Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Left Edge Route on the Ben









Helen, Harry and I headed back up Observatory Gully to find something nice to climb, with no particular plan. We kept going higher and higher in the hope of finding something mixed in good condition, until we found ourselves standing underneath Gardyloo Buttress. Funnily enough, there was a roof up that way I wanted to look at, but it had no ice on until the lip. So we opted for something more slabby and had a chilled ascent of Left Edge Route (VI,5). The ice was a bit unreliable, and protection pretty bad, so it was a good idea to keep the weight on the feet. Thankfully, once over the steepness there was solid ice and a cruise to the top. On the way down there was talk of rock climbing..

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Finally, a centre-right government in the Netherlands

After 111 days of grueling mix and match, tug of war and hair pulling scenes, finally a new regime has been formed (eindelijk!): for the first time in decades, The Netherlands have a RIGHT-WING government that will be led by The Bachelor* Prime Minister (yes, he is single ladies and supposedly not gay) together with the struggling Christians** with support from all the rage Beethoven*** camp.

The Netherlands have always been pro socialized in almost everything, something along the one for all, all for one approach which honestly I find a bit peculiar. I have always believed in working hard to make our dreams a reality or even to be able to live comfortably. Of course we all need to have safety nets (social benefits), have proper controls regarding free enterprise (bank crisis for example), loving mother nature (but not losing the vision to other pressing matters like building more roads) and so on and so forth, equilibrium right.

I also want to point out—which is a common misconception by many people who are not familiar with the Dutch political scene and Dutch mentality. A right-wing government in the Netherlands is comparable to a left-wing government in the USA. I am using the USA here as an example because many people are familiar with American politics. So, just imagine what a left party is in this country.

Here’s some recent news for those interested:

Formatieoverleg afgerond

Dutch right wing parties reach agreement on coalition
Dutch coalition agreement is presented to the public
Islamic veil ban in Dutch coalition deal (Looks like Sarkozy is getting some support)

*Mark Rutte, leader of VVD (Liberal Party) aka The Bachelor
**CDA/Christian Democrat Party (they struggled to get votes and were acting like sissy girls)
***Geert Wilders, leader of PVV (Freedom Anti-Islam Party) aka Beethoven

.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cal Poly Nights


Cal Poly Nights, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Night settles in over San Luis Obispo, California.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lazy Week in Gloucester

We are settling back into a routine with Austin being back home with us. I got my staples out and am finally feeling somewhat normal. Ava is thrilled to have another guy around which means I have been bumped down to third on the list of people she adores. We bought an island to put in the space where our dining room table was. Beyond that we are doing the normal, everyday things in life like laundry.



In other words, it has been a very laid back, lazy kind of a week. We are loving our campsite still even though it has rained quite a bit so we haven't sat outside like we normally would.






Monday, June 21, 2010

Mountain fashion?

I admit to having at one time or another wanting to beone of the "Guys". Living in a mountain town or just hanging with your climbing buddies some times you wantto look the part. At some point most everyone does.



Dachstein sweaters or Francital jackets come to mind from my past. But a good puffy down sweater seems to be the status symbol these days. Fashion? It comes and it goes only to return....like a nice mullet :)



So you have to imagine when I meet one of our NW gear reps what my thought is about the "climbing" clothing he is describing to me. His side of the conversation was something like this. " Merino wool sweater with a Primaloft 1 body, nice stand up collar and thumb holes on the sleeves.Super, technical piece. Beautifully tailored, athletic fit. You can just image, someone really cool, getting out of their fancy Porsche in this one!"



I'd heard of, but knew zip about this particular company that Kurt represented. In for a penny, in for a pound I thought as I had already spent most of my day meeting with Kurt and discussing another company he represented in the US, Boreal.



So when Kurt described, "someone really cool" I already had someone in mind :)





"cool guy" winning the Bogus Hill climb in his Porsche.





But come on...throwing a light weight, high powered Porsche aroundis fun but nothing compares tosinker sticks on really steep neve. Even tossing a2200#, 300hp Porsche around aint that much fun!.







So while I cangrudgingly settle into old age driving a Porsche...doing it right in the USA means you either do it on a track or risk going to jail. I find neither appealing even while wearing stylishclothing.



As one might imagine Kurt was now going to have his hands full if he was going to impress me with a "highly technical sweater". But I do get the lingo. Let me back up just a bit. I am now down to the last couple of weeks before leaving on atrip. Things are hectic and I am tight on cash. The last thing I need right now is to be buying gear I don't need for this particular trip. Even the time away from my work benchis more expensive that usual. So looking at a new product line I know virtually nothing about isn't high on my priority list.



Once through the doors of the Sherpa Adventure Gear headquarters in Renton, WA,Kurt and I quickly get down to business. The first item he shows me isthe "stylistic and highly technical sweater". It is called the "Mantra sweater". Damn it! I want one. Even a black one. Although flaming hot RED would have been a better color. Or really bright blue. I can't decide if it was the ever so subtle "Porsche" sales pitch or that I really like the sweater. Likely a little of both. Do they some how know I designed and built/rebuilt my own Porsche? Am I overly paranoid?(yes...they say in unison) I REALLY don't want to spend any cash today. Worse yet he shows me the women's model. Screw the Porsche fashion connection. This is the version I want for myself. The purple is HOT! I should have painted my car THAT color. Same set up as men's Mantra but with a hood. My lovely wife is no ice climber but she wears a hoody or two almost everywhere when she isn't working in a suit. I know I have to buy this one for her. I'll likely not get another chance at wholesale pricing. Damn it! Like a fool, I blurt out..."Can I buy this for my wife?" "Of course...." "This guy is a total tool", I am sure Kurt is thinking.



We go through the majority of the SAG line, muchof itdesignedfor alpine climbing. A couple of things I have not seen else where I decide I'll haveto buy as well. Thankfully Kurt and SAG decide I might be worth *giving* a couple of samples for testing, including my very own Mantra, in "cool guy" black. I get to avoid the perils of an"athletic fit" that way :) But out thedoor, I am still a few hundred down on cash. I am just too damn easy!No control..zip...de nada....Damn it!



I know what I want in my own climbing gear. The hood or even just that huge stand up collar pattern...I want. Besides her favorite purple, here is what I could see of Tracy's Mantra hoody.











I've already used my Mantra version over a Patagonia Sun hoody and under a EB down hoodyon ice, depending on the conditions. The use of Merino wool in the sleeves and the body insulation, in vest form, of Primaloft 1 is brilliant. As I expected, it should beone of my main layers climbing ice in the up coming trip. I admit I did wear it to dinner yesterday.And Tracygracefully commented, "You look so handsome".Damn it! The problemnow is I'll need another one to wear while hangingout in the local Chamonix bistros and not smell like a goat.



And maybe a third one to keep clean and nice for the occasional dinner andthe Porcshe track days when the Nomex isn't required......damn it! ;-)

Ya, lucky for me, I now know the Sherpa Rep....Damn it!



When Does a Customer Turn Designer?

[image via OAC]

I want to tread carefully here, because it is not my intent to offend independent artisans, whose work I support wholeheartedly. But this issue is on my mind from time to time, and a couple of days ago I had an email exchange with a reader that brought it back into focus. Here is the gist of the story - and I don't think it's important who the players are, because the situation is generalizable:

Clyde the Cyclist approaches Alistair the Artisan, inquiring about getting a custom Bicycle Accessory made. Clyde has a very particular idea of what this accessory should be like.Alistair the Artisan says "Gee, I've never made one of those before, but sure, I'll give it a try." And he does. The Accessorycomes out great, and when Clyde the Cyclist goes on a group ride, 200 of his riding buddies see it. "Hey, where did you get that neat Accessory?" Clyde the Cyclist tells them, and the cycling buddies contactAlistair the Artisan asking for the same thing. Several months later, Alistair the Artisan has a website where the Accessory is featured prominently and given a catchy name. He shoots a friendly email toClyde. "Thanks man! That Accessory is my best seller!" Clyde the Cyclist feels taken advantage of and emails me to ask what I think.
Well,I think it's a tough one. On the one hand, if a product really is based on a customer's distinct design, an argument can be made that the "moral" thing to do, would be for the artisan to ask the customer's permission to use it, and to offer some compensation for the idea. On the other hand, if the customer made no stipulations to protect their design, it can be said that the fault is with them.



While this has not happened to me in the bicycle industry, I experienced a similar incident in a different setting a few years back and have since been more careful. If I think of an idea or design as "mine," then I'll approach the artisan presenting it in that manner from the start: "I have an idea for a product. Would you like to collaborate?" This establishes the relationship as a partnership, and fosters an acknowledgement of the fact that design input has real value. But unless that approach is taken from the beginning, it is bound to be difficult to backtrack and reframe a relationship that started out as customer-artisan, into one of designer-manufacturer.



To be clear, I by no means wish to imply that anyone ordering a bespoke item is a de facto "designer." It is only natural that the customer will give a set of requirements to the artisan as part of a custom order, after which there will be an exchange of feedback. For example, should "make it kind of like this one, only in red velvet and with larger buttons" be considered design input or just standard customer feedback? I think the latter. But if the customer has a concrete and clearly expressed idea of the item beforehand, and if the idea differs substantially from the other products made by the artisan, then both parties may want to consider the intellectual property implications of that - before proceeding with the order.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Thoughts on Fixed Gear Cranksets?

Fork EndsI am guessing you would welcome a break from Interbike at this point, so I am going to take advantage of that by asking for advice. Just in time for the cold season, I finally have a dedicated fixed gear frame to replace my Moser conversion. I will tell you about the new frame later, as it's part of a larger story. But suffice to say I have it and it's nice. My plan was to simply move all the parts from the Moser onto this frame. The parts are rather plain and cheap-ish, but they will do for now and maybe in a year I will upgrade to something fabulous and Phil Woodsy. But the one thing I forgot is that the crankset I have on the Moser (Sugino RD2) has the wrong length cranks for the new frame. The Moser had a low bottom bracket, so the cranks I have on it are 165mm, but the new frame has a high bottom bracket and I want to use 170mm. So I need a new one and therein lies my dilemma: I am clueless about single speed cranksets.



Royal H. Stainless Rainbow BikeFor example, one option would be to just buy another inexpensive Sugino RD2. However, I am told that this is ultimately an iffy idea for a fixed gear roadbike, because it's not made for a track chain. Also, if I do plan to upgrade the components, it doesn't make sense to buy cranksets twice - maybe I should get the nicer version already.



ANT Truss Bike, Sugino 75And the "nicer version" is apparently the Sugino 75. It is a Keirin-approved track crankset and is extremely expensive. Why I need it, I couldn't tell you - since my fixed gear frame is not a track frame and I won't be racing on it. Even in terms of aesthetics I don't find it all that spectacular. A friend might have one to sell secondhand, in which case it may be worth it - but otherwise I don't get the appeal of the Sugino 75 for non-racers.






White Ind crank
image via antbike
There are also the American made cranksets, such as this one by White Industries. Expensive, but less so than the Sugino 75. And while beautiful in its own right, I can't decide whether it will look right on my frame - the design seems a bit busy.






Cranked
image via Winter Bicycle
The Paul's"circles" crankset is simpler, but part of me thinks it should go on a bike with Paul's drop-outs, which mine does not have. Is that silly?



It is also worth noting that the "nice" cranksets call for equally "nice" bottom brackets, so the real price differential between these options and the Sugino RD2 set-up is even greater than it seems initially.



Of course my ideal scenario would be not to go with any of these, but to find a beautiful vintage Campagnolo Pista crankset - for a miraculously low price, of course, and with just the right length cranks. No such luck though, after months of looking.



So, dear readers: Any thoughts? What is your preferred crankset for a fixed gear roadbike and why? My frame is lugged and fairly lightweight and I'd like the crankset to look classic. The bike is not for the track, so all the debates about tiny differences in stiffness are not really relevant. Beyond that, I have no idea. Help?

Friday, June 18, 2010

Happy Hour at Karen and Tom's


As we were discussing when people are heading out tonight, I had a talk with some people about how sad they were at the thought of leaving. We had a nice talk about how our pickleball family really does make this place "home" for us.



I know I've said it time and time again here, but I love our pickleball friends. They are some of the most special and rare friends we have ever had. They just tend to be the neatest, most kind-hearted and interesting people as a whole.



As always, we had tons of fun with them tonight.



The food was fabulous! Tom made pulled pork and it was incredible.





We were even honored with music by Garth and Rosemary. Rosemary has written two songs, the RV song and the Pickleball song. Both were awesome!



It was a wonderful time with some of our "chosen" family.



Living the life in sunny Florida!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Tombstone Tuesday :: Two Little Babes

Buried in the Scott-Keister Cemetery in Etna-Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana in close proximity to William and Sophia Wise are two of their grandchildren.

John Wise Brubaker was born prematurely on February 16, 1901. He survived eight days, passing away on February 24th. John was the first child born to Charles Romain Brubaker and his wife, Maud Catherine Wise. It's possible that little John was named for his great grandfather.

Maurice Wise Burns was born on July 31, 1912 and died on October 2, 1912. He was the son of Harlo Asher Burns and Hazlette Ann Wise (Maud's younger sister), and was their first child. The Columbia City Post of October 5, 1912 published this sad notice of his death: "Maurice Wise Burns, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Harlow Burns, of Troy township, died at 3 o'clock Thursday morning. The little babe was born July 31, and has never been very well, but the parents and friends hoped that its constitution might become stronger and its life be spared, but their fond hopes were blighted when the spark of life became extinct at the hour stated. The funeral will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the house. Rev. E. E. Wright, of Larwill, officiating, and the interment will be in the Scott cemetery." Little Maurice was named after his uncle, Maurice James Wise.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

"Strength in Unity"

Not exactly sure who this guy is.

His mates say his name is Jimmy. But there seemed to be someuncertainty.

They reckon he is about 20. Again, not sure.

They say he remembers to bring his guitar to the crag but forgets his harness and shoes. It all sounds pretty vague.

Style:Jimmyscreams socialistchic and solidarity inlast seasons "Enterprise Bargain Agreement" T-Shirt in black with yellow ".Your Pay - Your Call" print by the always hip Aussie label, Australian Workers Union.

Did you get a good look at me Jimmy? Spooky huh?



The movethat started it all.Nine routes fan out from thisbeginning.



Jimmy put down the guitar long enough to switch on and send Spoonman.



Then back to guitar for songs of workers struggles and sendage celebrations.





It never hurts to have a stab at something hard at the end of the day.











Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rough Start to - 3 fatalities

2007 has become a dangerous year at Mount Rainier, even with the roads closed. Since mid-February, there have been three fatalities within the park boundary, a terrible trend as the park prepares to reopen this spring.

The first incident involved a skier who ducked a ropeline at Crystal Mountain Resort for backcountry turns. The intent was to catch fresh tracks down the White River drainage (and into the park). That skier was caught and killed in an avalanche and the Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol recovered the body.

The most recent accident involved a married couple who drowned in Ipsut Creek. The pair were crossing a footlog when Annette Blakely slipped, fell, and was quickly swept downstream in the frigid current. Her husband, Robert, immediately shed his backpack and leaped into the stream in an attempt to save her life. Sadly, both were caught in a log jam and drowned.

The News Tribune, Seattle Times, and Seattle PI have been covering the accident and recovery in detail, but a few details have emerged in the stories that are inaccurate. Some are minor, for example, a helicopter did not spot the body from the air. Another, however, is misleading. That is that the footlog to get across the washout was clearly established and marked. Here in this photo, you can see the two foot logs in question. The lower log was the one where the accident occurred, the upper is the preferred log to cross...

An accurate point about all of this is that the park, the roads, and the trail system are in very rough condition. With so much damage, climbers, backpackers, skiers and hikers will need to take extra precautions when visiting this spring and summer. Normally minor incidents in places like Ipsut Creek will be more difficult to respond to and manage.

As for the latest recovery, my thoughts are with the family and friends of the Blakely's. I would also like to thank the Pierce County Swiftwater Rescue team (and the bomb team, the dive team, and the SAR team too) for the outstanding assistance in this incident. In the image above, the field operations leader views the screen of an underwater camera.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Gearing Up for the Holidays


Every year when it hits November, I kind of hold my breath a bit, bracing myself for the coming holidays. I love the holidays. I am really geeky about holidays in fact. But they are also tiring because of all of the "extra" they add to life.



Adding to the holiday busy-ness is the reality that work is going to get much busier. It will get downright crazy in fact. We will also have more people around us that we want to spend time with. Pickleball will be in full force. And I will love it all. And I will be ready to crash when it ends because it really is exhausting to juggle so much in such a short time. So on days like today, where I spent most of the day at Sixteen Hands...I soak up the peace and quiet while I can.



I enjoy the pace of the horses. I pay attention to the small details, like Dancer's jingle bells.



I laugh at the silly faces Patriot makes while he camera hogs my view.



I marvel at Gracie, who is one of the wild mustangs here. I appreciate her patient and gentle spirit with us as we try to attend to so many horses needs.



And I spend as much time as necessary to see that Cherokee gets as much food into him as he can handle today.



I get down to the basics when I am here. All the things that nourish living souls. Nothing more. And it is exactly what I need to keep me grounded.



Living the life in FL!




Sunday, June 13, 2010

You can call me Crazy

I've been called that as well as many other things in the past! This time, it is well-deserved. And if you've been wondering why there haven't been any posts here on Kinexxions since the first of June, read on...



If you recall, back in December of last year, I began "cleaning up" my Legacy database. By the time I left on my travels at the end of January, some progress had been made but not much was done on it again until I returned to Indiana five weeks ago.



In the process of moving information from notes into events and sourcing it, I came to the disturbing realization that my sources were an absolute mess! There was no consistency in how the citations were entered and none are even close to "the standard" or any standard for that matter. I could come up with several excuses for this sad state of affairs, but what good would that do?



I have so many documents from my several visits in the last two years to Salt Lake City that need to be reviewed, analyzed and entered... but I made the difficult decision to not enter any new data until the "old" source citations were reviewed and standardized. All of them. So, yes, I must be crazy. Especially after I found out how many sources I have entered and how many individuals use those sources. Rather mind-boggling actually.



The other "big" decision made on the first of June was to begin using Legacy's SourceWriter. I understand there may be some issues with transferring sources via GedCom but using that feature would (hopefully) force me into a standardized format. That and I finally purchased the digital version of Evidence Explained. I figured it might help me to understand why a source had to be cited in a certain way ;-)



As might be expected, I had a few questions. I had recently joined the Legacy Virtual User's Group Community (LVUG) on Google+ (G+) so posted a question there. You can find it as well as the responses by clicking on the "Sources" link on the left hand side of the G+ LVUG Community landing page.



Some good ideas and information was offered by JL Beeken, Tessa Keogh, Monique Riley, Marla Larson, Richard Hallford, Melanie Armstrong, and Linda McCauley, all of whom I would like to thank for their ideas, suggestions, and input. It really helped me make a few decisions as to how I wanted to do the sources.



With over 7200 people and more than 700 sources in the database this is a monumental undertaking. But it really needs to be done. The number of individuals using a source varies considerably. Quite a few (probably more than half of the sources) are used by under 10 people while about 35 are used by more than 200. The source used by the most people is the Social Security Death Index with close to 1500 people - and each of those individuals has 2-3 citations for the SSDI (birth, death, and the event). Thank goodness for the source clipboard and Legacy's tagging feature! It would be an impossible task without those features.



On June 1st I started working with the source citations from Ancestry.com and FamilySearch databases and have gotten about 2/3 of the way through that list, eliminating about 15 duplicate sources. I've been working on the SSDI source citations for most of two days and am about half-way through with it.



I will be holding off on updating sources for census records until the Legacy team releases version 8 sometime later this year. It seems they may be implementing a feature for "shared" events such as census records that sounds rather intriguing. I sure am looking forward to the new version of Legacy!



Blog posts will be few and far between for the next month or two, as if they haven't been already this year! Most of my time for the next month will be devoted to this project. I will be attending G.R.I.P. the week of July 21st and (very optimistically) hope to have much of it completed by then. And, sometime the end of July or first part of August I'll be moving into my new apartment! And then there is the FGS Conference in August, which I am also looking forward to attending.



I hope that when this project is completed (or as complete as it can be) that I will still have a few faithful readers left. Thanks in advance for sticking around... and wish me luck!






At the end of the day, what's done is done.


Friday, June 11, 2010

Access, Openings, and the U.S. Army

Opportunity knocks with the park virtually closed. Over the past three weeks, I attended an emergency medical course with the U.S. Army at Ft. Lewis. Beyond the obvious benefit of training, it was a privilege to spend time with our soldiers. The training also explains why there have been few updates to the blog...

I continue to get questions about the best way to access the mountain (i.e. Paradise). For all practical purposes, getting to Paradise is almost impossible. Why? Because there is NO public access allowed along the road corridor above Longmire. That means if you have a trip to Paradise planned for later this winter or early spring, scale back your access expectations and consider other locations.

Access to White River isn't that bad, if you have a snow machine. One party rode into the campground, parked, and then snowshoed up to the Inter Glacier. To the right, a snowboarder breaks trail through Glacier Basin (image by Don Boutry). Perhaps some climbers will follow suit? And while we're discussing access to White River and Sunrise... the current thought is that the projected road openings will go as planned next spring. This is welcome news considering the delayed openings on HWY 123; it was totally severed and may not be fully repaired and re-opened until next fall!

Last week, NPS rangers discovered more facility damage to a few of the fire lookouts. Here is Fremont Lookout from the air. Note that the roof is missing. Similar damage was found at Gobblers Knob (the roof blew off and a wall collasped) but Tolmie and Shriner (the other lookouts in the park) survived OK.

The current talk points to an April 1st road re-opening to Longmire. That would make access to the Westside Road easier and more reliable. As for Paradise, they are cautiously predicting May 1st...

As for repairs, they just paved the road at Sunshine Point. Meanwhile, the road crew is installing more culverts at Kautz Creek. Another engineering obstacle remains at milepost 5, where the uphill lane is slumping towards the river. It may not look like much in this photo, but the embankment below is severely eroded by the Nisqually River.


You may have noticed that I am now managing the photos on Flickr and have finally started posting images in the flood folder. But using blogger for this purpose isn't that easy, so we'll see how much I can do with it...

Spring Ruffed Grouse


































Yesterday we had to run down the shore to do some errands and on the way home we stopped to do a couple of fun things. One of which was to stop at Cascade River State Park to see a Ruffed Grouse doing its annual drumming ritual. Ruffed Grouse "drum" their wings in an attempt to attract a mate. Usually they choose to do this from the log of a fallen tree, but this grouse has chosen a nice moss-covered rock to do his drumming. It is a beautiful location for the grouse to be but the lighting is best in the evening. Unfortunately we were there mid-day and the grouse was in complete shade while the forest behind him was in bright sun. If my camera had a flash I could have gotten a better in-camera exposure, however I have never owned a flash for my SLR camera. The highlights and shadows tools in Lightroom allowed me to edit my original image into a pretty decent shot, though. This photo was taken right after the grouse stopped drumming. After they've drummed they stay "puffed up" like this for a few moments, with their tail fanned out. From a distance these birds appear somewhat drab in color, but up close you realize how much detail and color is actually in their feathers. They really are quite beautiful birds!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Riding a 1940s Mercian

Chris Sharp's Mercian Collection

One of my most vivid memories from Northern Ireland is standing outside Chris Sharp's house, staring at a dozen Mercian bicycles lined up on the front lawn. The rainbow of their frames stood out in vivid contrast to the wall of dark pine trees behind and the gray skies overhead.




Chris Sharp's Mercian Collection

Rain was coming down - slowly at first, then in earnest. Fog set in. As water dripped from the frames and a milky mist began to surround us, it looked as if someone had spilled tubes of paint onto the lawn. What a sight.




Chris Sharp, Mercians
Since the time he was old enough to save up for his first roadbike, Chris Sharp has been accumulating Mercians. There is just something about them he enjoys and feels is special. A familiar story!




Mercian Time Trial Bikes
Several decades later, his Mercian collection includes road, touring and track bikes, a mixte, and several time trial machines, as well as catalogues and paraphernalia from the early days of the Mercian Cycles shop.




Chris Sharp's Mercian Collection
The magnificent spread I saw on the lawn was not his entire collection; there is more in storage and elsewhere. But it was nonetheless stunning and provided beautiful examples of the legendary machines throughout the years.




Chris Sharp's Mercian Collection

Chris Sharp's bikes do not get babied. They see rain, they are taken to events, they get ridden by him and others. Which did I want to ride? How about the earliest example, a machine from the 1940s? Never mind the downpour and the fog.




Early Mercian Single Speed

Considering that Mercian Cycles set up shop in 1946, seeing this early machine was rather exciting. Chris's brother Keith was curious to try it, though I was reluctant - imagine crashing something like this!




Early Mercian Single Speed
Though the exact year of the bicycle's production is unknown, most likely it is 1947. The paint and components are not original; the bike underwent several cosmetic changes in the course of its existence. The frame itself however has remained unaltered. Chris bought the bicycle in Derby, England - from Mercian Cycles directly when the shop was under its previous ownership. The current restoration was done by Mercian, and the build was done by Chris using vintage English components.





Early Mercian Single Speed

It is a shame that the original paint and decals could not be preserved. The original head badge would have looked like this.



Early Mercian Single Speed

But the original lugwork can still be admired.




Early Mercian Single Speed

I love the older fork crowns as well.




Early Mercian Single Speed

Though cosmetically battered over the years, the frame itself had remained in good condition and the restored bike is entirely ridable.



Early Mercian Single Speed

Chris had it set up as a fixed gear for himself, but had put a freewheel on it to make it easier for others to test ride. The size is just about perfect for the Sharp brothers.




Early Mercian Single Speed

Keith Sharp is a bicycle racer and rides mostly modern machines, though appreciates his brother's vintage collection. He had never ridden this particular Mercian before, but loved it when he tried it. "The ride quality! It is very comfortable, you really must ride it!" I confess that it took a bit of convincing to get me on this bike. It was too large for me and I was unsure that I'd be able to use the brake levers effectively. Also, it was raining! But finally, my curiosity to learn what one of the earliest Mercians ever made felt like on the road won over and I tried it.






Very glad I did - what a bicycle. Yes, there is something about the ride quality. A steady, comfortable and almost effortless ride, gliding over rough road surfaces and yearning for uphill stretches. The bike was surprisingly easy to maneuver despite being too large for me. Once I started riding it, I wanted to keep going. It also felt oddly similar to my own Mercian back home. It makes no sense to believe that there is a distinct ride quality associated with Mercians that spans decades of production, despite the generational change of builders and the use of different tubing and geometry. And yet the Mercian owners and collectors I've spoken to quietly believe this, while conceding that its unlikelihood. I do not plan to collect Mercian bicycles, but I enjoy learning about their history and interacting with their enthusiastic owners. It was a treat to ride a Mercian of 1940s vintage - one of the earliest made. More pictures here.