This is really cool. If you read BikeSnob, you’ve already seen it there, but I really like the simplicity. Chunking data down and squeezing it through a “valve” is what computers are good at. Mostly I like the look of the two symbols, the antique background and the giant needle. The fact that it actually works is gravy.
Category: bike art
Ordinary Goat

My friend Sharon is a fantastic painter. This was on display at some kind of Bike Moustache Rides expo for withered hipsters held in a parking garage. It was the only thing that didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, and it’s pretty weird.
A crazy bike from Santa Rosa
I talked to the creator of this bike (Herr Doktor Frankenstein, I believe), and really want to see his studio. Each of the different colors shows that piece is from a different bike. Except red – all the red pieces are from different bikes, too.
You sit on the seat, put your feet on the pedals, and I believe the bars are under the helmet. The whole front end turns, like a pennyfarthing. There’s a “floating chainwheel” in the chain as a tensioner. Cool. He says he goes out to the dump and buys a pickup load of bikes to cut up for these rolling sculptures. “$10 or $20, depending on what they have.”
The builder said he considered a second drivetrain to the rear, and a second seat, but thought that was too crazy. I’d kind of like him to look at my “hinge-in-the-middle” tandem design…
There were a couple of other “small wheel, high-saddle” bikes at the Bike Expo. Chain-drive ordinaries, of a sort. I complimented one of the guys on his bike, and he just gave me the barest nod of acknowledgement. Classy.
This other guy seemed genuine and cool. Plus his bike was nicer.
Go see this show
If you’re in Portland, you should go see Adam Haynes’ drawings this Friday.
These are from the Nike 6.0 illustrations he did… backtrack*: Adam is a fantastic illustrator. He just did a Dirt Rag table of contents illustration, and rumor has it that he’s going to do a cover. His style is intricate black keyline over flat color – realistic, detailed, something like Geoff Darrow, except you feel good after looking at his work.
He also illustrated the labels for Deschutes‘ “Red Chair” NWPA.
And… he did an Imperial Shit Ton of drawings for Nike. I think he scans the ink drawings, and the color is added digitally, so this is the first time you can actually see the original drawings. And I love original drawings. I like that they were inked by a real human, and I like seeing where a pencil line was bettered in the inking. I just like it. I think it’s because I was a “good draw-er” before I was ever an artist.
So the show is Friday, August 18, 2012, from 6 to 10, at Nemo Design, on Belmont. Should be a good turnout, even if you don’t go, but still. Go.
*More backtrack – his uncle owns the bike shop in McMinnville.
Rivendell Poster Reveal
I bought the Goines poster from Rivendell, and here I am, showing it on the internet.
I took this picture when I got the poster, but Grant had asked that they (Rivendell) be the first to show the poster. Hence, my delay in putting it up. Also, I was busy.
Custom Ink bike curation
A reader pointed me to some cool bikes built up by a screenprinter as artworks. I really like that approach to bikes, and I really like the bikes themselves. I was a screenprinter* for 8 years, so I have an affinity there, too.
My favorite of Jason’s bikes is the Thief of Bagdad bike, which picks up the colors and feeling of the great poster from the movie.
It’s the gold one on the left, with the pale blue rims. I like the blend of fixed gear and BMX going on here, and I think it’s cool he makes them happen.
There are more images here, and a fuller story: Inker Gallery
I got distracted reading about the Thief of Bagdad on wikipedia while stealing this poster image… the original 1924 version stars Douglas Fairbanks, and sounds awesome; the 1940s version stars Sabu, who I’d only ever heard of from the John Prine song. Reading the synopsis of the movie made me think “Wow. Sounds like Aladdin.”
And by the way… oh fuck.
*I can use a stat camera. Can you use a stat camera? I can use a stat camera.
Let’s Share

Let’s Share, originally uploaded by the Magnificent Octopus.
Bikin’ and doggin’
bike-silhouette-classic
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
Bike Silhouettes for the Tire Pressure App
Tire Pressure App a’comin’
**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…
Okay

FramebuilderBabe-3, originally uploaded by dbohemian.
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
iPad Bar Bag Design

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.
Brooks Saddle sculpture
Wall hanging, rustic, bike-centric and kind of creepy. Available on Etsy.
Bike hood ornaments – Lil Fender Friends
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. SorryBike sculpture on Etsy
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

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…