Okay, so here's the plan: I'm going to occasionally post links to other blogs, websites, books, etc. that I recommend for anyone who might be interested in vintage bikes, bicycle repair and maintenance, or whatever. The idea is to lump similar resources into a single post and sort of compare them. So, for example, I might have a post on vintage bicycle restoration in which I'd share links to several blogs and discuss what I like or possibly dislike about each one, and why you should consider following each link and checking them out.
For my first "Cody's Reading List", though, I'm not going to do that. In this installment, I'm going to focus on only one blog: Vintage Bicycle. Because the author of this blog is just in a league of his own. To lump this guy in with any other half-ass vintage bike blog out there would be to undermine just how awesome his blog is.
Before I go any further, I should mention a couple of trivial things that I dislike about this blog. First off, and perhaps most importantly, is the page layout. The dude takes great photos and is kind enough to post them at high resolution on the site, but the page is laid out in such a way that the images fall across the sidebar and off the right side of the page (without altering the browser zoom). A little nitpicky, I know, but it's a bit annoying. The second problem - if you could call it that - is the pace of updates. When I really like a blog, I want it to be updated at least 2-3 times a week. Just looking over the past few posts, this blog seems to be updated more like once a week. Not too bad a pace, but I'd love to see more.
Now on to the good stuff. As best I can tell, the author lives in the UK and has a particular interest in vintage British and French touring bicycles. He also has a number of posts that focus on pre-war era roadsters, safety bicycles, and velocipedes. The old roadsters in particular are really quite amazing and he does a great job of restoring them. He also posted this update recently, which he filed under the category 'cycling curiosities,' about the Wall of Death with bicycles. But really it's his restoration work that I just can't get over. It's uncanny and his machines are true pieces of art. I hope he keeps the updates coming for a good long while, because this is one of my favorite blogs out there. And with only one post a week, I definitely start jonesing for a new one after a day or two.
Update (February 12, 2012): I ended up emailing the author of Vintage Bicycle (his name is Tim and he lives outside of London) to let him know that his blog was the subject of a post here. And also to just get in contact with the guy since I was so impressed with him. Well, after some brief back-and-forth emailing last week, I am no less impressed. He was really appreciative of my feedback and was a super-nice dude. In fact, he took my critique of his blog format so seriously that he experimented with a new format that would stop his hi-res images from bleeding over into his sidebar. He emailed me this afternoon to let me know that the changes have been made, and I've got to say, the new format is damn fine. So there you go: a badass blog that is authored by an equally badass dude. I'm really looking forward to a continued dialogue with Tim and hope that someday we can have a beer and/or go for a ride together.
No comments:
Post a Comment