bike-silhouette-classic, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.
Allan didn’t want to look at the Speedvagen when calculating his bike’s tire pressure, so I made him a new Classic Race bike icon.
It’s an RB-1.
Which made me realize we need a carbon wunderbike in there, too…
The Tire Pressure app is done: buy it on Amazon
The Tire Pressure App is super-close. Allan and Scott were waiting on me for the icons. These are them, with lots of fussy details. All bikes are steel, two are from Portland. Tires on these look like… 32, 25, 60, and 40 millimeters.
Wait!
That Herse head angle looks way too slack to me…
**UPDATE: The Tire Pressure App is for sale on Amazon!
Some of your friends (Allan, Scott and I) have gotten together to make an Android app that will let you determine the optimum tire pressure for each bike in your garage. Fixing a friend’s flat on the road? A simple, “hey, Baby, how much do you weigh?”* and you’re off, punching in numbers on your phone like a real hero. And, ‘Hey, Presto!’* the optimum tire pressure for the bike.
Anyway, that’s the icon I did for it, and I’m working on bike drawings tonight. If I told you how busy I’ve been for the last month, you’d be like, “So? You could still post. How hard could it be?”
This is the idea I started with. I could’ve saved myself a lot of time, I think…
*That’s a joke. Just guess at her weight and say you’re texting a friend.
** That would be a good name for the app! Or else that’s the two Torpedos talking…
I was just thinking about learning to build frames (now that I live nowhere near UBI). I am more likely to borrow a torch and have someone show me how to fillet braze tubes than I am to pay $3000 and fly to Tucson, but it’s attractive.
Dave Bohm says you learn more by building a lugged or partially lugged frame, since there are more fundamental aspects to it than TIG or fillet brazing. He also said TIG takes the most practice, which I didn’t know.
Bohemian framebuilding school T-shirt – www.framebuildingschool.com
Title, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.
This is the bag I want to make for my iPad. I used it for tracking a ride, which was pretty fun, and I listened to music on the downhill (closed logging roads).
I think it would be great to have a bag that mounted the iPad on the top, just like a cue sheet. You could use it AS a cue sheet, cue up music, consult your map, have a video chat with someone… some of that is actually stupid (sweaty facetime calls), but it’s what I’ve been thinking about.
The top would be a ‘cap’ style to keep out water, and it would be angled up about 25 degrees for ease of view and for scary low-angly panda photos from the front camera.
The thing I really want to make is a periscope-style adapter for iPhone lenses, so I can take photos and videos straight from the bag. Basically so the back-mounted camera shoots out the front.
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. This was also drawn on the iPad, which I’m really enjoying.
The rough-hewn look of these is really* appealing and a bit affecting. I like this beaver one, since I’m in Oregon (there’s a Duck, too, I think), but they’re all good. Jump to the MocoLoco post I saw, or poke around the web. Maiwenn’s “Liam” mailbox is really good, too.
There’s an acorn I like, too. I think food items would be great hood ornaments – you could always be chasing that carrot. Cupcakes. I think I’m going to steal the idea and put zero work into it – just glue a sturdy plastic pig to my front fender. That idea just cracks me up.
*Superlatives are just lazy writing. Sorry
I’m pretty sure this would work. The front rider drives the front wheel, the rear rider drives the rear wheel, for Dual-Drive tandem traction. I made this wire sculpture to show how it would work, and mounted it in a weathered wooden box. The nail axles are what hold the sculpture inside the box.
For sale on Etsy. This picture was used as an editorial illustration in Bicycle Times magazine. I have lots of drawings of this bike setup, with different tubing configurations. I think I could make one out of a couple of old three-speeds.
I have a series of sculptures mounted in weathered wooden boxes that I call “Workboxes.” They’re mostly metal items mounted inside boxes I found in my dad’s orchard.
Stencil Art by Janet Bike Girl, originally uploaded by Janet Bike Girl.
Really cool bike art! I clicked through from The Daily Cycle; I was more interested in the graphic than the story…
100 years of posters for “The Volta” a (I think) Catalan bicycle race*. Really cool, and surprising – the number on the poster is the edition, not the year. So when it says 67, it means Sixty-Seventh, not 1967. Until I figured that out, I was thinking, “Man, those Catalans were ahead of their time, graphically!”
It looks like missed years were World War One and after, and the Spanish Civil War. Don’t read that entry and then read the news.
This is such a good idea. I’m impressed.
On his blog, Jan announced the availability of new red LED lights you can screw right into a vintage taillight. Old-style screw mount, new-style LED light, with no rewiring. Wow.
Rather than remove the vintage taillight internals and carefully repack the light with modern LED taillight electronics, you simply screw in the new bulb and ride away. It even includes a standlight function, build into the screw mount.
My flickr friend Jimmythefly drew a set of bikes to show how, if you keep the saddle to bottom bracket (BB) relationship the same, seat tube angles can make bikes with the same dimensions (top tube and seat tube lengths) can fit very differently.
Because of the interrelationship of frame angles influencing tube lengths, two bikes in different “sizes” (seat and top tube lengths) can fit exactly the same.
It’s non-intuitive. It’s weird. It needs a picture to really see how it works. For me, I needed to see the drawings overlayed, which is why I made this GIF. Thanks, Jimmy, for the clear illustration and explanation.
In the singlespeed rap song that’s going around (my circles, at least), I totally thought the guy was wearing a Paul Components tee shirt. Makes sense – fine singlespeed hubs, all the bikey goodness. You know, “Paul Components!“
Nope. He was actually wearing a Public Image Limited tee shirt. 
Then I realized that the Paul logo actually looks more like the Black Flag logo than anything else. How did I never notice that?
PIL + Black Flag = Paul!
Lots of classic bike components in luvverly print form on offer.
Not mine, but my internet friend Jon Grant, who’s a real pro. You might recognize his work from the Rivendell graphics and frame decals he designed. If you like vintage bicycles, beautiful components or good ink drawings, you should buy some.
Kent has more info, and there are some altruistic reasons to purchase four or five of these prints for your den. They’re $25 each, shipping is included, and the artist gets every dime.
newport-cruiser, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.At the end of June, I went down to Anaheim for a trade show. My internet friends David and Doug were kind enough to take me on a bike tour of their area – Irvine, Newport, the beach.
I didn’t take my camera, since I didn’t know the bag situation, and drew this beach cruiser from memory. I’ve been around Beach Cruisers my entire life, but never saw them in their natural habitat. I’ve always lived an hour or less from the Pacific, but always where the hills arc out and drop into the ocean. Beaches are colder, windier and foggier, and either back up to cliffs, a highway, or a parking lot. I realized at Newport Beach that this was why beach cruisers are called beach cruisers!
Enough of the epiphany. Everyone else in the world already knew it.
The ride and cameraderie were great! I’d only ever known David and Doug from internet bike forums, but none of us turned out to be axe murderers, and I like them even more in real life.
David loaned me a silvery-blue custom Rivendell All-Rounder for the ride, and Doug is the best tour guide ever. His knowledge of 100 year old scandals and current interest gave great depth and texture to the ride. Why is the surf so awesome at Newport Beach? How much of this will survive a 3 foot rise in ocean level?
We rode the Balboa Ferry, visited FunZone (“There’s always money in the Banana Stand!”), and ate at Charlie’s Chili. The whole time I was thinking “so THIS is why there are Beach Boys songs!”
I got an awesome sunburn (bright red bearded guy remind you of anyone? “Hmmm? Satan, maybe?”) – Portlanders beware the sun! It was completely worth it, and I’d do it again.
All photos courtesy of cyclotourist
I’ve been spending my tinkering time playing with my new camera, a Sony Nex 3.
The tinkery bit comes from the two adapters I bought for classic lenses. I’ve been using my Exakta lenses for about a week, and the Canon adapter came yesterday. This is what I’ve actually been spending my time on: researching lens options for the Nex. Idiotic.
I’m going to put the finishing touches on Angelina’s Belleville (old saddle, maybe old grips), and use the new camera to take the photies. In the meantime, I went to a parade and took pictures of people with my 135mm Angenieux (a 203mm lens on the Nex) . Totally unbikerelated, but I did go for a mountain bike ride beforehand.
riding on the shoulders, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.
