A couple of folks have suggested a gallery of owners bikes. I think that's a terrific idea and I have a plan. If you would send me a few (like no more than three) photos I'll put the best one or two up as a regular blog entry. Please also post them and additional photos to Flicker or PhotoBucket or some other photo sharing site and I'll link to them. When you send the photos, please include the word "photographs" in the title to help me sort them. I'll also include "photographs" in the post title so you can easily search the whole blog for them. Oh, and please re-size the photos to 1024 x 768 pixels or some other reasonable size.
Ernest, from Japan, has been kindly keeping me supplied with issues of New Cycling magazine, as well as rice cakes. New cycling is a serious (and thick) bike magazine that might be likened to Jan Heine's Bike Quarterly, but with a wider perspective. It covers not only classic bike, but topics such as local racing.
New Cycling also has special issues, or books, on subjects such as Toei bikes, Rene Herse bikes, and classic derailleurs. Ernest just sent me the the Toei book and I can't begin to tell you how great it is. If your orders don't get shipped on time it's because I'm studying the hundreds of photos in my Toei book.
The Rene Herse book is out of print, but available on CD rom. I'm getting a copy, but at 3500 yen (not 35000 as I first wrote) they are not cheap. Does anyone think I should try to stock these.
14 December, 2006
New Cycling and Your Photos
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14 comments:
As usual, beautiful stuff, Chris.
But why charge 35,000 yen for something so insignificant?
Digital media is a wonder -- why not tell the Japanese publisher you will be happy to copy and redistribute the CD-ROM under license for, say, $60 retail each? That's still a king's ransom for something that has almost NO physical value. If the publisher has a whit of business sense (OK, this is a big "if" in this business) he will jump at the chance to get the sales.
Darn, that was supposed to be 3500 yen, still a lot for a CD.
I like the idea of a CD and have the Riv Readers on disc. My shelves are already overflowing with art books so adding more is getting difficult. Viewing line art drawings on a monitor is fine. Plus it helps that I have 37 inch monitor in the living room!
Glossy color magazines are usually printed on fresh cut timber pulp paper as opposed to recycling. In Japan, timber pulp often comes from reckless deforestation producers in Indonesia and the Philippines.
I like reading about bikes from as many perspectives as possible. But I would rather be un-enlightened if enlightment means a colony of Orang Utans lose their homes.
How about stocking issues of "New Cycling"?
Joel, You have a good point, but New Cycling only has a few glossy pages. Most of it is in B&W on a sort of thick news print.
Did you know that 70% (from memory) of Japan is forested. It's the largest percentage of any industrialized nation. They had strict national forest preservation programs even in the days of the Shoguns. The closest thing the West had was a few royal game preserves.
Nonetheless the deforestation of Indonesia and the Philippians is an issue I've dealt with when I owned a boat building firm. We had very few tropical wood supplier we could trust. Most would buy anywhere and just stamp "plantation grown" on it.
ANDY, We can't order New Cycling products yet. Our import agent is supposed to be talking to them.
Are you reading this George? How's it coming? ;<)
Chris:
I am aware and agree Japan does a good job with their own forests.
Unfortunately, Japan historically has had a bad record of using its wealth to encourage its neighbors to denude their forests while Japan preserves its own.
In this case, if the magazines are mainly b&w, there is a good chance they include recycled material.
It's hard to make a case for the Japanese as being environmentally aware. This is the same culture that will very efficently kill the last whale and catch the last fish in the ocean. Not that we're mch better.
Speaking of cycling publications, has anybody seen Rouleur Magazine (from the Rapha folks) firsthand? I honestly don't care a lick about racing (they call themselves a racing mag) but it looks like it's nicely printed & designed.
Chris,
I've always wanted to purchase New Cycling. I'd be interested in buying these if the import issues are worked out. CD sounds OK for the OOP items but otherwise I prefer the real deal. I rarely return to a CD for repeat viewing - but often return to printed material again and again. And it's nice to strap a book or mag to your rack and read it somewhere in a sunny field with a nice drink. I often do this. Yes, a laptop could work under the same conditions - but romance still counts, no?
nv
Jitensha has some of the New Cycling publications. I'm thinking of ordering one or two myself (including the pricey Toei publication).
Once upon a time Jan Heine was offering the Rene Herse book (got mine from him then, excellent book). You might want to contact him and see if he has any left over stock.
John Price
I would enjoy seeing bikes from owners here. Velospace is ok, but its mostly track bikes that they paint different colors often. I like looking at practical bikes that can learn from features integration.
Velo Orange bikes always seem to have nice touches that blends known common problems. Owners here seem to have nice bikes everyone could learn from. All you guys are smarter than I and would like to look at your bikes since they are more in line with my tastes.
Other than calendars and reference sources, printed material is ultimately a waste of resources (personal and ecological).
Thanks
Does everybody know about:
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/main.php
to view nice bike pictures?
Thanks Neil!
Looks interesting.
Everything almost is on the web if you know where to look.
:-)
Cyclofiend's gallery of current classics ans Singlespeeds are also very nice.
nv
http://cyclofiend.com/
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