More Accessories for the Super Mirage

Earlier this month, I added an antique prune crate to Ginger's new Motobecane Super Mirage. I bolted it on to the rear rack, giving the bike a bit more capacity to carry her gear. The look was really great, and we were both happy with the way it turned out. A couple of weeks after installing the crate, the vibrations and jostling from everyday riding had begun to work loose the nails that held the walls of the crate to the floor. The addition of 4 small wood screws fixed the problem quickly and easily.

Another issue was that there was nothing to hold down the load that was being carried in the crate, so we decided to install some straps to keep Ginger's belongings from flying out. Ginger and I both have to cross a set of railroad tracks on our daily commute, and I could easily envision her purse unknowingly being tossed out of the crate when bouncing over the crossing. We thought it would be cool if the straps had the same vintage style of the old prune crate. And what better way to do that than with leather? I picked up a couple of 36" lengths of 1/2" suede ribbon and some small rivets from the local craft store, and also ordered a few 1/2" stainless steel spring buckles from StrapWorks.

I anchored the straps to the floor of the crate with the bolts that fixed the crate to the rear rack, using a drill to make the appropriate size holes in the ends of the leather. I used a large nail as a punch to make the holes for the rivets, looped the ends of the suede straps over the loops of the spring buckles, and riveted them into place with a hammer. Once everything was in place, it looked awesome. And the spring buckles make cinching and uncinching the load really quick and easy.

Cody a film star? Yes!

To say we were delighted when Springfield's Healthy Living Alliance approached us to help them film an informational video about the rules of city cycling would be a massive understatement.

HLA teamed up with local improv comic Jeff Houghton, Brandon of Goodwin Films and us to film the first in their four-part series about healthy living in Springfield. The topic? Basic rules of the road tips for cyclists. Bike to Work Week is just two weeks away so the timing is perfect.

We contributed the Cody and the bike. The idea was to mount a few GoPro cameras onto the tandem, have Cody take the pilot's seat with Jeff on the back. The camera mounting proved to be the most challenging part of the whole endeavor.

Brandon Goodwin, the filmmaker and coworker Doug came over a couple times this week to figure out the logistics and take the rigged up rig out for a spin. For the record, there's a camera on each set of handlebars with sort of a tripod over on the side. Crazy. Cool.

Anyway, we showed up for the shoot this morning, got Cody and Jeff microphoned up...

And sent them on their way.

We are so excited to see the finished product. Everyone involved was so incredibly nice and talented and enthusiastic and easy to work with. We know the finished product will be very awesome.

We'll let you know when the final product is, um, finalized.

My First Trek Outside of Downtown

I can't really say that yesterday was the first time I've ridden my bike outside of downtown Springfield, since the actual first time I left the downtown area was when Ginger and I rode the tandem up to Commercial Street on St. Patrick's Day. But I guess you could say yesterday was the first time I've left downtown Springfield on my bicycle alone. You could also say it's pretty pathetic that I've lived in this town for over 6 months now and haven't ridden farther than about 1 mile from home. But yesterday, I had business to tend to at the Mercy Hospital campus, and it was such a lovely day that I decided to travel by bicycle.

I set off from the Jordan Valley Innovation Center on North Boonville and headed south until I reached Elm, then headed east. I hopped over to Cherry and cut through the northernmost side of the MSU campus, then across National and continued east until I reached Fremont. Fremont then took me south all the way to the hospital, so it was a straight shot on a nice, wide, low-traffic street. My total one-way mileage was a little over 3.5 miles, and it took me right around 20 minutes to make the trip.

While I was locking my bike up at the Fremont Building (to a tree because there were no bike racks), I noticed a man sitting on a bench near the front doors of the building who was staring at me. I went in to take care of my business and as I turned to leave, I saw that he had followed me inside, though he was no longer gawking at me. I got back to my bike, unlocked it, and looked over my shoulder at the doors of the building as I was stowing the lock in my panniers. Sure enough, he had followed me back outside. And now he was walking towards me.

It turned out that his interest in me was benign: he wanted to know if I knew anything about bikes and if I knew where he could get a fixie. I recommended Queen City Cycles and gave him directions to their shop. He then asked if I thought they would be able to put a coaster brake on a fixie. My answer to this was something along the lines of, "I don't know, man. You'll just have to go in to Queen City and talk to them." What I left unsaid was that the pure mechanics of putting a coaster brake on a fixie are unsound. I mean, it's called a coaster brake for a reason. You have to be able to coast to make the brake functional. But whatever, I'll let the guys at Queen City break the bad news to him. The man thanked me and left, and I got back in the saddle and headed back downtown, backtracking the way that I had come.

I ended up picking a great day to make this ride for the first time, as it was a mild 50-ish degrees and sunny at around 11:30am when I set out. It was a smooth, easy trip with no issues and hardly any traffic. It's not abnormal for me to end up on the Mercy campus for various reasons, and I'm going to have to make the bicycle my priority method of travel. In fact, it's pretty shameful that it took me this long to figure that out.

Shout Out City!

First off, we got a pretty cool shout out from Someone Still Love You Boris Yeltsin on Twitter.

Most excellent!

Second, we got a fantastic mention from Dr. Andy Cline on his blog, Carbon Trace. If you live in Springfield and you're not already a regular reader of Carbon Trace, I recommend you become one immediately. All things related to getting around Springfield by bicycle and foot are discussed in this blog. It's well written, nicely produced, and perhaps most importantly, updated regularly. Andy is a witty dude who I'd definitely enjoy pedalling with. And his thoughts on getting around Springfield using alternative transportation are insightful, if not a bit cynical. I'm quickly becoming an avid fan and I'm looking forward to continued reading of this excellent blog.

Stringer bike date

Cody and I hired a sitter and went out on a bike date. Yay! We rode around downtown to take pictures. This flea market, the STD,  is as delightfully shady as you imagine. I hope they still have those wonderful wicker chairs I spied in there (hands off, Springfield. I have big plans for those).

How great is this mural? We work across the street from each other, and both see this every day. Downtown's buildings are full of great old art like this. It's one of the things I love about this city. Why, though, is Cody standing like that?

It's because I asked him to stand near the World's Biggest Turd. This photo doesn't even do it justice. Freakish, it was.

I tried to sneak some behind-the-back photos while we were riding. I was not as sneaky as I thought I was.

Anyway, we biked around some more until we found a rolling pub crawl. There was a great deal of awesome, including this Frankenbike.

So much about the group was amazing. We rode with them for a bit. Riding in a group of around 50 strong was so unexpectedly wonderful. It made me miss our Sunday Joyrides. We didn't really know anybody, but we did get to talk to some very nice people, who all seemed like old friends, which always makes for a fun atmosphere.

One of the places we went did not have adequate bike parking so some of the riders got creative. This, we liked.

Anyway, we eventually split off from the group and met up with a couple of friends at a sweet little place called Skinny Slim's, where I had the most delightful Old Fashioned. It was easy to spot my date in a crowd.

When we went outside to show my new bike box off to our buddies, and found a smoker's empty in my rig. Awesome.
Anyway, we do not often get the chance to have a night out together. Now that we've found a great sitter, we hope we can make this a more regular activity. Maybe, with more awesome and less littering.

Go Slow, You Antihero!

Via Culture Cycles, there was a fantastic interview with Grant Petersen, founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works, in Huck a few days ago. I can totally identify with Petersen's feelings about cycling: just get on the bike and enjoy it; screw racing culture (I'm paraphrasing, of course). When considering whether or not to join in organized bicycle-related events, my first question is always whether or not I will feel out of place if I'm not wearing a full kit and riding a carbon fiber bike. If the answer is yes, I'll take a pass. If the climate is more along the lines of street clothes and beer consumption, I'm totally down.

What really struck me about the Huck article wasn't so much the interview - though the interview was excellent - but the graphic that headed it:

I'd love to blow that up, frame it, and hang it on my wall.

Accessorizing the Super Mirage

Ginger has been interested in accessorizing her bike with a wine box or an antique box of some sort for quite a while now, but I just haven't been able to pull the trigger and get it done...until now. From the very start, she's talked about how good a wine box would look on the back of the Super Mirage. So it was definitely going to have to happen. A couple of weeks ago we found an old wooden prune crate at an antique store; it was light weight, fairly sturdy, and had a really cool look, so we picked it up. Ginger found a DIY guide via High Heels & Two Wheels, and we got to work.

The first step was to coat the box with a protective finish. I had some leftover shellac from the Columbia Twosome project that I brushed onto the box, inside and out, to act as a barrier from the elements. I picked up some 8" mending plates, bolts, nylon-insert nuts, washers, and 1/4" nylon spacers from my local hardware store. Then I did some quick measuring to be sure that the mending plates would be positioned such that they would be between the rear rack stays. Once everything was measured, marked off, and remeasured, I drilled the holes for the bolts in the bottom of the prune box.

After all of the prep, actually installing the antique box was a snap. I used washers between the bolt heads and the floor of the box to avoid any cracking as the bolts were tightened. And I used 1/4" nylon spacers between the bottom of the box and the mending plates to avoid putting too much stress on the old box (the steel bars that make up the Wald rear rack platform are 1/4" in diameter). Before tightening up the whole assembly, I made sure that the box was positioned and aligned properly.

The old prune crate looks pretty outstanding. Ginger loves it. I think it's a great way to add some cargo capacity to the bike without sacrificing the elegance of the machine. And the cat likes it, too.