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....

On the sentimentality of past bikes

The Surly Long Haul Trucker in its final "stripped-down tourer" iteration on Lopez Island, Washington, 15 September 2013 It happens from time to time: I go on a binge of reading my old blog posts. In the past this has happened because work has been slow, but recent thoughts about old commenters and blogs I...

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....

Bikes and Biking Year in Review: 2022

North Beach, Orcas Island. 5 August 2022 Looks dreamy, but this serene image was hard-earned from a challenging day biking the island. Olympus XA2/Fujicolor 100 Hello, friends. As another year comes to a close, it's customary for me to look back at the past year and reflect on what's happened, then ponder what may come...

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...

One bike, one camera?

Johnson Creek Park, where Johnson and Crystal Springs Creeks meet. 12 Nov 2022 Camera: Olympus Pen EES-2Film: Kodak Portra 160 I was in correspondence with someone who is pondering doing one of those "one camera" challenges. Basically, the idea is to use the same camera for a certain period of time, whether a month or...

Beausage and Special Bikes

Andy's Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen, 15 October 2022. Olympus 35RD/Ilford HP5+ In Grant Petersen's latest "Blahg" post, 1 he touches upon people who get fancy bikes like Rivendells yet rarely use them because they're worried about damage, theft, and the like. (It's a really long blog post, as is Grant's wont, where he talks about...

The Return of the Heavy Duti

You may remember that towards the end of last year I decided that my Schwinn Heavy Duti was one bike too many. I made a half-hearted attempt to sell it then, and tried again in spring. I only got three bites, none of them good: "I want to buy your bike, but tomorrow I will...