Autumn by no means has a foul hair day–even when the climate is moist and foggy it appears implausible:
Then once more it’s additionally shedding that hair, and in one other week or two it will likely be bald:
After all autumn additionally means Halloween, and I’m going as somebody 20 years youthful by using a fixie:
That creaking isn’t the underside bracket; it’s what’s left of my cartilage.
For those who’re in search of your individual last-minute Halloween costume, I humbly recommend combing my archives for inspiration. Sadly for you, the Diminutive Frenchman is taken:
Having been claimed–if not owned outright–by Paul Johnson of Basic Cycle:
[Photo: Jamie Amador]
I imply certain, you may all the time do the Diminutive Frenchman x Jobst Brandt “collabo:”
[Image by BKJimmy]
Which you’ll discover it at Spirit Halloween proper subsequent to the “Alien Holding You” costumes:
And naturally as Paul jogs my memory there are many different choices from which to decide on:
Talking of Basic Cycle, I’m in fact their Outdated Crap Take a look at Pilot:
And it’s a duty I take extra significantly than every other, which is why I’ve been logging as many miles as attainable on the Nishiki Cervino:
[Yes, it can gravel. Tubulars are the new tubeless.]
This Viner-made bicycle is so uncommon it makes the Rock Combo (of which, no less than in line with legend, solely 500 have been made) look like a Surly Cross-Test as compared:
And between the 2 bikes I discover myself contemplating beginning a group of extraordinarily uncommon bicycles offered by extraordinarily mainstream corporations–and after I say uncommon I imply as a result of solely only a few have been ever made, not as a result of they made shitloads however all of them fell aside:
Sure, I had one, and sure, it fell aside. All of them did–although extremely right here’s one on eBay with a kind of bonded Shimano cranks:
Now that’s residing on the sting.
Anyway, I’ve a protracted historical past of ironic gathering. For instance, as a youth I had an ironic baseball card assortment comprised of my brother’s cast-offs and primarily based completely on the gamers’ names:
I couldn’t care much less about batting averages and ERAs, but when, say, a participant’s final identify was Beard but he was clean-shaven (in an period when practically each self-respecting ballplayer had no less than a moustache) then so far as I used to be involved that was a keeper. Sadly that assortment is misplaced within the mists of time, but when I might create a motorbike assortment consisting of extraordinarily uncommon bikes from extraordinarily boring corporations it would start to fill the void in my coronary heart. As for which bikes these could be, I don’t know, exactly as a result of they’re so uncommon–I imply I didn’t know in regards to the Rock Combo or the Cervino earlier than Paul despatched them to me both. So I’m open to strategies. After all there are bikes just like the XO-1, however that’s extra of a “cult” bike, which is a complete completely different factor, and Bridgestone isn’t practically boringly mainstream sufficient, anyway. And should you’re questioning, there are not any X0-1s on eBay, however there’s an X0-2:
Maybe somebody will step up and provides it the alt-bike Social gathering Tempo remedy.
Anyway, talking of the Cervino, at first I wasn’t loopy in regards to the top-mounted shifters, however now they’re considered one of my favourite issues in regards to the bike. Not solely do I hardly ever even trouble to make use of my left hand to shift the entrance, however typically I even shift the entrance and rear on the identical time:
I suppose new bike tech isn’t all dangerous in any case.
