Spoke Count is a Chorus Gallery-hosted collaborative installation featuring 100+ small works about bikes by various artists from the community. The show is open submission- that means you, dear reader! Your work can be on any type of media and in any genre or format- we only ask that there be some reference to bicycles in the piece and the finished work be 8″x8″ and able to be hung. It is estimated that there currently exist over one billion bicycles in the world- this show will attempt to visualize this (growing) mass of our favorite revolutionary transport.
Submissions are open to anyone- complete the form at the Chorus Gallery website to participate. Deadline for work is 5p January 7th- show reception is 7p, January 9th 2010.
Our Fedex driver dropped off of a box of brand new Ironclad gloves.
This time our friendly shop manager JT tested the Cold Condition gloves. After lighting them on fire, he dunked his hand completely under water, and his hands came out perfectly dry.
All sizes are back in stock and ready to keep your hands warm and dry.
Every week, we are faced with the prospect of dozens of busted and rusted wheels, frames and components. Fodder for the dumpster, we sigh reluctantly. Today, our friend and benevolent landlady Wenzday over at Metro Pedal Power let us know that there were some folk close by that would collect the scrap metal parts for reuse and recycling. Hopefully, this will mean that the dumpster isn’t overflowing any longer and that we aren’t contributing to the equally overflowing landfill problem…
Everyone know recycling is a good thing. The ubiquitous green triangle arrow signs constantly remind us of the active role we play in a finite system. In considering our shop’s impact and position, both globally and locally, I was reminded of an Internet Manifesto (I know, I know…) that I ran across a bit back that is worth considering:
At times, we here in the OPEN shop find ourselves facing a dilemma. A component on a customers bike is broken or damaged, and we recognize two alternative paths of action. We could spend an hour or two disassembling the part, scrounging for a replacement pin or bushing, and inevitably one-off manufacturing something that will work (and often times work better than the original). It generally is easier (and more profitable, of course) to toss the broken mechanism in the trash and sell the customer a new, if perhaps lower quality, part. That sort of solution, however, lacks the personal satisfaction of the repair and the greater utilitarian good of reducing consumption.
Is it counter-productive of me to discourage consumption? In the end, I believe not- it’s not that I naively think that one can exist in our contemporary Western society without buying new things- the manic-depressive Massachusetts seasons require a closet full of gear and outerwear, your bike will wear through tires and chains as you put in the miles, etc. I don’t think that helping people spend less, consume less, and ultimately demand less production means that I’m shooting myself in the foot as a business owner- as I personally enjoy the meta-material relationship of a repairer to “repairee” more than the reductive relationship of the seller to consumer, and as people (re)learn to appreciate and support the craft and art of expert repair, I think that my business will flourish.
To this end, we are offering, as is appropriate this time of year as we are all looking for something thoughtful and expressive for our loved ones, OPEN Shop gift certificates. These cards, unlike out standard certificates, are good only for labor and repair time. Here’s the deal: insofar as we want to promote the repair and utility of the bicycles we so dearly love, we’ll match you dollar for dollar on these certificates. Buy your guy a $100 card, we’ll pay $50. Get your wife credit for 2 tune-ups for her daily commuter and we’ll cover the cost of one. The idea here is give the gift of repair- we’re not going to look over your shoulder but we’re trying to encourage the growth of local personal human services over that of crude consumption of imported future landfill real estate.
There’s no expiration date on the certificates. Any denomination (US$ or equivalent) is fine with us. For the record, comprehensive tunes are $60, rebuilding your French BB about $25, and a complete service of your 55 year-old Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub about $50. Anything else you can think of / make-up / inspire us to try: $60/hr. E-mail me with any questions.
We take product selection and testing very seriously here at OPEN. After looking into the various gloves marketed by cycling apparel manufacturers, we decided that every offering had some flaws- not weather-proof enough, too much padding, or simply too expensive. We started looking elsewhere- surely there was someone making gloves that would keep your hands dry and toasty throughout the climate-change ravaged Northeast winters? The solution, we found, was in workwear. A few of us had been very happy with our Ironclad mechanics gloves, and we decided to investigate their other models.
Ironclad has been making technical gloves for industrial, construction, and military use since 2005, utilizing cutting-edge fabrics and rugged design. Their gloves are ergonomically fitted, well priced, extremely durable, and (we think) stylish. We brought in two models, the Tac-Ops (Teflon-impregnated, stealthy black, thin and flexible; perfect for cool weather riding or covert spy missions) and the Cold Condition Waterproof (seriously dunk-your-hands-in-a-bucket waterproof, insulated, and featuring good knuckle protection; these are the gloves oil rig workers in Alaska use, and probably too warm for any day above 40 degrees), $26 and $40 respectively. We feel like that’s a lot of glove for short money, but we decided to put these gloves to the test. Jeremy offered to check the Tac-Ops purported fire and oil resistance:
The gloves stood up to JT’s pyromania, and also passed the immediately-following dunk test. We’re proud to offer these quality gloves, lacking in bike-chic brand labels (and associated price tags) as the ideal solution for your frozen fingers. All sizes now in stock, here at OPEN.
