The Competition Bicycle

The Competition Bicycle from Vintage Bicycles Press in Seattle - lovely to look through. I should subscribe to their The Bicycle Quarterly as well.

NYTimes article on Google maps for Cyclists

Google leads, you pedal

While cyclists say all this bike-mapping software is handy for planning trips, most agree it is more useful as a Plan B than a Plan A, which should be just a normal, fold-up bike map. “I never would rely on it 100 percent,” said Mr. Maus of Portland, Ore. “Just as I wouldn’t only rely on car directions from GPS. It’s not as smart as a human being on the ground.”

Univega Superstrada

Univega Superstrada
Originally uploaded by Michael Neubert

Steel used bike that has been refurbished (restored?) rented for 2.5 weeks from Recycled Cycles in Seattle.

Set of photos of the bike on Flickr.

Strictly speaking at 54 cm this is a little small, but the distance from end of saddle to the front of stem is OK and this was the best (really only) choice. I am comfortable riding it, so that seems like the big thing.

Some research suggests that this is something like a 1998 or 1999 model, frame made in Taiwan. (Earlier Univega steel frames were made in Japan, apparently.) The bike has mostly 105 components - the drive train is entirely 105 but the brakes are RSX (a lower component grade) and having both on one bike seems peculiar. The info I see shows that from 1995-1997 the Superstrada has all RSX. Hm. Also, the 97 model was shown with seven rings in back and this has eight, so again I'm thinking this is a later model than 97. But in 2001 the brand disappeared, so no later than that!

The back wheel appears to be original but the front wheel is new. Odd that the back wheel would outlast the front wheel. The paint has been touched up in a few places but generally for a bike more than ten years old, I don't think this was ridden that much.

The metallic flake burgundy paint job is not something I would probably choose but one gets used to it. The extemely strange lettering used for the "Univega" brand name is a peculiar choice - does it help with marketing to make the name of the company impossible to read??

What to ride in Seattle?

Last year in August in Seattle, I bought a bicycle here, but I can't do that every year. Went to Recycled Cycles to see if there something to rent or pseudo-rent but nothing appealing there. Alas.

Will have to investigate further.

Bike and dingy

Bike and dingy
Originally uploaded by Michael Neubert

In this way one could bicycle anywhere, land or sea.

Two women with bicycle, around 1900

Two women with bicycle, Hoquiam, Washington, ca. 1900

On verso of image: A tea party in the garden of an early Hoquiam home.

Bike is typical of the period - identical to the design of a man's bike but has the low top bar. Also, has a back fender that is covered with a mesh to keep skirts out of the spinning wheel.

From the University of Washington digital collections.

Classic book of early cycling

The American bicycler: a manual for the observer, the learner, ... predates the "safety bicycle" and describes bicycles with the oversize front wheel and the tiny back wheel as the state-of-the-art. (The so-called "ordinary.") Published in 1879.

The weight of roadsters varies between thirty-five
and sixty pounds, and of racers between twenty and
thirty-five pounds. The diameter of front wheel
ranges from forty to sixty inches, —forty-eight, fifty,
fifty-two, and fifty-four inches being the most com-
mon sizes ; and the wheel is chosen to fit the rider
as pantaloons arc, —according to length of leg, &c.
The whole is made in form and finish, lines and pro-
portions, with a view to comely appearance as well
as utility, and, when mounted by an accomplished
rider, is remarkably handsome.

Sixty pounds! Wow ~
From HathiTrust - digitized by Google at the University of Michigan.