Jitensha Ebisu

First and foremost I'll say that I'm very happy with my collection of bicycles. However, that does not preclude me from experiencing a little bike lust once in a while. The most recent object of my admiration is the line of Ebisu bikes made by Jitensha Studios. They are handmade, steal-framed, road-ish bikes made with a common sense approach to cycling. To be honest they don't seem all that different in concept than the AHH Rivendell I ride now. Both maintain a classic approach to bicycle construction rather than the current race-inspired trends. Jitensha produces bikes that are widely useful and still perform for the dedicated rider. But in contrast with the Rivendell, Ebisu bikes are modest in appearance - paint jobs are monotone and the decals are simple. Rivendells are more ornate for sure, which works well for a Rivendell. The Ebisu bikes, however, have an understated elegance which allows the craftsmanship to speak for itself. I sense that the Ebisu road is a sportier bike also. The Ebisu pricing at $1400 is reasonable. That orange road model is terrific.


It occurred to me that I've actually been to the Jitensha Studio. I didn't realize it until recently but am sure it was the same place. My wife and I were visiting Berkeley a few summers ago. Like any bike geek, I stopped in the local bike shop to nose around. Jitensha isn't the typical bike shop. For starters, there is almost nothing inside the immaculate shop but a handful of beautiful bicycles, not the usual distracting clutter. Not knowing any better at the time, I didn't think anything of the bicycles on display. I quickly looked around, thanked the shop keeper and left. In hindsight, I wish I'd looked a little more closely and chatted with the owner Hiroshi Iimura. Maybe I could have picked up some of the special Nitto Jitensha flat handlebars or reserved my place in line for a snazzy frame.


Well, my bike collection is at capacity (3) now, so the Ebisu will remain just a passing thought. Maybe sometime when I'm switching it up again, I'll see if Mr. Iimura can create something remarkable for me.

Tandem

Every few days I take a look at the Craiglist bicycle listings just to see what kind of stuff people are selling. I rarely purchase anything listed, but I find the listings somehow interesting. As a whole, Craigslist is like snooping around in the dark corners of someone's basement and looking at all of the cool weird junk - stuff you never knew existed or sometimes something old and clever. My earliest memory of this type of fascination is probably at my grandparents' house. Grandma and grandpa's house was pretty dull for a little kid. I usually passed the time by stealing cookies from the cabinet and by nosing around in the garage. They never got rid of anything, and it all went into that garage. Old tools, kites, ancient sporting equipment, and stuff I didn't even recognize. Fortunately, the garage was separate from the main house, so this allowed me plenty of unsupervised time for exploring. I'd often find some dusty item of treasure. The experience was formative.
Admittedly, most of the stuff on Craigslist is worthless, but there is sometimes a diamond in the rough that gets the wheels turning. Is there a spot in my basement for that junk from someone else's basement? It just might be cool enough to justify additional clutter. During these instances, very odd things can seem momentarily sensible and right. This sort of thing happened to me recently. I was checking the listings while eating my sandwich at work. Scroll. Scroll. Old Miyata touring bike, nice. Set of wheels, not bad. Burley "Samba" Tandem - $475....hmmm. Tandems are odd... time for another flashback. I was getting breakfast many years ago at a local bakery near my then apartment in Cambridge. While sitting outside eating, I watched a tandem roll in. It was a sight to see. This was not just any bike, it was completely black, carbon-fiber-ish, and very racy looking like the stealth-bomber of bikes, but longer. The riders, in contrast, were two older men with bushy gray beards. They were plump and happy looking - they could just have easily gotten off a pair of rocking chairs except that they were dorked out in the geekiest flavor of bike garb. I surmised that they road over from an MIT lab, doing a test run in their latest materials study for NASA or something. In short, the experience left me thinking that tandems are strange and backward. But at the moment I saw the Burley "Samba" Tandem - $475 listing, it all made sense.

Mrs. Wheelie and I have been riding together (on separate bikes) a lot lately, and it's great. However, my appetite for miles exceeds hers because I cycle almost daily and have worked up to very long distances. That said, she's curious about some of the longer rides I do on my own, and it would be fun to share that in a way that is mutually enjoyable. Along comes this tandem, and wouldn't you know the sizing is about perfect, and that's rare with tandems. Better yet, it's only $475 for the whole darn bike.

It got me thinking about what riding a tandem actually involves. Sheldon Brown wrote a terrific how-to article for tandems that explains everything. Starting, stopping, coasting, captains, stokers - it's all there, and it's not uncomplicated. First and foremost, it requires a cooperative team of two. I think Mrs. Wheelie and I could do it. I emailed her to pitch the idea. She replied:

You are either
1) having a bout of amnesia (do the words "double kayak" ring a bell?),
2) kidding, or
3) in bike withdrawal because it's been a couple of months since you've
bought a new one.

Three for three. Point 1: The wife and I are both independent and stubborn. This works just fine except in situations where we are literally bound together, like when we paddled a double kayak on a trip once. We managed well enough, but we both strongly preferred the days when we had single boats. The double is also known as the divorce boat, and a tandem seems like the logical wheeled cousin to that. Point 2: I'm sort of kidding but sort of not. Riding a tandem will never cease to be a ridiculous even if we're the ones riding, but as I explained earlier tandems do have benefits. Point 3: Yes, I change bikes frequently. This particular bike isn't technically new, so it doesn't technically count.

In the end, I'm not going to buy this tandem. We're sort of in the process of moving. We don't need any more stuff. Single bikes are just fine, and point number 1 is completely applicable. Most importantly, Mrs Wheelie and I are satisfied with our current level of weirdness. We want to look forward to the days when we are older and weirder, but getting a tandem now would just accelerate that oddifying process a little too much right now. However, I fully expect the day to come when we'll be cruising in style.

Apple Pi

Saturday was Apple Pi day. Mrs. Wheelie picked out the route from the library of Charles River Wheelmen cue sheets, and it was a good one. The Apple Pi ride begins in Bedford, meanders west and loops around clock-wise through hills, farms and apple orchards. I like the CRW routes - they make it easy. The collection of routes is searchable, all have nice cue sheets, many have maps, and most are well-marked on the roads. This one had white pi (π) symbols throughout which was good, because the cue sheet missed a mile (which is rare) not quite half way in and the π road blazes helped us stay on track. That said, the ride was still challenging with 2755ft of elevation over 52 miles. The middle part is the hilliest with moderate rollers that transition in a sequence of steady uphills starting with Wescott Rd in Harvard culminating 3 miles later at the turn onto Old Littleton Rd. There the road turns into a winding downhill run for the next 2.5 or 3 miles.

We also took two night breaks during the morning. The first was at the Idlewild Farm market in Acton for some ice-tea and a whoopi pie at a shady picnic table. The second was at Bumblebee Park (pictured above) in Littleton - we only sat on the stone wall eating, but there are tons of benevolent bees buzzing about the bushes.

Wicked Good Bike Rack

The world is full of awful bike racks. They must be designed in the land of no-bikes, because 99% of racks are comically difficult to use for the intended purpose, like a chairs that make you want to stand up. One of my favorite blogs has meticulously cataloged the wondrous variety of inadequecy seen here and there. I, however, recently observed what might be the finest bike rack ever.


This beautiful creation sets the standard by which all racks should be measured. Five simple leaners - well spaced and tall. No oddly placed cross-bars or nasty protruding bolts at all. ANY kind of bike can roll up and lock with ease. The rack isn't crammed in a corner, behind a bush or even close to a dumpster. The picture doesn't show it, but this rack is just outside the front door of the store, next to the flowers. Sweet sweet location. And if that doesn't make you feel all warm an fuzzy, there is a nice little sign celebrating the exclusive bike parking spot. Where, you ask, is this fine rack? It's at the Whole Foods on Beacon St in Newton. Please go there and experience the joy. I did the other day and I'm still grinning like a fool.

Poprad A La Mustache

The Lemond Poprad needed a do-over. I built it up from a hodge podge of parts several months ago and intended to use it as a light touring bike. It was a decent road bike, but it wasn't quite right for long rides. Then I got the AHH which is much better suited for basically everything.

I decided to set the Poprad up instead as a utility bike, a nice practical bike for this and that. Practical change numero uno is a set of regular old platform pedals - $7 special from Ebay, and good for any footwear. A cheap weatherproof saddle replaced the leather Brooks that I took for the AHH. Next I stripped down the gearing a bit by taking off the inner chain ring and front derailler - it never worked smoothly anyway, and the single big chainring with the 11-34 cassette provides plenty of gearing. I also put on a rear rack for some cargo room.


I splurged for some 700x32 Vittoria Randonneur tires. These tires are versatile but not cheap at $37 each. They are the perfect tire for riding fast on roads and burly enough for whatever else you might find - try them if you can find them. For whatever reason only the cyclocross version of the Vittoria Randonneur tire is easily found, the mellower road version is harder to come by. I found a pair in the tire pile at my LBS and snatched them up.

The final revision is a new set of generic mustache handlebars. The m'bars split the difference between cruiser bars and racier drop bars. The ends extend back nice and wide for a relaxed posture, but the curves are aggressive still. (I ran the front brake cable over the bars to avoid sharp turns in the brake cable.) The m'bars do take a bit of getting used to though - I might swap in a higher stem to make the bars really comfy. They are fine where they are now, so I wrapped them up with blue bar tape.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The bars deliver as promised - great for zooming, great for cruising, and very different from everything else out there. (Handlebar variety is good.) I like that the bike is ready for riding with ordinary pedals and that there is room to carry whatever. All this while being a fast fun bike still. It definitely says hop on and just zoom around the neighborhood.

Need Ice?

Yes, we need ice. It's about a million degrees here in Brookline, the first heat wave of the summer. It's the kind of heat that makes wearing a bike helmet feel like sticking your head in the oven. I'm not into suffering on a bike, so the past couple of days were instead mostly about staying cool if at all possible. Stay cool and think chilly thoughts.

South Shore Coastal Loop

I took a longish ride today because the sun was shining and I wanted to explore more of the south shore by bike. My trusty Rubel bike map showed that the Norris Reservation in Norwell was a good starting point. Riding south, I quickly crossed the North River where a few people were out fishing.

Heading out toward Marshfield, there are a several hills, but it soon flattens out near the coast where there are... yes, marshes.


The Plymouth waterfront was next. Everyone loves Plymouth. Bus loads of people come from everywhere to learn about the settlers. Unfortunately, the storied Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower can' t occupy tourists for long. Inevitably, people busy themselves consuming the wondrous variety of tourist...ah, junk. My favorite is the classic I've-been-to-some-place sweatshirt. Thanks to the brutal yet insightful commentary of my friend Chris, the site of one now makes me simultaneously start chuckling and cringing.

This shirt proves it, I have been to Plymouth. In Massachusetts. There weren't any pirates in the area, but we were near the ocean so that's good enough. To be fair, Plymouth is really interesting, just not obviously so. Brewster Gardens is very pretty, historic buildings are hidden all over, and there are about a zillion amazing beaches down the road. I spent a lot of time there as a kid, so the whole thing cracks me up a little. If you do go to Plymouth, do stop in at Ziggy's and get a shamelessly large soft-serve ice cream. Just don't go too early in the morning like me - they don't start swirling until later in the day.

Moving along....
I continued riding south past the aforementioned beaches, arrived at Cape Cod Canal, ate lunch and road along the canal. There was a ridiculous wind blowing the wrong way, so that was fun. The route back to Norwell was simple and straight along route 58 through Carver where there is a perfect gazebo near the town offices.

I quickly sped along to the ride's end in Norwell only stopping to take a snapshot of some people fishing at Curtis Crossing in Pembroke.