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It
really started when my dad took away my trike and gave me a shiny
black "English racer." I had to stand on something to get
on it. I've been riding ever since.
Much time passed, the
woman I was mad about (and later married) lured me to Europe for a
summer. She sent me a Eurail pass and instructions on where to meet
her. I flew over early and hung out in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The
first thing I did was borrow a bike so I could get around.
If you like riding, you should visit the Netherlands. The bike paths they call fietspad are like little highways, separate from both motor and pedestrian traffic. The intersections are all signalized and people expect you to follow the rules. A lot of people ride, mostly on geared-hub bikes with racks, baskets, fenders and lights. You see big Dutch women steaming along 20+ kph with a full load of groceries or a kid. They'll run you right over if you get in the way.
I had been living a pretty urban life in Philadelphia, but that summer was something else. After I hooked up with Salisa we went to Paris and lived the rive gauche, cafe life - at least while our money held out. I wished we had bikes so we could just ride around from cafe to bookstore to market to club... It was fun mixing it up, people of all ages were living their lives in public spaces. A lot of them were getting around on bikes. And, oh yeah, the food was great.
The
bikes I saw in europe were made for that lifestyle. The concept is
that a bicycle replaces a car. They tended toward slack frame angles,
with long rear ends. No clips, no special clothes, you just jump on
them and ride. I was surprised at first to see really good alloy rims
on them, until I rode a bunch of cobbles. Yeah, good, strong
wheels.
I thought about that style of life as I got older. In my
mind street life, life as a public performance, public space, cafes
and bookstores, bikes, and a kind of defiant approach to fate; all
mixed together.
Edith
Piaf had a song, "Je ne Regrette Rien" that kept running
through my mind.
Some people write songs. I designed a bike.
It would be everything the european city bikes were and more. I
wanted to build them with a lighter, better-made frame. So I spec-ed
my favorite, Reynolds, for the main tubes. For stays I started out
with straight gauge cro-moly, but have been thinking, damn the
expense! I like the graceful look of tailor-made stays. I use
geometry borrowed more or less from the Muttonmaster,
but a lower bottom bracket height and shorter rear end. I decided to
use 26-inch mountain bike wheels rather than the euro-size 26
inchers, mainly because of the wide variety of tires available. The
frame is designed "under-square" with the top tube
substantially shorter than the seat tube. This is for an upright,
face into the wind riding position. Not only does it reflect an
attitude that Piaf would have approved, it's also good if your back
won't allow a bent-over or crouched riding position.
I tend to
paint these in dark colors. The bike above was painted 1965 jaguar
BRG (British racing green). Other likely colors include black, dark
brown, maroon, dark blue, plus some old-fashioned muted oranges,
greens, yellows and whites. The bikes are set up for street tires but
will accommodate narrow mountain bike tires.
Material:
Reynolds
butted chrome moly steel, 31.7mm and 28.6mm x .9-.6-.9mm" wall,
down and top tubes
28.6mm butted seat tube,
reinforced;
Lightweight, cro-moly Euro bottom bracket
shell
Aircraft-grade seamless straight gauge chrome moly seat and
chain stays, 5/8" and 3/4" x .035 (.9mm) wall. Tailor made
Reynolds stays optional extra!!!
Dropouts are standard horizontal
road items
rack mounts or optional integral cro-moly steel
rack.
standard fork: cheap chrome moly unicrown, 1 inch threaded.
If you want to go threadless, Thursday can get a nice Tange unicrown,
or if you have a nice old fork sitting around, send it in and
Thursday will size the frame for it and paint to match.
Available options include
You can have this bike built with lugs, silver brazed, for an extra $75.
three, four, seven or eight-speed rear hubs; if you're feeling rich, you can get the 14-speed Rohloff at over twice the cost of the frame!
Thursday
brazed fork. I use a really snazzy Kirk Pacenti fork crown and a 1”
threaded steer tube for this beautiful fork, for an additional $250.
Integral, welded-on cro-moly rack, add $150. Never lose a
load again!
Angles:
Headtube: 71.5 degrees; slacker angles
(68-70 degrees) optional as custom order
Seat tube: 72
degrees
Chainstay: 17 inches (43.2 cm)
TopTube: xxx inches C-C
(xxx cm)
Front centers: xxx inches (xxx cm)
Bottom bracket
height 10 5/8 inches (27.0 cm)
Base price: $550 frame only
