WHATSOEVER ISSUE N0.1
YSLILIANM SPRING 2014
D-BIKE THE SMALLEST BICYCLE MAGAZINE EVER
SUN SHINES THE BUTT
PHOTO CREDIT
THE DAILY BIKE
“Just let go,” s
said my big brother.
HORSE CYCLE It’s a revelation to look at Thomas Callahan’s early work, like the mauve Priest Sport and his latest exercise, the Urban Tour Project. Thomas and Horse Cycles have begun a run of production models with a limited edition range of complementary gear.
Both frames are constructed by hand from True Temper double butted 4130 tubes and feature canti brake mounts, water bottle bosses, and rack / fender mounts. The finish is powder coated in your choice of 5 subdued colors and includes a lug-lined fork.
There are two frames offered in the Urban Tour Project: a mixte and a versatile frame that really can be described as an urban touring bike. That means it can be configured as a geared or single speed daily rider, or you can load it up and do some serious touring.
To complement the bicycles, Thomas collaborated with several makers of beautiful things. HMPLwere brought in to create a Martexin waxed canvas saddlebag and some gorgeous denim and wool cycling caps, Brooklyn’s MER contributed a shop apron and Robin Dean supplies a wooden top box.
URBAN TOUR PROJECT BROOKLIN, NY
Recently, the Australian state capital of Brisbane played host to a bicycle gymkhana of sorts, called Pushies Galore. It was a celebration of Queensland’s cycling passion, but attracted fans from all over. Keith Marshall of Kumo Cycles resides in Canberra but traveled 15 hours each way to feature as a stall holder, where he won the award for Best Track Bike and debuted this elegant tourer. The weekend was preceded by an ‘intimate evening’ in the hallowed hall of Holland Park Bowls Club with beers, pizza and talks by luminaries such as Warren Meade and Darrell Llewellyn McCulloch. Sunday was the big day, a display of restored and original bikes. Kumo Cycles was a deserved award winner: Keith is surely a leading light of Australia’s next generation of artisan framebuilders.
Keith’s keirin-inspired track frame attracted the judges favor, showing off needle-thin lug work and a classic paint scheme. His ‘long distance country tourer’, resplendent in a minty green hue, is built from Columbus spirit tubes and Llewellyn lugs, while the saddle bag and pump were both found in the shed of the new owner’s dad and restored for the project, with the paint matched to the frame.
“Do you bike to work?”
May 18, Bike to Work Day
HINQAPILLAR This has to be one of the most immaculate Rivendells I’ve encountered. There isn’t a component out of place, and there are even some embellishments that, while not necessarily the most functional, only serve to complete an already luxurious tourer. Woodys Fenders will resist water damage as well as any de rigueur fender (anything with four coats of high quality marine grade polyurethane will) and are the bicycle version of a walnut dashboard. A 14-speed Rohloff / Paul Components drive train is about as classy and mechanically perfect as one can get, and lace the hubs to bronze Velocity Chukkers and you’ve got rolling randonneuring beauty right there. The front hub is a Schmidt dynamo and will provide the necessary illumination for when an ill-timed puncture will postpone the estimated time of arrival past sundown. Schwalbe Marathon rubber should prevent that, though, they’re some of the hardiest tires on the planet. The Nitto stem, seat post, and racks are a garnish on this already perfect bicycle.
The Hinqapillar has a second top tube for added rigidity (like most of the larger sized Rivendells), and that’s only an opportunity to indulge oneself with an extra set of those gorgeous Rivendell lugs. On its website, Rivendell remarks that a fool will buy a bike for the head badge. In that case, I’d be a fool if I could have a bike with that head badge in my stable. According to Grant from Rivendell, Hunqapillar sounded an appropriate name for a woolly mammoth. Though whether the woolly mammoth came first or the Hunqapillar is a question only Grant could answer. Why don’t you give him a call and ask him while you order your own, so you can become a member of the proudest cult of bike owners on the planet?
FAST BOY There are few pleasures in life more honest than a good bike ride. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons for the resurgence of interest in cycling these days. But even cycling can get complicated — just ask any pro racer. The latest machine to emanate from the workshop of Ezra Caldwell and Fast Boy Cycles, however, epitomizes the innocent beauty of the bicycle. Ezra describes the new build as a ‘neo-retro, lugged, 29er MTB cruiser’, but the criteria was for a ‘hop-on-and-go’ bike. A two-speed, kick shift coaster brake is laced to the rear wheel, powered by a White Industries drive train. As with all Fast Boy Cycles, the paint is understated, this time inspired by a Lotus Cortina. A Brooks leather saddle tops it off, quintessentially matched with cork grips.
KINFOLK
It would be interesting to hear what Shuichi Kusaka has to say about the current resurgence in cycling, which is in no part thanks to his skills of those of his contemporaries. 73-year-old Kusaka-san is the builder responsible for the Kinfolk Bicycle Company frames, a band of creatives who have bridged the cultural and cyclical divide between America and Japan. A Kinfolk is not just a bicycle, it’s a culture and a tradition — the same that extends through Kusaka-san back to the master sword-makers of feudal Japan. The aesthetic is summarized on the Kinfolk website: “Beautiful in its simplicity, a simplicity that has taken a lifetime to perfect.” This cobalt blue frame is of the finest pedigree, assembled with top-shelf components deserved of its bearing.
To be continued...
Bike revives my heart.