More Christmas Fun

We had two Christmas parties this past week, the first was the work party and the second was the dinner they have for the whole park.



I didn't remember to bring my camera to either one, so I only have pictures from my phone from the work party. We had a nice time talking and we did a White Elephant gift exchange that was fun.









There was lots of good food to eat!







I love sharing Christmas fun with those that are around us. It makes the holidays even more fun.

Riding a Coaster Brake-Only Bike

I like coaster brakes on city bikes and I am very comfortable using them. My preferred transportation bike set-up is to have a coaster brake in the rear and a hand-operated hub or rim brake in the front. Typically I use just the coaster brake most of the time, employing the hand-operated front brake to keep the bike still when coming to a complete stop or to supplement the coaster when braking at high speeds. The role my front brake plays in these scenarios is small, but crucial - which I realise more than ever when riding the coaster brake-only Sogreni I picked up last week.





Slowing down on the coaster brake-only bike is exactly the same as on my own bikes - I'd be using the coaster brake alone for this anyhow. But coming to a complete stop and keeping the bike still when stopped is trickier without a front brake. The main thing I've had to learn is not to ease up on the coaster brake when stopping as I normally do, but to continue pushing back on the pedal with the right foot firmly even as I put the left toe down at a stop. If I ease up the pressure on the right pedal, the bike will keep rolling forward. Coming to a complete stop on a downhill is trickier still, because the bike really, really wants to roll forward and my right foot has to push back with all the force I can muster. Squeezing a front lever is much easier in this context.






Stop-and-go traffic presents its own challenge, because a coaster brake can only be engaged effectively from certain crank positions. There is also the transition from having the right crank in the optimal braking position (previous 2 pictures) to having it in the starting position. To transition to the starting position from the braking position, I quickly hook my right foot under the pedal and move it forward as I push off to get started. But once the pedal is in the starting position, what if I then have to immediately stop again? Inching forward in traffic is tricky, because it is difficult to keep the pedals in a position where I can both stop and get the bike started again with equal immediacy.



Finally, there is the question of speed. When going over 13mph or so, I find that I cannot brake as well as I'd like with just the coaster brake alone. The coaster brake is enough to slow down, but for an emergency stop at that speed I need a front brake to supplement.






Riding a coaster brake-only bike is certainly possible, but in a city like Boston I feel that it is safer to also have a front hand-operated brake. The motivation behind bikes without front brakes today seems to be the "clean handlebars" look, which has always baffled me. I fail to see what is so gorgeous about not having a brake lever on my handlebars, when that brake performs an obvious and necessary function.

England Made Me: Pashley, Raleigh and Dawes in London

I was in London for only two days and it rained continuously. Somehow rain in England does not seem as dreary as in other countries; it has an almost cheerful feel to it and makes colours seem brighter. This is especially noticeable with green grass and red double-decker buses. I saw far too many nice bicycles in the area where I was staying, so I decided to focus on bikes made by English manufacturers.

A tangle of black bicycles locked up to a rack on the King's Road; double-decker bus in the background. The frontmost bicycle is a Raleigh mixte that looked to be from the early '80s.

This is the first time I have been back to the UK in almost 5 years, not counting the many hours spent in Heathrow airport during layovers to other destinations. When I lived in England, it was in a small provincial town. London was "the big city" where I would occasionally stay with friends, go to parties, and visit museums. I am at my best in small towns, and many parts of London make me uncomfortable because they somehow seem simultaneously vast and overcrowded. But there are a few areas that have cozy pockets of quiet side streets that appeal to me. My friend's place in Chelsea is in just such a location, and it was nice to stay there.

Walking around the neighborhood, I came across somebody else's Pashley Princess waiting for her owner outside a health food store.

This Princess has seen some use. The basket is tattered around the edges and the frame is a bit grimy - which suits the bike nicely.

Just blocks away, I spotted a Pashley Roadster. The owner added a wire basket to the front.

The Roadster was locked to the rack with an enormous golden chain, and a U-Lock. The owner must like it as much as the Co-Habitant likes his.

Not one, but three Dawes bicycles were locked up outside the Saatchi Gallery.

The most interesting of them was this Dawes folding bike, I assume from the '70s. I have never seen one of these before and wonder how it rides compared to the Raleigh Twenty. The owner's installation of enormous baskets, front and rear, suggests that they use the bike as a "shopper".

And finally, behold this magnificent Pashley Mailstar, across the street from Harvey Nichols.

The Mailstar is a mail delivery bicycle (read more about it here), but this one has obviously been converted to a family cycle. I wonder whether these are available for purchase by the general public, or whether the owner bought a de-comissioned mail delivery bike? Either way, it is pretty cool and, I bet, extremely steady to ride.

To my eye, not much has changed in London since I was last here - aside from the obvious things, like the new St. Pancras station. Perhaps people seem a bit more relaxed and "loungy" than what I remembered. And I had forgotten how exciting "the High Street" can be.

As for cycling infrastructure - I did not see any. Aggressive, chaotic driving dominates the roads. To me it all looked quite scary and entirely uninviting. All the beautiful bikes I photographed were in neighborhoods that are fairly manageable microcosms - but even those neighborhoods had more cyclists on roadbikes wearing neon than "regular people cycling".

I can not compare this to how things were in London five years ago, since I did not pay attention to bicycles then. But it would be interesting to hear from Londoners. Is there a trend on the rise, like in New York? Or have the Pashleys, Raleighs and the many loop-frame Dutch bikes I saw been there all along?

Whatever the case may be, thank you England for continuing to make beautiful handbuilt bicycles and I hope to see even more of them on the streets of London in the future.

Free 'Superba' to a Woman in Need

Talk about the kindness of strangers... Even as I announce this I find it hard to believe, but here goes:A reader ofLovely Bicyclewishes to donate a Bella Ciao "Superba" to a woman who cannot afford a nice bike. The bicycle has already been pre-ordered and paid for, and it will be available as soon as the Superba bicycles arrive in May.The idea was the donor's, not mine, and I was as surprised as you probably are by the offer! Please read on for the details:



Criteria

The recipient will be a woman, who is actively interested in owning this particular bike, and is in a situation of financial hardship. The recipient must be located in the USA or Canada. To learn more about the bicycle, please see here and here. This bicycle will fit persons 5'5"- 5'10" and note that it has a coasterbrake.



Entry Instructions

If you would like to be considered, please email me privately to "filigreevelo-at-yahoo" with the subject line "Free Superba" and tell me why you are the appropriate recipient. Please also include your height. The emails I receive must be from the women who want this bicycle for themselves and not from their spouses, relatives or friends. Deadline for submitting an entry is May 1, .



Additional Information

I want to make it clear that this give-away is not sponsored by the manufacturer. The donor is an individual with no bike industry connection who is simply a reader of Lovely Bicycle. The donor wishes to remain anonymous and does not wish to take part in the selection process; that has been delegated to me. Entry emails will be read only by me and your information will be kept strictly confidential. The recipient's full name and mailing address will be disclosed to Harris Cyclery (in order to ship the bike), but not to the donor. One thing I ask, is that the recipient emails me a picture of themselves with the bike after receiving it, along with some feedback.



I will be collecting entries from now until May 1st. It will then probably take me a week or so to choose the recipient, and the bicycles will hopefully arrive shortly thereafter. If you have any questions about this give-away, please feel free to ask in the comments. And thank you to the person whose kind gesture makes this possible. It's hard to know what to say and I will do my best to select the recipient fairly.

Rainbow Sunset - Grand Portage Bay

This photo was taken last night at sunset just after a brief thunderstorm passed over Grand Portage Bay.

Key West, Florida

Just a short trip down to Key West, complete with an ice cream stop!

The Belgian ‘Nationale Feestdag’ in Ghent

Trivia: Did you know that Belgium was once part of the Netherlands?

Blondine and I in Ghent last weekend (21 July).

In 1830 Belgium broke away from the Netherlands but it was only a year later that Belgium’s National Congress adopted a new constitution and on 21 July 1831 Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg swore allegiance to the new constitution. He became the first king of Belgium.

Thus 21 July is Belgium’s ‘Nationale Feestdag’ (National Holiday) and coincidentally Blondine and I were there. I’ve been to Ghent before so I know what to anticipate except that we didn’t expect the multitudes and the noise.

It was about 16:00 when the provisional bar and cafe stands and floating entertainment platforms on the Graslei (canal) were opened. Crowds kept flowing in and the noise became unbearable. Sorry if I am sounding like a grandma but I cannot handle a rowdy crowd. If I go to a street party I need to have static location where I can sit and watch everything happening before me and not the other way around. Anyway, it was really busy and congested. Some of the tram stops were even converted into café terraces. But we were glad to have enjoyed the city before the street party started.

Belgium’s ‘National Holiday’ is pretty much like the ‘Queens Day’ in the Netherlands but without orange-clad people in hilarious out-of-this-world outfits and the gar(b)age sale on the streets.

Check out a few pictures here of the crowds:

Tram stop converted into a cafe terrace.

When we left there was no available space on sight along the Graslei.

Watch this space for more Ghent stories and pictures in the coming weeks (culinaire, boat trip, architecture and more), as well as my previous travels to Copenhagen, Denmark (April – just a few more posts), Cuba (May), Lesvos, Greece (June-July) and a few local-Netherlands stuff in between.

And oh, I’ve booked a long weekend trip to Paris next month with Bru!

Front Racks and Elegant Light Placement: Mission Impossible?

In preparation for the eventual acquisition of a handlebar bag, Graham has now been fitted with a front rack (Nitto M-18 from Renaissance Bicycles). I have been planning to purchase a front rack for a while, yet had no idea that there were so many choices and that the whole thing is so complicated.



To determine which front rack your bicycle needs, several things must be taken into consideration:



First off, do you want the rack to mount onto the fork, onto the brakes, or onto the front axle? Okay, easy enough. The fork on my Sam Hillborne has braze-ons for a rack, so I wanted the type of rack that attaches to them.



But the decisions do not stop there: If your bicycle's fork has braze-ons, is their placement compatible with the length and angles of the rack's stays? Some front racks have fixed stays and the placement of the braze-ons on your fork has to match them exactly. Usually this only works when a rack was specifically designed for a particular bicycle, or if a bicycle was custom-built with a specific rack in mind. After browsing rack models until my eyes got blurry and speaking to several bike shops, I was still unable to determine for sure whether any of the racks with fixed stays would fit the Hillborne and did not want to risk ordering them. Thankfully, there are also racks with adjustable stays (like the Nitto M-18 I got) that expand to accommodate the placement of the braze-ons on your fork.



But wait, that is not all: You must also consider your brakes. Even if the rack you choose does not mount onto the brakes themselves, it can be incompatible with a given type of brakes (in particular, cantilevers) due to clearance issues. Don't forget to check up on this!



Exhausted yet? I feel spent just writing about this! And I haven't even raised the question of aesthetics yet. If you look at the front racks closely, you will notice that some are square (like the Nitto M-18 in my pictures), while others are round. If you have a rear rack installed on the bike, it may be important to you that the two match - in other words, that both are square or both are round. So that is yet another design element to watch for.



Last but not least, there is the question of light placement. Some racks are made with little braze-ons for mounting lights. The Nitto M-18 is not. So we bought a VO light mount - which is basically a small metal bracket with two holes. The size of the holes was not compatible with either the rack's or the headlight's bolts, so we had to drill them out.



With the light now successfully mounted, we are still not sure of this set-up.The bracket is made of relatively thick steel, but nonethelessvibrates slightly side to side (but not up and down) when the bicycle goes over bumps. The Co-Habitant does not think this is anything to worry about, but I am not sure that I agree.



I am also not sure how I feel about the garlands of wiring that now seem to cover the bicycle's front end like ivy. Once the handlebar bag is installed the wires on the rack will not be visible, but what about the section that curls around the shifter cable? All in all, I cannot say that this set-up can be called "elegant" and we are still considering alternatives. One thing I do like, is how far forward the light extends - this placement seems ideal for road illumination. Is it a matter of compromise, or is there a magical solution out there that I am overlooking?



...



Update: There, we fixed it!



We have successfully re-routed the wiring, so that it now runs straight underneath the rack instead of coiling around it.



We have also titled the bracket down, placing the headlight a little further back, which should reduce the vibrations. I will remove theNittosticker when I get around to it.

"Aerial" view.

The wires are considerably less noticeable this way, and I think the results are good. Thanks for everybody's comments and suggestions.