Bike Hugger 

That’s Tallulah and Frannie out for an afternoon ride yesterday in Seattle. Tallulah carries her toy dog in the basket and Frannie teaches yoga in the neighborhood. These stylish cyclists were spotted in the Greenlake neighborhood.

As it was told to me by Nick Burlow

I’ve been bugging Shawn Small of Ruckus Components about setting up my ‘cross bike with custom eyelets on the WCS carbon fork, as well as some of their custom carbon fiber fenders. We finally got together and as I am not to picky, I gave them complete artistic freedom on the paint / design work.

Graham Adams, painter for Ruckus Components, used an old hot rodders’ trick by using lace and create a unique pattern.

Being made from carbon, the fenders are not only light, they are also very stiff. This allows the use of a single strut (hand bent on each install by Shawn). I love the clean look of this set up. The custom eyelets on the fork are done so well they look stock.

May take a cyclist that’s had a progression of rain bikes with fenders to fully appreciate this set up. They’re like Honjos, in carbon, with enough fender clearance for a ham-fisted UCI official to get his fat fingers in there measuring your tires. This setup includes Ruckus molding eyelets onto your existing fork.

See more photos from Ruckus Components on Flickr and learn more about this project on their site.

About a week ago, a couple of twenty-somethings from the British Isles traveling to California for holiday were detained by Homeland Security, due to some of the couple’s messages on the social networking media, Twitter. Irishman Leigh Van Bryan tweeted something along the line of the two coming to “destroy America” and “dig up” the grave of Marilyn Monroe. When they arrived in the states, agents detained them for hours, questioning them, and finally deporting them. According to Van Bryan’s travel companion, Brit Emily Banting, agents did not find the messages very funny. Agents actually searched their baggage looking for spades/shovels for grave-digging Monroe’s corpse. So instead of long holiday of partying stateside, which the suspects claim was meant by “destroying” America, the couple were sent right back home.

I am continually shocked by how government officials overstep their authority. I’m not talking about firm action against perceived threats broadcast on Twitter. This is a necessary move since Twitter became the preferred media to disseminate revolutionary manifestos from 21st century intellectual giants like Paris Hilton and that one college kid on the Gringrich staff who knows how to use the app. It is for our protection that Skynet automatically scans the entire Twittersphere tirelessly looking for dangerous instigators. If at 2:15am on Sunday I tweet that I am looking for co-conspirators to go pissing in public fountains, you should feel relieved that the government will move to keep the peace. No, what I am disturbed about is how Marilyn Monroe’s grave has been upgraded to a national monument without the proper public process. Even if JFK thought that was a sweet piece of tail, there are proper procedures for doing these kind of things, even if we have an immediate need to defend her 50yrs dead booty from foreign nationals.

But underneath the apparent farce, it is clear that Homeland Security has missed the true dangers to our society, the threat from within.

Twelve years ago skateboarder and film auteur Jeremy Klein created “Destroying America”, a virtual Devil’s Cookbook of subversive acts. Also involved in the film were Erik Estrada and a young actress/martial artist named Ming Tran. And today, Estrada is a deputy sheriff and Ming Tran is an airline pilot. Surely this is neither a coincidence nor a joke. We don’t need to look to other countries to have something to fear.

Enough of this hero v. villain in a corrupt sport, how ‘bout some Road Bikes Doing Stunts! Then ask, why don’t they just do this on BMX bikes? Cause one jump too many and the trick-riding Bro is going get some carbon shards up his ass. HT Stevil.

EE Brake with burnt cork

Had the Venge out on Saturday and it’s bedazzled with EE Brakes. Learned, as I plummeted down Novelty Hill, that you need to pull them to brake and then pull them some MORE, THEN MORE.

They work well and I like a good modulating brake, but I just hadn’t pushed the bike to the limits yet on a descent that steep. The back side of Novelty into Carnation is as steep as traffic engineers will allow.

Next time will brake earlier and harder. As a roleur, I can descend. So I dropped down Novelty, like I always do chasing the skinny-fawk climbers and

Oh! forgot I had super-lightweight, crazy-machined brakes on this bike … oh, ooh wait, ok, now under control, whoa!

On a longer descent, there would’ve been more time to adjust, shift my weight, and sit up straight to scrub speed with my chest. The brakes didn’t let me down, I just didn’t have time to grab more of them before that first turn and the suicide intersection at the bottom. As new new brit friend said in a thick accent

Smelled your brakes down the whole hill. A very distinctive smell.

After Cross season and riding in Maui, it took a while for my muscle memory to remember the road yesterday with fast pace lines and tempo climbing, but once they did, it was all good.

Yum!

Strava gave the route and effort a suffer score of 100. Don’t know what that means, other than, I was thinking about Taco Time’s new sweet potato Mexi-Fries around mile 50.

Announced yesterday that we’ve added a second date to our Mobile Socials at SXSW. We’re riding social twice. The first ride is on Saturday with Tweet House and arrives at Mellow Johnnys. The second is on Sunday and that’s around Austin with Social Cycling ATX and Tern.

At SXSW

For 5 years, +Bike Hugger has represented the intersection of bikes, technology and culture at SXSW. You’re welcome to join us for our annual social ride(s) with SXSW attendees and locals.

We’ll ride, blog, and party.

Event Details are here and on Facebook please RSVP.

Meet Spot, Route

The meet spot and route are subject to change. Watch for updates from us as the dates get closer.

You know, I really like socks. An ex-girlfriend said that I was overly obsessed, because I really don’t like the feeling of leaving the house without socks. But who does? Anyways, I came across this photo, and it really caught my eye, seeing as it portrays Bianchi bikes and socks with girls, which are two of my favourite subjects. If you prefer socks with guys, well….if that’s how your gear shifts, whatevs….I just happen to like socks with girls.

From Shamanx

We wear kit and plain-clothes, depending on the ride

Pfftt! whatever to Velo Couture, Cycle Chic, and other stereotypes from @bikeyface. She wears what she wants. She also calls out the cycling creepers taking photos of women on bikes and how they use those images to further their own, self-centered, euro-centric agendas.

Erect baguette is a nice touch

Thanks for that dose of Political Bike Satire. Please may we have another. This time with tweed?

Illustrations by Bikeyface. Originals on Flickr. Posted on her blog too.

I attended a media event last time to celebrate the opening of the Gates Foundation Visitor Center. One of the most engaging exhibits is a wall where you share what you’d do with all the money. Of course, I said I’d give bikes away.

I would!

I’d attach some strings though with economic incentives or make sure the bikes went to Bros like this. They deliver medicine.

Santosh and Vikas are Bros that ride bikes delivering medicine

View more photos from the event on G+ and Flickr and I recommend you visit the center next time your in downtown Seattle. I don’t know museum science or that art enough to talk it more than what I experienced, but it follows the openness of the Gates Foundation new campus. That’s where they’ve also got the most massive bike parking I’ve ever seen. It’s for all their employees that bike to work.

A hallway for the kids to run around doing stuff

Moser on the cover

Jan Heine’s new book is shipping at the end of this month and pre-ordering now on Amazon.com for $31.26.

The Competition Bicycle will inspire cyclists and design lovers alike. The evocative, detail-rich photographs display the history of the bicycle, from racing high-wheelers to modern racing bikes with carbon-fiber disc wheels. Exceptional handcrafted machines ridden by great champions illustrate milestones in the mechanics and craftsmanship of bicycle design.

Why helmets were invented

The book chronicles our instinct to race and the machines we built to go faster, including penny-farthings and the modern, carbon frame.

Like a pentagram frame

It’s been a while since Jan and I have debated 650bs and 6 speeds, which were the new old thing 2 years ago. I see him occasionally dropping off copies of the Bicycle Quarterly at Mark V’s shop.

Like the messengers after them, paperboys delivered papers on bikes like this

Congratulations are deserved for getting the book out and then we’ll get right to the questions about tire pressure and his choices on what bikes to include in the book.