Bicycling, who else?

by Otony, Sunday, April 29, 2012, 19:30 (4385 days ago)

I know Bob (aka bob, aka fatboy) is a cycling fanatic, and I used to be quite the aficionado at one time. I was always a fan of odd and unusual bikes (sounds about right for me, no?) owning things like a German shaft driven bicycle, and a slung frame Danish Pederson in the past, along with many other strange builds. I even wrenched and built plenty of my own bikes over the years, as does Bob. But as time went by, I found less and less time to ride, a common story.

Since the heart procedure, the doctor has recommended I get on my bike more to work on the cardio-vascular, so it has been dusted off and cleaned up. "It" being a Bianchi San Jose, a single speed road bike, which is a niche category of cycling that is growing by leaps and bounds.

These are not your single speed cruiser or newspaper boy bikes of our vanished youth, but rather full blown, light weight, road bikes, with drop bars (replaced with pseudo mustache bars on mine), skinny rims and tires, high quality brakes, etc. Think Tour de France with only one gear, which is exactly how it was done for the first twenty or thirty years of the event!

None of the foregoing should be any indication of my having great skills with a bike mind you, my glory days are long gone, but I am determined to regain as much as possible of my former endurance. Speed, on the other hand, might be another matter.

The wife has expressed interest in getting back on a bicycle as well, so we explored another niche market current in cycling, and purchased her a so called cargo bike, the Sun Atlas X-Type. It is essentially a heavy duty cruiser bike, with an unusually reinforced frame along with an integral rack (actually welded up as part of the frame). It comes as a single speed, but will eventually have the coaster brake replaced with cantilever brakes and an internally geared hub, another antique avenue of the sport that is also currently experiencing a renaissance. The Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hubs of old (which are still being produced) have been further supplemented by 5, 7 and 8 speed hubs from both S-A and Shimano. There are more expensive internally geared hubs available, most from Germany, but at horrendous prices compared to the English and Japanese offerings.

We already have some excellent pannier bags from one of my older bikes to use on her Atlas, and are shopping around for a good cargo trailer. She is bound and determined to begin using her new bike as much as possible. She even wants to mount a basket up front, to maximize the usefullness.

I have to admit to having great fun simply fussing about with changing the bars and saddle to suit her, along with adding lights and other foofaraw. If it gets us out and about, I am all for it.

So, who else here bikes? Any thing unusual to report on in the way of equipment?

Otony