Today's find. The bike racks at work are filling up as spring rolls in. And while I lament losing the choice parking spot that my bike enjoyed over winter, I am happy to see the racks filling up with neat whips. 

Here's today's find:

Turns out the Premier Cycle Co. Is an interesting operation.  They began producing 'safety bicycles'' to replace the Penny Farthing in the UK.

Premier closed down in the 1930s but their brand lived on.  A Japanese manufacturer began producing bikes under the Premier name - and used their label and face-plate until recently. The Japanese company was called Maruishi and if you keep an eye out you just might see one.

I'll try and post more soon.  Maybe even some pictures of this regal steed.

New Restoration Project

I love a good find. The last bike I restored was Frankenbike. I put it together for my bikeless brother Ryan. I'll post on the Frankenbike later.

Onto this new steed. I found it while on my morning walk with Bobby.  It was perched along a line of refuse and I assume was meant for blue box recycling.

But I couldn't Walk by without giving it some consideration.  No, I couldn't allow it to find its way to the scrapyard.

The details: It's a yellow Bayfield bike from the Hudson Bay company. Probably 1970s. The bike's been made into a fixie.  It's clearly been through adventures as it's covered by 'The Grime of Life'.  It's got a nice little Quando flip flop hub on the back. It is missing a front rim and tire and will need brakes and an overhaul.

I think its name might be Lester!  Only with time, and some TLC, can we bring this beast back.

More to come.

Finding that Ideal Winterbike

Turns out, rebuilding a wheel isn’t as hard as I thought.  

Today, the Winterbiking chronicles begin again.  

As you know, winter riding takes its toll on your steed.  Regardless of make, material or method of maintenance, winter will eventually murder your bike.  It happened to Liberman and his predecessor ‘Nameless Gray Bike’.   

With this in mind, I have given my thoughts to finding/creating a bike with a limited life expectancy.   In the winter of 2010/11, I found a dual suspension bike frame on a walk with my dog.  We packed it up and brought it home.  It had no wheels, no brakes, a bent crankset, and the rustiest chain I have ever seen.  Over the months, I tore it down.  Removing the front crankset completely, and replacing it with a spare I had on hand.  I sawed off the rusty chain (trying to use a chain tool resulted in the destruction of the chain tool itself!!) and replaced it with a new-ish one.  I took the rims from Lieberman, put on new rubber and tossed all the parts back on the frame.    All of this took place over a period of weeks.  Half an hour here, an hour there.  Just light work with a small goal in mind:    Creating a Frankenbike that would rise from the ashes of past steeds, live for a finite time, then go down in a blaze of glory only to rise again as Frankenbike Redux.   

I am now proud to say, I am within reach of this goal. I have some skipping on the 5th cog in the freewheel and some nagging brake issues to deal with, but soon the Frankenbike will take to the streets scaring the bikes and likes of our children and elderly.  

Now, despite all this work building the Frankenbike, recent events have unfolded that have put its future in question.  I recently found another suitable winter bike.  This bike was free, required very little work to get running, and came with the fenders!  I give you:  Golden Boy  

Saved from the street corner and lovingly ridden everywhere, Golden Boy came with everything.  Fenders, a simple gearing system (only 6 gears, none of this 24 gear junk), and the dignity that bikes had when slathered with neon.    

It took very little work to get it running.  New seat, pump up the tires, adjust the fenders, and boom – I’m riding around town on this puppy and loving it.  I decided it would make the perfect winter bike, and that the one thing I should do (other than fix the brakes) is to put on some aluminium rims.  I have found that steel rims have lest stopping power in the wet and icy winter conditions.    So, I started looking for a rim with a 6 cog/sprocket freewheel cassette.

I went to CycleSalvation, where they rooted around and found me a shitty 6 speed rim.  It spun, but was CRUNCHY.  So, I knew I would have to tear it down, realign the bearings and lube it up.  Easy job I figured – until I actually got it home. The bearings fell out of the cage, and were gone.  And they were rolling around freely and chewing up the hub’s cone and the inside pit of the hub pretty bad.  I replaced the bearing cage, and the cone, lubed it up and put it all back together.  A good learning experience for a guy with little hub experience.  I also filed down some of the teeth on the 5th sprocket and cleaned up the cassette. All in all, I felt good about that work, and got excited about putting a nice knobby on the new rim, and replacing the tires that came on Golden Boy. 

But alas, after installing the new rim, I found that the 5th and 4th sprockets, skip very, very badly.  I had two choices left:  1) Trouble shoot the skipping or 2) put the steel rim back on.   So I tossed the old steal rear wheel on and added new brake pads.  That seemed to help.  But the bike still took forever to stop in slick conditions.  I finally found an acceptable compromise.  I traded a few volunteer hours at Recylclore for a nice aluminium front rim! 

That, coupled with the new brakes means I’ll be able to stop this winter.

Winterbiking will commence soon!

Yup.

'Bout that time of year again. We've got snowstorms all along the Eastern Seaboard, and it's only October 31st.

Bring it.

An update on my new winter bike soon!

Licensing Bicycles in Ottawa?

Recently,
Both the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun posted articles about City Council musings regarding the potential of bike licensing in Ottawa.

 

Councillor Monette’s been suggesting that licensing will:

• Help pay for cycling infrastructure (as I assume he feels cyclists aren’t property owners and tax payers already).
• Help Police identify wrongdoers.
• Aid in reducing bike thefts.
• Ensure safe cycling.

Personally this issue seems like a waste of time, and I commented on the Sun’s website with the following:

 

“I find Monette’s inquiry interesting. Foolhardy perhaps, but interesting.

 

The very concept of licensing cyclists represents the cognitive dissonance so often exemplified by certain City officials. One hand openly promotes cycling, while the other sees the activity as problematic and in need of greater control/administration.

 

The issue of licensing bicycles in Canada has a storied past and one does not need to look far before it becomes clear that the concept fails to achieve the intended results. For instance, this issue has been examined by the city of Toronto – perhaps the nation’s best candidate for a licensing system – on three separate occasions.

 

Each study resulted in recommendations to reject licensing due to:

• The difficulty in keeping databases complete and current.
• The difficulty in licensing children, given that they ride bikes too.
• The fact that licensing in and of itself does not change the behaviour of cyclists who are disobeying traffic laws.

I would add that bicycle licensing will also set an unattractive precedent for other modes of transportation relied upon by city residents. Though bicycles are the most popular alternative vehicle, many residents also rely on mobility scooters, e-scooters, skateboards/longboards, and rollerblades. All these forms of transportation share the roads and pathways with cars and bicycles. Should they fall under the same licensing requirements? Perhaps a glib argument but certainly a consideration.

 

Given Toronto’s findings, and our own – as referenced by your article, it is clear that any study into bicycle licensing in Ottawa will unnecessarily waste both time and money.

 

Instead, resources should continue to promote safe and respectful cycling in the city. And officials and residents should take pride in the steps this city has taken with respect to promoting the benefits of biking.

 

I for one am proud that Ottawa recently received a silver-level cycling friendly community award.

 

I am proud of the city’s progressive bicycle infrastructure – we’ve introduced the Bixi, downtown segregated lanes, the commuter park and cycle pilot, and the Cycling Safety Training Courses.

 

In fact, these are accomplishments we should all be proud of. These initiatives help to ease congestion on the roads, mitigate environmental impacts, and improve the health of residents. As both a biker and car owner, I am happy to see these benefits first hand.”

 

See the article and comments from the Ottawa Sun here:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/spokesman/commuting/bicycle-licensing-debate-comes-to-ottawa-city-hall/comment-page-1/#comment-4951

A Salient Argument Supporting the Economics of Biking

While many analysts, environmentalists, and yes even economists will expound on the financial prudence associated with biking, no argument is better than actually seeing the dollars leave your wallet.

An example? Sure.  How about, waking up, feeling kind of lazy, and deciding to drive the 3.5 km to work?  And maybe, wanting to save a few bucks, it made sense to park in a plaza, only to return to a 55 dollar ticket affixed to my windshield.

That my friends, is an example of the 'real' costs of not biking.

What's Your Take on E-Bikes Using City Pathways?

Tonight and tommorow night, the City of Ottawa will  be holding consultations on proposed rules for e-bikes.

Currently e-bikes are allowed on all paths and bike lanes.

These bikes come in two categories:
1) Pedal Assisted bicycles.
2) Electric Scooters.

Personally, believe electric scooters, capable of 32kph, are not suitable for bike paths.  these vehicles are too heavy and too fast for the paths where (the max speed limit is posted at 20kph).  Plus, if I couldn't use them for my moped, why should a scooter be allowed to?

Pedal assited bicycles are certainly welcome on the paths. These bikes offer more sedentary people the option of biking, with a little help.  and sometimes people just need a little help to get rolling.

Now, I do think that the electric scooters should be allowed in bike lanes.  these electric vehicles are too slow for the road and need a place to roll.  so, take the bike lane, just respect other bikers and be safe.

If you'd like to have your say, here's the link to the city's consultations.  Let them know how you feel about the issue in person or via email.

http://canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16302-22556-30925-136764&lang=1&bhcp=1