Category Archives: bike lust

Hey fixie hipster trick bike riders: You’ve been schooled!

Posted on August 19, 2009 by | 12 comments

In Seattle, as in many other cities, a fraternity of tight-pantsed, butt-crack showing, truckers-wallet toting fixie riders often gathers to work on fixed-gear bike tricks. These range from the newbie skill of the trackstand (also practical in traffic), to riding backward, to wheelies, to wheelies with handlebar spins, and so on.

Some of it is pretty impressive and fun to watch. If nothing else, the beer-fueled wipeouts can be entertaining. But after seeing the following video (via Wend), I should now say the tricks used to be impressive and fun to watch because these two riders just cranked the impressiveness meter to a whole other planet.

About the only place the hipsters can still compete is tight pants and wallets on chains. If you’re into the fashion of ass-crack and/or truckers’ wallets the video may disappoint, but for bulk of the cycling world still trying for their first track stand, prepare to be wowed. (The whole thing is good, but definitely watch from about 2:30 on)

-Tim

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Posted in bigger than here, bike lust, bikes

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Anne Dreams of a Family Triplet

Posted on June 19, 2009 by | 7 comments
familytriplet

Anne's latest dream bike

School gets out today. This time of year is bittersweet. We are all ready for a break from our normal routine and are looking forward to some carefree summer times. I’m sure the kids will be happy not to hear the words:  get dressed, eat your breakfast, put your book down, brush your teeth and we’re going to be late for a few months. Continue reading →

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Posted in alternative transportation, bike lust, bikes, kids

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Ten Days with the Madsen Kg271 Bucket Bike

Posted on May 4, 2009 by | 15 comments

Warning. This post is loooong. Tim and Anne co-wrote it. Singly they tend toward verbosity. Together? Oy. Maybe grab a cup of coffee or beer before you start.

Probably the best thing about this little bike blog thing is all the great people we’ve met. Folks like David and Stephan from Dutch Bike, Marge (who we’ve yet to physically meet, but I’m sure we will some day), Marcus  and Elliot from Austin on Two Wheels, Val, and more. It’s been a great ride.

One of our newest blog buddies, George loaned us his Madsen KG271 (you know, the long bike with the big bucket on the back) for a 10-day testing stint.

Full disclosure: George is friends with the owner of the company and asked us if we’d give his own personal Madsen a try and share our impressions. He didn’t ask for any sugar coating, and it’s a good thing. Tim’s not real good at being sweet.

Over the course of a week and a pair of weekends, we both had the opportunity to ride the Madsen as part of our daily routines (where we normally ride our Xtracycles and Anne’s Oma), as well as on a couple special-purpose, made-for-Madsen adventures. Tim picked up bags of compost; Anne transported three kids home from school. We even had some of our bikey neighbors take it for a spin. Overall, the idea was to see how this one bike (in one size, shared by two people of very different size) could fit into this bike life we’ve built for ourselves.

Continue reading →

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Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bike lust, bikes, cargo bikes, kids

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Pt. 3 Building a kid’s bike that doesn’t suck: Tires

Posted on April 28, 2009 by | 12 comments

Continued from the series of posts: Kids’ Bikes: They suck and what you can do about it. I started this “series” back in Dec. and then sort of fell off track as things melted down at work.  As we’re heading into prime kid-biking season I figured I should dust off the drafts and get the info out there where it might do some good.

It’s possible experienced wrenchers may find this a bit too detailed. If that’s the case, visit the flickr stream for quick some ideas and examples.

marathon2By  far, tires caused me the most trouble during this project.

I like to think I’m a pretty savvy cookie when it comes to bike parts. I’ve been around them a long time — as a DIYer and a shop rat.  And on top of that, I’m a librarian so I know how to handle a search engine. But dang, these 24″ tires are difficult.

Limited choices + confusing sizes

The legendary Sheldon Brown illustrated the problem quite clearly in the following chart: Continue reading →

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Posted in bike lust, bikes, kids' bikes, wrenchin'

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SXSW Adventures: Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | 2 comments

Getting Directions on the Mobile Social RideAs I mentioned, I was in Austin last week at SXSW. While there, I had the good fortune to participate in the Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride and BBQ. Anne and I are fairly regular participants in Seattle-area cargo rides and so I thought it would be fun to check out the dynamic of a mixed tech-texas hybrid event.

The day dawned like any other in Seattle. Wet, cold and dark. It wasn’t actually raining so I was raring to go. One problem:  we weren’t in Seattle and the Austinites aren’t quite used to gray skies and wet roads. Though roads dried by the time morning SXSW sessions finished, it  was only their 3rd day of rain since summer or something.  I’m thinking this had to have an impact on the number of riders , yet the turnout was impressive (somewhere between 100 and 150) anyway. Continue reading →

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Posted in bigger than here, bike lust, bikes, In other Cities

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My New Red Basket Rules

Posted on June 10, 2008 by | 10 comments

I love my new red basket

Tim spent a couple of hours last weekend lovingly painting my new front basket cherry red. It looks great. Tim, you do good work– and you’re the best. Continue reading →

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Posted in alternative transportation, bike lust, bikes, oma, shopping, sustainability

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Mother’s Day: Oma for a Momma

Posted on May 27, 2008 by | 11 comments

Anne's new Oma

I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but um… we’ve been busy riding our bikes….

Passin' Gas on new OmaOn a total whim, I got Anne an Oma for Mother’s day. She’s been coveting them for a long time and I always figured I’d get her one when we stopped hauling the kids around on the Xtracycles. But then the perfect candidate popped up on Craigslist (you do watch Craigslist for bikes every day, don’t you?) and those plans went out the window.

I just couldn’t resist. Continue reading →

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Posted in bike lust, bikes, dates, neighborhoods, oma, seattle

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Update of the NAHBS Update

Posted on February 12, 2008 by | 1 comment

Black Sheep Escargot Longbike

I’ve been agonizing over how I’m going to make a quick post out of this trip. Frankly I’m buried at work and tired and I’m just not going to do all these bikes justice tonight. Sorry about that. Let’s just say the show was a great experience. I love bikes. All bikes. And these were some amazing bikes. Can we call it good right there? Continue reading →

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Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bike lust, bikes, longbikes, PDX

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NAHBS Update

Posted on February 10, 2008 by | 4 comments

Trucker Racks -- bikeportland.org photoI spent an amazing Saturday at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. While I’m not the type to drop $5k on a bike anytime soon, it sure is fun to look gawk at these incredible bikes/works of art (and talk to their very friendly builders) in person.

Continue reading →

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Posted in bike lust, bikes, longbikes, PDX

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NAHBS

Posted on February 8, 2008 by | Leave a comment

We too are headed to the North American Handmade Bike Show this weekend. Looking forward to checking out some cool bikes, visiting with family and friends and of course riding around the lovely city of Portland.

 We’ll report back next week.

Cheers — Anne and Tim

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Posted in bike lust, bikes, PDX

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