10 December 2010

Going Stealth In Pink

Some black bike parts are said to have a "stealth" look.  I suppose that on a black bike, they would "fly under the radar."  And, if enough people are riding black bikes,  I suppose that those "stealth" bikes and parts could go unnoticed.


But what if the world were lit by magenta neon?  Seeing the old Rudge-Whitorth in that light in Flushing made me think of this:  That bike, which was black, certainly didn't look "stealth."  That's not to say I didn't like its looks: It had a nice patina on it, and there's something classy about some of those old three-speeds.  But if one wanted to make it less visible, what would one do?




Would these be "stealth" in the light I saw last night?

09 December 2010

Eccentric Rings

Tonight, on my way home, I stopped in Flushing for a bite to eat.  Now, I've never been to Hong Kong, but Flushing is what I imagine Hong Kong would be like if it were transported to Queens.  Or, perhaps, with its ubiquitous neon, it could be seen as an Asian version of Times Square.




I wonder whether the makers of this Rudge-Whitworth ever imagined it in magenta neon light.  In some odd way, bike and light are not incongruous, at least to me.  


One particularly interesting feature of this bike is its chainring cutout pattern:




Is the hand halting or waving? Whatever it's doing, it looks good doing it on this bike.  


I'm guessing that the bike is from the 1940's or 1950's.  At that time there were dozens, if not hundreds, of bicycle manufacturers who made what we now think of as classic English 3-speeds.  (Many of those companies, including Rudge, were bought by Raleigh during the 1950's.) While, at first glance, they seemed almost the same, each model had its own particular set of details that set it apart. An example is in the chainwheel you saw in the above photo. Many other British makers used chainwheels with interesting and sometimes whimsical patterns cut into them.  The Raliegh three-speed I rode last year had a heron--Raleigh, which of course was Raleigh's corporate symbol. 


I've seen other chainrings cut out in interesting patterns. Here's one of my favorites:



It's on an AJ Warrant bike from Austria.  Although there's no earthly reason to use a cottered crankset today, I wouldn't mind having the one in the photo.                                                                       

08 December 2010

Santa's Helper


Last night my commute took me through the great wilderness of the Land of Overdecorated Houses.  


Even after so many years of cycling, I still can't get over how much brighter and gaudier those lights and combinations of green, red, gold, silver tinfoil seem when you don't have two feet of glass and two tons of metal between you and them. And the cold, clear night made them glint and glare all the more, or so it seemed.


We're supposed to have more of this bonechilling clarity through the next week.  I hear even Santa's reindeer don't want to come out in this weather.  Hmm...I wonder...How would the world be a different place  if Santa and his helpers rode bicycles instead of sleighs pulled by reindeer.

06 December 2010

Cozying Up


I've tried to get Charlie and Max interested in cycling.  But they aren't interested in the hard work:  They like to supervise.




Max, at least, makes an effort at looking busy.  (Is that something like acting sincere?  I actually heard someone say that.)  Of course, there's no contract, but there are no rules about sleeping on the job.  Charlie knows that very well:




It was below freezing and, with the wind chill, about fifteen degrees colder.  I got on my bike to go to work.  Now you tell me:  Which species is more intelligent and evolved? 

05 December 2010

Winter Now

From Utility Cycling




It is undeniably winter now.  Or, at least, it feels that way.  The winds of yesterday doth blew today. Hey, I'm teaching a Shakespeare play in one of my classes.  You have trouble with Shakespeare's language, you say?  All right:  Ou sont les neiges d'antan?


What made today really strange, though, at least climatically (No, that's not the word you thought it was!), was the fact that the temperature varied almost not at all.  It felt that way and the recap I heard of the day's weather said as much:  High temp 34 F; Low Temp 30; clouds but no precip; wind speeds from 20 to 30 mph.  Not a day fair and excellent, as the Bard would say.


It's time to get myself out of denial.  Time to take out the wool gloves, the wool shirts and such.  The week I'll spend in Florida will be a mere interlude:  the cold will precede and follow it.  


At least there hasn't been any sleet or slush yet.  I don't mind the cold, and I don't mind precipitation. Both together, though, can make for miserable cycling and can be simply depressing.  Fenders and the proper clothing make such conditions endurable, if not enjoyable.  


I'm not about to stop riding, though.  I never have gone on "winter break" unless I had some health issue or another that prevented me from cycling.  That hasn't happened often, and has never kept me off my bike for more than a couple of weeks every winter.  


At least winter rides make hot chocolate and soups taste really good!