23.5+++ years ago I was sitting in a chair at UBI in Ashland when Ron Sutphin introduced me to Bicycles & Tricycles, Archibald Sharp’s book, first published in 1896. In the context of bike industry trends. Comes around, goes around. Building better mousetraps. Reinventing the wheel, again and again. Slicing sliced bread in new but barely different ways.
Like all the horseshit trendy trends you’re trying to keep up with on Radavist…
1896 bro. 1896. Eighteen Ninety fucking Six. You want to talk about disc wheels…….open your texts to page 352. Direct drive. Chain links. Loose balls. Elliptical chainrings. Crank length. Q-factor. Wheel size. Bigger tires. Brass nipples. Been there. Done that. Like so 130+ years ago bro.
Recollecting on this brings me joy as I ponder gravel bike hipsters, the PDX bike vortex and Lime Bike gliders to the left of me.
In 2003 I was attending UBI after quitting the messenger thing for the third or fourth or fifth time. I liked bikes and I thought I knew a thing or two about bikes. Then I went to UBI and got a job in a bike shop then two and realized I didn’t know so much. Not so much at all. Then I went back to being a messenger for 07+ more years.
Then I turned in my NEXTEL for real and worked at MAD FIBER for a bit, just a smidge. A carbon fiber sliver in a finger on the little hand on the clock of this timeline soaked in acetone. And then. And then. And then I worked at Bike Works for 5 years and that’s where I learned a shitton about bikes. That’s where I learned something about bikes behind the scenes with all the glossy horseshit trendy trends ground down to the really real. Dumpster loads of it. Sincerely for real. Really.
Tricycles & Bicycles
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