My Raleigh Superbe at (almost) five years: A superb bike!

Taken with my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s 35mm film camera. (Film: Kodak Gold 200) My Raleigh Superbe is soon to be a member of my Five Year Club, bikes that I've had for that time period. The Crested Butte and Schwinn Heavy Duti have passed those milestones, the Bantam will soon. I got my hands on…

Dynamo lighting on all the bikes!

Its winter, so bike lights are essential for riding. I first delved into the world of dynamo lighting way back in 2011, when I got a dyno setup on my Raleigh Wayfarer. After that, I got a dynamo setup for my Surly Long Haul Trucker. Back then, LED was just becoming "standard" when it came…

A state of the fleet: 2019

Hello, folks! Now it's time for me to reflect on My Year In Bicycles. (Stasia, you can skip this post. 😉 ) 2019 was another year of stasis. Since 2018, I've had the same five bicycles. Five's the most I've ever owned. I don't have a hard "can only own five bikes" mantra/mandate like some…

Why have I not embraced the Bantam?

I've owned my Bantam bicycle for just about four years. In 2011 the idea of owning a custom bike wasn't even in consideration. Fast forward four years and a custom bicycle became reality. I've ridden it near and far since 2015. It has gotten a lot of compliments in that time.* But I feel like…

Commuter Bikes vs. Non Commuter Bikes

My stable of bikes is currently five, in order of how long I've owned them: Raleigh Crested Butte (2012) Schwinn Heavy Duti (2014) Bantam Rambleneur (2015) Raleigh Superbe (2016) Robin Hood path racer (2018) All of them have done "commuting duty", i.e. get me to and from work, run errands, pick up groceries, etc. But…

The “too many bikes” dilemma again.

My active fleet of bikes currently stands at five, more than many folks but a lot less than some bike junkies I know. I'm not particularly proud of having that many bikes, but it usually doesn't keep me up at night. And I currently live in a house with ample space, so there's no reason…

The Robin Hood path racer project, or, yet another new-to-me bike

So maybe you thought I could get through all of 2017 without acquiring another bike? Ha! I've acquired a new bike (or two) every year since 2006. While I wasn't on the lookout for another bike, sometimes bikes find me! Sometime in 2016, a local gent got in touch with me. Because I was a…

Nostalgia for past commutes sure beats nostalgia for past wars

Ah, nostalgia. Despite our smarter urges to avoid too much of it, it does get stronger as one gets older. And it's pretty common to get it from predictable triggers, like putting on an album that you haven't heard since high school will inevitably remind you of high school. But has a bike commute ever…