22 October, 2007

Obligatory Pumpkin Photos and Baker's Bike


Half the blogs I've seen in the past few days have a photo that includes a pumpkin. So here are VO's obligatory pumpkin photos.

In other food news, bakers in Europe traditionally used delivery bicycles with large covered baskets on the front. These were even called "baker's bikes. It seems that the large Hershberger front baskets sits perfectly on our new Porteur rack. It's as if it was made for that very rack. The Hershbergers, however, are moving to a new farm in an even more remote area, where freight pickup is unavailable. So that's, sadly, the end of our stocking their baskets. Get them while you still can.

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16 comments:

  1. Anonymous10/22/07, 7:13 PM

    That strida would sure look nicer with a leather saddle and some metal pedals. And cork grips too. A green Brooks would be awesome.
    M Burdge

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  2. Anonymous10/22/07, 7:23 PM

    How well does the Jubile work as a city bicycle? What's the front end geometry? Or is that a grand jubile. I've been thinking about using a Motobecane frame to make a city bicycle but I'm afraid I don't know much about the different models.

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  3. Yann G.S.10/22/07, 9:07 PM

    sorry a little un related... I remember seeing a brazed on rear light mounted behind and under the seat on the seat tube.... I meant to ask then... what exactly was that?

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  4. mpetry91210/23/07, 12:08 AM

    That's a cool old Motobecane, Chris. I rode a similar one for years, they handle amazingly well. Yours looks very clean and nicely tricked out. Until you need swiss cups... thank goodness for Phil wood dot com.

    Mark Petry
    Bainbridge Island, WA

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  5. Anonymous10/23/07, 7:39 AM

    Mark,

    I have a Cilo which has a Swiss threaded BB that had to be replaced. I agree - thank goodness for Phil.

    -Alf

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  6. Anonymous10/23/07, 9:26 AM

    The is a pizzeria in Boston called The Upper Crust.

    Not only is it the best pizza in town by far, the shops use bicycles to deliver hot pizza from giant boxes mounted on racks.

    Check out the photos: http://theuppercrustpizzeria.com/

    Bruno

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  7. Anonymous10/23/07, 10:30 AM

    Wow, that's too bad about the baskets - they are beautiful. Besides the large community of Amish in Pennsylvania, I seem to remember (from my ~2 years living in PG County) that there are some on Maryland as well. Are you going to try to find another source for the baskets?

    (Side note re: food delivery: when I lived in New York City, I saw lots of places using bikes from Worksman, who have been making them right in NYC continuously since 1898: http://www.worksman.com/ )

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  8. Anonymous10/23/07, 10:32 AM

    "IN Maryland", I meant (or "on the Delmarva peninsula", maybe... )

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  9. Unknown10/23/07, 11:56 AM

    I know this is WAY off topic but what's this about swiss cups for Motobecanes? I just bought one on ebay and I'll want to install a new headset and BB in it. Is the headset french and the BB swiss?

    This is even more off topic, but I'd like to hear everyone's take on frame sizing. If you look at old drawings of bikes there's usually only like a half an inch of seatpost sticking out of the frame. The stem is similarly extended and the saddle and handlebar are level. This makes for a comfortable riding position but a high toptube which is anathema to modern cyclists' eyes. I believe is was Daniel Rebour who said to subtract 25cm from your pubic bone height to arrive at your frame size. I'm 6'-3", my pbh is 93cm, so, according to Rebour, my frame size should be 68cm. Thoughts?

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  10. Anonymous10/23/07, 12:37 PM

    i'd say you should be on a 68 or 70 cm. hard to come by, but they are out there. Nishiki made nice ones in the 80s, maybe a few others did too. Try mt airy cycles, if you can put up with them. when i worked at a shop selling touring bikes our motto was if a bike isnt too big for you, its too small for you.

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  11. Velo Orange10/23/07, 1:53 PM

    Serge, The MB is a fair city bike, too performance oriented for a load carrier, but okay. You might search the blog for a previous post on Motobecanes.

    Yann, That's for a prototype tail light we had made. Many constructeur bikes had lights like that.

    Mark and Alf, I have some Edco BBs that use a strange plastic cam to fit into any size/thread BB shell. Who needs Swiss cups when you have bizarre Swiss components?

    Louis, Motobecane used Swiss BBs and French everything else. Don't ask me why; that's just the way they did it.

    Frame sizing needs a separate, and long, post.

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  12. Anonymous10/23/07, 2:44 PM

    This is completely off topic, but is there any update on the B M light mount discussed in the VO Blog post from September 17. I am not that handy at working with metal, so I am using a modified chest lid hinge part as my mount until the VO mount is available.

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  13. Unknown10/23/07, 2:46 PM

    Thanks for the input and my apologies for veering so far off track. Great pumpkin shots, BTW.

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  14. Anonymous10/25/07, 8:07 PM

    Pumpkins make everything look better. Thanks! http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonologic/1469389937/in/set-72157602231961587/

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  15. Anonymous10/25/07, 8:09 PM

    and by that I meant "another" louis

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  16. Anonymous11/19/07, 6:22 AM

    Do you know what year the motobecane is in the picture? I have a similar track frame (nervex lugs and semi-wrap around seat lug) that I am trying to date. any links to other motobecanes of this era would be appreicated.

    thanks.

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