Bantam Rambleneur: The Second Honeymoon?

Under the St. Johns Bridge at Cathedral Park, 11 March 2023. Minolta XG-7/MD Rokkor 50mm f/1.7 lens/Cinestill 400D I'm guessing for most people, there's a "honeymoon" phase when they get a new (or new to them) bicycle. This phase can be a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or a year or two....

Adventure-commuting: Refreshing the Bantam

The Bantam in Frazer Park, 31 January 2023. Olympus XA/Kodak Ultramax 400 My Bantam is the nicest bike I own or owned, a custom machine built to my body geometry and specifications almost eight years ago. Everything about all that screams special. And I've kept it as my "special" bike over these past eight years....

On drop bars, baskets, and randonneur bags

The Bantam at Tanner Springs Park, 31 Dec 2021. Minolta SR-T 101/MC Rokkor PG 50mm f/1.4/ Fuji Superia 400. There was a recent blog post over on Velo Orange, titled "Drop Your Drop Bars." In it, VO head-honcho Igor extols the virtues of changing your handlebars. Changing from drop bars to flat or upright bars...

Raleigh Crested Butte: Yet more tweaks to the endless tweaking bike

My Raleigh Crested Butte is my longest-lived bike. October will mark nine years of ownership. It's the bike that really got me in love with vintage mountain bikes and 26 inch wheels with chonky tires. It also has become a "proving ground" of a bike: I've tried out several different configurations over the years as...

Schwinn Heavy Duti: The unexpected summer fun bike

Camera: Minolta HiMatic 7s. Film: Kentmere 100. I didn't expect it to turn out this way, but: The Schwinn Heavy Duti has become my most used bike these past couple months. More often than not, I've been reaching for this beast of a bike when I needed two wheels. Why is that? Since I didn't...

The pannier lifestyle

Panniers. Probably the most basic "bag on bike" seen today, yet something I've largely eschewed over the past decade. Oh yeah, I started using panniers on my bikes around 2003, but since I got back from the Big Tour in 2011, I started moving towards Carradice styled saddlebags, handlebar bags, and baskets. Why? Well, I...