The Bicycle Shop Decal Project

Found this fun site - well, fun to bike geek me - that posts nothing but dealer stickers.  Old school and new.  Current and long gone shops.  Little adhesive backed pieces of bike culture and history.

My old shop, Whippany Cycle, where I spun wrenches and made a few friends for life back in the early '80s, even featured for all to gawk at.  I got a kick out of cruising though the pics - shops I've visited, purchased from, or know folks that worked there - cool little reminders.

Maybe you'll get a kick out of it too...

Xtracycle in Action

A few months ago, while I was selling off some old bike items to finance some new rides for Ian and I, my neighbor gave me two old bikes collecting dust in his garage. One of 'em being a nice old school Giant mountain bike, complete with XT group and rigid fork. Bike was clean, but sporting a huge frame - around a 21" seat tube. I immediately thought of my old pal John, back east, who earlier emailed about creating a utility bike for daily use.

A deal was struck, bike boxed up, and sent to the DC area for it's new life. John did complete the project, installing a Xtracycle kit to the old Giant. It came out pretty sweet, a cool useful rig. Pic below as completed.

This week I received a pic of John giving his daughter a lift to school on the Xtracycle. That's Mollie hitching a free ride while catching up on some reading. Awesome. John mentioned Mollie now rides her own bike to school. Even more awesome. Eventually Mollie will probably be hauling the old man around the on Xtracycle, having things come full circle.

John and I met back in the early '80s while spinning wrenches at Whippany Cycle. John later went on to form Ozone Action - group of folks to point out companies that produce chemicals destroying the ozone layer. After that, a multi-year stint as Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. He's now combining his economics background and environmental expertise to help fund various environmental causes. Super intelligent guy and damn funny as well. I always get a kick out of hearing from him. A Google search on John Passacantando will get you more info my old bike shop pal. Not bad for a bike mechanic from New Jersey.

Super cool seeing this old mountain bike get a new lease on life. What a perfect use for it, I think you'd have to agree. The Xtracycle kit is pretty freaking neat. I also dig the wave of complete utility and transportation bikes that have hit the market over the last few years. These are the types of bikes that could bump up bike use for "regular" folk, not just bike enthusiasts. Wear street clothes, buzz down to the store and carry a few bags of groceries home. It just makes too much sense. If I had some extra dough to burn, would build up a utility bike to toy around with. Being ex-motorcycle guy, I'd even mess around with electric assist on the rig. Would be a fun project.

For now, a messenger bag and my current pile of bikes work just fine for daily use. Even so, I find the utility style of bike a fascinating addition to the scene and hope to spot more of 'em in use.

1986 Miyata Team - Yes Please

I spotted this sweet '86 Miyata Team on eBay, offered for sale by The Pros Closet. It looks super clean and in perfect shape. They're asking $900 and if I didn't have about two zillion items more important to spend $900 on, it be on its way here via a big brown truck. It's even my size. Damn.

I have a soft spot for Miyata bikes of that era - which happens to be my bike shop era. I spun wrenches in a shop from '81 to '84 or so. Whippany Cycle, located in scenic Whippany New Jersey. I assembled many Miyatas at that time and always dug their higher end road bike models - the 912, the Pro, and the Team. I never purchased one, but should have. I did wind up buying a Miyata mountain bike however, but that's another story.

I occasionally cruise eBay searching for a clean example, this one is the best I've seen.....

Old school Dura-Ace and steel fork. Very nice indeed.

More old Dura-Ace goodness. Only 6 speeds. Go ahead, count 'em.

Man, that's clean. I always dug the blue color of the Pro and Team models.

Ah, downtube friction shifters. Somewhere, Grant Petersen nods his head in approval.

Old school Turbo saddle. I still run one of these on my RB-1.

Very, very nice. Yeah, modern carbon bikes rock - but don't match this era of old school steel for style.

Oh well, the cleanest example I've ever witnessed. Not gonna happen, unless Santa is watching. I promise - I'll be good all year. Really.

Ode to the Flickstand

Back in my bike shop days, the fairly ancient times of the early '80s, spinning wrenches at Whippany Cycle - conveniently located in Whippany, New Jersey - many bikes still sported kickstands. Yup, kickstands - those goofy appendages that allegedly hold your bike upright at rest.

We'd have rows of bikes lined up outside, awaiting repairs, all happily leaning on their kickstands. Most new bikes were outfitted with one before they left the shop, just another way to add a bit of accessory dough to the sale. We sold a truckload of Greenfield stands back in the day.

For lower end bikes, kickstands - not a problem. At times however, people purchasing a higher end bike would request one as well. We'd internally cringe, while politely trying to talk the customer out of it. It adds weight, it just not done on a "nicer" bike - plus on some bikes, you couldn't even remove the rear wheel once it was fitted - since it took up space on the chainstays and blocked the rear wheel from being removed. Unbolting the kickstand, before removing the rear wheel, kills some of the "quick" in "release".

Even after the "kickstand talk", some people were not deterred. That's when we offered the "Flickstand" as a compromise. This little gizmo was made by Rhode Gear and clamped around the downtube. Once adjusted, it allowed a wire section to fold into the front tire - locking it and letting your bike rest against a wall, fence, or whatever - without rolling or having the front wheel flop around. It actually worked really well and we sold lots of 'em.

Still, I hated the way it blocked the downtube logo and thought the thing was a waste. Who cares though? If it made people happy and scored a few bucks for the shop - so what.

As far as I know, Rhode Gear is out of business, though Greenfield survives to this day - still manufacturing kickstands, right here in the good ol' USA. There's something to celebrate about that fact.

In this modern era of bicycle retailing, how many bikes go out the door with kickstands? I'm guessing not many, since most road bikes are race oriented. I can still see a use for them on cargo bikes and recreation rigs though.

With the increased interest in basic transportation bikes - maybe a Flickstand come back? If so, I'll gladly show you how to mount one up - just for old time sake.