More BICYCLE

This is also for Fritz. And for Cheri. And for Dorothy. And Debb. My sister. And all the others who have expressed indifference, distaste, hatred and outright contempt for all things bicycle.

Tough. I got a McLean fabric badge from Dale Brown today! Whoopee!

The West Bank

Through college my daughter lived in the Cedar Riverside or West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis. It's arguably the hippest place in town, but the music bars are slipping away. When I was young I liked the Triangle with it's 4 foot square stage over the door. It was good enough for Bobby Zimmerman, but I frequented it because the bartender was David "Douche" McLeod, who would slip me drinks. It's gone now. Addy said she used to listen to the music coming out of the open door of the Viking Bar up the street from her apartment. It was THE blues bar for fifty years. The kind of place Bonnie Raitt would go play AFTER her show in some "better" place. It closed the summer Addy turned 21, so she could never go in there - legally anyway. They say the 400 Bar is about the last of the old stations still left. These guys are some of the regulars. Musicians who just never quite got around to making a business out of it like Bobby Dylan did. Every town's got'em. The Koerner, Ray and Glover is interesting. John Koerner played the Viking every Sunday for 20 years. Now he builds boats and does a little remodeling. (Note the tape measure on his pocket at the awards ceremony.) Dave Ray died about five years ago. Paul Metsa is a little younger. I posted it because in his opening jumble of musical stream of consciousness he threw in We're Goin' Win Twins. Reason enough. Go Twins. Willie Murphy used to front Willie and the Bees. This one is notable because he seems so out of place at a grand in a lounge, it's usually a guitar in a dive. Appears to be at ease at the keyboard though.

"...Koerner became a hapless victim of gravity"

Summertime?

One of my favorite songs. I have an LP with a killer version by Vassar Clements. Of these three, I'm giving my vote to Ella and Satch. Hard call - so different.

Reynolds 753 McLean?

Stuff that damn few people care about:

Reynolds 531 is tubing that was introduced in 1935 and still used occasionally even today for traditional bicycle frames. Reynolds 753 was introduced in 1980. It is essentially heat tempered 531 which allows for thinner walls. A lighter bike results, but it is more expensive and difficult to work with. So maybe there is a 753 McLean out there - certainly an ultimate bike. Dale Brown is the gate keeper for all things McLean. Following is part of a response to the posting of the Performance catalog.

I had forgotten (or not sure I even knew) that McLean agreed to be in the Performance catalog.

Also interesting is your mention of Reynolds 753. I remember him sending back the qualification kit. He shouldn't have had any problems there as he only used high (56%) silver brazing compound but I am not sure if he ever actually made a 753 frame! Again, I never saw one nor heard him talk about making one for anyone... But who knows? Be nice to see it if he made one.

Cheers
Dale

If you are interested in vintage lightweight bicycles, join Dale as his guest at: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/

Rum and Bicycles

Lucky Lestrud was over a couple of days ago and we spent 5 hours getting in trouble. Lestie is a rum connoisseur and is sitting on 5 cases of a Barbados rum that is so obscure that it can only be purchased in one equally obscure liquor store in the world. And that is not hyperbole. Even with the aid of the internet and a credit card with a high limit, you cannot acquire this stuff. Sworn to secrecy, if I told you any more I would have to kill you... just let it be said that this is the Nectar of the Gods and after five hours we had not finished tasting it, nor finished discussing religion, bicycles, politics and family. The third passive aggressive phone call from his wife convinced us we were finished ...temporarily.

Lestie had a bicycle shop at one time and he brought over some books, tapes, old Campagnolo catalogs and some 1982 Performance Bicycle catalogs. At that time Performance Bike was 28 pages of high end components, one of the places where guys in Jerkwater, Minnesota could get outfitted with Campagnolo gear or fine frames. On Page 6 of the Fall/Winter catalog, along with Pinarello and DeRosa, there were McLean framesets! One of the things that jumped out at me was that in 1982 you could buy a Pinarello frameset for $495, for $595 a DeRosa, and for $695 a McLean. If you wanted a McLean made from the new exotic Reynolds 753 it was $930! I don't know how much inflation there has been, but $930 had to be about as much as you could spend on a bicycle frame in 1982. My McLean is virtually identical to the photo, even in size and color, except my mine has fastback seat stays and the older Cinelli pressed steel lugs rather than the investment cast lugs advertised. Also, even though M05030 is apparently also a "Perfect Pleasure" model, it does not have the fender eyelets shown. It is kind of poignant, by the time the catalog was printed and distributed, McLean Fonvielle finally making the bigtime, he had died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 29.

Marking the Passing of Time

Years ago the beautiful young woman left her small rural village on a long journey. Out of the corner of her eye she probably caught blurred fleeting glimpses of the mile markers slipping by as she traveled through life. Today she arrived at Milestone 60.


Happy Birthday Lorna, from Gunnar and Addy.

New Ways To Feel Old

I just noticed something on my avatar photo to the left. Look at the cars over my shoulder. And the little girls playing in dresses. Things change I guess. I'm glad I haven't.

From Soup to Nuts

"Andy Warhol is everywhere. He's in Europe. He's in Asia. He's quoted in papers every day. He has energy still. He's just, you know, still alive".

The soup cans are from a 2004 Campbell's limited run. They aren't really slanted. They are shot at an artsy angle just to irritate the viewer.

The quote is from an article in ARTnews. As I was reading it, I was struck by the distance from New York City to Jerkwater Lake, Minnesota. Andy Warhol was never taken seriously as an artist out here. He was a odd P.T.Barnum blip on the evening news that soon vanished into the News of the Weird, to be forgotten forever. He is not "everywhere" nor "alive". In general, art here in the outback involves recognizable scenes that are populated by either children with oversized eyes, running horses or flying ducks...but not rows and rows of soup cans or Marilyn Monroes.

(Disclaimer: I was an art major. My daughter began life as an art major, only to switch later to philosophy, for better job opportunities.)

McLean Redux, Redux, Redux

No more pics? So I lied. I "found" some Cinelli toe clips. Also, I stuck domed Indian head nickels in the bar ends. Close up photography makes one see the lint and fuzz around old Iron Tail, and the fact that the bar ends should have had the saw marks buffed out a little. Eh? If Cino Cinelli thought they should be shiny, he'd have made them that way.

Addy in Disguse (With Glasses)

"This is gonna be great!"

I haven't seen my daughter Addy in a year. A week ago we bought a round trip ticket from Thailand to bring her back home for Christmas. Going to be the best ever.

Even More Trike Stuff

This is from Paul Patzkowsky, the rider on the earlier posted trike YouTube. Here it is from the horse's mouth:

"I have a little more time now to address some of the comments previously made. Most trikes that I have seen have two caliper brakes mounted on the front fork in front of the fork. This would often be a side pull or center pull paired with a cantilever brake. This arrangement works very well and is the simplest and lightest. I've also seen a disc brake on the front fork with a caliper brake. Of course, disc and drum brakes can be put on the rear axles.

The trike that you see in the video is 35 years old and the wheels have never been touched since they were built. They're still true and, as you can see in the video, they don't become pretzels in corners. Wheel failure is possible and axles have been known to break so there is some risk I suppose. There is a tendency for the inside wheel to lift when turning. This is opposed by leaning into the corner with the body as seen in the video and by twisting the handlebars toward the turn in some cases.
Is a trike practical? Some enthusiasts would say, "yes",, I would agree for some uses such as winter riding. The primary attraction for me in the trike is the differences. Why would anyone in their right mind want to own an antique car when they could drive a nice, reliable, new Whatever? Because they enjoy a varied experience in motoring perhaps. Riding a trike is very different from riding a bicycle. I enjoy collecting and riding old iron. Most of my bikes are 55-60 years old. My current best time for a century was on a 1951 Bates BAR.
When the trike was new and I was twenty-something I could cover 100 miles in well under 5 hours. Today I need 7 hours for the distance compared to 6 1/2 hours on a bicycle. There are trike riders that can do a century in under 4 hours. That's all, the Oldtrikerider."

Jayberg

It was hard to find a picture of my Uncle John. He left a pretty small footprint in life. 

Through the generosity of friends and family he was able to buy a little house. He repaired and refinished furniture, tended his large vegetable garden and had a few flowers to brighten up the edges of his life. Children and dogs were always attracted to Jayberg and his neighborhood was filled with both. When we stopped by for a coffee there were often a few hanging around. I think children liked Jay because he talked to them like they were small adults and he was completely non-judgmental. And dogs? Dogs just know.

I was thinking of him today because Georgia O'Keefe's name came up. O'Keefe and Jayberg? O'Keefe lived a really pared down life and so did Jay. I didn't know how pared down until he died. A few days after we buried his ashes, we went over to clean out the house. There was nothing in the basement except a laundry. No cobwebs. You could have eaten off the floor. In his bedroom closet and dresser there were enough clothes to get through one week, everything clean, pressed and neatly folded. The kitchen had enough food for a week, no left-overs. There was no extras in his life. He had everything he needed, no more. This man had it together.

 Like most people, I live my life in semi-controlled chaos. I wish I had a little more of Jayberg in me, though I do like kids and dogs. Well, kids anyway.

-Gunnar