This blog features new additions to the Cyclofiend.com Galleries. If you want to know when the Current Classic, Singlespeed, Cyclocross or Working Bike Galleries receive updates, you can check back here, "follow" this blog by using the link below right, or subscribe to this blog's RSS feed.

Most of the time, I'll highlight one of the new entries from the batches - don't take that to mean it's better or the others are worse. It's just that when I went to post those entries, one caught my attention at that time and place.

This won't be my main venue for online nattering - ride reports, technical stuff and whatever tangents capture my brain will show up over on the Cyclofiend.com "Ramblings" blog, so you ought to wander over there. If you want to see what I've been writing about, there's a feed down at the bottom of this page which has the most recent posts from that blog.

If you have found your way here looking for things about Rivendell Bicycle Works (rivbike.com), I am the moderator of the RBW Owner's Bunch group over on google groups. That is a discussion of Rivendell bicycles and their products, but you can learn more about that here.


Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday Fast One: Karl's Kogswell

Got a little behind last night and this morning, so if this is a little brisk and choppy, I apologize in advance.

At the top of this blog, I've added in a random slide show from my Flickr sets - planning on periodically choosing one from my feed. Actually, had just done this to show another blogger how it works, but upon reflection, felt it was a nice addition.

Today, Karl's Kogswell P58 is the lone addition to the Current Classic Gallery -


Current Classics Gallery #779

Kogswells have always been interesting bicycles to me.  Back when this Gallery was gaining momentum, they populated the entries and much of the conversation on the iBob list.  To my perspective, they were one of the first steel, lugged production frames to gain visibility after Rivendell. As a value proposition to the Rivendell, it let many riders get contemporary lugged steel within their monetary constraints.

Kogswell probably helped the connection between Rivendell and Maxway, who was the Taiwan-based company which built the Kogs.  This led to the Bleriot, and now the current Sam Hillborne, Betty Foy/Yves Gomez and upcoming Hunqapillar models.

The P/R (Porteur/Randonneur) in 650B really seemed to put Kogswell on the map, staking out an area which no production bicycle seemed to exist.  The idea of swappable forks, different fork rake/trail and front-end-load specific geometry still spurs lots of debate, and really revved up participation in the Kogswell Owners Group.  (Ride buddy JimG also maintains an interesting and informative page of Kogswell info, and puts some serious miles on his 700C P/R)

But, it's these earlier bikes - the D, G and P series - which got them going.

#779 - Karl Littner's Kogswell P58
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Posted by Unknown at 9:40 AM
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2 comments:

Russ said...

Although I visit cyclofiend more often than I care to admit, this is the first time I came across your blog. Nice!

I like your take on Kog's notch in the seatpost of bicycle history and I'd love to stumble into a model D or P in my size...but so far no luck.

10:33 AM
Unknown said...

Thanks for the kind words. I'm excited about the idea of focusing on newer entries and different aspects of the Galleries.

The early Kogswells seem not to show up too frequently on the used market. I'm not sure how many are out there from that period. May have to do a little more research to find out.

Thanks again!

- Jim

9:57 PM

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