I like to fiddle around with metal, occasionally making some head badges. The nice author of Lovely Bicycle, has been kind enough to write up a nice post about my work.

After looking around a bit, I discovered that Boston Biker is a metal worker and makes splendid bicycle headbadges.

What I like about Boston Biker’s work is that it is artisanal: every badge is hand made, which I think is a good match for the “expressionist woodcut” style logo I have chosen. In the course of making arrangements with him to create my headbadge we also discussed the process itself, and I paraphrase it here in case others are curious how this works.

Thanks!

At some point I am going to put up some of my creations in the shop, but until then, if you are interested in a head badge, contact me. I also do other assorted bike jewelry/stuff with metal.

This from the people over at The Chorus Gallery, looks like a lot of fun, if you are of the art persuasion submit something.

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We now interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you a fun bike art event for the whole family.

Spoke Count is a collaborative installation featuring 100+ small works about bikes by various artists. It is estimated that there currently exist over one billion bicycles in the world- this show will attempt to visualize this (growing) mass of our favorite revolutionary transport. We are inviting you, the art and cycling community, to provide us with 100 8 inch x 8 inch drawings of bicycles which we will exhibit during January 2010. Our reception will be on Sat Jan 9th, between 7-10 in the evening at Chorus Gallery in Union Sq.

We will not be picky on media or image. Your submission can be, but is not limited to, a print, photograph, digital image, made out of cut vinyl, or even a drawing. It can be your little sister on a bike, a lug, or painfully accurate drawing of 365 spokes in a pile. All that we ask is that it is of some part of a bicycle and we can mount it to the wall by two map pins.

Spoke count will be a open show for 100 lucky participants. So RSVP ASAP here, and deliver your art work by Thursday January 7th by 5pm (feel free to drop off earlier than that during Open Bicycle’s normal hours).

Simply:

- Unframed– able to be punctured and supported on a wall by a map pin.

- 8 inches x 8 inches.

- Bicycle content.

All works will be for sale and priced at $40. Doesn’t matter if you never draw or have been a finalist for the Venice Biennale, the work will be for sale at $40. Full disclosure, we will be splitting all sold work 30% gallery and 70% artist, as is our standard. But feel free to trade drawings with friends, we don’t mind.

Expect another of our exceptional receptions on the 9th– drinks, dancing, music, and lots of art to look at.

See you soon

Signed,

The management.

more info here

this looks fun

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Superb Bicycle presents Sprocket Rockets, an art opening with original works by Simon Peplow, curated by Meighan O’Toole. Friday December 4th from 6pm-8pm, food and drink provided. More info and a sneak peek on the Superb Blog

This is simply amazing…amazing…love it. It has that force of truth that you will only realize if you do right a bike every day.

Go get some culture you dirty biker! Open Bicycle will be hosting this great event, go check it out.

Chorus Gallery Presents:
Friday May 15, 8p – 11p
Four Flights
Featuring the work of:
Fionn McCabe
Joe Keinberger
Brian Hart
Arthur Henderson
Show Curated by Michael Dacey

Chorus Gallery is located at approximately 285 Washington Street,
On the corner of Washington & Hawkins Streets in Union Square, Somerville, 02413
Please call 617.666.6736 with questions or email curator@chorusgallery.com

There will be free drinks all night long, so ride/drive safe.

So even though Open is officially open, it is having it’s grand opening next Saturday, the 11th. Shop is open from 10a-7p, Chorus gallery reception @ 7p,macaframa premeire @ 9p and then bicycle related events to follow. Entrance is located at the corner of Washington Street & Hawkins Street in Union Square, at approximately 285 Washington Street. (map link)

OPEN launches it’s unique Union Square bicycle shop, art gallery, and design studio. Zachary Teachout and Joshua Kampa, the creatives behind OPEN, quietly unlocked the doors to their new bicycle retail and repair boutique this week. Located in the center of hip and upcoming Union Square in Somerville MA, OPEN encompasses a innovative approach to the bicycle-centric lifestyle, offering new and vintage bicycles, frames, components, and accouterments for a diverse crowd of urban riders. Folded into the newly-renovated warehouse space (formerly
home to Merlin Titanium) is a unique retail store, a full service repair and restoration workshop, a stand-alone art gallery, and a interdisciplinary design studio.

OPEN approaches the Boston metropolitan cycling scene with a fresh and passionate perspective. Both Teachout and Kampa are enthusiastic and committed cyclists and come from creative entrepreneurial backgrounds both inside and outside the industry. They have applied a forward-thinking design philosophy to the shop concept and creation, wiping away the typical “bike shop” structure in favor of a more culturally responsive experience.

Adding to the very unique retail experience, the space will house both the Superbe Design Collaborative and the revolving art gallery, Chorus. The interdisciplinary design studio, comprised of a tight-knit group of young talent, brings to the table an extraordinary range of design experience, from realized large-scale architecture to highly successful brand development projects, as well as published graphic, print and photography work. Chorus, referring to the perception of a number of individual sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound, will operate as a stage for local, national and international artists, designers and makers to display and distribute both their work and vision.

ps. the shop is real purty too.

click below for more great pictures.
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Tristan over at BostonFixed has created this amazing guide to turning an old carbon trispoke into a work of art! The below guide was written by him, and reprinted with permission.

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So I painted my trispoke and made it look all mad phat dope shitzzle, and made a little guide in a bunch of images/how to guide.

Your materials are as follows:

One can of Spray primer
One can of preferred paint (I ended up using Duplicolor Metal Specks, after the can of Metal Effects shown completely fucked up and was sputtering)
Clear coat (Not shown, use an Acrylic)
Multi pack sandpaper (for sanding stuff down)
Cleaning wipe that clears all the shit off
A good x-acto knife for cutting the tape/stickers (also not shown)
Newspapers for spraying
A sponge for wiping
A pail for wet sanding
Stickers
A weekend worth of time.

So yeah, my HED trispoke was about 10 years old and in rough shape, I highly recommend if you want it to look really pretty, to reprime/fill any knicks in the surface, as they’re quite common on the older wheels. Give it a good cloth wipe to prepare the surface for roughing up.

Note: I did this with the tire on, but it’s better to take the tubular off, I just didn’t feel like dismounting and remounting a tubular.

This is how the wheel should look after roughing it up with some 400 grit wet sand paper. THERE IS NO CLEAR COAT on HED/Specialized trispoke wheels. It’s the actual epoxy so DO NOT GO TOO FAR OR USE BELOW 400 GRIT!! You will eat the carbon!

Wipe it down with a slightly damp sponge, then wipe off the water/dust with an old clean t-shirt.

Mask off everything and then start to hate yourself if you want to use the braking surface as it’s a very unfun job coming up…

Taking your knife, follow the brake surface all around the wheel and carefully not fuck up like this. This will make your wheel look like shit. Put more tape on and then recut.

This is a (blurry) shot of how it SHOULD look.

After you do all that, rewipe the wheel down with the prep cloth, and we can start spraying primer.

Go with a few light coats of primer until it looks solid enough. What blows is you now will know exactly how bad the surface of your wheel is pitted (if used). You can use some filler but I didn’t bother. L A Z Y. The primer dries quickly (within an hour).

Wet sand the primer with 400 grit sandpaper. Get it nice and smooooth. Dry it off again and paint some more.

Now I fucked up on this part and there’s no pictures after my spray can decided to fuck up on me and made me resurface and redo everything. That green tape helps out so much as its very waterproof. Just spray maybe two or three coats of your base color, let that dry properly, wipe it down again with the clean t-shirt, and then spray two or three coats of clear on it. It won’t take very long for everything to cure/dry if you’re light enough with your coats.

Applying vinyl graphics. You will learn how much of a pain in the ass lattice work like this is.

Some windex, luck, a credit card, and patience lets you apply the graphics well. Cutting around the braking surface again.

Awrite! All done! Simple enough, but most people can’t/aren’t willing to put in the effort. It’s all about prep time/effort….

More info here

He also did this bit of amazing art work.

Here’s a roundup of the things I liked that I saw this week. I hope everyone had a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving

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This year’s Art Beat Festival (Saturday, July 19th, Davis Square)is following a ‘green’ theme and will be featuring activities and displays surrounding biking and bike culture. In addition to designing a bike and helmet customization/decoration center, we are aiming to feature a display/contest of artistic,
creative and unique bikes from the surrounding community.

How to Get Involved:
If you are interested in displaying your bike please contact the Somerville arts council with further details and images if possible. Space is limited but they are hoping to display as many bikes as possible!

Somerville Arts Council
Email: artbeatbikes@yahoo.com
Phone Number: 617 625 6600 ext 2985 (Jessie, SAC intern)

DEADLINE FOR ENTERING: MONDAY JULY 7

Come get your art on, WHILE getting your bike on. Broadway is run by some cool cats, and now they have some cool art to prove it.

Thursday the 12th is the Grand Opening of the new Door 3 Gallery at Broadway Bicycle School. A two artist show on the theme of bicycles.

Wine and Cheese will be available 7pm-830pm NOTE: the shop will be open for regular business at this time. Come on people wine AND cheese AND art AND bikes, pure win.

http://bicycling.511.org/

You are the most important part of your bicycle. Your bike should be sized to fit your body proportions and should match your style of riding, your skill level and where you plan to ride. The equipment you need depends on the type of riding you plan to do, but a safety-rated helmet and a strong lock are essential. Whether your bike is new or old, its gears, chain, brakes and tires must be in good working order.  Continues…http://bicycling.511.org/aboutyourbike.htm

http://www.sbbike.org/

Want to find out what’s happening on the Web for bicyclists? Here is our list of sites to check out, with an emphasis on California and regional resources. Clicking on any site will open it in a new browser window. Jump to the area that interests you most:

• Santa Barbara County bicycling
• California bicycling advocacy
• US bicycling advocacy
• International bicycling advocacy
• Bicycling standards & planning
• Sustainable transportation
• Online periodicals about bicycling
• Bicycle commuting

http://la-bike.org/

The following presents a few guidelines for safer riding for cyclists and motorists:

• Always wear a helmet.
• Always ride in the same direction as traffic.
• Be predictable and ride in a straight line. Do not weave in and out of parked cars
• If the lane is wide enough to safely share with cars, ride to the right side. Do not try to share the lane if it is too narrow. Do not ride in broken pavement or debris at the side of the street. Take the center of the lane if necessary.
• Ride far enough in the lane around parked cars so that you will not collide with opening car doors.
• When proceeding straight through an intersection with right-turn lanes, move to the lane going straight and allow vehicles to turn right on your right side.
• When making a left turn, move to the left before completing the turn, just like a motor vehicle. If you do not feel safe doing this, ride straight and cross the street you want to turn onto. At the other side of the street, dismount and turn your bike in your desired direction, then proceed when it is safe and legal to do so.
• When riding at night, always wear light colored or reflective clothes, and use both front and taillights, as well as reflectors.

http://www.bicyclesource.com/

Choosing Bike parts and gear:

Saddles: Is Softer Better
The first impulse a newbie rider who finds a saddle uncomfortable is to replace it with a softer one. Soft seats put the force of the rider’s weight in all the wrong places, rather than the sit-bones. Big springs may look plush, but they don’t work.
Bike Suspension

Suspension has been advancing rapidly mainly because of the spread of mountain biking. Whether it is front or rear, this article describes the advantages of each different type of suspension for your bike.
Sportswear Fabric Types and Attributes

What to wear on a ride? This article describes the differences between several different fabrics. GoreTex, Dacron, Lycra, Polypro: which material will give the best performance in a given condition?
What to Bring on a Ride

A comprehensive list of what to bring on bike rides, remember it’s always the tool you don’t have that your bicycle will need. How much food you will need and how to not get lost, be ready for anything….
Frame Construction

Learn about the different ways bike companies are manufacturing their frames. Strength, weight, durability of each construction technique.

What should your new bike have? Better find out…
Testing Brake Pads

Brake pads can make a significant difference in the stopping power of your bicycle, especially mountain bikes. This test shows which pad performs best in both wet and dry conditions… read on…
Brake Performance

A paper testing the temperature rise and performance on a steep descent from using two rim brakes, only the rear rim brake, and using a coaster brake. Lots of interesting information.
Bicycle Hardware Manufacturers on the Web

Links to scores of web sites of companies that makes bikes and components for both the road and trail. One of the best cycling company hyperlink lists on the World Wide Web.

I missed posting last weekend, so I’ve got more for this weekend!

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The Art of Cycling (A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America) is a new title (and ever-so-slight revision) of The Art of Urban Cycling (Lessons from the Street), by Robert Hurst.

I originally purchased and read Urban about a year ago as I started getting more involved and interested in bicycling and bike safety. Urban is no longer printed, but all of the content (with one or two more pages worth of revisited material) is available as The Art of Cycling, sans Urban in the title.
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Mostly when people talk about frames they mention things like aluminum, steal, maybe carbon fiber, hardly ever do you hear talk of wood. If you do it is most often in the context of very very old wheel rims, this young man however has gone and beat everyone. Behold the wooden bicycle.

I mean wood, the chain is wood, the wheels, it even has a flywheel for easy coasting (guess it’s kind of hard to do a track stand with a wood chain).

For more wooden bike wonders see here. I am guessing that poor thing would get eaten alive by Boston’s roads, but it is pretty.