So my last post was mostly me complaining about how I was going to miss my mountain bike. And I do miss her. In fact, it is only today that I seriously started shopping for a new bike to take her place. I’m planning to hit up some demo rides (Mike’s Bikes is having a Specialized and Cannondale demo this weekend) and see what feels good. I’m also considering the move from a hardtail bike to a full suspension.

The whole process has been taking time. Time to accept my loss of the Tassajara, time to to reflect on whether I want a women’s specific bike or not, time to think about the whole hardtail v. full suspension deal. And now, just 2 minutes ago, in the blink of an eye, the whole process zoomed to a tentative completion.

That’s because Chainlove, an amazing ODAT site (ODAT stands for one deal at a time) had a fabulous deal on a Titus Motolite Custom Mountain Bike. Orion said it was too good to pass up. And we could always return it, or sell it on craigslist for what we paid for it, because it was a great deal. Not to mention he could put it on his Delta credit card, and we could get our plane tickets to Wisconsin for free (we’re going back in May for a wedding). So I took the plunge. So now, we officially have a Titus to add to our bike collection.

*Gasp!*

It’s done. It’s over! The decision is made! I have a new bike coming to me in just a few days time! I will build it lovingly, I will give it lime green pedals and lime green water bottle holders, and it will be mine! And if I hate it, I may trade with Orion, who has a Klein Palomino. Or I can resell it. But really, I hope I love it. Here it is:

Do you love it? I’m not 100% sold on the shiny paint job. I’m not 100% sold on full suspension. I’m not 100% sold on getting a men’s bike. But I kind of love it just the same. Because now it’s mine. I think getting a new bike is sort of like having a child. You don’t really care if turns out to be a boy or a girl, or if it has blue eyes or brown eyes. You just care that it’s healthy and yours. At least that’s what I hear. We have no baby plans around here!

Of course, as I said above, this is a tentative completion of the bike search. I may really hate how this bike feels when I ride it. And that’s ok. I just need to get out there and ride. I’ve been feeling pretty lost without my bike, and I’m happy to be considering the prospect of hitting the trails soon. I’m still going to the demo rides this weekend, and I’m still shopping around. But my cyclist’s soul is a little more at ease now that it knows I’m on my way back to riding the trails on a bike that’s mine.

Now, I’m writing about bamboo bikes in what seems like a context that couldn’t be more different. While the Earth Institute uses bamboo to build bikes for those in Africa who don’t have the money for or access to other bikes, the Bamboo Bike Studio allows those with plenty of cash to build their own trendy bamboo bike to be ridden around wherever they live. Except that maybe the context isn’t totally different.

From Bamboo Bike Studio’s website:

One weekend is all it takes to fabricate a frame from bamboo— a renewable and performance-positive material growing right in our backyard— assemble the components, and roll away with a custom-fitted ride, tuned to your body and cycling style. And the cost of the class directly supports the Bamboo Bike Studio’s efforts to seed the first bamboo bike factory in Ghana, where reliable and cheap bicycle transportation can dramatically improve access to jobs, commerce, education, basic food and water resources, and health care.

According to an NPR story on the Bamboo Bike Studio, people are coming from as far away as California and England to build these bikes. And why not? After all, you get to build the bike yourself and learn valuable lessons about how bikes are built in general. The bikes look cool, too. They look as though they’ve been taped together, but really the joints are connected by a material that soaks up epoxy. Much of the money you pay for your class and materials supports getting other, less well-off people on bikes in Ghana. And from the testimonials I read, it’s a comfortable ride, too.

But though you can customize your bike with tape or lights, you’re still just using mass-produced items that anyone else can buy. Your bike is special because of how you put these items together, but wouldn’t it be cool if you could really personalize your bike so that it was unique and different from any other bike out there?

Sounds good, right?

Welcome to the world of custom bikes. For some, a custom frame with a custom paint job is the way to get a truly custom bike. But much as we all want a custom frame, we can’t all afford one.

Does that mean you’re stuck with a boring bike? Maybe it did once, but not anymore!

Instead, you can get a custom designed head tube badge!

Designer Isabelle Eyman is based out of Emeryville, and has been designing custom head tube badges for a few years now. She designed the badge seen on the right for a custom frame builder who was also based out of Emeryville–it was a way for his brand to be distinctive. But she also does more personalized badges for individuals too. If you’re looking for a way to get your bike to stand out in the crowd, this is definitely it. In fact, it’s arguably easier to incorporate different styles of art into a head tube badge than into a frame, which after all, must still have the proper engineering to function as a bicycle. These gorgeous head tube badges are really like jewelry for the bike–beautiful, personal, and unique.

One of my favorite designs by Isabelle is actually the one she has on her personal track bike. It’s really just a simple frame that’s just the right size to hold a mini tarot card. The idea behind the badge is that on race day (or any day, I suppose), the rider pulls a card from the deck, and that’s the card for the day. It can be slipped into the head tube badge as a predictor of how the day will go, or a reminder of fate or destiny. It also has some roots in the fixed gear culture, because the original spoke cards used by fixie riders were usually tarot cards. It’s a great personalization and update of that cultural phenomenon, and it can  be continually changed for easy and unique personalization.

Of course, a personal head tube badge isn’t as cheap and easy a solution to lack of personalization as changing your bar tape color (less than $10 for new tape!), but it is infinitely more stylish and more personal. There’s currently a bit of a wait (about three months) for personal badges from Isabelle. That’s because the design process takes time (and approval from you), and the work involved in these detailed pieces of jewelry for the bike takes time, too. Just take a look:

But if you can stand to wait a couple months, you’ll definitely be pleased with your results! To see some of Isabelle’s head tube badges up close, please visit the exhibit Urban Renaissance: New Vistions of Jewelry and Sculpture which is currently running at Arts and Crafts Cooperative Inc., located at 1652 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley.

Photos Courtesy of Isabelle Eyman

The overall message was that in bike thefts have been on the rise in Alameda. In fact, from January 1st of this year until September 1st, there have been 261 bike thefts. That number is up from 121 thefts during the same period of 2008. These statistics are bad news in and of themselves. But for some reason the bicycle news gods have been trying to give me really bad stuff to write about lately, so in addition to the fact that way more bikes are being stolen, I am given another super-troubling statistic: of the 261 bicycles stolen, only 66 were locked.

Seriously? That’s just a hair over 25%.

So what were the other 75% of people thinking? So many of these thefts could have been prevented if the bicycles were properly locked. It’s easy to forget to lock your bike when it’s resting comfortably in your backyard or on your porch. Even the Trusty Boyfriend had a bike stolen off our porch when we lived in Madison. The bike was on the porch, the Boyfriend was inside the living room that looked out on the porch. He fell asleep on the couch, the bike wasn’t locked. The next morning, the bike was gone–even though the Boyfriend was about 10 feet away from it at the time.

I’m fortunate enough to have never had a bicycle stolen. I grew up in a neighborhood where bikes were left all over, without locks, and it was no big deal. When I moved to Madison for college, the annoying people hosting the orientation sessions kept telling us “$10 bike, $50 lock! $10  bike, $50 lock!” like it was the official campus slogan or something. I can’t say I’ve ever spent quite that much on a lock, because a good u-lock and/or cable can be had for less. But I’ve always locked my bike. And I’ve always locked all of it. That means putting a cable lock through both wheels and the frame. And if I have a U-lock with me, I use that in addition to the cable lock. The only thing a thief could make off with is my saddle, and only if they had a wrench. If I’m locking a bike outside, it always has bolt-on parts, not quick-release! Another nifty thing is locking skewers–the Trusty Boyfriend has these. They require a special tool to open them–like a wrench that is unique to that particular pair of skewers. It’ll keep your wheels from getting stolen, so that you have the freedom to use a less cumbersome lock. The Trusty Boyfriend uses this handcuff-type thing (we get more weird, um, personal questions about that particular lock than anything we own. Minds out of the gutter, people!).

Long story short–lock your bike! At home, at stores, at restaurants, in parking garages, at your buddy’s place. Whatever. Lock it!

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nauright/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

I’m new to Emeryville, but I have some city pride, already! I’m volunteering on a candidate’s campaign for City Council (she wants more bike paths!), and I support local businesses. So when I found out about MonkeyLectric, I was super excited. They’re local Emeryvillians (who are not, despite the “villian” part, evil) who make the coolest bike lights I’ve ever seen. Seriously.

Check it out:

The lights are super rad–and they’ll help cars see you from the side, something a traditional blinky light doesn’t do very well.

You see, I got a job here in the Bay Area at the same time as my very good college friend, Karleen, got a job in LA. We decided we’d make the epic road trip from Wisconsin together, in her car. She’d drop me off in Emeryville, and then make the drive south to the city of angels. The plan was for the Trusty Boyfriend to join me out here later (which he did a couple months later). As you can imagine, I wasn’t about to leave all my bikes in Wisconsin with him–I was going to need at least one or two to get around out here in California.

So we strapped our bike rack onto Karleen’s car, and I selected my road bike and a recently built single speed commuter that is technically the Trusty Boyfriend’s. Karleen strapped on her steel behemoth of a commuter, and we set off into the sunset.

The drive went well. There were no major incidents (unlike my second trip out to help move the Trusty Boyfriend and the rest of our stuff–that’s a story for another day). Karleen and I spent our nights at some shady hotels, ate some over-priced pizza in Reno, and generally had a good time singing at the top of our lungs. Things were great.

Until we got here.

Once we arrived, we parked in some angled street parking, and the Trusty Boyfriend’s brother came out to meet us. He suggested we move the car to a better unloading spot, and asked if we wanted to take the bikes off the back first. We declined, figuring we’d do it once we got to the unloading spot. So he and I walked over to the better spot while Karleen climbed in the car to move it. She threw it in reverse and hit the gas a little too aggressively–backing all the way across the street and into the back of another car.

Panic.

The bikes were mostly ok. The carbon fork on the single speed was toast, and the front wheel needed a new spoke and a good truing. My road bike needed a rear wheel truing, a straightening of the derailleur hanger. Otherwise, things seemed ok–the guys at the shop I went to thought I should replace the headset because it stuck al ittle. It seemed fine to me, so I passed on the fairly expensive part + installatino cost.  But then I started riding more. I noticed that the headset on my road bike was sticking–I could either go straight, or if I chose to turn the bike, I would have to push so hard on the handlebar that I ended up turning a full 90 degrees, usually into traffic. While it is not immediately clear that the headset injury is a result of the “incident” as we’re now calling it, it is immediately clear that to enjoy my cycling experience safely, I need to replace the headset.

I had a couple options. The guys at the shop said I should get the oh-so-pricey Chris King headset. Apparently since my roadbike is a semi-classic Colnago, it “deserves” the quality of that headset. The Trusty Boyfriend recommended something cheaper, maybe from Ritchey with a discount from one of the clubs we belong to. I was torn. It wasn’t cheap either way ($200ish for the King, $100ish for the Ritchey), and I’m kind of an indecisive person sometimes anyway.

I put the decision off until I almost died about five times riding up Wildcat Canyon from work in Orinda, and down through Berkeley to get home to Emeryville. I mean, it’s bad to be struggling up a hill with a sticky headset, and worse to be flying down the other side of that hill at 45 mph with one. I entrusted the decision to the Trusty Boyfriend, who is somewhat (read: infinitely) more knowledgeable about parts than I am. He totally surprised me with a new option!

The option was to order a headset from Velo Orange. I’d never heard of them, but they seemed like a good option. Because I need a 1″ threaded headset, my options were limited, but Velo Orange had created what sounded like a pretty good headset. I ordered it, but it hasn’t arrived yet. After we install it, I’ll let you know what I think. I have high hopes though, based on the company’s description:

For many years some of the wonderful parts and accessories once produced by small firms in Europe for the cyclo-tourist and randonneur have been unavailable, or outrageously expensive. So I started Velo Orange to find and sell these remaining items, and to produce those that were no longer available.Please understand that Velo Orange is an unusual business as I started it not for mercenary reasons, but to fill a special need. So I’ll always welcome, and even ask for, any suggestions for new products and ideas for improving our existing offerings. As we evolve, we’ll continue to add new products each week; please keep checking back.In the meantime, why not put your camera, jacket, and wallet in the handlebar bag and go out for a whole day or weekend in the country? Stop at a nice inn and have lunch, chat with the local farmers, drop by an art studio, winery, or bakery. Or ride out to our showroom in historic Annapolis, Maryland.Happy riding,Chris

Sounds cooll, right? I love that he created a 1″ threaded headset, because they really aren’t that common anymore. And the website has tons of other cool stuff too.

]]> http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/news-and-events/need-a-headset-check-out-velo-orange.html/feed 0 http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/gear/shabby-bikes-dont-get-stolen.html http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/gear/shabby-bikes-dont-get-stolen.html#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:33:27 +0000 kaitlin http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/?p=142 I don’t know if it’s true that shabby bikes don’t get stolen, but UK-based desinger Dominic Wilcox doesn’t think they do. He’s created what could be a pretty cool item, if it works.

His anti-theft decals give you clean, shiny frame an “appearance of shabbyness” to prevent potential thieves from recognizing their value. It’s long been a tradition that avioding theft meant a black frame with minimal art or decals, and no flashy wheels or accessories. If the paint could be matte in finish, even better. But with Wilcox’s new decals, maybe that will change.

I have a problem with the decals though, because as much as I don’t want my bike stolen, I also don’t want to appear as though I neglect my bicycle, when in fact I practically worship the thing. Also, there’s just something fun about being stealth with a nice matte black frame. And though it’s dangerous, if you know you’re route, it’s kind of fun to be a bike ninja–and a sleek black frame helps with that, too.