A Harley with silent pipes

This is a vintage bicycle. It's a Harley-Davidson from 1918. It's up for auction.





The lucky winner of this Hawg will have to live without that throaty rumble that's been the signature of Harley Davidsons since the 20s.

But if you eat what I eat, they'll still hear you coming.

The long colorful history of the bicycle in a tiny, kinda disturbing video

Ever been to the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, New York?

Now you have! See an actual Velocipede and Draissine! See a skull-crushing crash on a Penny Farthing! See machine guns mounted on safety bikes!

Esoteric Cycling Argument #117c: Indexed shifting vs. friction shifting

I hadn't really checked my calendar, so I wasn't aware that it was once again the season for all the retro-grumps to start complaining about electronic shifting -- and the inevitable reminder that the 100-Years War against indexed shifting is still in progress.

And Shimano invented indexed shifting specifically to make you buy a group, including their shift levers (and freewheel).

Of course, I agree with the general sentiment. Electronic shifting is, on the face of it, one of those ridiculous "innovations" that will only do one thing well: Separate the overpaid and gullible from their money. Still, to carry the argument all the way back to indexed shifting gets tiresome. I personally am a fan of friction shifting (er--actually, no shifting it all is fine by me).



But to suggest that indexed shifting was merely a conspiracy to sell more parts is kind of silly, since it really does eliminate the need for (the beautiful but obscure art of) finessing your downtube or barend shifters. Incidentally, it also makes STI- and rapid-rise-type shifting possible, and you'll have a hard time prying the cold dead fingers of certain cyclists from these devices.

Even the übergrump himself, Grant Peterson, is a fan of rapid rise.

Still, I have to say... the whole kerfuffle reminds me of something... can't quite put my finger on it...

Get shorty: The extreme wheelbase fad of the 70s

Today, Dave Moulton has some neat reflections on a certain mid-70s trend in bike frame design: the foreshortened wheelbase of time-trial bikes. Dave says the extreme shortening of the chainstays maybe shaved some weight from the frame, but otherwise served no useful purpose other than cultivating an industry-wide fad. But I think there is another reason, and that's the same reason people start smoking cigarettes: Because it looks cool.



Dave says that some framebuilders at the time actually tightened up the headtube angle too, thereby bringing the front wheel a bit further under the rider. Needless to say, an extremely short wheelbase like this is going to be a bit of a problematic ride -- not least because the natural flex in a fork when you're breaking hard will put rubber on your frame -- but if such a fad must sweep the peloton, then better to have it hit time trialers, who are afterall only a danger to themselves.

On the other hand, I have seen a bike with the most extreme wheelbase ever, and that would be Ines Brunn's trick fixie, where she needs to be able to turn on a pfennig.

Richard Burke, the founder of Trek, dies

Dick Burke founded Trek Bicycles in Waterloo, Wisconsin in 1976. For someone who claimed he wasn't much of a cyclist, he sure knew how to build a brand. He died last night in Milwaukee after complications following heart surgery.

My brother had one of these puppies -- roughly a 1980 touring model with Campy Record and (I distinctly remember) dry graphite chain lube, which I got a great kick out of putting down the back of his pants.


I stupidly waived my hand-me-down rights.

Probably what best explains the success of Trek is the high quality frame builders Burke employed through the early years. Tesch, Medici, and even American-made Masi's were all created by alumni of Trek's brazing brigade.

When life hands you lemons, make Gatorade!

Dr. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, died Tuesday. The drink was invented in the 60s for the University of Florida's football team -- hence the name -- and was 30 years ahead of the $19 billion sports and energy drink market.

When players first tried his protoptype, they complained that it tasted "like piss." Taking their criticism rather too seriously, Cade -- a kidney doctor -- did a taste test comparing Gatorade with his own urine, and found that the similarity was striking.

He added lemon juice, which didn't do anything about the color.

Cyclists, of course, have always felt that Gatorade failed to live up to their expectations of paying four times more than is strictly necessary.

Painting the town brown

The cargo-bike lovers at the Hugger are reporting that UPS will be using bikes to deliver packages this holiday season, at least in raintown. That brown Surly Steamroller seems like the perfect choice, no?

Aside from the fact that this will make Halloween Hurl very happy indeed, it's actually a return to roots for the 100 year old company. Jim Casey started UPS in Seattle as a bike messenger service.

The opposite of Fixed Gear Gallery

The world of used and vintage bikes is a lot less organized than, say, the market for old automobiles. What's that mint condition Orange Krate really worth? How about a genuine steel racer with wooden wheels from the era of the Wright Brothers?

This morning I wasted a perfectly good half hour poking around BikeIcons.com, a site mostly concerned with cruisers and choppers from the 50s through the 70s. It's a great place to gauge what the old clunker you found up in the rafters of your garage might be worth -- or at least what someone paid for a similar ride.

That Orange Krate? If its mint, you could cash in for as much as $3000. That Major Taylor steelie from 1890? $1500 on the barrel head.

Want to have BikeIcons appraise your bike? That will cost you $50. Or you can post a photo in the comments, and we'll ballpark it for free.

The thankless job of the cycling referee

Bill Lambert, an international referee who makes his home down in South Carolina, has been inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame. He was the first American to judge international cycling events in the 1970s -- and Tony Bennett blew his whistle! (How many people can say that?!)

Also this: The US Bicycling Hall of Fame? Who knew. We encourage you to poke around and read up on all the inductees -- know your cycling history, yo! Unfortunately, the site is butt-ugly, and looks rather like the web equivalent of a GNS mall store.

Clown bikes through time

Want a one-minute refresher course on the history of the bicycle? No? Well, you should do it anyway. It'll be good for you, and you'll be surprised to learn that the unfortunate human compulsion to build recumbant bicycles goes way, way back.

Road tunes from 1955

Before Huffy became Dynacrappy, they built some pretty terrific bikes. Of course, this was the paleolithic period. Snakebite pointed us in the direction of this beauty -- we like the radio, but we lurve the paint job and the rocketlight.

And if we could wave a magic wand and turn every miniature, scrotal saddlebag into handlebar tassles, we'd do it in a heartbeat. It would be like waking up in a world where every goiter was magically replaced by nipple pasties!

Speaking of which, the boing boing article that shows off this beauty mentions something interesting:

Huffy later made strap-on plastic models for other bike models, but they just aren't the same.

That's not the first time we've heard this rumor about some sort of sex-toy bike accessory, but surely it is a myth. Besides, our parental filtering won't allow us to research the subject any further.

Like a speeding bullet with disk brakes

Last Saturday, Markus Stöckl broke the land speed record for a mountain bike -- he reached 138 MPH on a Peruvian snow slope. You'd think snow would make for an intolerably unstable surface, but apparently not at these speeds. At slower speeds, especially brought on by quick and y'know involuntary decelerations, snow is undoubtedly a more forgiving surface.

The only thing that's dorky about this is the Red Bull Helmet and the finned boots, but we're not pickign a fight with this tough-as-nails fahrradder.

Masi see, Masi do

You, constant reader, are well aware of our unhealthy and irrational fixation on the new line of Masi Speciales, especially the stock fixie known informally as "the messenger bike," since it's not the right geometry for the track. (It's TIGG-welded steel from Taiwan, after all -- not exactly straight from the braziers of Milano. But we DO love the orange-blue-white paint scheme, surpassed only by scarlet, black, and white, and it looks just perfect with classic track drops.)

Anyway, we read in BRAIN the other day that Masi is rolling out a line of commuter bikes and "caffe racers." From what we gather, the Speciale Soulville is built along the lines of the Bianchi Milano, with fenders and arc bars, and plenty of exciting lines. That's it in the photo there. Like! Like! Like!

But the "caffe racer" is shown in some geared configurations like these, over at bike commuter, and they remind us of the hybrid city bike -- you remember, those mountain bike frames built around 700c wheels, the apogee of which was the Trek Antelope 8000. In a word, yuck.

To further complicate the matter, Masi Guy shows off a singlespeed commuter with a raked fork and a flip-flop hub. So, somebody please do our homework for us, and clarify this awkward situation!

Seems to us that the "caffe racer" should actually be called "the commuter," the Soulville should be the "caffe racer," and the "commuter" should be called the Speciale Fixed/SS. Someone tell Masi they need an editor, and have them give us a call. (We're available. We're loyal. We're fully housetrained.)

Is this the "most perfect" mountain bike ever built?

Glancing through a recent issue of Dirt Rag, we noted a fine spread on the Handbuilt Bike show, in which the work of Christopher Igleheart figured prominently. Today in the Boston Globe, we read this fine little introduction to the framebuilder, which incidentally makes a case for Boston being Cycle City-- going way back to the 1870s and the Overland company, and then making the (somewhat dubious) leap all the way to Fat City Cycles -- where Igleheart lit his first torch.

Then there was this:

Fat City Cycles, begun in 1981, brought together many skilled builders who created such models as the "Wicked Fat Chance" mountain bike, which aficionados still reverently consider one of the most perfect ever made.

No kidding? OK, afficionados -- we expect a hearty dialogue as to the "most perfect" mountain bike ever made. (What, and NOT a singlespeed 29er? No fucking way!) Never having swung a leg over a Fat Chance, but feeling especially close to my Indie Fab, I'm willing to entertain the idea.

Great Cycling Debates for the Esoteric, No. 1453b: Downtube shifters are evil!

Dave Moulton, former frame builder, has an interesting blog that corroborates the sort of retrogrump values of, say, Grant Peterson and Rivendell bikes, or the Orange cycling crowd.

As such, we find ourselves generally in agreement with such self-evident wisdom as this:

A well-made, steel, lugged bike is a thing of surpassing beauty. Yes.

Wool clothing is better than polyester clothing for at least 300 days out of the year. Yes.

Durable and versatile is better than light and proprietary. Yes.

So we definitely agree with the general thrust of Dave's most recent ruminations on downtube shifters, in which he argues that they are a good and noble thing. Still, the contrarian in us always wants to look for an opening and play devil's advocate where we see rigidity of thought or aesthetic, especially among the wisest of cycling sages.

Dave says that riding a mountain bike is easier than riding a road bike. Not true. Ease of riding is more a function of, uh, the road and route, doncha think?

Dave says inexperienced riders are more likely to crash on roadbikes. In my experience, mountain bikers crash a lot more often -- they just have a softer landing and tend to go down solo. Anecdotal evidence? How many "mountain biking helmets" retain their visors for more than three months?

Dave's line of reasoning has to do with shifting. Dave says that indexed shifting came about because of mountain biking and that friction shifting is a lost art because of this. This also not true. I have Shimano downtube shifters on my Ciocc that strongly argue against this historical view: They're from 1982 and they are indexed, predating stock mountain bike componentry by at least a year or two. I also have owned early production Stumpjumpers that had friction thumb shifters.

Finally, Dave says that friction downtube shifters are sometimes called "suicide shifters" today by these young, ahistorical punks. Actually, in my (admittedly limited) experience, "suicide shifters" have most recently referred to those 70s Schwinns and knockoffs that mounted the shifter on the stem. They earned that name every time you got out of the saddle and on the hoods for a really tough uphill grind -- and your knees knocked you out of gear. That's far more dangerous, actually, than seat-stay or downtube shifting, though perhaps maybe not quite as crazy as chain-stay shifting. Perhaps any outdated shifting technology earns this sobriquet, but I can't see why downtube shifters would; Dave implies that any shift technology that takes your hands off the bars is thought by the unwashed masses to be suicidal. I dunno, given all the talk and bluster and purpose of the Trek Lime Bike, perhaps even STI shifting is suicidal, because, y'know, computers are smarter than humans.

Mystery bike photo contest #13

If you know what this contraption is and does, and why it's historically significant, tell us in the comments. You'll win a handful of our bandspankingnew PFN fender stickers!

Great reruns from our youth: The PFN Interview with the Fat Man

We would be remiss if we neglected to tell you that this weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, one of the grandaddy superevents of mountain biking that we've had the pleasure of experiencing for more than a decade. (We had to do a bit of extra credit this year to get into the notoriously popular 40 mile race.)

Anyway, we wanted to take this opportunity to redirect your attention to our interview with the Fat Man himself, the estimable Mr. Gary Crandall, member of the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame, and race chief extraordinaire. (We prudently caught his ear earlier this summer, before he was drowning in race details.)

And watch for yet another "Local Intelligence" race report next week.

Know your bike history!

Today is the 100th birthday of UPS, United Parcel Service. Aside from the fact that this makes UPS a few years older than its kid brother in the civil service (the US Postal Service came a few years later) why should you care?

Well, because you will now learn a delightful factoid that will make you the life of today's happy hour: UPS started as a bike messenger service in Seattle.

A young man named Jim Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and started his street messenger service in Starbucks town...

In response to telephone calls received at their basement headquarters, messengers ran errands, delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage, and trays of food from restaurants. They made most deliveries on foot and used bicycles for longer trips.

Soon thereafter, messengers grew embarrassed at the number of non-messengers who took up cycling, co-opting their wicker baskets, wool knickers, and all the other stylish appointments of their uniquely appealing profession. As a result, they developed the uniquely insidious torture device known today as the fixed-gear bike.

Extra credit: Does UPS have any bike messengers today?

How history gets buried

The closure of a bike shop is a sad thing -- especially one that's been open since 1921. Faber's, in San Jose, is well known as a harbor for all kinds of valuable ephemera..

Faber's is an homage - a hymn - to bicycle history: On the floor are forks, wheels, tires, chains and frames from every era. In the barn in back are valuable oldsters like the 1934 Rover, or the 1937 Cadillac (yes, bicycles shared names with cars). On the outside, a half-dozen kids' Schwinn bikes hang downward as advertising.

Still, according to this reporter's somewhat premature obituary, "Faber's has defied the thinking that says a shiny new $2,500 carbon-frame bike is a mandatory starting point for anyone serious about two wheels."

Who thinks that? That certainly is wrongheaded thinking. Neither is the mandatory starting point a $300 piece of Dynacrap. We put that price right around $900... which, incidentally, might egven get you that original wooden Velocipede frame out in the garage (no kidding!)

Riding the invisible rails

Seen in the morning papers...

This is pretty nifty, but it's interesting to consider that the Underground Railroad and Emancipation all happened twenty years before the first safety bikes were built. Surely the bicycle would have made it easier for the courageous runaway slaves to get to Canada, and it's no accident that one of the nation's first cycling heroes was Major Taylor.