Independent Fabrication SuperCommuter

My neighbors down the road have introduced a sexy new commuter bicycle. I wonder if this signals a new direction for IndyFab? They've always been so sporty, are they getting into townies?

At any rate it's a beautiful bike and somehow very youthful and masculine to me. Gentlemen, what do you think?

Best of Boston

Innovation is everywhere, but it is a particular strength in Boston. I think of this as the best of Boston - tinkering, innovating, families, community, practical fun...


I've seen these two often but they're always going to quickly to get a good shot. The younger one always has a huge grin on his face, he's pretty happy to be out with Dad.

1947 Alex Singer city bike

Oh, this one, from Bicycle Quarterly is a beauty!

Vélo Mademoiselle

Because it's dark before I leave the office I don't get to take as many photos of cyclists. I still see interesting bikes. This bike is tiny and locked to a railing in front of her house. It has a little bit of a little Chanel thing going on with those pearls. I find the pink accents darling and it's hard to see but there is a little monster on her stem.

Bike Makeover #5: Spring Green Mixte (Updated)

This is the second in the series of artistic mixte makeovers by "Baldman". I think it is just so exciting to see what is possible with old bikes.


This bike was a $30 garage sale find. Here is the obligatory "before" photo, note the dreaded drop handlebars:


On this bike he spent a great deal of time cleaning up the drive train, and the frame now features three shades of paint, two on the tubes and a darker green for the lugs:


As before it was about $25 in materials and four days of time, though he acknowledges that the bike would be better served by more time to cure between coats of paint. I think the bike still looks great!

He's even able to make his own decals.


I hope I was part of the inspiration for the wine crate. He was smarter than me and cut his down to a more reasonable size before attaching it to the bike.


And just because I have it, here's a photo of his darling dog - too cute!

Bike Makeover #4: Western Mixte

I'd like to share with you two bike makeovers completed by a friend of mine who calls himself "Baldman" on the internet. He's made a new hobby of converting unloved ten speed mixtes into artistic statement pieces. Our first example, this bike was purchased at a garage sale for $12:


For this makeover he had to buy new wheels and tires. The rest of the new parts he had lying around and a few were donations from a buddy. The handlebars are painted aluminum, to match the bike.

This makeover cost about $25 in spray paint, sandpaper etc. and took about 4 days to finish.


The leather handgrips, accents on the frame, and fender mudguards are DIY by Baldman. I'm hoping he'll share his process/pattern for the mudguards here, so we can all make some! They're sure pretty...

As if his bikes aren't cute enough, here's his dog:

Porteur Bike Noir

Photo from Cyclofiend.

I was recently drooling (virtually!) on these gorgeous French porteur bikes. They seem to be largely ignored by the fans of the Dutch bike but I think they're super-sexy. Then it dawned on me - my bike is starting to look a bit like them! I guess my time in Paris made a deeper impression than I thought.


I still want that chainguard, and I can't decide on a front rack or a front basket. Black or silver? So many choices!

A Dream Bike

I purposefully do not write here much about new bikes. There are so many beautiful vintage bikes which serve perfectly and fulfill all three tenets of this blog, they look good, they feel good, and by riding a vintage bike you're doing good.

But a girl's got a right to dream, and an ANT bike, bespoke crafted here in Massachusetts, is the pinnacle of bicycle dreams, the handmade wedding dress of bicycles. But you definitely need background and for that I lift the story (with attribution!) from Cris:

Perhaps you've heard the cliché that only 1000 people bought the first Velvet Underground, but all of them decided to form bands. In that spirit, the bike builder's equivalent to the Velvet Underground is Chris Chance and Fat City Cycles.

Fat City was founded in the 1980s (in Somerville, MA), in the early age of the mountain bike, and developed bikes that had an early reputation for legendary construction and handling. However, Fat City wasn't big enough to compete with the like of Specialized or Trek and so, in 1994 the company was sold to Serotta, a high-end bike builder in upstate New York. The Boston factory was shut down and most of its employees laid off. There were never a lot of folks who worked at Fat City, but all of them went on to create new bike companies. The list of companies started by ex-Fat City employees reads like a who's who of elite builders: Merlin, Seven, Independent Fabrication. Each of them builds bikes that are universally hailed as the finest rides produced in America.

Theirs are not bikes that you'll find in a shop, prebuilt, fresh from an assembly and pret-a-porter. They're custom built, created after a dialogue between you and a company, parsing out your dreams, desires and limitations. They will build a bike that is one of a kind, and they will build it only for you.

Independent Fabrication and Seven are sort of the BMW and Mercedes of the American bike world, with IF being the hipper, more aggressive BMW and Seven being the more studied and luxurious Benz. Randonneurs, who want a bike that will perform well under any circumstances and with several hundreds of miles, go to IF for their Club Racer, a bike built to carry fenders and support wider tires.

The Club Racer was designed by Mike Flanigan, one of IF's co-founders. Mike left IF some time ago, when the company was shifting its product focus to cater to the racer and performance market, and he was more interested in building bikes for commuters and everyday users. When that gap got to be too large, Mike left Independent Fabrication and started ANT.

For the very best in the everyday Dutch/French/Euro city-bike tradition, custom tailored just for you - this is it - and it's right here in Boston. There's even the more affordable and aptly named Boston Roadster. My husband has promised me, someday... I didn't buy a new wedding dress, so I'll get an ANT instead.

Little Black Bike

Who says black is basic? This is a well thought out town bike I'd love to take for a joyride!

More photos at Cyclofiend

Pretty Green Saluki

This looks like a comfortable and classy commuter. Just the right sort of bike to really put the miles on. The color feels really fresh to me, now when the leaves are emerging and the grass is greening up. Bicycles are inherently green, and this one reminds us of that explicitly. I like it for that.

"Bicycling is human scale- a living, breathing alternative to the city's domination by motor vehicles. There is magic in blending with traffic, feeling the wind in one's face, the sheer fact of traversing the city under one's own power."
- Charles Komanoff, cycling advocate

Photo from Cyclofiend.

Aqua Schwinn in East Cambridge

All this talk recently of Schwinns reminds me of a Schwinn I see a lot in East Cambridge. The old paint has a gleam to it that I don't see on new bikes. A bike store employee told me the shimmer is a property of old enamel paint. At any rate, I just love the color of this old bike.

I once saw the girl riding this bike. I ran to catch her but she was too fast for me. I'd love to hear the story of her bike.

Glorious Rivendells

Beautiful bikes, if you have the means! I try to recycle old bikes but Rivendell bikes are truly lovely. I love the blue ano brake levers on these bikes, like sapphire earrings paired with a more sedate outfit.

Original photos at Cyclofiend

Silver Motobecane hauling bike

More photos of this bike on Cyclo Fiend

Seeing this bike reminded me of this quotation:

"As a social revolutionizer, the bicycle has never had an equal. It has put the human race on wheels, and thus changed completely many of the most ordinary processes and methods of social life. It is the great leveler, for not till all Americans got on bicycles was the great American principle that every man is just as good as any other man fully realized. All are on equal terms, all are happier than ever before."

- New York Evening Post, June 2, 1896

Simple green Raleigh - efficient motion machine

More photos of this bike at Cyclo Fiend

"When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle."

- Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

Ross rugged elegance

What a practical bike with a wonderful bag - it's a statement in the beauty of simplicity and utility. I also like this photo showing there isn't much you can't do with a bike like this.

There are even more photos at Cyclo Fiend

Another Capricorn in sage green

Such a clean look - I love their custom racks with the oak bottom. The sage is a good choice for powdercoating. It looks like it would wear well. I also like the twine on the handlebars.
More photos at Cyclo Fiend.

Girlie Dream Bike

Just about every woman I've shown these photos to has swooned. Something about the color, the grips, the basket. It's perfect. Kristi is a lucky girl to get that bike for Christmas! More photos and description at CycloFiend.

Buttercup Yellow Porteur Commuter Bike

Another inspiring bike from Velospace. I particularly like the fenders and rack which match the frame, and the integrated headlamps. I wouldn't enjoy those grips, but I can see that they're practical. It's a beautifully done bike!

Capricorn - good looking hauler

Now I want to powdercoat a rack and bike to match! How very graceful it looks.

More photos on Velospace

Mixte Inspiration from eBay.fr

What I noticed on eBay France:

• The racks are just large enough to hang something on, no larger
• The handlebars often are slanted to mimic the slant of the split tubes, and rarely are they drop (road) handlebars
  
• Mixtes are plentiful and inexpensive relative to the US, there wasn't even one singlespeed