Singlespeed Tuesday - 5 "New" Entries

"New" in quotes because I'm sure the folks who sent in these fine images have all but given up hope that their submissions would ever see the light of day.  To further mock my efforts, the five singlespeed bicycles which got posted today precisely equals the total number of singlespeeds which got added to the Gallery in 2011.  But, hey, as I said, it's time to just keep taking small bites and pedaling...
 

#331 - Cat Daddy's Specialized Hardrock
This one catches my attention for three reasons -
First, there's something wonderful to my eye about a large-tired rigid fork mountain bike from the early 90's.  In the days before suspension became prevalent, the design teams focused on getting the best out of the a simple system. The frame tubes were not overwhelmingly huge or formed and the lines remain clean and strong. The Hardrock wasn't as fancy as it's sibling the Stumpjumper, but a lot of the differences at this point had to do with stem size/angle offerings and componentry - the Hardrock was a tremendous value. 
Second, it's one of the types of bicycles which I actually lament not having nabbed when I worked in the industry (actually, my specifically egregious failure to snap up an amazing value was not getting one of the last steel Stumpjumpers - we had bought the last of the runs of these maroon, rigid-forked models which IIRC was destined for the European market. But, I digress).  When the quality steel mtb's started to dwindle, most of us just didn't notice - overcome by lust for titanium, exotic aluminums and the just-appearring carbon fiber.
Third, Bill managed to get his neighbor's rescue dog into the final photo.  Now, I ask you, how can you not feature an entry which does that?

New Entries to the Current Classics Gallery -
#330 - Shawn Mullenix's Schwinn Continental
#331 - Bill/Cat Daddy's Specialized Hardrock
#332 - Kenny Sargent's KHS Urban Soul
#333 - Laurent Savard's Cambio Rino
#334 - Brad Ingermann's Schwinn World Sport

Current Classics Gallery Updates

Cyclotourist's Rivendell Road
One of the more prolific photographers of "ride shots" has got to be Cyclotourist - aka Dave in Redlands.  He's one of the few folks who has actually made me mildly nostalgic for the winding fire roads in the Southland (that's the greater Los Angeles area, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term).  If you haven't run across his images on Flickr, you owe it to yourself to follow his stuff.



He's also managed to put together some very appropriate bicycles - finding some truly pristine examples of early Rivendell models.  Here, he shares his Road model.

The "Road" was made during the first generation of Rivendell models. I'm currently developing a bit better documentation of bicycles from this period.  The Road model arguably became the branch which begat the Rambouillet/Romulus, then the Hilsen.  At the time the Road model came out, finding decent reach brakes was an exercise in NOS patience - the commercial offerings were pretty minimal. But, even so, this bike was spec'd for maximum clearances with the components at hand, and staked out the idea of good clearance, stable and versatile "road" bikes that didn't need to stay on pavement.




New Entries to the Current Classics Gallery -


#839 - David Horne's Mario Vicini
#840 - John Tsataros' Schwinn World Tourist
#841 - Ted Town's Gardin
#842 - Robert Hill's Raleigh Professional
#843 - Cyclotourist's Rivendell Road

Four Current Classics for a Four Day Week

The process of organizing and cleaning up can be a little ugly - found a nested folder on the computer that had a bunch of things which folks had sent in late last year, that "I was gonna get to..." but didn't.   Within that unremarkable digital repository is a goodly chunk of cool bicycles.  I may end up threading them into the newer submissions, or just try to do those sequentially (which may in turn build up the backlog for more recent entries.....) We'll see.

Again for those of you who have sent stuff in and have yet to see it represented, patience please! (And Thanks! - both for the images and descriptions and for the patience!) Hang in there, subscribe to the feed and enjoy these fine bicycles.

Nick Roth's Schwinn Superior

Along with the early Trek bicycles, another set of bicycles which I've always secretly lusted after has been the fillet brazed Schwinns.  This under appreciated segment of Schwinn's lineup seems to be largely unknown to folks.  It first caught my eye when I read about them on Sheldon Brown's site -  in Mark Rother's article posted there.

Now, certainly,  I like lugs.  But, there's something really beautiful about a fillet brazed frameset - a smooth, seamless quality to the work that flatters the elegant simplicity of a bicycle frame. The Schwinns such as Nick's Superior just seemed like really undervalued framesets.

Hopefully (since we presumably ride in the same county) I'll cross paths with this bicycle one day - but in the meantime, enjoy these images of this bicycle.

New Entries to the Current Classics Gallery - 
#829 - Nick Roth's Schwinn Superior
#830 - Gernot Huber's Raleigh Woman's model
#831 - Angus Lemon's Rivendell Atlantis
#832 - Tyler Los-Jones' Miyata 1000

Singlespeeds For a Short Week

Everyone is supposed to be tying off work quickly this week and gathering for contemplation around an unfortunate bird.  Which means you're probably stuck in some airport, listlessly overhearing folks complain about the TSA intimate frisking they just endured. Hopefully, the addition of eight new entries to the Singlespeed Gallery will help you divert your attention to something fun and healthy...

It seems to be getting more difficult each time to choose one entry to highlight, mostly because each and every bicycle has something unique and intriguing about it.  This selection of single speed bicycles is particularly diverse - including purpose built commuters, repurposed mountain bikes, and stripped down road machines.  The wonderful thing is that these bicycles are all getting enjoyed and used now.
In the end, the nod went to a fine example of early mtb history...

Jeromy Hewitt's Fat Chance Buck Shaver
As I've mentioned before, it was from the writings of Mike Ferrintino back in the inky newsprint pages of California Bicyclist that first made me aware of single speed cycling. At that time, I recall thinking "why would you want to get rid of the gears?"

But, somehow as I read through the article, in which he talked about the weight which would be jettisoned and the simplicity which would be attained, there was an attractive kernel of resonance.  At that time, even seeing a singlespeed was a rare thing. 

Since that time, I've always thought of mountain bikes first when someone spoke about singlespeeds. On the roads with a single geared setup, you do sometimes have to accept the multi-geared folk whisking past you now and again, when you are spinning along at just under the butt-bumping cadence.  But, on the trails, there's that sublime flow and near-silence, the simplicity of knowing that speed comes only from effort, and momentum must be maintained.

The Buck Shaver came from the east coast, and was a move to bring out a less expensive offering from the workshop of Chris Chance and company. At the time, hard to remember now, there was the talk of "east coast geometry" - a tighter wheelbase and sometimes higher bottom bracket which gave those relatively unknown bicycles kind of a bad rap out where the sun set.  We liked our 44" wheelbases and slack-angled frames.

Of course, looking at that bicycle now, none of that comes to mind.  The Fat looks like a lean and ready trails machine. The TIG-welded steel and jaunty straight fork promises nothing other than a ready companion to help you get lost on the trails for hours. 


Additions to the Singlespeed Gallery:
#317 - Allan James' Schwinn World Traveler
#318 - Vince Santiago's No Name Singlespeed
#319 - Guiseppe Rosalia's Assiolo
#320 - Lee Chae's Rivendell Quickbeam
#321 - Jeromy Hewitt's Fat Chance Buck Shaver
#322 - Mark Elam's Schwinn Moab
#323 - Gilles Landry's Raleigh
#324 - Joe's Univega Viva Sport

Also, there were some Updates to these previous entries:
CC #656 -  Don Genovese's Miyata 1000 Touring
CC #654 - Randy Pugh's Trek 1500

Seven Singlespeeds

Kind of a crazy start to a week that is now almost over. Between the San Francisco Giants winning the world series on Monday, those wacky elections on Tuesday and the resultant political hangover and celebratory national pastime parade in the city, I guess it was easy to forget I'd posted some updates to the Singlespeed Gallery Monday morning. I mean, here it is all Thursday and everything...

The updates also include an "oopsey!" on my part - sometime in the delay of receiving Jeffrey Brodersen's email with information about his 1974 Raleigh singlespeed project and actually getting it posted to the Gallery, his description got separated from his images, and I'm left with no way to contact him to ask for his text again. So, Jeffrey, if you are reading this, zap me an email with the specifics and I'll get it updated. Cool ride, by the way.

Also, a special mention for John Spurny's Fuji, which includes a great image of two happy dogs:

There's been a dearth of dog-buddy pix in submissions recently, and they are always appreciated when included.

This set of seven new bikes really had a nice assortment of projects and rides, with a number of countries represented.  It seems like all of them had a compelling reason for appreciation, but I said I'd only pick one each update... So,

Ian Roop's Saronni

There's really something about clean hardware and a fresh powdercoat... 

There's a simplicity about this build which is fairly deceptive, but captures a great deal of the allure of this type of bicycle. A bike with a single gear setup, whether fixed or coastable, has stripped away the confusion of extra cables and wiring, the complexity of on-the-fly gear choice and now reminds us of that easy and direct act of getting on and going.

The high flange hubs are gorgeous, the newly updated powder coat  smooth and creamy, but below it all lies the promise of the bicycle - easy and simple freedom.


New Additions to the Singlespeed Bicycle Gallery


#310 - Jeffrey Brodersen's '74 Raleigh
#311 - Balu Ramananda's Dahon Jetstream
#312 - George's Big Red Singlespeed
#313 - John Spurny's Fuji Grand SE
#314 - Ian Roop's Saronni
#315 - Paul Popescu's Prophette
#316 - Dean Watkinson's Schwinn Voyager 11.8

Also  Updates to the following Singlespeed Gallery entries:

#106 - Bert's Bianchi
#301 - Joe Huddleston's Nishiki

*A quick word about "Updates" - these have been languishing significantly, and honestly, they are a little cantankerous in terms of the workflow.  I'm making a concerted effort to include a couple with each update now, so if you sent in new images of your existing entry, hang in there!  Also, if you are sending in an update - please reference the Gallery # of your original in the email - that will save me a bit of time and make it more likely to see the updated version more quickly.

Current Classics Update: Lucky Seven on the Seventh

It's really gratifying when the randomness of submissions line up with the tenets of the Cyclofiend.com galleries.  Back in 2005 (the waning dour days of dialup?) when these Galleries started coming together, one of the ideas was to highlight the really well designed but reasonably unappreciated bicycle frames which seemed to be fading from people's perception.

While I certainly love the continued expansion of new builders who understand that the strength of a bicycle design stems from its simplicity, I've always said that reinvigorating an older model was an honorable task.  The bicycle which landed at the Milestone spot of 800 seems to epitomize that.

Current Classics #800 - Mike Hauptman's Trek 614
Mike has taken a really nice frame design from probably the golden age of Trek steel and set it up with the parts and accessories which really compliment it.

From the superb coverage of the Honjo fenders to the classic art nouveau of the font on the seat tube, it's classy and useful, yet Mike's not afraid to use the shifting system he prefers.  Best of both worlds and a wonderful addition to the gallery!

Updates to the Current Classics Bicycle Gallery

#798 - Rudolph Luciani's Dave Moulton FUSO FR-1
#799 - Byron Kerr's Surly Long Haul Trucker
#800 - Mike Hauptman's Trek 614 - Milestone!
#801 - Tad Broussard's Jamis Aurora
#802 - Tad Broussard's Schwinn Tempo
#803 - Tony K's Curtlo MTB
#804 - Bob Stoltz's Rivendell Custom

The Mystery of the Sphinx

Gernot Huber's Gary Fisher Sphinx

 Current Classics Gallery #797

Now, here is a Gary Fisher bicycle model that I'd never heard of before. According to his entry, this bike was from 1990, which is kind of the "awkward" period in the history of that brand.  During that time, Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes was sold to Anlen (Taiwan) in 1991, distribution reworked with assistance from Howie Cohen through 1992, before finally becoming owned by Trek in 1993.

Some of the designs from that era, like the RS-1 were definitely out in front of the existing technology.  Other's, the like the e-stay Montare are better consigned to the slag heap (though the idea of kicking the rider back a bit came back on the Genesis Geometry models - which I always liked the ride of.)

Whatever else you might think about Gary, the man loves to ride, and I've been lucky to share a few interesting and thought-provoking conversations with him now and again. The fact that two of those were sheer moments of serendipitous on-the-road connections gives credibility to the fact that he's out there, riding more than most, and thinking about what goes into bicycle design.

The Sphinx really fascinates me. It reminds me of the Bruce Gordon Monster Cross frames - good clearance 700C (622) bicycles ready to ramble anywhere.  Gary certainly has returned to embrace the idea of "29er" (622) mtb's.   It also has a fairly compact frame design, something I generally attribute to Ibis bicycles.

Now, it does have some, uh, idiosyncrasies - most notably the "evolution" series headset (1 1/4") and bottom bracket (88 mm) are reasonably incompatible with anything being made, and the seatpost is 28.6 (shim-able, of course).

But, I have to agree with Gernot's assessment of this as a unique and overlooked design.

#745 - Matthew Dearing's Schwinn Paramount
#746 - Jon Grinder's Bridgestone XO-2
#747 - Gernot Huber's Gary Fisher Sphinx -

Working Bikes Gallery Into Gear Again

The Working Bikes Gallery was actually started most recently.  It began when I snapped a quick image of a cycletruck delivery bike up in Oregon, which got me thinking about this mostly invisible segment of the bicycle world.  It's easy to over-glamorize these machines, perhaps.  But, I think it's better to acknowledge how well suited the basic design of a bicycle is for these purposes. 

Even though it's easy to get transfixed by low forward cargo bikes, or specialty haulers, the fact is that a basic, diamond frame bicycle can be an incredible tool.  If you have only perused the Current Classics, Singlespeed or Cyclocross galleries, take a while to see the diversity of design and use that can be found in the Working Bikes Gallery.

Jason's Schwinn Heavy-Duti

Working Bike Gallery #125

Across various airports, ridiculously large warehouses and assembly plants, you can reliably find bikes like these.  They are the mine mules of our time; used interchangeably to get somewhere, get something done, and not have to fuss about it.  They are load-carrying beasts, ready to roll with little preamble. 

What inspires me about this bike is that it seems to have made a break for the daylight and kept running.  Now it gets to roll around on the roads, breath in the fresh air and enjoy the elements.  Because of its tough past, there's little now that can faze it. 

Roll on, Heavy-Duti!

#124 - Eric's Indianapolis Trailer Rig

#125 - Jason's Schwinn Heavy-Duti

#126 - Michael Gibian's Ritchey Aspen Xtracycle

Cinco Por Cinco

One of the really funny things about processing all of the Gallery entries is how diverse it is - everytime I think "wow, that's a lot of Rivendells in a row...", I get a set like today's.

When you get this diverse a set of bicycles in such fine condition, it's really a shame to pick out one of them to focus on.  I would have loved to just talk about Peter Vieira's Schwinn High Sierra - a gorgeous, near-stock example of the first wave of production mountain bikes. The long wheelbase and slack angles of that frame still ride well for so many applications.  I even managed to bite down my reflexive regional-centric preference for west coast mtb steel from that era...

Then, there's Anton Tutter's Shogun - wow. When I saw the images, I thought it was a Toei, and to read his description of the restoration/conversion of this rig was pretty impressive.  After that, a couple examples of gorgeous Italian steel classic lightweights - Frank Paxton's Basso Gap (racy, chromed lugs, three-tone paint - what's not to love?) and Clive Standley's DeRosa Neo Primato (a race rig made stylish and useful with the tasteful addition of new parts).

In the end, though I ended up with Randy Pugh's Trek 660, for...well... reasons I'm about to mention.

Randy Pugh's Trek 660

Current Classic Gallery #784

Trek road bicycles from this period (1980's) have always struck me as tremendously underrated and generally overlooked bicycles. They are the bicycles which I've probably always wanted to have one of, despite never having actually ridden one. Yeah, I know.  That makes no sense.

But, hear me out.  They were mostly production bicycles, crafted in the USA.  They didn't have the panache of the Italian thoroughbreds, lacked the racing pedigree of the California Masi's, Peugeots and what have you. They were good, simple, lugged steel frames.  They seemed a dime-a-dozen at the time. They had lighter gauge race-oriented frames and they had canti-brake and braze-on rigged touring models. They were, to be blunt, often regarded as the bikes you upgraded from.

To look back on them now, it seems like they have so many of the things which are generally gone from bike models today (though, arguably, that is thankfully starting to return.) Good clearances, clean lines and useful braze-ons.

With this bike, Randy has added on some newer bits, which also strikes a chord with me.  When you see so many riders today turning over "last year's" model on Craigslist or eBay, selling the whole thing - frame, fork and components - at fire sale pricing,  it's encouraging to see a good, useful frame being used.  I think it helps remind people how a well designed bicycle frame can continue to evolve and be enjoyed.

#780 -  Peter Vieira's Schwinn High Sierra
#781 - Anton Tutter's Shogun 2000
#782 - Frank Paxton's Basso Gap
#783 - Clive Standley's De Rosa Neo Primato
#784 - Randy Pugh's Trek 660