2 speeds means twice the love

2 things in life that just make everything ok: 1) finding sweet bike frames in the dump. 2) Bendix 2-speed kickback coaster brake hubs.

This hub is sweet. It has 2 gears, one reduced, and one direct. You switch between them by bumping the pedals backwards. And it is a coaster brake.

Bendix made 3 versions of this hub. The Blue stripe has a direct low gear, and a higher high gear. The Red stripe has a reduced low gear and a direct high gear, but has a nasty plate clutch type brake which tends to lock up and try to kill you. The yellow stripe also has a reduced low gear and direct high gear, but has a much more civilized shoe type brake like most common good coaster brakes.

framebuilding.2

I spent some time over lunch playing with Bike CAD, and came up with this.

My goal was to get the handlebars to the same level as the seat without resorting to long goofy stems. The bike does end up looking a bit funny, but I think it will be super comfy. Pacenti makes lugs designed for a 6 degree sloping top tube, and oversized road tubing, so that should be perfect.

framebuilding

I want to build a frame. Lugged steel. Something unique. A commuter/citybike type thing. Transportation, not sport.

As a first step, I have been reading all I can about frame geometry, especially from people who make bikes for normal riding, rather than racing.

Here is a quick survey of bike geometries:

frame	HT (deg)	ST (deg)	CS (mm)	BB Drop (mm)	BB height (mm)
ANT Boston Roadster	72	73	480	80
Rivendell Atlantis	72	72	455	80
Matt Chester Utilitiman	72	72	432	~58	311
Surly Karate Monkey	72	73	431	68
Redline Monocog 29er	72	73	445	~64	305
Surly Crosscheck	72	73	425	66
Surly Pacer	73	73	415	72
IRO Rob Roy	73	73	425	65

I want relaxed angles, long chainstays and handlebars that are leve with the seat. Now to start designing something...

bike videos

A bunch of videos of crazy messengers disobeying the laws of traffic and common sense. here. Alleycat races, etc. Mostly Boston I think.

radiobike

The Boozhound Laboratories radiobike, piloted by Diana on the Pedal: ReLoaded radio ride in... you guessed it - Seattle.

More photos of the ride and the show

Blue bike and red umbrella

While taking this photo, I heard an absolutely hilarious exchange between two men with deeply eastern European accents, Russian or Ukrainian or something.

First man yelling to other man, "Is this your umbrella?"

Second man. Tone full of disgust and disbelief in a uniquely eastern European way "Fuck no! How the fuck could I ride a bike with an umbrella?"

"This *red* umbrella - is it yours?"

"It's not my fucking umbrella!"