's Hill (yeah, "hill"). There's another neighborhood called "Hillcrest." It's right there in the name. Hill.

And that doesn't even begin to address the wheel-bendingly horrible condition of the streets and roads, the pathologically aggressive drivers, the dense network of freeways that bisect otherwise perfectly serviceable bicycle corridors, or the general lack of interest in meaningful bicycle development shown by city and county officials. Not to be a nay-sayer or anything, but really, just what the hell were the Forbes people thinking? The weather is nice, I'll give them that, but only if you like to be all hot and sweaty when you get where you're going.

Bitch, bitch, bitch, I know. But really, the point is this: if San Diego is #3, I worry that we're setting the bar waaaay too low for what it means to be bicycle-friendly. There's a long way to go before San Diego even approaches bicycle-friendly for people who commute or ride on a daily basis, and while this ranking could have the benefit of spurring greater improvements in the future, I do sincerely hope that it doesn't create a sense of complacency among our public officials. I know that the SDCBC will continue to push for meaningful improvements, and that others will continue to work to try to make San Diego live up to its undeserved high-ranking, and until then, I guess I'll take comfort--while laboring up to Park Boulevard from Florida Canyon--that San Diego is flat.

1930s "Lifetime Elgin" Poster

I picked up this old advert (not a poster, really, but a leaf from a magazine) yesterday at one of our local shops, Paper Antiquities. The store is amazing, and the owner is very friendly. If you're ever in San Diego, check them out.

I love the visual style of the ad, and I even borrowed a bit for the new banner head for the blog, which I think turned out wonderfully. But it was the text that really won me over:

On city streets or country roads the Lifetime ELGIN is the popular choice of boys and men the country over. Its smooth, easy action gives a new sense of freedom, of speed, of luxurious pleasure. You'll revel in the convenience of its appointments and admire the sturdiness of its construction. Whether commuting to and from work, going to school, using it for business or for purposes of recreation, you'll find the LIFETIME ELGIN an efficient, dependable and less-tiring means of transportation. As a value it is beyond compare.

I've never ridden an Elgin before (it was the pre-WWII Sears, Roebuck and Company make, replaced after the war by J.C. Higgins), but this description makes me want to. It's the utilitarian aspect of the description that I like so much--recreation is literally the last use they mention. The emphasis is on "sturdiness" and on using the bicycle as transportation, which is a realization we're only just now making again. However, for those who would romanticize an earlier era, on the back is an ad for Allstate automobile tires, so it wasn't all "luxurious" bicycling pleasure and apple-cheeked lads on bikes in those days. Still pretty neat, though.

Adults Learning to Ride

I can't decide if this is depressing or inspiring. What do you think?

Happy New Year, Happy Old Bikes!

Will You Join the Throng?

Columbia Bicycles Advertisement, 1895

WHEREVER HE MAY APPEAR

The Wheelman on a Columbia Bicycle is an object of admiration. He is gracefully and naturally posed on a wheel which is perfect in construction and of elegant design and finish. Will you join the throng?

I dearly love my 1971 Columbia, but it's not quite as stylish as this one. For more stylish gentlemen a-wheel, see my other blog, The Cycling Gentleman.

Yow.

It's not exactly an old bike, but this story has been making the blog rounds lately, and it's pretty cool. Sixteen-year-old kid built a bike entirely out of wood. I bet it's fun to ride for about ten feet. Most kids make a spice rack or something. I don't even remember what my big accomplishment was at sixteen. The best part is that he was inspired by stories his Dutch grandfather told him about building bike wheels out of wood during World War II on account of rubber being scarce. Wooden shoes AND wooden wheels. What will the Dutch think of next? A wooden bike, apparently.

July Mid-City Bike Blast

Just received the announcement for the July Mid-City Bike Blast ride, and it sounds like an exceptionally awesome ride! If you live in San Diego, or within a reasonable distance, this is one you don't want to miss:

"You are cordially invited to July 11^th Bike Blast! We will meet at the City Heights Farmer’s Market at 10:00 AM, leaving at 10:30 AM. Teaming up with San Diego Food Not Lawns, this month we will be stopping at different gardens: elementary school, community, and private gardens in the Mid City area. People who work on these gardens will be there to show us around, and maybe even let us share their produce! Bring something to carry your veggies: a bag, a backpack, a basket, or panniers. We ask that children under 10 are accompanied by an adult or older sibling. We will be going at a slow, conversational pace, and bring your helmet! We will do our best to stick together, but if you get too far behind, you will be on your own. After the ride, stay and shop at the City Heights Farmer’s Market!"

I'm on Vacation!

I'm off to Oregon for a couple of weeks and likely won't be blogging or even getting near the computer, so I'll see y'all in mid-July. Ride safe, everybody!

Image at Viu en Bici!!

The Buzz About Old Bikes

Okay, so my blog post title puns aren't as good as some, but I try. This post isn't much on content, but I thought it was interesting and wanted to pass along that I found this little buzzy fellow in the seat tube of the Huffeigh, looking a bit cleaner but otherwise very much like this guy, who was found in the bottom bracket of the Columbia. Has anyone else found yellow jackets, hornets, or wasps in the frames of their old bikes? Is that a thing? Or is it just the bikes that I end up with?

New "How to" and "DIY" Labels

In my ongoing attempts to make this blog useful, I've been at work adding some labels to old posts that will make it easier to find the information you're looking for. There are new labels for "How to" posts, which generally contain useful information about working on some aspect of old bikes, and "DIY" which are more often ruminations on DIY philosophy or links or something. These categories will undoubtedly grow, if slowly, so keep checking them. Along these lines, the "Tips" label also still provides smaller tidbits of info about painting, cleaning, etc.

By the way, if you fancy yourself particularly expert at some bit of bicycle repair or maintenance, or if you have a time-honored method for truing wheels handed down over the generations (or whatever) that you would like to share with a broader community, I would very much like to hear from you. You can even be a guest blogger! Oh, the glamour!

Old "Bikes for the Rest of Us"

In the last two minutes (ah, the speed of information!), I've been honored to notice that prolific bike-blogger David has just joined the ranks of OBB followers. I've been a fan of Bikes for the Rest of Us for a while now, and upon perusing it just now, noticed this post from a few days ago, in which David's co-blogger Freewheel posts a classic article on buying a used bike. Good stuff, check it out.

Gettin' the Word Out

Big thanks to Hank over at the Flickr photo group Three Speed Bicycle Lovers for posting a nice comment to the group about my blog (with photos and everything!). I hope reading over my miseries and joys proves instructive and/or entertaining for any folks who followed the link over here. And I hope my new 10-speed project doesn't disappoint--the Columbia is still my main ride. If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them, and I'll either write you back personally, or post answers to the blog if they'll be useful to the group. It was fun and (relatively) easy to refurbish my bike, and while I'm sure I inadvertently did all kinds of things wrong, it all seems to have worked out in the end.

So Much Park, So Few Picnics

Balboa Park and its satellite neighborhood parks are so vast, we could have a picnic every weekend for a year and never have it in the same place twice. We just might!

Gallery of Old Bicycling Images

The Chicago Tribune has put up a sweet little gallery of bicycles and bicycling from its archives.

What she's really saying: "Son of a bitch, this thing weighs a ton!"

LINK

The Favored Son

As my bicycle stable has, well, stabilized for the time-being, I'm finding that I do not love all my children just the same. I find myself drawn to the Huffeigh even for errands that might better belong to either the Columbia or the Schwinn.

Two nights ago, I ran to the market for beer, a half-gallon of milk, and one of those little watermelons. It ended up being quite a heavy little load of stuff. Instead of taking the Columbia or the Schwinn, which are better-equipped to take this kind of load, I couldn't resist the stately allure of the Huffeigh, with its new Brooks saddle and cork grips and bell and gleaming black paint. I was a little surprised to find that the whole disproportionately heavy load fit quite nicely into the little basket I've mounted on the rear rack, and I had no trouble at all.

The bikes have also fallen into clear roles: the Columbia is the work-horse, the grocery bike, the long-hauler. It sits me forward a bit more, the saddle is higher, and I feel like I pedal it more efficiently -- better for hard work. The Runwell, which has been idle for some time awaiting new tires, is always going to be the older gentleman who doesn't get out much, I'm afraid. And the Schwinn, well, the Schwinn is quite comfortable, but ungainly and heavy.

But the Huffeigh is just the right combination of all three: it can carry a load, it's sufficiently old, and it's very comfortable. I just like it, is all. So now we're about to go on a picnic, and although I probably should take one of the other bikes, I think it's going to be the Huffeigh again.

How to Crash Your Pennyfarthing

So, this isn't really a bike history blog, but being a historian in "real" life, I can't help but be drawn to bicycling history. Today, the Blog Gods (Bloggods?) smiled upon me with a happy coincidence. Last night, I saw this image of Pennyfarthing trick-riding at BibliOdyssey, which made me smile:

And then this morning, I saw this video posted at The Bicycle Diaries, which brought history to life:

Pennyfarthing Crash

Taken together, I suppose they're a cautionary tale against thinking that our early cycling forefathers were a bunch of dandies and fops. No sir, they were hard-core.