Open Bicycle

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.  It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”

said E.F. Schumacher famously in an interview, though the quote is more often attributed to Einstein.  In any case, the sentiment is one that finds expression in many aspects of our lives, as we encounter design, organization, and objects that fill an existence and its days.  Allow me to take a few moments here to recognize some of the things in my life that embody the idea that simpler is better.

As I’ve been traveling, I’ve been taking constant notes- names, ideas, places… I found that of all the pens and such I carried with me,  it was my  Caran d’Ache Fixpencil77 leadholder that quickly migrated to my breastpocket alongside my mini-Moleskine.

Esteemed Swiss writing instrument manufacturer Caran d’Ache has been producing the Fixpencil since 1929, when the original model was the first drafting pencil to offer a pushbutton spring clutch.  The current mod. 77 leadholder still feeds an industry-standard 2mm lead and sports the same ergonomic hexagonal barrel as the original.  Made of matte black anodized aircraft aluminum and stainless steel; I count 6 parts to this fabulous pencil.  You’ll lose it (and regret it) before you break it or wear it out- about $20 at finer art supply shops.

Ah, the life of a bicycle mechanic.  Loads of money, adoring fans, but your hands?  The ravages of solvent-based dry lubes, Simple Green and Go-Jo will quickly have you wondering why your cuticles have gone all dendriform and whether you can save on steel wool by removing surface oxidization from components with your rough, dried-out fingers.  Add to this the casual but constant damage incurred with amateur interior remodeling and your dreams of hand-model stardom quickly evaporate.

My good friend Ling back in Boston gave me some Yu-Be lotion to travel with.  I admit I was hesitant at first- the lotion has an initial camphor note, leaving you with the impression that you’re moisturizing with Vick’s Vap-O-Rub, but the smell quickly subsides, leaving a pleasant clean scent and more importantly, an amazing non-greasy and therapeutic softness.  This stuff is all plant-based, not tested on animals, loaded with vitamins, and hails from Japan, land of serious business and exacting Keirin standards.  About 15 bucks for the 1.5oz tube, available at some Asian markets and heath food stores.

And speaking of damaged hands, nothing will tear your thumbnails away from the sensitive flesh they were meant to be attached to like trying to get a ever-so-slightly tight tire bead onto a ever-so-slightly large BSD rim.  Oh, you can curse and bitch, push and stare sullenly, break a few Pedro’s levers as you incorrectly attempt to ease the tire bead over the rim’s edge, but nothing will save you but the Simson tire tool.

Note the lack of hotlink?  That’s because the English motorcycle, bicycle chain, and random tool manufacturer Simson is long gone, and no one make this tool (or anything like it) any longer.  Plenty of implements exist on the market to help you get that stubborn tire OFF the rim, but when it comes to getting it back on, this is your only hope.  OPEN has one, courtesy Dean at Bike Central in Portland; feel free to come by and use it.  Made of some wonderful polycarbonate resin composite, composed of exactly two parts, and absolutely indispensable.

Unlike automobiles.  As I noted in my last post, more and more denizens of this fine planet find themselves doing without those ubiquitous status symbols and urban “necessities.”  They leave behind the gas pump prices, the insurance headaches, the depreciation and parking tickets.  Maybe they buy a bicycle built for two:

…or for four:

…or for eight (or more):

Dean at Clever Cycles, in SE Portland, sells all of these wonderful, simple machines.

Dean and his partners have been running their über-utilitarian (and stylish) boutique over on Hawthorne for the last two years.  They peddle folding bikes, bakfiets, workbikes, and human-powered trucks from all over the world.  Notably, most of the models intended for carrying more than just a person are imported from Europe, (often the Netherlands) although the Cetma flatbed bike (seen above with optional bench attachment above) is one of the locally produced products that are starting to appear.

Alongside the rugged two- and three-wheelers are racks of locally made cycling wear, imported LikeABikes, (I want to procreate just so I have an excuse to get one of these):

…more Bromptons in more colors that most people have seen in their lifetimes, hundreds of yards of Cordura worth of panniers, handlebar bags, and trailer covers, a nice selection of comfortable handlebars, a very cool contermporary Alex Moulton;

…longtails, sturdy racks, (house-brand electric-assist) Stokemonkey kits, a full-service shop, and many, many Brooks saddles:

I had, via the Internet, watched Clever Cycles grow and was thrilled to see how well the US’s first importer of European cargo bicycles has done.  The shop was clean and airly, with warm lighting and a smiling staff.  Dean and I talked a while about US recreational cycling culture and its transition to a holistic lifestyle.  If Dean’s experience is any indication, the outlook appears good- Portlanders are buying human-powered vehicles that replace cars.  And they’re using them.  I recalled the pizza and coffee delivery bikes I had seen downtown, the soccer moms pedaling their frontloaders home with groceries and kids, the Xtracycles I watched go over the Burnside bridge, burdened with boxes and lumber.

Bikes are uncomplicated things.  Humans are clever creatures.  I hope you see what I’m getting at here.  I forget who now- I think it was some anonymous Shaker philosopher or a prominent mathematitican- who once said, “That which is useful, is also beautiful.”  Cleverness is a a two-sided sword- in our quest to display the intricate mechanations of these big brains we have, we sometimes forget the elegance and joy of simple utility.

Bicycles are, in many ways, a path back away from the chasm opened by our own vanity, a turn from the abyss left over after our bent for complexity and trickiness has devoured all that was quiet and peaceful.  A calm night, feet on the pedals, the sound of tires on wet pavement and a perfectly tensioned chain, the strain in your legs as you climb the last hill home with a basket full of good food and cold beer- these are the pure and wonderful things, the clean and forever things in the moment; the simple, the simple, and the beautiful things with which we will repopulate our world.