DC Bike Share Bike

A friend of mice sent me this link to the New York Times about the Paris Velib bike renting program. It is not being called a failure or even a loss of funds [they are not providing those numbers], but loosing 80% of the bikes due to vandalism!

Pretty sad, but I am not surprised one bit. I tried to make a bike sharing program in Somerville in 1996. I was trying to do something like the yellow bike program like in Holland [my bikes were orange]. I compiled a bunch of bikes and donations. Had an auction to raise money to fix up the bikes. Myself and some volunteers spent many hours refurbishing the bikes and painting them. A story was written about the program in the Somerville Journal and it had generated a lot of excitement. When the bikes were ready [about 12 of them]I did not have a place to store the bikes and left them outside of Independent Fab [where I was working at the time]. I thought that if they were stolen that was ok, because I just wanted people to ride them.

The next day I came to work only to find that every single one of them had been destroyed. Frames bent, wheels mangled…toast. I spent the better part of the day taking off what parts were still useable, cramming them into my car to take them to the scrap yard, in multiple trips.

This was common with almost every other bike share program I have every heard of. Amsterdam, Austin, Portland OR and ME…The only one that worked was in Burlington VT and I think that is because it is a small town. Not sure if they still do there anymore?

The Bike Share programs like Velib and the Bixi system in Montreal, were to combat this problem, by having a non-valuable and non-usable parts type of bike. And with a rack system to keep them safe, as well as charging a fee to use the bikes. I have not looked into how these systems are working out in Montreal, but I would say that Paris is full of problems? Washington DC has a new system too and I will need to look into that. We are to have a Bixi system installed in Boston soon and I do not think it will work and I am [at this point] not really a fan of these systems. However I will say that anything that is bike related improvement is fine with me and I will take what I can get. I think the funds could be spent in other areas to improve bicycling for the public good. I mean that is the idea right? That these bike share [rental] systems are to convert the average citizen to choose bicycling over driving their cars. That these bikes provided at little cost to the user and positioned in convenient local will inspire people to use them.

I do not know what these systems cost, but it must be a lot! The Velib bikes were quoted to cost $3,500 for each bike! It is probably to late to stop the Boston Bixi program, but I think the money would be better spent in three areas.

One is that City of Boston could contract me set the city up with a bike factory, hiring inner city people [young and old] and providing bicycles for the citizens of Boston. Bikes that they would own [and take care of].

Two The bikes could be sold or provided on a sliding scale. Either given out, traded for labor, sold at cost etc… after people apply for them, providing a tax statement and proof of residence etc…

Three Investing in road improvements with on road seperated cycle paths, bikes lanes and intersection improvements along with good safe parking spots [lots of them]. No one is going to ride there bike if they do not feel safe.

A bike providing system sort of like Habitat for Humanity would be a good start. Ownership provides a much more rewarding experience. Now my system is geared more to the lower-income part of Boston and not the Chic and upwardly mobile, however it could be built to supply both. The City of Boston bike factory could make anything. It does not have to only make the basic transport bike… What would be more patriotic than buying  a hand-built bicycle from the city of Boston, at its full cost. Providing jobs for the people who feel left out, providing bicycles for the people who would other wise want to vandalize the system [because they were left out of the system].

I thought about making a proposal to send the city of Boston last year, but I have been too busy trying to stay in business and dealing with my own business issues. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a good proposal and I have never done anything like that before….but maybe? I mean otherwise all this money is being spent and leaving the state right? If they just made the bikes themselves and hired citizens of Boston…all of the funds would stay in the city and with its citzens.

Betsy, my stepson and I went for a very nice trail ride this Sunday. We live in a rural area that has many reservations owned by the Trustees of the reservations. This is a wonderful organization and if you live in Massachusetts you should join. Not every reservation they own is available to bicycling, but many are and we also like to go hiking too and they also own beach front property at Crane Beach and on Martha’s Vineyard.

This little trip we took has been on our minds for sometime, but we have not had the time to take it [soccer, tons of homework, Open House, family stuff etc...]. We found that we were going to have time for this four hour off road trek on Sunday and the weather was a perfect, clear blue New England day. the fall foliage was in full. Betsy had this idea of trying to connect a trail loop that would start  and end from our house, without much on road travel. She downloaded trail maps and a few road maps, so she could try and piece it together, but we needed to travel the trails to find the connections.

We went to the high points on the reservations that had or still have fire spotting towers, with some great views You can see Boston in the distance and the Blue Hills reservation.

 

taking a break on Whale rock

 

We do not ride off road very often, but do enjoy it a lot. We are more into trail riding that is only mildly technical, but this was pretty challenging…and Betsy’s son was riding his commuter bike with fenders, slick tires and a coaster brake!

We may have to get another ride or two in before the rest of the leaves fall off

great views at the high points

Marty and his friend from Geekhouse bikes, winning both events [track stand and tricycle race]

There was a break in the storms and we ended up having a wonderful day of cool clear weather We had a very good turn out and almost all of the food was eaten. We had people drive and ride from all over the north east…from NJ, CT, NY, NH, RI and ME and all over the Boston area….and Holliston too! The only local state we did not have, was VT. Bailey and friend drove up from Brooklyn NY to pick up his new Basket Bike I was very happy with his choice in a Basket bike in the classic black with red rims.

Charlotte and Andy road out from Boston, did the ride in my group and then rode back to boston, ending with 80 miles under their belt!

My buddy Joel and Rich rode out from Boston too, but they took the defunct, antique water line that runs through forbidden areas. A great off road route from Boston to the more rural area where I am. This was an aqueduct that used to feed water to boston, built around 1913  Betsy and I have ridden parts of this line, but not all the way in to town.

I have a good group of friends from Albany that came out [3 of them, Randy, Lacey and Laura, on ANTs...and the last, Perry soon to be on an ANT]. Perry made a video of the ride here.

The ride was a lot of fun and no one crashed or got hurt   Everyone was impressed with the very rural New England route I have made for Open House. The fall colors were in full swing and it was nice and cool. A 15 mile ride is just right for having a good time without getting all worked up, but enough to make you hungry for our Indian food from Dosa temple! This was the first times our kids went on the adult ride and they did great and kept up with the group.

Betsy had a good sized group on her family town ride. This year we had a new friend of mine on Betsy’s ride, from Holliston,who added bits of local history to the ride. It is really nice to have people bring their children out for our Open House and feel included in the fun.

This is Nao’s boy having fun in the park Nao is a very nice guy, who loves bikes and makes hand cool made bits for bicycles. His space is called 3RRR Products

We had a visit from the people of Lovely Bicycle. This is one of my new favorite bike blogs. I plan to work with them to provide some bikes to test out and review. I would like to also do that with my friends at Ecovelo and Lets Go Ride a Bike, but the shipping cost and building the right bike is more than I can spend…maybe someday. 

Sorry if I missed anyone that came out to see us. Thank you all for coming to our Open House…it would be nothing without our visitors!

There is a break in the storm and it looks as though we will have somewhat clear weather for tomorrow!

So Rides are still on

My ride will be the same as last year [about 15 miles long]. I just re-marked the course with orange arrows. I did not have time to make maps, but no one seems to use those anyway.

It will be cold, so dress warm.

Rides start at 11am. See you tomorrow.

In bound trains from Framingham to South station 3:35pm

In bound trains from Ashland to South station 3:05pm & 6:50pm

Mike

Road, fixed gear, fendered

I have decided to get back into the custom bicycle business  

For the last year or so I have been only taking orders for and building my semi-custom City Roadsters and Cargo bikes. I will soon have a new webpage on the site with a price list and options for custom frame sets and complete bicycles of any type [Touring, Road, Club, Cross etc...].

It feels good to have finally worked through the backlog of customs I had on order and to be rid of the year long order list. There were some customs that had taken 14 months to process! I feel that I can now take orders for customs and deliver them in a reasonable time. I am not interested in having a huge backlog with multi-year wait list.

One way I have helped with this and will continue to do so is by not taking deposits. Pre-pay for the whole bike or frame set  including shipping. I have found that the deposit system just does not work and clogs up the process. The deposit was supposed to hold your spot in line, but what was happening is that I would have 20 people holding their spot, but did not have any information to build their bike. Then 6 months later they would ask “when am I going to get my bike?” I would say…well I have no order form from you…I do not know what you want or how tall you are …nothing or maybe 1/2 the info.  Then all the while other people are calling with money and all the info, but I would have to say well there are 20 people ahead of you and it may take 9 to 12 months. [a real deal killer]. Most often I would lose these orders, sometimes I would take the order and bump them ahead. While doing this someone, somewhere in the 20 backlog would call up with their final info [not in the order that their deposit came in]….now it is an emergency! So there was all the leap frog action going on, which is very hard to manage and is frustrating for everyone. I only have 2 bikes left that are deposit laden [without info], so I think I can manage that.

For now on pre-pay only. I will be more than happy to email with potential customers or talk to you on the phone to get all the details worked out on what you want, before you place your order. I can give you a quote, then you can send payment and that will pay for the components and materials, shipping in real time [prices often go up on me in a years time] And this should lead to very quick delivery of 2 weeks to 4 months.

Now you might ask…wel which is it…2 weeks or 4 months! The time starts when I get your real money If you are local, check clears in one day, parts get ordered and delivered in a week etc…If you are in CA, send the check by mail [5 days], check clears in a week or paypal takes 4 days to clear [even local]. All components [that I order from 6 venders] are in stock and ready to ship etc…and then the last factor is when the orders come in. You call, we work all the details out, but then you wait another week or month [or year] and the I get a bunch of orders in…that drives the lead time up. I wish orders came in at a steady stream, but that is not the way it works out, they tend to come in bunches.

If you have been thinking for years about getting that custom ANT and have seen photos on my Flicker of bikes that you would like. Now is the time to get in touch

Touring Bike

This is what it looked like this weekend   A wonderful clear, cool Columbus Day Weekend. On Sat we went to Providence to watch the UCI Cyclocross race, to cheer people on. Sunday I went for a big ride up and down the Charles river trail. I had not ridden the whole river trail for sometime and forgot how wonderful it is. Lots of water falls /dams and old mill buildings. At the end in Waltham is the Waltham Watch Company Mill building. It has been restored and is really just beautiful and it sits right on the banks of the Charles river. Sorry I do not have any pictures, as I did not have my camera. I was reminded of the Charles River trail in its entirity by reading a post on the blog Lovely Bicycle, take a look at it.

It is supposed to rain from Friday to Monday…so not looking so good for Open House on Saturday   If it is raining good, then I will not be expecting people to ride. I am not really into riding  in the rain unless it is warm or I am going somewhere…if people want to ride anyway, then I will go too.

Open House will still be a lot of fun and we will have lots of Indian food and hot cider to eat and drink, so still come on out. I will have room inside to eat, tents outside too. Shop scavenger hunt and many new bikes built up to look at and of course talking to bike geeks like my self.

I was riding my Scorcher bike I built last month for my birthday and I am really happy with it. The bike is made out of parts and materials that I had lying around, un-wanted or found in the trash. It is a fixed gear with nothing on it, except the seat/tool bag.  This is the 4th Scorcher I have made for myself and have made 2 others for customers. This is the first one where I am happy with the handlebar and seating position and to the point of saying that this is the most comfortable bike I have ever made. I have found out that, to use these bars you have to make the bike very, very long and with a huge headtube  and a long sticky up stem. This bike has a 58cm top tube [my standard drop bar road bike would have a 54.5], the head tube is about the same as a 58cm  bike. I am not so sure how well this position is with a load, but it feels great unloaded. It has double 71 angles and 48cm chain stays ! Very long and low.

The last one I built was very close to this and did feel very good too. This bike was built for the Shimano Alfine Frame Builder Challange [I got 3rd] A friend of mine has this bike now and he seems to like it well.

Here is Scorcher #2 Built to really look Antique, with a rod brake and 28″ wheels. It now lives down in NYC

Here is a re-built # 1 Scorcher in fall colors.

Original Scorcher.

Here are the other two I built for customers.

While I was riding down the Charles River trail I was thinking how everyone should have a Scorcher! A long, up right fixed or single speed that has this gorgeous antique style.

If set up rather simple and with not so expensive parts I could build one of these fairly inexpensive, say about $1,400 complete. How about I take some orders for about 5 or 10 of these and have some fun?

Bike similar to the one on top, but a few differences.

• 4130 frame Scorcher style, all black
• Hi-ten fork
• 1″ threaded steel headset
• Steel sticky up stem
• Scorcher bars
• Cork tape tan
• Brooks B-17
• Alloy single bolt post
• One piece crank
• ANT full suit ring
• alloy or rubber pedals
• Odyssye BMX BB
• Black  tires 700 x 35mm
• Front long reach sidepull brake
• Black fixed gear wheel set or coaster brake
• Steel brake lever
• For $50 more I can make it single speed for $100 more I can make it 3 speed coaster, $150 more 3 speed hand brake and for $50 more I can put Cream tires on. Also I could change this to a front drum brake for $100 more [to give that more Antique look]

Now this is a dedicated bike to the Scorcher bar and relaxed position, not something to want to change the bars on later.

Holliston Tweed Ride cancelled, due to thunderstorms.

Maybe some other day in late Oct?

$2,500.00

One week bicycle frame building class. [5/6 days 9 to 5] 

One on one, full week with me in my shop, building a frame set for you   Materials included for one rigid, TIG welded,steel frame and fork, powder coated with a custom cut headbadge.

We can build most any type of frame set you want. Road, Touring, Cross, Mountain, Fixed gear, BMX and of course City bike

Other options also included are a brazed lugged , curved blade fork and headtube rings.

Building a fully lugged frame might be an option, but will cost $200+ more for materials and may take more time. Fancy paint is available from Circle A Cycles for $200+

It will be your week, so it is really up to you and what you want to get out of this. There are many options of instruction taught and how much you want to get out of this…now that being said. This is only one week [even if was two weeks] there is only so much you can learn, so this is really more of a fun vacation were you get to help build you very own frame.

If you want to most of the work yourself, then this will have to be a thick tube frame [nothing wrong with that]. If you want to just cut all the tubes, do all the hand work and then have me TIG weld it, then you can have any light weight tube set you want. Daily TIG welding and brazing instruction will still be included.

Components to build you new bike can be purchased at a discount from me.

You may very well take this week and use it to start your own frame building hobby/business….if you are really serious then I have another option.

6 week intensive training with your tools: $20,000

6 weeks with me in my shop, using tooling I make for you. TIG welded frames only.

Tools I will make included are:

• Frame, fork and stem jigs
• Frame and fork Alignment table
• Tube cutting system on a small milling machine [for main tubes, chain & seat stays]
• BB, HT & seat tube reaming and facing tools
• Heat sinks for TIG welding BB, HT & ST
• Various benders for forks, stays, and racks.
• Computer program for design and tube cutting.
• Materials for 6 frames

This will be an intensive 6 weeks of hard work, but the best start to making your own shop that you could ever have. Each week we will build a frame for you, along with my shop duties. TIG welding and brazing practice everyday.

This is also not just instruction, but a proven system that has been honed from years in the frame building industry. You will learn on your tools and be equipped with a how to manual.

I can build you a little shop that can fit into a small garage and run on 110V power. If you want to go bigger then I can advise on that too. Powder coating instructions are included, but finish work involves much more space and equipment.

Further consulting is included for the rest of the equipment you will need. Problem consulting/follow included for 6 months [by phone or email]

• TIG welding machine [$1,500]
• Brazing rig [$700]
• Suppliers
• Insurance [$2,000]
• Other machine tools [Lathe etc...] [$500/$2,000]
• Rigging/moving machine tools
• Paint shops
• Painting or powder coating equipment [$1,000 to 10,000]

If needed, for an additional cost, I can take photos for you of the bikes you build and make a wordpress website to get you started.

ANT annual Open House!

Oct 17th [Sat]  {Rain or Shine}

11am bike rides start, 1pm food…trike races, track stand competition and shop scavenger hunt! Details and directions here.

If it is raining come on out [you do not have to go for the ride, still lots of fun and food. I have 3 big tents]

 CANCELLED due to thunderstorms!

Saturday, October 3rd 11am.

Meet at my shop at 11am for an informal little ride of about 20 miles, touring around the beautiful rural roads of Holliston, Hopkinton, Ashland and Sherborn.

You can dress up in your vintage outfit or not. Helmets not required, but please wear one if you want to. The only restrictions are that you will need to follow the rules of the road and ride in single file in some areas. There will be a few hills, but ridable on a 3 speed. This will be a slow ride and we will wait for everyone, speeders are on their own.

We will stop at the Stone’s pub for lunch and then take a consensus on how big of a loop to take, back to my shop.

If you can’t make it out here on Saturday, then go on the Boston Tweed Ride on Sunday October 4th.

  Update: Looks like rain for both days. If anyone shows up I will ride..otherwise I will work.