Good news for fans of 650B, which has a special place among randonneurs and city riders. Over the last several years, many folks have converted vintage road bikes to 650B to add the utility of fatter tires and fenders. The Col de la Vies are a great, cheap tire at about 37mm, and the Hetres have been lauded as the ultimate 650B performance mixed terrain tire. The problem is that its hard to fit Hetres under fenders on most existing 650B bikes. So, Kirk Pacenti and Grand Bois are working on a performance 650B x 38mm tire, which is a nice sweet spot:

From Kirk Pacenti:

“Following the success of my 650b MTB tires many of you have contacted me
asking whether or not I would consider making a 650b tire for the road.
Initially I was not inclined to make a road tire, but now feel the demand
would justify my efforts.

In response to this demand, I have designed the “dream tire” many of you
have been asking for. The Pari-MotoT tire will be a high performance,
650x38b tire with a light, supple casing and fine file tread pattern. This
tire is sure to be lighter, faster and smoother riding than any other
650x38b tire currently available. If I were to start production on the mould
tooling today, the tires should land in the US sometime in late November.
And with the support of all the 650b list members the Pari-MotoT can become
a reality very quickly.

However, I feel I should be explicit in what I mean by ‘support’ so that we
are all on the same page. If I am to produce this tire, I must pre-sell a
minimum of 200 pairs of tires by August 15th, 2009 to cover the tooling
costs. If you believe that this tire should be produced, if you are willing
to place an order in advance, and if you can wait six months for delivery,
we’ll all be rolling around on new tires before the year is out.

The tires will initially be sold in pairs only for $118.00 per pair and be
shipped USPS Priority Flat Rate service for an additional $12.00 anywhere in
the continental US. Foreign orders will incur some additional shipping
charges that can be billed for at the time of shipment. Please fill out the
attached order form and mail it along with your check. If you prefer to pay
by credit card or live outside the continental US, please email me for
details. If you have any further questions about the tire, please do not
hesitate to ask.”

The order form can be downloaded here.

And this from Jan Heine:

“Grand Bois also has been working on a 650B x 38 mm tire. The first
iteration was the Hetre, which turned out a bit bigger than intended.
In retrospect, that is a good thing, because the added width really
does make a difference on broken pavement and gravel roads. But the
down side is that these tires are just too big for many bikes.
With the experience gained from the Hetres, I am confident that Grand
Bois will be able to get the size right on the second try. The casing
will be the tried-and-true Grand Bois casing also used on the Hetres.
The 650B x 38 mm tires should be available early next year, both
directly from Vintage Bicycle Press and through better bicycle shops,
just like all other Grand Bois products.
It’ll be great to have more choices in 650B tires. I still am hoping
some day for a true hand-made 650B tire, like the Challenge
Parigi-Roubaix, but perhaps with an even lighter casing. (650B riders
understand that you don’t need a 125 psi pressure rating, but a supple
casing, to get a fast tire.) In fact, 38 mm probably would be a
perfect size for such a tire, which most riders wouldn’t use for
serious dirt roads, but only on pavement, rough and smooth.”

Riding a lugged, steel road bike on PCH usually garners comments of “nice commuter” from triathletes training for…well, whatever it is they train for.

Watching Le Tour evokes admiration for cycling technology from even a relative retrogrouch like myself. Nevertheless, news that Rivendell will re-release a classic, lugged, steel road bike is thrilling. A new production model of the classic competition bicycle can perhaps help more people bridge the gap between fast riding and enjoyment – and maybe take the earbuds out long enough to enjoy the sound of wind flapping at your jersey.

Excerpt:
“We’re working on sort-of-a-Ramboiullet replacement, but more of a club-riding bike, so even lighter. It will be called one of these: Rodeo…Roadio…Roadeo. And we’ll offer it in your choice of threadless (for most club riders) and threaded (for more traditionalists). No rack braze-ons, light tubes, but still our bike thru & thru, with our lugs, our design and choice of tubing, all that. We’ll have the prototype by late July, and Mark will build it up and ride it, since he was the impetus behind it. “

San Diego has some of the best riding in the country, but the Bay Area is different and special. California all-around. My riding included: excursions around the chaparral of Mt. Diablo; up the Oakland/Berkeley hills via Broadway Terrace and Grizzly Peak; up to the east peak of Mt. Tamalpias via the wonderful old railroad grade; and through grasslands and redwoods on a 25 mile loop around Pescadero and San Gregorio.

Mt Diablo holds an enormous array of fire-road possibilities. I explored only the trails around Shell Ridge and the Briones-Mt. Diablo trail:

Grant’s directions:

Grizzly Peak in the Oakland/Berkeley hills:

View from the top of Mt. Tamalpias:

After the ride around Pescadero with my father-in-law:

And a nice ride around Napa:

My mother-in-law lives near Walnut Creek, and when we visit, I usually make a trip to Rivendell to see what projects they have brewing and to pick up a thing or two. I had my Protovelo, now with drops, back there for the first time since I picked it out as a frame/fork early last year. Keven had helped me decide on parts, and he got to check it out. Grant and I had a couple of conversations (journalism, cycling shoes, etc), but our talk about craft kept rolling around in my head.

I teach about global commerce, advertising, and everyday cultural life in a course titled International Media. Many of the discussions wander toward a critique of “race to the bottom” modes of production and consumption that have achieved a level of common sense in contemporary capitalism. The discourses that support this include efficiency, convenience, “shopping by price” and “more for less,” and manifest at places like Carl’s Jr, Target, Best Buy, Wal-mart, Toys-R-Us – and in the thousands of factories in poor countries that, to paraphrase Stephen Colbert, make our happy meals possible. Here’s how I think about race to the bottom from the moment of production forward:

Low Pay for Workers
Low Cost Work Conditions
Low Quality of Production
Low Quality of Product
Low Yield Per Unit for Producers
Low Pay for Retail Workers
Low Price for Consumers
…high profit with high volume for the arbiters of this phenomenon = mass market retailers.

Somehow the low price is enough for most people to justify the entire chain of production – complicit consumption completes the circuit and justifies the whole enterprise. Wal-mart’s argument is that this process allows for jobs on the production end, and the ability to more cheaply acquire stuff we want and need on the consumption end. More for less.

What about Less for more? In other words, I’d like to buy fewer, high-quality, high-production value, high-quality of life things, and pay MORE for them. The emergent craft industry taps into this feeling (I repeat this and elaborate a bit more here: The Plastic Society). At Rivendell, Grant spoke about the various craft producers that every consumer dollar supports: Nitto, Nigel & Smithe, etc. They don’t carry anything made in China, not because of the people or quality of work that comes out of that country, but because of the special relationships that an authoritarian capitalist society cultivates with both the overdeveloped and underdeveloped world. At Rivendell, there is much attention payed to craft, and pride of ownership. Their work at RBW makes for a very thoughtful enterprise. Its worth a visit.

Speaking of Nitto, There are a few racks in development at Rivendell. I snapped photos (ie “spy shots”) of two of them. These are at least 6 months out, and are in the testing phases. The first is a porteur-style rack with very robust sides that can carry panniers. The second is a wonderful add-on to a mini front or Mark’s rack. Check ’em out:

I dig city and country riding. Everyday errands and jaunts along the ocean, on chaparral fire roads, and on paths come alive on a bike. Mountain biking became huge while I was in college, and I lost many nights sleep over the $250 I would drop on a GT mtb in 1992 – I don’t remember the model. But that was my ride in college.

San Clemente Canyon, which runs East-West from La Jolla to Miramar, was my singletrack fix back then. Its about 12 miles from home, and has some bumps, river rocks, creek crossings, and some nice descents. I finally took the Rawland out for an afternoon and both enjoyed myself, and woke up the next morning with unexpected soreness. Maybe some poison oak, too.

We might not have a forest in the middle of the city, and our native trees aren’t very tall anyway, but we do have a wonderful network of canyons running right through the heart of the city. The canyons are filled with wildlife and chaparral, and a bike ride or a hike can evoke the feeling of separation from urbanity, even as the freeway noise interrupts such thoughts.

I’m fascinated by tilt-shift software. Tilt-shift creates effects that make real photos appear as miniature, hand-painted models in dioramas, and bicycles provide especially good scenes. One of these is not like the other – a genuine miniature:
photo by earth2marsh.

Photo by yours truly.

Photo by WVS.

Photo by richardmasoner.

Photo by yours truly.

I don’t remember how I found this, but its an extraordinary peek…

My daughter and I rode our old Raleigh 3 speed down to the San Diego Custom Bicycle Show this morning, and stayed from open to about 2 when we had to head back for her to nap and for me to go for a ride. She was thrilled that her bike – complete with a Bobike mini seat, would be featured in the SDBikecommuter.com booth. She was a real trooper, expressing much interest in the details and in the builders. Go figure. She also like the cookies available in the Gypsy Cycles booth. I liked their all-terrain touring, adventure, armageddon bikes.

This was the first bicycle show I’d been to, and I was happy to see all the enthusiasm from both the crowds on Saturday and from the builders and vendors. San Diego certainly has some of the best riding in the country – on and off road – and the weather for year-round riding. It was nice to see more of the culture of bicycling concentrated in one place. Southern California, in general, is home to some established and emerging cycling communities and cultures, but they are rather spread out. We also have some of the world’s best athletes, and the roads are dominated by racers and racing. But the SDCBS provided a chance to explore the craft of bicycling, and the richness of everyday riding.

Here is the list of builders who were at the show:
Brian Baylis
Sadilah Handmade Framesets
Ditta Cycles
Fraser Cycles
Ybarrola Bicycles
Joe Bell Bicycle Refinishing
Bohemian Bicycles
Campagnolo
Speedplay
Ed Litton
Rob Roberson
CyclArt
Maldoror Cycles
Rebolledo Cycles
Nobilette Cycles
Rene Herse Bicycles
Vendetta Cycles
Lyonsport Custom Frames
Selle Logica Saddles
Paragon Machine Works
Keith Anderson Cycles
Courage Cycles
Cane Creek
Bruce Gordon Cycles
Rock Lobster Custom Bicycles
Kish Fabrication
Moon Cycles
Charter Oak Cycling (Bill Rider)
Argonaunt Custom Bicycles
M.A.P. Bicycles
Sound Cycles
Moth Attack Cycles
Winter Bicycles
Gallus Cycles
Henry James Bicycles Inc.
Ahrens Bicycles
White Industries
Velo Cult Bicycle Shop
San Diego Bicycle Club
KVA Stainless
Sock Guy
Sendero Cycles
Wanta Frames
Bilenky Cycle Works
Moment Cycle Sport
Calfee Design
Cane Creek
Bill Holland Bicycles
Form Cycles
Taylor Bicycles
J.A. Stein tool company
Pacific Coast Cycles
Viks. (Bicycle Artist and Tinsmith)
Pactimo Custom Apparel
Gypsy Cycles
Townsend Cycles
RR Velo
Proletariat Bicycle Co

Mark Nobilette, Anthony, Tom, and Sky, serving beer at 10am.

Anthony’s new Alan Wanta frame, with his own graphics. This is designed as a porteur, with a custom rack coming soon, and a wheel build around a Schmidt dynohub:

Mark Nobilette/Rene Herse. It was nice to see the Herse up close. The paint is gorgeous, and its put together as the perfect 650B randonneur. This one got a lot of attention. Mark is a great guy – I ride a 650B touring bike he made as a prototype for Rivendell. He mentioned that he made about 8 of their designs that became Protovelos.

A Krik Pacenti road bike for the Cane Creek booth:

Maldoror, an academic and local framebuilder. I had heard about him before, and it was nice to meet him. Sharp, engaging fellow, and an artful interest in touring bikes:

VIK’s metal work reminded me of drawings I did in my high school math class notebook — but on A BIKE.

This is a San Diego show, so you gotta represent.

Gypsy Bicycles showed some very interesting examples of all-rounder adventure bikes, complete with knobbies and a Mad Max aesthetic.

Argonaut Cycles garnered a lot of attention with this mixte. They had a nice display, too:

Aherns brought a good variety of bikes, including this one set up for cyclocross:

Bruce Gordon displayed quite a few models, and had a nice location in the room. I especially liked the flat paint on this town bike:

This track bike is from Townsend. They had some shiny stuff:

Gallus Cycles drove two days from Texas to show this randonneuring bike and track bike. Nice guys.

Blaze had this great road bike in their booth, and some stellar design program for framebuilders.

Joe Bell was there, and it was easy to see why the paint costs so much when inspecting the frames, like this Rivendell Custom.

The lugwork Brian Baylis’ bikes stood out. Master builder:

Bilenky’s booth was full of cool merch and this lovely bike. I missed Russ Roca’s cargo bike on Sunday.

Titanium possibilities were on on display at the Kish booth. I especially liked this townie with painted bars:

Proletariat Cycles has the coolest name, and some nice handmade work:

This endomorph bike from Sendero was pretty well thought out. Those tires are on a regular box rim. Check out the bottle cage and the size of that Kleen Kanteen!

My traveling companion:

Then I went for a ride myself!

San Diego has some wonderful riding, but also a nice cottage industry of framebuilders and painters. Joined by lots of other folks.