88bikes Foundation – a nonprofit organization that gives bikes to kids in developing countries – announced today that it has been selected by the Nell Newman Foundation to receive a grant supporting its newest project, Asha 2012. The Seattle organization’s sixth and most ambitious project to date, Asha 2012 will endow bicycles to thousands of girls – primarily those who having endured and transcended slavery and abuse – living in regions from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia. The first endowment of bikes will take place in Summer 2012.

88bikes is currently accepting sponsorships of $88 per bike for Asha 2012. Donations can be made online at www.88bikes.org. Donors are asked to email a picture of themselves, to be presented with the bike. In return, 88bikes sends back a photo of the child with her new bike and her donor’s picture.

This tandem is just mid-blowing. With a 44cm captain’s seat tube and 42cm stoker, this bike has the lowest standover for any tandem this side of a Bike Friday. Judging by the components, I’d say that Landshark’s John Slawta built this bike in the mid-1990s. If I had a girlfriend who was a) really into cycling and b) even shorter than me, I’d buy this tandem. It’s steel, has one of Landshark’s crazy paint schemes, and weighs just 34-lbs with pedals. 23mm tires are awfully skinny for a tandem though, but Terry Cycles markets some 650Cx28mm rubber. Or maybe I’d build up some 26” wheels and use longer reach calipers with some 26x1.25” Panaracers.

Post to Match.com:Seeking former gymnast for a fast relationship.

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.

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

Byron recently posted an aged picture of two men with bicycles strapped to their back. I recognized the photo from somewhere as being WWI Italian soldiers, and in my net search to verify I came across the webpage of The BSA & Military Bicycle Museum. One hundred years ago, shortly before Serbian nationalists assassinated Franz Ferdinand, this Bianchi Model 1912 was ordered by the Italian military to equip their Bersaglieri, or light infantry units with an emphasis on high mobility. At the time, Bianchi made 45,000 bicycles, 1,500 motorcycles, and 1,000 cars yearly. This Model 1912 was a fairly ambitious design, incorporating front and rear suspension on a folding frame. After WWI, Italia expanded the number of bicycle troops as part of tactical commitment to mobile warfare (as opposed to the stalemate of WWI trench warfare), though those divisions converted to motorization before WWII.

BSA Bicycles were a well-known, quality brand in the United Kingdom from the beginning of the bicycle until the company sold bicycle assets to Raleigh TI in the mid-1950s. The company came about from the consolidation of several munitions factories in Birmingham that came together to meet a critical British shortage during the Crimean War, eventually selling rifles to a handful of countries. In 1880 with military arms sales flagging, the Birmingham Small Arms Company diversified into bicycles since the industrial processes of guns and bicycles apparently had a lot in common. BSA’s bicycles introduced many innovations that paved the way for cycling’s popularity, while simultaneously serving as a critical supplier of military arms during the two world wars. Besides guns & cannons, bullets & bombs, bikes & bike parts, BSA seemingly had a role in every British machine that moved in the first half of the 20th century, including Daimler (autos, engines), Triumph (motorcycles), and de Havilland (aircraft).

BSA’s story bears similarity to that of Spanish cycle manufacturer Orbea, which also had a start in small arms in 1840 before building bicycles. Orbea’s transition to bicycles had more to do with Fascist dictator Franco’s policy of dismantling regional autonomy and arms production; the Basque company was prohibited from manufacturing weapons during the 1930s.

It is often said that bicycles today are soul-less products for mass consumption, but perhaps we are deluding ourselves if we romanticize the history of the bicycle. If we can only approve of a bicycle if is handcrafted in some one-man shop, then we should admit that we want luxury artisanal goods. Bicycles are as much an industrial product as automobiles, aircraft, sewing machines, and machine guns.

Start with brand new Veloce Powershift Ergo levers

Finish sanding, righthand unit is a dummy lever and left hand is the most comfortable brake only lever created by mankind

When it comes to the ergonomics of dropbar levers, Campagnolo absolutely nailed it with their third generation Ergopower. I want these for my fixed-gear handlebar, but unfortunately the levers have that annoying and useless shifter mechanism. So in order to convert a new set of Ergopower levers into something really useful, namely the most comfortable brake levers ever, here’s what you do.

1 Gut the shifters.

2 Cut the cross section of the shifter cavity into thin cardboard

3 Trace cross section onto 2x4”

4 Start carving

5 Keep carving. The righthand unit is purely a dummy lever, so the goal is to completely fair in the gap underneath the body and replace the brake blade, since without the shift mechanism there is no return spring to keep the blade from rattling without a brake connected. With lefthand unit, you’re trying to fair in the underneath and as close to the blade as possible while still allowing the blade to complete its travel all the way to the handlebar.

6 Now that the carving and sanding is done, ideally I’ll get these painted to protect the wood and to improve aesthetics. I’m still considering options for that.

After the jump, see photos of intermediate stages.

The Tour of Ireland vs Kathy Ireland:

One is a former swimsuit model/actress (ok, so “actress” might be a stretch), the other is a former stage race that runs through the land of James Joyce, Guinness Stout, and hurling (it’s a ball ‘n stick game, not the result of too much stout).

The Tour of Ireland has been held in the month of August, off and on since 1953 (just barely more on than off, actually). In 1985, the race was renamed the Nissan International Classic. The race then enjoyed a stellar eight year run, capturing the height of Irish success in cycling. Legendary hardman Sean Kelly won the race a record 4 times, while countryman Stephen Roche finished 2nd in 1987, the year he won the Giro, the Tour, and the world championships. Interestingly, the race director during those years was Pat McQuaid, today’s reigning…oops, I meant current…UCI president. Following a 15 year hiatus , the Tour of Ireland returned in 2007 but the economic turndown caused it to be shortened to a three-day event in 2009. In June of 2010, it was announced that finances were dire and the race was cancelled. Talk of a 2011 comeback came to naught, and presumedly there will be no 2012 version either.

Kathy Ireland first appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition in 1984 and did so for another 12 years. She appeared on the cover 3 times, including the 25th anniversary edition which became the highest selling swimsuit issue ever. From Wikipedia: “In 1993, Ireland put her name on a line of socks. After they proved a best-seller for Kmart, the retailer gave Ireland her own clothing line. She then founded “Kathy Ireland Worldwide,” a brand product marketing company in which she holds a majority stake. By 2004, Ireland was marketing products from 16 manufacturers, including those of Standard Furniture. Ireland’s long-term exclusive contract with K-mart Corporation lasted until 2003, after which the company contracted with thousands of independent mid-tier retail stores for distribution. By 2005, KIWW products were sold at over 50,000 locations in 15 countries, generating an estimated $1.4 billion in retail sales. Ireland’s annual take is thought to be around $10 million, which has prompted Forbes to name her the ‘prototype for model-turned-mogul,’ in an article about the trend of ‘modelpreneurs.’”

Let’s break it down.

Born: Tour of (1953), Kathy (1963) winner: Kathy (we’re not talking about aged Scotch here)

Sport Illustrated covers: Tour of (0), Kathy (3) winner: Kathy (skin to win)

Financial status: Tour of (broke as f*** in 2010), Kathy ($10M net for 2010, corporate gross equal to 1% of Ireland GNP in 2010) winner: Kathy (one of these Irelands has a LOT more green)

Overall: Kathy Ireland, who turns 49 this year, is dirty rich and still smoking hot. It wasn’t a fair contest even from the beginning.

A friend just linked me to this…………

From Sacremento Craigslist:

Want to look cool on your sweet fixie, but can’t even do a trackstand? Want the illusion to be complete on your ghetto POS singlespeed with one brake to get that fixed gear look? Looking for instant street cred?

trades also accepted for hip pouches, pbrs, american spirit cigs, or anything american apparel. not looking for anymore loose beanies nor wayfarer style glasses.

I was catching up on the European cross scene in the lead up to this weekend’s world championships, and I saw that the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Stybar won at the world cup event in Lievin. The 2-time and reigning world champion has been out shined by the exploits of Nys and Pauwels, and now suddenly he emerges from their shadows to take a win…..on a pink bike? This ain’t the Giro and Stybar’s not Italian, so why? Well, Stybar is a professional with Omega Pharma- Quickstep, the same UCI team as Boonen and now Leipheimer. With the demise of HTC-Highroad, the Belgian team picked up Specialized as their bike sponsor. Never slow to capitalize on an opportunity, Specialized lost no time kitting their hopeful for a cross world championship with the latest Crux carbon cyclocross bike.

Yeah, yeah, I get that….WTF’s up with pink?

Well, Specialized’s first mountain bike team in 1984 was called Team Stumpjumper. In the early days of mountainbike racing, this first ever team of professionals consisted of mainly road and cyclocross racers, and they used dropbar bikes painted PINK. As best as I can tell, the bikes used 26” wheels/tires, but they surely do like cyclocross bikes.

That mean besides John Tomac and Jacquie Phelan famously riding with dropbar offroad, the whole effing Team Stumpjumper was using them. I’m hot to build another dropbar mtb for myself; it’d be rad to have a modern pink Specialized Stumpjumper S-works.

Joel Metz is a cyclesport historian and former Bay Area cyclocrosser. I stumbled upon his now-archived webpages documenting some of the early days of cyclocross in Europe, mostly through photographs scanned from vintage magazines. What’s most striking is how untamed those race courses were. Most of the lines seem to be inappropriate for walking, let alone riding. The bracket seems to have been cleared with indifference if at all. Consider that the machines of the 19020s and 30s were practically all single speed (often fixed gear) with caliper brakes (you ever try brakes from that era? does not inspire confidence), and tires certainly no wider than 35mm and perhaps less. It would be another 40 or 50 yrs before American balloon tire bikes would morph into something resembling the modern mountain bike. Run-ups were immense, descents might mean clambering down boulders, and riders might need to throw the bike onto the ledge of a ravine before scaling out of it themselves.

This weekend, the UCI Elite Cyclocross World Championships take place in Koksijde, Belgium. Racers may be wary of Koksijde’s deep sand, but like all modern cyclocross courses at the elite level, there is nothing that compares to the difficulty of yesteryear’s courses. After nearly a hundred years, the athletic competition is fiercer than ever, but courses have no teeth. Arguably, the sport’s success and tradition are the primary culprits, as accessibility and consistency make for more profitable events. Ironically Northern California may be one of the last bastions of these ridiculously wild and demanding cross courses. There near the birthplace of the mountain bike, race organizers catered their race profiles to tap into the fat tire demographic, and the resulting events were often called “jungle cross”. Yet even as cyclocross in America has become more popular, it has in part done so by enticing a broader demographic with less treacherous riding. Coupled with USA Cycling’s desire to produce elite athletes capable of competing in Europe, now organizers have emulated the modern European courses as much as the local topography allows. Even in California, jungle cross has become as rare as a wolf sighting in NYC’s Central Park.

As an incurable gearhead, I wonder how the cyclocross bikes of today would look had cyclocross courses remained as they are pictured here, without the UCI mandating tire width to the millimeter, and I am curious as to how the racing would suit me. Maybe today’s mountainbike racing holds the true spirit of those early cyclocrossers. I’m actually really curious about trying some mtb racing for the first time in 15 years; I think I’d like the taste of something a little less refined.

1932 Criterium International

Le Championnat de France Cross Cyclo-pédestre, 04 Mar 1923