Two Things

A collection of oddball things from 1994

When I Die, So Will This Knowledge:

My mechanic friend, Ari, and I were discussing the techniques, tricks, and wisdom gained in the trade all the years we've been at this. Ari said to me, "(Do) you realize how much crap we know?!!!"

Things like which parts go with certain set ups. Take for instance the image here. A 1" steer tube, a cable hangar, and a threadless head set. What does this tell you? 

It tells me this is a super-rare set up. You see, 1" threadless steer tubes lasted about two years in the industry because threadless (1994) came in just as 1 1/8th was on the rise. Also, cantilever brakes were on the outs in 1996, as linear pull took over, so cable hangars for any sort of threadless steer tube were hard to find ten years on. This means that Ritchey cable hangar is a super-rare part. The stem isn't far off either. 

And check out those "lugs". It was a Bianchi thing. They claimed an ability to make any lug with any angle, a thing unheard of with investment cast lugs. Bianchi could do this because they TIG welded the lugs first to either the head tube or the bottom bracket shell. Then the lug was brass brazed to a frame tube, like a traditional lug, which Bianchi claimed gave the frame better vibration damping qualities. They had a name for this - "Super Lug". Yeah.....I know some pretty oddball factoids. 

I was trying to teach my assistant at the Collective how to set up a traditional cantilever brake with the straddle wire and cable carrier. He's well versed in linear pull brake set up but this was giving him fits. I told him, "Yeah, it's a pain in the ass but you have to just take your time to learn it." 

Today, we look for an app, a way to electronically adjust our, whatever, and if this isn't working right we throw a fit. We are helpless and stuck with no options. Well, it wasn't like this always. Mechanics could find a way. But as we make everything a device, we take away the ability to field service, or even service an item at all. 

And who knows how to fix that old stuff anyway. Answer: When I die, there will be one less person who does know how. 

I Used To Do That?!

Related to the bike above, which was donated to the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective late last year, is this bike sticker which was on it. I removed it for a reason. 

See, I designed the biker in the logo. 

I had forgotten I had done that. Long ago, before I even worked at Advantage Cyclery, I was a jeweler and where I worked we did all of our own design work. Not just jewelry, but advertising, logos, and we occasionally did work for other clients. Tom, who ran and owned Advantage Cyclery, found out I did this sort of work and suggested I give this idea he had for a logo a try. What you see on the sticker is what I drew up for him. 

It's no big deal. Just a logo for a long-forgotten Cedar Valley bicycle shop. But when I saw it, I was reminded of the days when I was spending time doing tons of design work. It was fun. Challenging, but fun. It is nice to be reminded that I did something cool one time. 

Ha!