SHORT LECTURE ON CRAFT

By 700 BC the Phoenicians were sailing. 

We know this because there are records. We know nothing about the time before records. 

It is not an easy task for men to move on water. 

So difficult a task is it that as recently as 1940 no one believed that men ignorant of the uses of iron were capable of sailing, let alone navigation, great waters, least of all the greatest of all, the Pacific Ocean; not even professional mariners believed it. But Thor Heyerdahl believed it, he believed that human beings ignorant of teh uses of iron, living on what we now call the North and South American Continents, were capable of crossing what we now call the Pacific Ocean, and settling a number of small mountainous islands and flat coral reefs we now call Polynesia. 

And so he built a raft, modeled on those the ancient Incans used for fishing in local waters, a raft made from nine Ecuadoran balsa logs lashed together with hemp rope, using no nails, wire, or metal of any kind, a raft with an open bamboo cabin and a crude sail that looked like a piece of cloth hung to dry on a pole, and on this raft, with five companions and a green parrot, he set out, on April 28, 1947, from the coast of Peru, to prove that it was possible. 

After 101 days at sea -- 4,300 miles later -- they landed on an uninhabited South Sea island. It had been done. There was now at least one record of such a thing. What was their secret? How did they do it? The secret of the Kon-Tiki is that is was a very large cork; their raft rolled with the waves, that's all it could do, it couldn't even turn back. It was cork, and themen who were on it were cork. 

A craft is a boat, ship, or airplane; the most primitive craft is a raft, whose very word is embedded in the word craft.

Great skill is involved in building a craft, for it is far from easy to make things that float or fly [or roll].

Inside the word raft is the word aft, which means located near the rear, as opposed to the fore, which is located near the front.  

Fore-and-aft means, therefore, running the length of a craft, from front to rear. 

Not top to bottom, front to rear, fore-and-aft.

Before and after: running a length of time, which creates time; without time, there is no length;there is no counting before time. 

Before the raft Thor Heyerdahl christened Kon-Tiki, after the Incan sun-god, no one thought it possible. But after, men knew that in prehistory, without records, without iron, such a craft existed. Men knew the Phoenicians were not alone. And men knew, too, that it was probable ten such rafts sank to the bottom for every one that sailed. 

Those unknown men and women who with the labor of thir minds devised a raft and with the labor of their hands tied the logs together and tested the seaworthiness of thier raft...

Who taught them their craft?

There is of course another meaning of the word craft, it is the second or third meaning given in any dictionary. 

Craft: skill in evasion or deception.

Those unknown men and women lashing togetehr their gigantic raft, what were they evading, whom were they deceiving? Were they themselves deceived, and evading their deceivers? Were they evading hunger, disaster, unspeakable loss?

We don't know. But surely there must have been a moment of glorious well-being when they slid thier raft into the water and discovered that it could float, and would hold them all, as they set out to cut a hole in time. 

Bicycle Artistry

Dinucci BB

Alright, so I went to a bike show. What, then, did I see? I’m not a trained reporter, and if I ever take a quality photo it’s purely by accident. This is my disclaimer, or my advanced apology. I talked with a lot of people, and I didn’t take any notes, so I may get names wrong. I’m not intentionally trying to mislead anyone. If you see this post and know that I’ve failed to get some fact or name right, let me know and I’ll fix it. Here, then, in no particular order, are some of the things I saw. I take that back, I’m going to start with one of my favorite bikes at the show:  

It’s a road frame that breaks apart for travel, made by Masa Arai of Silk Cycle. If you’ve seen my work, you probably know that I’m a sucker for a lot of tubes on a bike, double chain stays, extra top tube, etc. Now take a look at this bike. It reminds me of the under side of a bridge with the trusses, everything supporting everything else. The builder is from Saitama, Japan. He’s got some sort of smart-vision to even conceptualize this kind of bike. I don't know how he does it. The way it breaks apart is very clever, and everything is the way it is for a reason. He spent a few minutes showing me photos on his computer of other bicycle creations he’d built. Everything he showed me was unique, inventive, totally original, and just awesome. I’ve really got to go to Japan one of these days and visit some of these guys. They’re so cool. 

At the Moots booth I talked with Nick for a while about his adventure touring bike. This thing was a monster, ready to go on the long back-country voyages. It’s a very well thought out bike, and it’s clear Nick is ready to use it. And the custom saddle is one of the best I’ve seen. Also to be found in the Moots line-up was a custom titanium chain saw blade protector. Of course. You can’t use a mere machete when bush-whacking in Colorado. It would take you forever to get anywhere. 

I was pleased to see Aaron Stinner of Stinner Frameworks showing his wares. Of course I didn’t get a decent photo, but you ought to check out his website. He was a student of mine at UBI a while back, and it looks like he’s doing some good work. 

Another of my favorite bikes at the show was this mountain bike made by Curtis Inglis of Retrotec and Inglis Bikes. This bike won the award for Best Mountain Bike, and was built for Darren, who I see at just about every show. Lucky guy. 

If you’ve been paying any attention, you’ve probably heard that fat tire bikes (aka ‘fat bikes’ or ‘snow bikes’) have become extremely popular over the past year or so. There were a lot of them at the show this time. One of my favorites of this category was made by Rick Hunter of Hunter Cycles. It’s a fat tire long tail that he made for Scott of Porcelain Rocket. Coincidentally, Porcelain Rocket is a custom bag maker, so Scott fabricated the frame bag and some oversized panniers for his bike. He does some good work. Scott is taking this monster bike to Australia to hit the back country for a four or five week tour coming up in the next few months. It looks like the right machine for the job.

This by Boo Bicycles is really attractive for its lines and simplicity, and its mixture of materials. I’m curious to know how it rides. I believe this won an award, but I don’t remember what for. Mixed media, maybe. 

I think this bike is absolutely gorgeous. It was made by Chris Bishop of Bishop Bikes. It won the award for Best Road Bike, and I didn’t see it until after it was given the award. Consequently, I couldn’t get any good photos because of all the people hovering around. But check out the bi-laminate lugging on the head tube. So clean and simple and perfectly executed. Very nice. 

Here’s a terrible photo (my fault, totally – I wasn’t kidding about being at best a lucky photographer) of Ron Andrews of King Cage. He’s kind of an entertainer, and I love the mess he makes. In this photo Ron is in the process of bending a piece of tubing into a water bottle cage. He’s got some great new products: a titanium bell that doubles as a shot glass, and a new cage to carry larger items called the “Manything Cage.” 

Here’s some artwork I had the pleasure of seeing made at the Alchemy booth. I didn’t get the artist’s name or age, but you have to agree that he’s good. 

What would any of us do if there weren’t a bike in the Bilenky booth painted a Wonder Woman theme? Steven Bilenky is one of my favorite builders.

Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira launched their new bike brand, Breadwinner Cycles. Their bikes looked good, and I wish them all the best in their new venture. If you want to know more about Breadwinner, check out the article on bikeportland.org. 

Another one of my favorite builders of all time is the legendary Steve Potts. This is a mountain bike he built way back in the early days, like 1983 or 4. He’s such a nice guy, and I love that he’s a builder who can genuinely say, “Oh yes, I built the frame, fork, and stem; I made the hubs and bottom bracket and fabricated the roller-cam brakes in my shop. I made the shifter mounts and designed the handlebar and the saddle, too. Oh, and the cranks.” And the tires, and so on. I wish I was that smart, and that motivated. 

These last photos are of the unofficial show that went on for a few hours Saturday evening. This was at a separate venue, with some of the old-time builders there, as well as Boulder Bicycles, and Wayne Bingham showing a selection of Var tools. There were about 15 or 20 old bikes on display, showing a cross section of several years of hand made bicycle craft. Most of the bikes were made by Rene Herse. I think my favorite of these was the tandem.

Here, Mark Dinucci shows one unpainted bike. Everything about it is immaculate, simple, and just perfect. Mark’s awesome. 

Mark Nobilette had his personal bike there. Every detail was just right. 

I’m embarrassed to say that the photos I took of Bruce Gordon’s ‘gravel grinder’ came out so terribly that I have nothing to post. But, if you’re familiar with Bruce’s work, you know it was good. And I dig his new tires. 

I hope you enjoyed all this. I had a conversation with Richard Sachs about bicycle business that got me to thinking about things. Maybe I'll put some thought to it in the coming days. 

Out.

Dave Eggers's New Book

Yesterday the author Dave Eggers was in Portland. I found out that he was going to be at Annie Bloom’s Books in the afternoon for a “meet & greet,” which is another way to say he would be chatting people up while signing his newest book for them. I wanted to meet him, and I knew he was scheduled to be at Powell’s Books in the evening, but I figured that would be kind of a mob scene, so I decided to go over to Annie Bloom’s.

If you’ve never visited Annie Bloom’s, it’s worth the trip. The small, independent booksellers have been dying out over the past decade or so with Amazon price-fixing and e-books and so on. If you like books, and you like the act of perusing bookshelves, and if you like chatting with people who have a passion for, and know a lot about books, then go visit your local independent bookseller. It’s like buying a local bike, only cheaper.

Alright, so Dave Eggers is one of my literary heroes. He’s got a journalism background, and he writes very human, accessible, and relevant stories -- both fiction and non-fiction -- about events that are taking place around us today. He seems to have his hands in a lot of different places, not only in the world of books. If you're not familiar with it, check out 826 Valencia, his youth writing project. And, check out McSweeny's publications. Writing can be so isolating and self-involved, but I feel like Eggers is out there in the real world, doing some good work.  

Eggers’s newest book, A Hologram for the King, is straight up fiction, whatever that means. But, as is Eggers’s way, the story is based in a reality that looks a lot like the one we have with us now. A middle class American entrepreneur is in Saudi Arabia trying to sell high-end technology to the king. I haven’t read it yet (just bought my copy yesterday), but one of the subjects in the book that I’m looking forward to reading about is the discussion of how America exported so much of its manufacturing overseas, and how this plays out in the story.

From what I’ve read, the main character originally worked in the bicycle industry, “and did fine, extremely well for a while there, until he and others decided to have other people, 10,000 miles away, build the things they sold, and soon left himself with nothing to sell.”

I talked briefly with Dave Eggers about this part of the book, and he told me that in researching for it, he went to China and visited the factory for Flying Pigeon Bicycle Company, which has been around since the earlier days of Mao Zedong’s rule, somewhere in the 1950’s. Eggers had a translator and posed as a buyer, took notes and wrote a section for the novel based on his experience. But, unfortunately, ultimately, Eggers said that he had to cut a majority of that part out of the book. I’m still curious to know what Dave found out about overseas manufacturing, and how that plays out in his novel. And I wonder if I could convince him to let me read the section he cut from the final manuscript? Might be worth asking about.

I’ll report back when I finish the book. And remember, bicycles are sexy, and so is reading. Books Can Be Bigger Than Bikes

...one of the buzz-words that I've heard recently is "Cyber Monday," which I understand to mean a bunch of people back at work after a long Thanksgiving weekend, sitting at their desks, still a little Tryptophan-dazed, ignoring their work and shopping online. 

Flask Holster & Flask

If you're one of these people, and you find yourself surfing here, on my website, you may have noticed that I have a couple of new products. That's right, just in time for the holidays. 

First offering is the all new seat mounted flask holder, dubbed the Mud Flask. This one has been in the R & D phase for at least five years. The Mud Flask securely mounts to the rails of you bicycle saddle and holds your flask up and out of the way. And, if you're one of those people who don't have fenders, the Mud Flask will even serve to displace a little rain and mud. The All New Mud Flask

Next offering is the new, large 8 oz. flask. This larger flask has the exact same dimensional width and thickness as the standard 6 oz. flask, only it's a little taller. This means that the 8 oz. flask will fit the Spaceman Bicycle Flask Holster and the Mud Flask seat mounted carrier without any modification. And, you can get your 8 oz. flask with the Ahearne logo, or you can have it Custom Engraved. Flask: 6 oz. vs. 8 oz.

A final notice: For Custom Engraved Flasks, in order to receive your orders in time for Christmas, you must have the order placed and the logo sent to me and approved by December 1. After December 1 I cannot guarantee that you will receive your flask by the holidays. 

For all other orders (handlebars; center stand; engraved flasks with the Ahearne logo; Flask Holder; Mud Flask), the order must be placed by the 7th of December to receive them by Christmas. Any orders after the 7th cannot be guaranteed to arrive before Christmas. 

And lastly, I will be out of town from Monday, 17 December, to 7 January. I will be away from the computer, and away from the phone, for most of that time. Any orders placed after 16 December will be filled after I return.

Alright; now get out there and ride your bicycle.  

Show Flier

This weekend is the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show. There will be a lot of great bikes to check out, fine craftsmanship from local builders, and because it’s Portland, and because there are bikes, you can be sure there will be beer, also local, and finely crafted. I don’t know that for a fact, about the beer, I’m just guessing. But it’s a pretty safe guess. So whatever draws you out of the house on a (likely) rainy weekend, you ought to come by and check it out.

The show is Oct. 20 & 21 at the Vigor Indurstries Building, No. 10, which is at 5555 N. Channel Ave., Portland, Oregon, 97217. For those of you who live here, that's on Swan Island. It's $10 to get in, or $8 if you buy tickets in advance (get them through the bike show website).

I’ll have a few bikes in my booth that I’m pretty excited about. One just returned from the painter. It's a deep rich red and has a lot of polished stainless steel bits and chromed racks and wooden rims, very nice to look at. Another bike I’ll be showing is unpainted, a commuter for Jonathan Maus of the famed bikeportland.org. Jonathan's bike has a huge front rack and a steering lock that's simple, and kind of cool. There will also be a full stainless steel bike, polished, no paint anywhere, as shiny as they come.

Hope to see you there. 

Stainless Steel Bicycle

Shiny Head Lug

One noteable thing about the bike is that I used the Pacenti Artisan lugset, which is now a piece of history. I'd had these lugs sitting around for a couple of years, and they are no longer being made. 

Shiny Seat LugI don't have much more to say about the bike. Understatement of the year is that there was a lot to polish. The finished product is pretty amazing. I think the photos speak way more than words can. I've included quite a few photos of the build process as well. Particularly of the steps involved in the down tube logo. The logo is laser cut stainless steel, brazed on and polished, then masked and the panel was etched, then re-polished. Quite a few steps, and pretty interesting I think. All the photos of the finished bike are by Arthur Smid.

Brenner Commuter

It's a classy bike for a classy lady. Nothing brightens a gray winter sky better than a warm paint job. This bike has racks and enough carrying capacity to go on tours, and it has all the standard equipment for riding year round here in the northwest. I think the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy.

$7800 

(or make an offer!)

Ready To Tour

It's a beauty! Here is a fillet brazed 26" wheeled touring bike that is ready to travel. It's loaded with cool stuff, and is now for sale. This bike was seen at this years' North American Hand Made Bicycle Show in Sacramento, California. 

Here is quick run-down of the features: 

26" wheels, clearance for 2.3" tires with fenders; wide Rhynolite rims

Frame size: 575mm top tube and 600 mm seat tube. The standover with 2.0" tires is 860 mm (slightly less than 34"). Seat tube angle is 73 degrees; head tube angle 72 degrees; fork rake is 60 mm and trail is 45 mm.

This bike has traditional tubing diameters (1" top tube and truss; 1 1/8" down tube; 1" threaded fork steerer). The truss top tube is for added stability from the front to the back of the bike when the bike is loaded. 

Low profile racks front and rear. Rear rack ties into the fender for a very clean look. Front low rider racks are detachable and have 3 mounting points for added stability. Both front and rear racks were designed around the smaller front-style Ortlieb panniers. Integrated Rear RackDetachable Front Low Rider Rack

Bike comes with a large Carradice seat bag. The bag has a small support rack to stabilize it. Between 4 panniers and the large seat bag, this bike has serious carrying capacity (Panniers not included).

New-old stock XTR front & rear derailleurs, and XTR rear 9 speed cassette hub

New-Old Stock XTR Derailleurs

Front generator hub which powers both the front and rear lights

New Gilles Berthoud leather saddle; high polish seat post by Paul Components, and Berthoud stainless fenders

New Sugino Mighty Tour triple crankset: 48/36/24T

Chris King headset; Nitto Pearl stem, 110 mm; Nitto Noodle handlebar, 44 cm; Brooks leather bar wrap

Last but not least is the silvery blue paint. It's a thin wet paint that is a near perfect match of the blue-gray highlights on the vintage XTR derailleurs. It's a gorgeous finish, pleasant and understated. 

Large Size Seat BagA lot of thought went into the design of this bike. It would make a great randonneur, light touring or fully loaded touring bike. It has excellent functioning parts that are durable, and are nice to look at. This bike is going to fit a person who is between 6' and 6' 3" and it's safe to say, it's going to make someone very happy for years to come. And, it comes just in time for the North American bicycle touring season. 

Head Tube BadgeThe bike is sold as is. If you have any questions, or to request further information, please send me an e-mail

Here is a gallery with other photos of the bike. 

Enjoy!

Fat Bike in Seaside, Oregon

After NAHBS last weekend I was tired, body and soul, and needed to get away from things for a bit before starting back into work at the shop. NAHBS turned out to be a great show. I hear it had record attendance. All I know is that I was busy talking with people almost continuously throughout the entire weekend. 

Shortly after arriving back home, I threw my bike on the bus that heads out to the coast and got off at the International Hostel in Seaside. If you ever have the chance to stay at this hostel, it's a good one. The owner and head of the hostel is Trung, and she's the best. She's quick to laugh and curious and knowledgeable about local places to eat and points of interest, and she makes a delicious Vietnamese coffee. There are kayaks for rent, and if she's not too busy Trung may invite you to go on a hike in the hills or a walk on the beach. 

Sand DollarThursday was a rare day on the coast this time of year. The sun rose and promised a fogless, cloudless morning. The fat bike and I were on the beach by 8, and I was down to a t-shirt by 9. I can't even explain how much fun I had riding out to the sand. This was my first real experience on a fat tire bike, so I didn't know what to expect. Fat Bike Functional Fenders

I started north on the road to cross the estuary that borders that side of town, and the river that contains the beach. Once across the bridge I turned immediately into the wetlands the river feeds. There were a couple of trails through, and then I hit the silt beds, a mixture of mud and sand that is washed in and out with each ebb and flow of the tides. The moon, for those of you who didn't notice, was huge and full the past couple of days. Hence some of the rest of the craziness in the world. Or, at least in my world. When I started into the silt beds the tide was way out. 

I crossed a couple of small streams that were maybe as deep as my axle line, which got my disc brakes to scraping. A few taps on the brake levers and they quieted down. The muck of silt was nasty, but as I got closer to the beach it turned more to sand. What I was most pleased with at this point was that I was moving right through it. I wouldn't have wanted to put my foot down in it, but the bike was cruising right along. There was a sucking and slurping as the tires mashed through, but the soft silt was only about an inch deep. Below that was hard pack.

On the Grassy DunesOut of the silt bed I headed into the dunes that back the beach. The sand is soft here. There were a couple of places that the wheel buried and I wasn't able to pedal, but for the most part I kept in a low gear and paddled on through. That's what it felt like, too: Paddling in the sand. 

The sand churned under me and I moved right along. Not fast, but it's not about going fast. Winding around between the dune grasses and along the rim that's been pushed up by thousands of years of wind was, I don't know how to describe it, except for fun. I was riding a bike in a place that I'd never considered a possibility before. When that happens, all I can think about is, "what else can I do with this bike?" In the Shadow 

Off the rim of the dunes I dropped down onto the beach. Here the riding was easy. The damp sand is a lot like hard-pack, and I was able to cruise along no hands for miles. A half-hour up the coast there were no more houses or buildings, and I really got the feeling that I was alone, out away from everything. I stopped and listened to the ocean and soaked up the sunshine. 

I'm ready to do a coastal tour, meaning, riding down the beach. The fat bike I built has carrying capacity for panniers in the back and a dry bag up front. The lower racks on the fork can carry a tent and sleeping bag. There are enough towns along the coast that you wouldn't have to pack more than a couple days-worth of food or water at a time. And the riding is easy. The best thing, besides being continuously beside the ocean is, there are no cars, few people, and the only thing you hear are wind and waves, and the occasional gull. Up the Oregon Coast 

This is my initial ride report for the fat bike. It was a preliminary run, not anything too intense. But my o my is it inspiring. It gives me the excitement of a little kid. Amazing how a bicycle can do that. 

More ride reports to come. You better believe it. If there were ever a bicycle that Dr. Schrimble would enjoy, I'd say this would be it. And, well, you're probably going to need to get yourself one of these fat bikes. I'm just saying...