That is correct, the Times is changing. Two or three years ago the New York Times was publishing articles about hybrid vehicles and improved public transportation, now it’s Dutch Bicycles, three-piece suits and wool cycling jerseys.
With all of this fresh press has come fresh criticism – some of which I am a bit a bothered by. So, my response: Anyone stating that these articles are nothing but an attempt to turn cycling into a fashion show and a promotion to the well-to-do is absolutely close-minded. Anything that promotes riding a bicycle is good in my book, whether its riding a Traitor in cut-off Dickies and Vans or a Dutch bicycle in tailored trousers and Sidi’s. To each his own; convert a basement find or call Independent Fabrications – at the end of the day, it all takes self-motivation and two wheels. I have come to accept the fact that as the popularity of a subject increases, so does the criticism – its an unfortunate habit of pop culture. However, this isn’t a heavily charged topic, we are talking about bicycles, just bicycles! It should be considered one of America’s pasttimes, after all, for most, it is a nostalgia of childhood.
If you didn’t catch yesterdays article in the NYT, Riding the IT Factor, I suggest should read it. The article is focused around the WWII-era Dutch Bicycle, something that we and the rest of Somerville are quite fond of. My only real gripe with the article is a statement that attorney James Vicente made, “I never ride with a helmet either, even when people are telling me I’m an idiot. Riding a bike should be normal, and you shouldn’t have to wear a funny Styrofoam hat.” I don’t really know what to say about his comment, except that anyone who thinks wearing a helmet alienates you from the cycling norm has probably hit the pavement one too many times. The ostensibly well-educated attorney was also discredited after the article noted he rides a fixed-conversion, and then quoting him saying, “Juxtapose that (the dutch bicycle) with the most fashionable bikes in New York now, the fixed-gear bikes, which are really impractical.” I completely disagree with the statement that the fixed-gear bicycle is impractical, but we’ll save that conversation for another time.
If you missed the April 2, 2009 article, In These Clothes, You Can Go Far, it provides a good look into Rapha. With all of this said, it is great to see publications such as the NYT investing resources and time into cycling, anything that promotes riding a bicycle is good in my book. Now Go Ride Your Bike!
So we heard that the internets are pretty cool these days, and decided that we would build ourselves a little webstore. v1.0 is pretty simple; we’ll be adding more products and functionality improvements every day.
We found these vintage 80’s Nike cyclocross kicks a while back (I would say we found them in the basement, but the whole shop is in the basement, so it would be somewhat redundant)- I think they’re back in style full force! Nylon & suede uppers in hot colors, stiff integrated “cleated” sole. Nearly NOS- check them out!
Finally, our first product drop – Gage & Desoto. For those of you living locally, Mike (the brain behind G&D) was once a Boston resident. He ventured to New York and started up this project during last year, keeping his designs mostly focused on cycling heritage, with a mild splash of current day culture. Mike’s shirts are printed in Manhattan and the quality is great, which is why we’re happy to be the ones representing him in Boston. Here’s what we’ve got, starting with my personal favorite, the gold on black C-Record tee:
This tee is a bit cryptic to most; a set of Campagnolo component icons used in their mid-1980’s to early 1990’s catalogs. I’m a huge fan of iconic graphic identities, great design is timeless:
Here’s an example of the icons in use, pulled from the 1990 Chorus catalog:
In 1989, Greg LeMond’s 55×12 ratio in the final time trial stage into Paris brought him from 50 seconds back to win the Tour de France by an 8 second margin. The graphic accentuates LeMond’s goggles, the Oakley Factory Pilots, which became a bit more popular after his win. Sprinting to victory at an average of 34.52mph, one of the fastest TT speeds in Tour history, LeMond definitely deserves his own tee:
Finally, we come to Mr. Eddy Merckx. This man is well known for winning more races than anyone else in the history of competitive cycling: 11 Grand Tours, 28 Classic Races, 4 World Championships, 27 Track races (including 17 six-day races) and a he held the hour record for a long, long time – Enough said:
I’ve thrown one of our in-house, handmade SeedSewn caps next to each of the tees, these things have been quite the favorite this week, so I figured, “what the heck.” Products are available via our (new!) webstore.
From the website… “Since launching these pants in October, the response has been tremendous — no, ridiculously, mind-bogglingly tremendous. Most every day, a new blog talks ‘em up and we keep cranking out production run after production run to keep up with demand. A sampling of this growing pants phenomenon: Gizmodo, Bike Hugger, Tree Hugger,Boing Boing, Eco Velo, Thrillist, and more. Best of all, they’ve inspired fun things like this instructables contest and the great (though wet) Rollin’ Lightnin’ time change ride. Seems like we’re on to something here, and we look forward to expanding upon this idea. As always, we love your photos and feedback. “
In the words of Lupe…
“We tryna go up in this club
Show a little love
Get a few drinks
Holla at some girls Snatch up a pair
Leave outta there
Put some dro in tha air
And then go and get some grub.”
David over at Fixtee just informed me about their latest shirt, The GT. My main man Steve loves the triple-triangle GT, so we’ll give this a thumbs up. Besides the bike, I like the skewed position of the graphic and the face reminds me a little of Zlog’s identity. Grab one over at the Fixtee online shop!
An old friend of mine had sent me a link to this shirt a little bit ago and I’m glad I put off commenting on it, because Prolly did quite a great job. His commentary is below the image:
This is what happens when I vent, to clarify, Ray and I exchanged emails and we’ve talked about the shirt. I can see his point and he sees mine. For the record, I do like Mighty Healthy’s work, which is why this kinda annoyed me.
Karmaloop, the trendy streetwear online shop filled with tired-ass clothing has a shirt by trendy streetwear brand Mighty Healthy expressing how “over” a fad they never were a part of in the first place they are. Karmaloop has a history of wigger jocks venting about “fixies”.
What’s the matter dude, you fall off your bike trying to ride it? At the end of the day, you’re STILL selling a shirt with a track bike on it. Hypocrites. Maybe if you were really into something because you liked it and not because it was or is a trend, you’d understand. It’s like all the people who front off by saying “I was into it, before it was big”. GOOD. Move onto your next obsession. The bike looks like an Affinity frameset too… Really hitting close to home clown (Via Prolly / Via Tracko)
My boy ‘Do You Know’ Clarence gave me the heads up on a little promo Rapha is doing for us Bostonians – The Boston Bundle. The Bundle consists of a Winter Jersey, Winter Hat, Fixed base layer and a pair of Winter Socks – they claim its all we’ll need to brave the freezing cold weather! You’ve got until February 15th to drop $340 on the collection, which is marked 25% below retail – I wish they knew it was cold until June and kept that sale for a few more months! The Winter Jersey is very high quality and well detailed, especially the back (pics via Rapha):
