the peugeot finds a home

and they're off!

good-bye brown girl in the lane and welcome bikeSD

my philosophy on blogging is that there are no rules.  I am beholden to no-one, not even myself, really.   As such, one of my "goals" for this blog is to feature all the other bike blogs that I read and love.  suffice it to say little of that coverage has happened, but before the moment slips away forever, I want to recognize Samantha Ollinger (Sam) and her now defunct blog, brown girl in the lane.

I met up with Sam for a ride during a trip to SD in 2011

Sam is an articulate and brave cyclist with a wry sense of humor, dispatching from sad diego, my home town.  I call it sad diego, because I find it tragic that such a beautiful place was designed for cars not people.  My approach to cycling there, live somewhere else.   Sam's approach is far more courageous and elegant.  She went from writing a scathing, funny blog, brown girl in the lane, to launching BikeSD, a non-profit bike advocacy organization for San Diego.  I am so happy and proud to see her energy transformed into what is sure to amount to improved conditions for cyclists in San Diego and which could make it one of the best cycling cities in the world!   Kudos, Beany!  love, 1 of the 190

md MD

md is a med student that needs a bike.  in her cohort is jg,  an old classmate of mine. he got a bike from me this year and recently referred md my way.  she is 6 feet tall and has a vintage classic style.    sure enough my bike collection contained a large frame peugeot mixte, which I have dialed in and tuned up for ms. md, MD.  here she is.  the seat will be about 3 inches higher for md!

made in france


drivetrain with shimano positron 5 speed shifting


she is a cafe racer with red cloth tape and wood/leather bar end plugs

i threw on a us army saddle bag for holding stuff

we took this little french pony for a test ride today and she posed for the camera at UCSF, md's school.

overall we hope md thinks this bike is

real nice.

farewell bianchi

this is my husband frida khalo
 this is frida in 2009 on the bianchi volpe he has been riding for the last 5 years, ever since his fuji bike was stolen from the lobby of our apartment building.  

the bianchi was stolen recently from behind a security gate, locked with a u-lock to a bike rack, outside of frida's office in the lovely media gulch neighborhood of the mission, sf, ca.   since the photo above, I installed honjo fenders and a VO porteur rack, which frida used to carry his basketball to games.   adios  fair friend.    I didn't sleep well last night, thinking about our lost friend, the bianchi. she was like a horse to us.

love like you've never been hurt before

please enjoy this video of the san francisco bike wedding of Greg and Mel.   Cry your eyes out and love like you've never been hurt before.

bike brains

not sure who to credit for this awesome graphic. if you know, please share. the quote reads, *the computer is like a bicycle for our brains*, but I prefer to interpret the meaning as, *bikes on brain*. I certainly do have them on mine.

on the wiggle

my friend lawrence created this awesome pop jingle as a public service announcement for one of san francisco's best known bike lane secrets, the wiggle.  Snoball and Ramona are featured all over this video, can you see us?

 

back in the day before there were bike lanes, the wiggle was identifiable by riding from the intersection at duboce and church toward the panhandle- by always selecting the flattest direction of travel at each subsequent intersection. Now, as of yesterday, BTWD, the wiggle not only has a jingle with a video, it has has painted sharrows at Waller and Steiner,  one of the most controversial intersections on the route, to alert drivers that this is a bike route and to advise them of the cyclist's probable path

.

photo credit: caltexican

Great advocacy work, Lawrence (for the Wiggle PSA) and the Bike Coalition (for the sharrrows and bike lanes)!

Kick Start MamakSF

Editor's Note: There may be someone that reads this blog, but does not read Velo Vogue.  This cross post is for you! 

Ian Deleporte is an amazing member of the San Francisco bike community and the kind of guy that makes you just happy to be.   Combine his awesome personality with smarts, skills, and the flavors of a Malaysian heritage and you have mamakSF.    Watch the video to see Ian's plan for building a food cart bicycle, from which he will serve up Malaysian inspired foods like Toadies and Rojak, and then kickstart this awesome effort with a little collective love.



Want to taste first? You'll  be able to try mamakSF wares this Saturday, May 12 at the Public Bikes pop up shop grand opening party at 599 Valencia St. from 2-6.   MamakSF will be serving alongside Hot Bike and The Pop Nation, two other non-motorized mobile food businesses.

a post in which i convey a message from one friend to another

step 1:  play video.  insert your name instead of rudy.


step 2:  look at this face

step3: receive message:  This is JustDave saying hi to YOU!

building the mercian: wheels part I

i think an essential skill in bike mechanics is building wheels so I decided its time for me to learn. frankly, I am intimidated. while simple, its complicated, and after all, there are mechanics that are known for the integrity of their wheel builds.  Who am I?  I am a first timer, and just want to build some decent wheels and be dependent on no one.  I watched this video series and decided I could build a wheel.



To get started, I went down to Box Dog Bikes, the shop closest to my house, to pick up some parts. I had a set of record hubs, so I just needed rims and spokes. While I bought a set of rannondeur rims from BDB, I decided to not get spokes from them.  Besides the fact that Dan, who helped me, seemed completely unimpressed and unengaged when I talked to him about the wheel build, he quoted me $140 for spokes, uninstalled.  They cut their spokes to size, which means I would have had to wait a day to get the spokes, and the price was ridiculous.   I decided to find a shop where I could walk out with spokes, and hopefully where the person seemed half interested in my project.   Thanks for the nice rims, BDB.

I called Pedal Revolution, they also cut spokes to size and their machine was broken.  No dice.

I called Valencia Cyclery and they carry different sized spokes and will measure the length for you if you bring in your rims and hubs, so I dropped in.  Michael helped me and was all I could ask for in a bike shop mechanic.  He was full of questions, to make sure I was legit; tips to make sure I was successful; and warnings to make sure I was realistic.   I was pretty scared after talking to him about taking on the project, but he sensed this and offered up encouragement. He calculated the spoke lengths for me, got me the right sizes, gave me some build tips and I was out the door for $65 with my  bike coalition discount.

Michael from Valencia Cyclery was awesome and interested, and even went to the retail shop next door to get me a spoke wrench, which I purchased along with the spokes and nipples.  You can't fake customer service and michael is the real deal.  Thank you! 

With spokes rims and hubs in hand, I laced up the wheels according to the video Part 2. Of note the video does not mention that you need three different lengths of spokes: 1 for front wheel, 2 for drive side of rear wheel, 3 rear wheel non-drive.  Michael told me at the shop.  I watched a few other videos and asked some questions of friends to assist in correct implementation.



I'll spare the boring details, but each wheel was laced two times, each for a different reason.  Lacing was easy and gratifying in an ocd kind of way.

The wheels are laced, tightened up, ready to be trued.  Truing is the hard part.  Coming soon.

velo vogue: susie

faithful readers, you may know that I post fashion related bike stuff at velo vogue, in addition to what you see here at Wheelright. Below is a post that i made for VV but thought I should share here too:

meet Susie!

today, the first sunday streets of the year opened the embarcadero for a six hour celebration of glorious car free public space. Susie was my favorite person of the day, a new commuting cyclist and attorney whose firm reimbursed her for her new ride. yay, for employer supported cycling! Decked out in red boots, houndstooth wool, and a union jack helmet, Susie is style.

NAHBS: Michael Cleaver

hey there mike cleaver. nice to see you at NAHBS. your bike was lovely as are you in a little bastard kind of way. mama loves you even so.

cleaver you brought this awesome long john. i especially like the bucket and am intrigued by the potbellied truss.

inside the bucket, a street sign. delightful!

pd bird

  photo by calvinfornia

This is patricia dolores bird, a green cheek conure (cinnamon mutation) that rides around san francisco with her cycling father. I have a male green cheek conure, chicken. I dream of an arranged marriage for these two cute birds, but it isnt very realistic right now since chicken doesnt come out on the bike with me. We've done it before, but I am afraid chicken will fly off and get lost. maybe if I partially clip his wings, so he can fly but not far, then he and pd can roll out together.

ghost riding with babochkov

sometimes i get down on myself for missing rides, but really i ride just about everyday and everywhere. often i ride with G and A. last night A hit a pothole and crashed. this is a too short, but sweet video of G ghost riding with A's bike after A took off in an ambulance. We were riding with a sound system, hence the music. (can you name the tune?) below behold A.

photo by babochkov

Super Grandpa Rig

Here is a post I guest wrote for CYLRAB. Figured since it is so great, and it is my work I will post it here too, for all my loyal readers and commenters. The first time I saw this man I was in awe. The second time, I recognized him as I made out his form up the block and whipped out my camera. Ah-ma-zing.



Once a life has been changed by cycling, the notion of not riding becomes a threat to all that is good and true. As demonstrated here by Super Grandpa, of San Francisco, no expense will be spared to accommodate the aging cyclist in her/his quest to be mobile. Do you know someone who exudes this sentiment and clearly will always ride? Do you know this man, whose image was captured on Dolores Street? I'd love to learn more about him and how he fashioned his bike support system, as I figure I will be doing the same in a few decades.

one minute ride

today turning from market onto dolores I saw this pack of bmx kids and stopped to shoot their photo, just as they started rolling out.



They all lined up at 14th street waiting for the light so they could bomb the hill, something I do just about every morning (except i dont wait for the light, I either bomb it or stop at the bottom depending on the timing.)



so i made a quick decision to roll down the hill with them and video it. The result is 51 seconds of fun. If i reacted quicker, I wouldnt have had to shift gears up, as you will see near the end. bad videography and all, I find this really awesome.

yuki rolls the manta ray

Yuki with the manta ray and mike's single speed lovely- photo by iron mike

Dear faithful readers and those new to wheelright,

This blog is about rides I don't take. this post, however, has a twist, it's about a ride I facilitated by loaning out one of my prized rusty possessions, the schwinn manta ray. This stripped down oversized stingray sports white wheels from a 24 inch hollywood and a special ape hanger specific basket. My friend iron mike wanted to roll with yuki, visiting from out of town, and she needed a bike. At 5 feet tall, Yuki fit perfectly on the manta ray (and the run a bout, but with 16 inch wheels,that bike isn't too practical for longer rides). We lowered the banana seat, and she was off, for about a 10 mile ride. It makes me happy to have bikes for friends. Next post, I promise, will be about a ride I take.

love, ramona wheelright

p.s. here is what a fully loaded manta ray looks like

midsummer night's ride

midsummer's day is old school for summer solstice and that was yesterday and so an extension of this idea gives us the title of this post. below is a picture from david nichols, presumably taken from his iphone tonight while experiencing the presidio from butterlap, a weekly san francisco night time loop group ride. some times this spot is perfect for viewing an iridescent sunset. tonight, it was still light, the horizon nestled between gray clouds. i didn't make the ride due to a flat tire and not enough ganas to fix it 'right now' and as I look at the still light 9pm sky and david's photo, I am now deeply remorseful for not pushing through, fixing the tire, and riding. lesson for next time.

Audrey is good

rambona

this is what I look like.