Every Month Is 'Bike Month'

With so many press releases for "Bike Month" events circulating as May approaches, I am starting to feel like a real grouch deleting them or replying "No thank you." But I have to stand by what I believe, or else where would I be? And I believe the idea of "bike month" to be damaging to the very thing it aims to achieve - which is making cycling accessible to the non-cycling population. It seems to me, that the nature of the event, as well as the tone of the promotional materials that accompany it [note: link added 4.23.2011], reinforce, rather than dispel the notion of cycling as something out of the ordinary - an activity reserved for special occasions and organised events.

Granted, "Bike Month" has a festive ring to it that may increase the immediate visibility of cycling. But, as someone with professional experience in the psychology of marketing, I question whether the results are ultimately positive. After all, how useful is this increase in visibility if all it does is reinforce the "cycling = a once-in-a-while activity" or "cycling = weird fringe subculture" associations that the non-cycling public already holds?

It is my view, that in order for cycling to be accessible to the general population, it needs to be normalised and depoliticised.  "Anybody who wants to ride a bike can do so any time they like," is the only message I see as being productive. You do not need to wear special clothing. You do not need to wait for a special month. You do not need to be "community oriented," athletic, health-minded, or an environmentalist. And you do not need official propaganda to tell you it's "good for you," accompanied by paradoxical instructions that make the whole thing sound complicated and dangerous.

Cycling is not a cult, political group, or evangelical religion that requires recruitment events with free food and trinkets. Every month is 'bike month.'

Panniers on Bikes with Short Chainstays

Since receiving the woven pine Fastrider pannier last summer, I have been using it as my main transportation bag. On the up side, it is enormous, waterproof, classic looking, easy to attach and detach, and secure. On the downside, it was designed for appropriately enormous Dutch bikes with long chainstays, and not for bicycles with road geometry. The pannier looks like it's ready to swallow the mixte whole, and ideally I would like something smaller. But for a bicycle with short chainstays finding the right pannier can be tricky. 

The chainstays on a bike are the skinny horizontal tubes between the crankset and the dropouts. In the picture above, it's the one with the strip of leather stuck to it. Different types of bikes have chainstays of different lengths. The more racy and aggressive the bicycle, the shorter the chainstays. The more relaxed and transport-oriented the bicycle, the longer the chainstays. For reference, the chainstays on my Bianchi roadbike are 410mm. The chainstays on my Rivendell touring bike are 445mm. And the chainstays on my Gazelle Dutch bike are 485mm. When chainstays are long, the rear wheel of the bicycle sits further away from the crankset, which means that whatever bag you've got mounted on the rear rack is a safe distance away from your heels while you pedal. That is why transport bicycles are designed with long chainstays: You can attach enormous shopper panniers to the rear rack and not worry about heel strike.

Now, my Royal H. mixte was not designed as a transportation bicycle. It was designed for light touring (not too much luggage), and it was designed to be ridden upright in hilly areas. The chainstays are 430mm, which is somewhere in between classic road and classic touring geometry and appropriate for what this bike was meant for. So in theory, all is as it should be. However, in practice I've been riding it for transportation more than I had anticipated - just because it's such a fun bike, and the dynamo lighting is so excellent.

If it were just the aesthetics alone, I'd keep using the Fastrider pannier on this bicycle and not bother looking for alternatives. I actually don't think it's that bad, though my helpful readers have suggested that it looks meh-ish on the mixte. But the real problem is that I do get borderline heel-strike with this set-up. Not enough for it to be dangerous, but once in a while my heel and the bag will not so much make contact as sense each other's presence. If the bag were just a tad further back or smaller, I'd feel more comfortable.

With this in mind, I ordered two panniers from the D'Azur line by Basil, in hopes that one of them would fit and I'd return the other. The Basil shopper pannier (above) is nearly 2" narrower than the Fastrider equivalent, which in theory should have been more than enough to eliminate any hint of heel strike. Unfortunately, the opposite was the case. Because of how the Basil attachment hooks are positioned, this bag actually sits further forward and lower than the Fastrider - resulting in an unridable degree of heel strike. If you scroll up and down between this and the previous picture, you can see how much closer the Basil bag is to the pedal, despite its slightly smaller size.

The messenger pannier did not work either. This bag is the same width as my Fastrider, but considerably shorter, so I was hoping it would sit higher up and my heel would not reach it. But again, the placement of the attachment hooks positioned it quite a bit lower than the Fastrider, as well as further forward, making the heel strike worse rather than better. And so, I will be returning both of the Basil panniers. They are well made and attractive, but I need a pannier small enough to work on this bike+rack combination. And I mention the rack, because I could solve this problem by replacing the existing VO Constructeur rack with a super long rack that would allow me to push the panniers further back... but I don't want to. I like how compact, light and elegant this bicycle is with the current rack, and after all it was not intended for commuting. There has to be a nice pannier out there somewhere that will fit a bike with 430mm chainstays and a constructeur rack, and I am determined to find it.

Well, technically I did find it: The OYB Swiss Army pannier is a perfect fit for the constructeur rack, and it goes nowhere near my heels when I pedal. Alas, it is about 1/2" too narrow to fit my laptop. I've tried stretching it, but it's just not sufficient, so I use it as a camera bag. I also tried (and returned) the Linus single Office pannier. While it did fit my laptop, the attachment system was difficult to use and did not feel secure: leather straps with snap closures.

It seems that the trick to designing panniers for bicycles with short chainstays, is to make the pannier vertical rather than horizontal, to mount the hooks lower on the bag (so that the bag itself will sit higher), and to keep the size as small as possible. But while some touring panniers are designed in this manner, I have not been able to find a suitable one for commuting - by which I mean a single pannier that attaches and detaches easily via strong and secure hooks, is large enough to fit a laptop, and looks classic, ideally made of canvas or leather in a grayish/greenish/brownish colour scheme. If you are an artisan who would like to give this a go, get in touch! And if you commute on a bicycle with short chainstays, what is your pannier solution?

Tricks of the Camera

I had three lenses with me in the camera bag yesterday, so I thought it would be neat to illustrate how different lenses affect the way a bicycle looks in pictures. Here are three photos of my mixte standing in the same position, taken with (left to right:) an 85mm lens, a 50mm lens, and a 35mm lens, using identical camera settings. Notice any differences?

Here is a closer look at the picture taken with the 85mm lens. First off, notice the relationship of the bicycle to the trees: In this picture the bike looks like it is positioned in between the trees. There are hardly any trees in the frame itself and if I wanted to I could crop them out all together, making the bike an isolated object in the midst of snow and sand. There is also not a great deal of background information in the space above the bike: a few stairs, but that is all. Furthermore, the things in the background are kind of blurry in comparison to how sharp the bicycle itself looks. And finally, take a look at the size of the bicycle's wheels. The bike is slightly turned toward the camera and the front wheel is closer to me than the rear. But despite this, the front wheel does not look much larger than the rear; the bicycle looks proportional. The 85mm lens is considered a "portrait lens" precisely because it creates these effects: It isolates the subject from the clutter of surrounding objects and reduces unflattering foreshortening effects in the subject's face and body.

Now the same scene, but taken with a 50mm lens. Notice how much more background information is visible in this picture. And it's impossible to crop out, because all that extra stuff is directly behind the bike, rather than around it. The same trees that were spread out to the right and left in the previous picture, now overlap with the bike's wheels and can't be cropped out. More stuff in the space above the bike is visible as well - now we see not just the stairs, but a winding path. And the background scenery is in sharper focus than in the previous picture. It's a nice composition as far as narrative goes (we get more of a sense of the bicycle being in the woods), but a portrait or product photographer would tell you that the background is starting to compete with the subject of the photo. One of the trees looks like it's growing out of the pannier, and the winding path draws the eye away from the forms of the bike itself.

And same scene once again, but with a 35mm lens. The entire patch of woods and the street behind it have now been wrangled into the shot. The background scenery is just as sharp as the bicycle itself, and there's so much of it, that the scene looks altogether cluttered. Also, notice that the front wheel of the bicycle looks considerably larger than the rear, as a result of being closer to the camera. Foreshortening effects are pretty strong with this lens: If I were photographing a person's face, their nose would appear exaggeratedly large in comparison to their eyes for the same reason as the mixte's wheels look to be different sizes.

There is much more to be said about differences between these lenses, and in fact I haven't given a proper introduction to camera lenses at all - but that would take ages and it's nothing you can't find in an online reference. Hopefully, these pictures illustrate the way in which lenses play a role in bicycle photography, and why sometimes it seems like you just can't compose the shot you want with your camera. For those of you who use digital SLRs with interchangeable lenses, which do you prefer to use for bicycle photos?

Reverse 'Weight Weenies'?

Alternating between the Royal H mixte and the Gazelle for transportation over the past few months, I've realised something funny: I have a minimum weight preference when it comes to commuter bikes. For fast cycling on hilly terrain, I love the feel of a light bike. But when riding for transportation in the city, the mixte is pretty much where I draw the line for how light I'd want my bicycle to be. Does that make me a reverse "weight weenie"?

What I like about commuting on heavier bikes, is that they tend to feel extremely sturdy in traffic. They also seem to have a more solid, commanding presence - useful when mixing it up with cars.  I have found that drivers give me more room when I am riding something big and heavy-looking, possibly because they are more worried about damage to their car, should they accidentally clip me. Alternatively, it could be that on a massive bike - combined with an upright posture - I might seem like a more "legitimate" commuter to drivers.  Whatever the reasons, I do tend to feel more comfortable and confident on a heavier bike in traffic than on a lighter one.

For me, the most important aspects of ride quality in a city bike are stability, comfort over pot holes and bumps, and the ability to accelerate and slow down while maintaining full control. And heavier bicycles tend to do better in those areas. I am not saying "the heavier the better." But I think it is important to recognise that some of the merits of traditional city bicycles cannot be separated from their traditional heftiness.

The nice thing about my mixte, is that it can go from being laden with bags for commuting, to being light and ready for a fast ride, in a matter of seconds. And, unlike most other light bikes I've ridden, this one is comfortable over bumps - a major plus. For those reasons, I have been riding the mixte for transportation more than I thought I would (the bike was originally intended for long country rides). But she is definitely my lower limit for how light of a bike I enjoy riding in traffic.

OYB Pannier: a Modified Swiss Army Bag for Your Bike

The OYB Pannier is a small Swiss army surplus bag, modified via the addition of rack attachments and other features by Jeff Potter - the owner and author of the project Out Your Backdoor ("indie outdoor lore and more"). I purchased this bag as a smaller alternative to the enormous shopper pannier I normally use. My criteria were durability, classic aesthetics, a trustworthy attachment system, a reasonable price, and a size just large enough to snugly fit my medium format camera equipment or my (very small) laptop. While I am aware that these same bags (without the bike-ready modifications) can be purchased from several other sources, I opted for the OYB version because I wanted the modifications to be made by someone with experience and because I wanted to support the "Out Your Backdoor" project, which provides some great resources for its readers.

Compact and boxy, the pannier is a Swiss military bag made of a thick, stiff, olive-green waxed canvas with brown leather trim and steel rivets. The OYB leather patch is a lighter shade than the rest of the leather on the bag, but this can easily be changed with a modest application of neatsfoot oil or even Proofide. I am not sure whether this particular bag started out as new-old-stock, or whether it had been used in its previous life, but to me it looks more like the former. The condition is better than I had expected based on the pictures and product description on OYB.

The closure system is simple and secure: That very stiff leather cord pulls out of the metal loop, and the thick leather strap lifts up off the loop to open the bag. For those curious, the imprint on the leather reads "Fritz Gerber Sattlerei, Goldbach."

The attachment system is a combination of metal hooks and bungee cords, with which the pannier is secured to the rear rack. The rack I have on this bicycle is the Constructeur rack from Velo Orange, which is quite small. 

Here is a close-up of the metal hooks. They are riveted on to the bag.

And here is a close-up of the bungee attachment. Together, these two attachment points ensure that the pannier does not sway or bounce against the rack - a good feature when you are planning to carry camera equipment. When the bag is not being used as a pannier, the bungee hook attaches to that small leather strip you see on the back of the bag - so that it does not hang loose. [Edited to add: I am now told that the bungee cord is supposed to go through that leather loop before you hook it to the bottom of the rack - oops.]

In addition to the rack attachments, the OYB pannier can be ordered with a number of other optional features, including shoulder strap attachments with a removable shoulder strap. I asked for the strap, because I pan to carry the bag around when off the bike, and this set-up essentially this gives me a camera bag and pannier in one. Other options include lights mounts, and a variety of other attachments.

To give you a sense of scale, here is the pannier in relation to me and to the entire bike. It is a small bag. Dimensions are listed as: 8.5" tall, 4" deep, 11.25" wide (5.4 liters).  Inside, the length of the bag is listed at 10.75", but I was hoping against hope that it would fit my 8 1/2 x 11" laptop. OYB gives instructions for stretching the bag out with magazines in order to make it fit items of that size, and I will give this a try. If I can get my laptop to fit, I will be thrilled - but I am not getting my hopes up and am prepared to content myself with this being a camera bag only.

If it were not for the laptop fit issue, this would pretty much be my dream pannier.  The mil-spec colour scheme is not for everyone, but I love it, and it suits almost all of my bikes nicely. The durability of military surplus items is superb, and I appreciated getting the bag customised by Jeff at OYB. This is a classic, versatile, and reliable little pannier refashioned by someone who loves bicycles.

Winter Hibernators

With temperatures now falling below 40˚F, there is no denying that winter will soon be here. As I rode through a stretch of frozen mud this morning, it finally began to seem real: The snow, the black ice, the heavily salted roads - it's all coming. And once it does, I will be putting most of my bicycles away, keeping around only those equipped to take on winter's fury.

The bicycles destined for "hibernation" are those that have derailleur gearing: my roadbikes, and, sadly my mixte. The ones staying are my 3-speed loop frames with internally geared hubs and chaincases. I will also tentatively keep my fixed gear bike.

Everybody has a different philosophy regarding what makes a bicycle suitable for winter. Having seen countless cyclists struggling with derailleur bikes last winter in Boston - as well as many bikes abandoned, their drivetrains iced over or rusted - I am pretty comfortable with my decision to only ride internally geared hub bicycles once the snow arrives. While I am sad to put away my beautiful mixte after only a few months together, I would be even more sad to ruin her with salt and crud while she is still so new and shiny.

What are your thoughts on "winter bikes" versus "hibernators"?  Do you put any of your bicycles away for the season, or ride them all?

The One and Only 'Constance'! a Mixte by Royal H. Cycles

Trying to write a definitive post about the completion of my custom mixte (whom I have named "Constance") has been overwhelming, but I am forcing myself to do it before too much time goes by. Perhaps it will help if I try to cut down on the sappy stuff and just write about it briefly, matter-of-factly. After all, it's just a bike forgoddsake... Right! 

In September of last year I met Bryan Hollingsworth, who is the framebuilder behind Royal H. Cycles, and asked him to make me a custom mixte frame in the tradition of the French constructeurs. The frame was finished on my birthday this February. One by one, I purchased all the components, and the Co-Habitant and I put the bike together at the end of the summer. The bicycle was complete in September 2010, about a year after its inception. If you are interested in the step by step details of the process, you can read all about it by scrolling through these posts; they document the bike from the initial stages of frame design to tweaking the component choices.

To start with a basic description of the bicycle, it is a classic, fully lugged mixte frame with twin lateral stays. The tubing is eclectic, designed with comfort and strength as the main priorities: The downtube and seat stays are Columbus. The seat tube is Nova. The chainstays are Vitus. And the twin stays are domestic 4130 straight gauge.

The 52cm frame has a 54cm virtual top tube, 73° seat tube angle, 72° head tube angle, 53mm fork rake, 54.5mm trail, and 430mm chainstays.

The liquid paint and lug outlining were done by Circle A Cycles in Providence, RI.

The "dusty mint" colour was matched to a swatch I provided. The Royal H. insignia and lug outlining were done in copper.

As far as construction goes, several neat features make the bicycle special. To start with, it is nearly impossible to have a fully lugged mixte built nowadays, because the twin headtube lugs are no longer made. These were procured new old stock.

The "bullet" style seat stay caps were the framebuilder's idea and I was not sure I wanted them at first, but they look spectacular.

The flat-top fork crown has a small custom embellishment, and notice the little lugged braze-on for the shifter boss. I should mention that this bicycle has clearances for 35mm+ tires plus fenders...

Everything that could possibly be lugged on this mixte, is!

- including these amazing triple sockets on the rear dropouts. Read more about them, and other aspects of the lugwork here (not to mention the custom stainless steel kickstand plate!). 

There are braze-ons for both front and rear racks, and the bicycle was built to accommodate reasonable front and rear loads.

If you are interested in a full technical description of the components, you can find that here. But for those who just want the main points of interest, I will describe a few.

The 700C wheels were built by Peter White, with a Schmidt SON dynohub to power the lights. The headlight and tail light are the same as on my Rivendell, and you can read about them here.

Braze-ons along the inside of the fork accommodate the wiring for the headlight.

The handlebars are the Velo Orange Porteur bars, used with a 10mm stem, inverse brake levers, and Silver shifters inserted into Paul thumbies - which were heavily modified for the purpose.

The bicycle was built to accommodate centerpull brakes, as this is my preferred style of brakes. The  brakes are Dia Compe centerpulls from VO - which function great, but had to be slightly modified to fit properly (which, as I understand, is a problem other have had as well).

The crankset is a Sugino Alpina double. You can't tell in this picture, but there is a neat braze-on for the front derailleur.

The rear derailleur is the Shimano XT "Shadow". I love this derailleur, because it tucks in closely to the wheel, so that it is less likely to get dinged if you are riding off-road, or even if the bike gets slammed by a door. Given that I have nearly destroyed the rear derailleur on my Rivendell in half a year's time, I think the "Shadow" was made for me. Oh, and if you are wondering what that monstrous-looking cassette is, that is a Sheldon Brown custom touring cassette. Please be honest about this one: how bad does this look? I considered switching the biggest ring (currently a 34t) to a slightly smaller one, so that it blends in with the others visually - though over time the weirdness of it has grown on me.

The bicycle is fitted with the beautiful Honjo "Le Paon" fenders (similar to the VO "Zeppelins" I have on my Rivendell, but shinier and somehow more elegant), and the front rack is a VO Randonneur.

The rear rack is a VO Constructeur, which is small but can nonetheless fit a standard Dutch-size pannier. Oh, and the tires are (big surprise!) Schwalbe Delta Cruisers, 700C x 35mm. And I think I will stop now with the components, before I put everybody to sleep! If you have questions after reading this post and the spec list here, please ask in the comments and I will be glad to answer.

My impression of the mixte is multi-layered, but all the layers can be placed firmly in the category of "love". The bicycle handles differently than I had imagined, but only because I had no way of imagining something I had never experienced before. It is freakishly light, and luxuriously, almost abnormally comfortable while at the same time being faster and more responsive than any upright bicycle I have ridden before. It is more responsive than the vintage mixte, "Marianne," I used to own, which I had complained was "twitchy". Somehow, on the Royal H. the responsiveness does not feel scary; I can control it. No idea how this all works, but I am certainly happy about it.

The fit of the mixte is just perfect for me, and I can feel that my proportions have been taken into consideration - everything just feels "right". The bicycle handles best with a 10cm stem, with the handlebars close to level with the saddle, and with the saddle pushed back a bit.

I have ridden the mixte all over town since early September, and have taken it on two longish rides (40 miles and 30 miles). Everything is beyond perfect and there is zero pain. I have tried to describe the ride quality here and here if you are interested in the details. One thing I love that I would never have expected to love, is the high bottom bracket. I feel almost majestically tall on this bicycle, even when leaned over and holding the front of the bars.

Given that this is a custom bicycle, I should probably conclude with a few words about the framebuilder. Bryan Hollingsworth is a young builder with considerable experience working for the world-famous Seven Cycles.  He is a knowledgeable, enthusiastic, easy-going, and genuinely nice person. I knew that Bryan was the right builder for me, because he immediately understood the kind of bicycle I wanted, and got excited about building it. He was surprisingly pro-active about design solutions and pointed out possibilities that even my detail-obsessed imagination had not considered. As a result, my frame has some unique features that I cannot take any credit for what so ever; they were Bryan's idea! Additionally, now that I am actually riding the bicycle, it is clear that Bryan had put a lot of thought into making it comfortable for me, while, at the same time, giving it a degree of fiestiness that I had not expected.

I will also address price and affordability, since some have already been asking about this.  I would rather not disclose the cost of my frame - mainly because that figure will no longer be of use to anyone. When I met Bryan, he had only just begun building custom frames under his own name, and that is how I was able to afford the project. A year later, Royal H. has taken off like a rocket, and, naturally, the price structure has changed somewhat. As for affordability, my advice would be to find a frame builder you like, and then discuss the possibility of breaking up the payment into several installments. This makes paying for the frame considerably easier. Furthermore, no one says that you must buy all the components immediately, and all at once. I saved up for them gradually, which is why it took nearly a year for my bicycle to reach completion. And yes, it was worth it!

I named this bicycle "Constance", because I hope she always remains in my life. Thank you to everyone who made my custom mixte possible, both directly and indirectly.