Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle

There are many reasons that cycling is so popular: the joy of riding in the open air and amidst never-ending scenery; the physical challenges of racing; the delicious pleasure of pure speed; the unknown road ahead on a long tour; the engaging history, both technological and social, of bicycles, to name but a few. But for me, one of the attractions is the sheer aesthetic quality of a bicycle.

It is an apparently simple device that has not changed a great deal since the Rover Safety Bicycle was introduced in 1885. Two wheels of generally of equal size, chain drive and pedals, a triangular frame and so forth. It was left to later generations to come up with inflatable tires, variable gearing, clipless pedals, effective brakes and lightweight material, of course, but the idea was there. Where form follows function, things engineered tend in one direction, so most airliners now look pretty much the same. Bicycles have perhaps followed a similar path but it is clear that there remains room, in a world of mass-produced commodity bicycles, for artistic self-expression. In May I had an opportunity to attend an exhibition in New York City's Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle that celebrates the craftsmanship and the beauty to be found in the work of six chosen custom bicycle framebuilders.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

The show is entitled “Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle,” and it opened on May 13 and will run until August 15, 2010. The museum website notes:

In the 1980s and 1990s the demand for handbuilt bicycles was eclipsed by the popularity of costly factory-produced racing bikes endorsed (if not actually ridden) by star cyclists. Custom frame builders also had to contend with a new and booming market for mass-manufactured mountain bikes. Over the past decade, renewed interest in craft, coupled with a rising social movement favoring the durable over the disposable and supporting cycling's physical and environmental benefits, has contributed to a revival of handbuilt bicycles and fostered a new generation of artisans and clientele.

Photo: Museum of Arts and Design

The builders, five American and one Italian, have provided superb and very diverse examples of their art. Mike Flanagan, who builds as Alternative Needs Transportation (A.N.T.), presented an unusual pair of bicycles: a “basket bike,” clearly meant for shopping, and a novel “Truss Frame Bike” that resembles something from the early part of the 20th Century. The bicycles were charming, and had touches such as hand-etched brass badges and a chainring hollowed out with playing card suits!

There were also a pair of bikes from Jeff Jones, who builds titanium mountain bikes without suspension in the wilds of Oregon. These bicycles roll to the beat of a different drummer, with trussed forks and appealing curves.

The other four builders construct more traditional bicycles but are each masters in their own rights. Dario Pegoretti builds classic Italian racing bicycles characterized by not only their excellent build quality but by outlandish paint schemes that bring modern art to the tube surfaces. The bicycles have unusual names as well, such as “Love #3,” and “Day is Done.” (Actually, the names remind me a bit of some of my Jerry Garcia neckties, based on artworks with titles such as “the Poet Considers the War.”)

I had the good fortune to meet the final three artists/artisans personally at Cirque du Cyclisme in 2007 The market for finely-crafted steel frames has mushroomed in the United States and the order books of Sasha White (Vanilla), Richard Sachs and J. Peter Weigle all show an impressive backlog. Looking at the bicycles in New York, it is easy to understand why.

Photo : D. James Dee

The surprisingly-young Sasha White builds in Portland, Oregon, and his bikes not only feature superb workmanship but also a spirit of playfulness. There was a child's bicycle and even a tricyle. One of his Speedvagen models, from a line of quasi-production run bicycles, was present, but the Vanilla bikes (a track and a road model), with their detailed lugwork were more appealing to me. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the Randonneur model, with its beautiful metallic paint and matching fenders, and featuring a handmade old-style aluminum water bottle (with a hardwood cap!) and cage. That said, a randonneur bike, as I understand it, is meant for long-distance, comfortable touring and the Vanilla bicycle looked more to me like a racing bike with fenders. No racks or lighting system, and narrow racing tires but lovely nonetheless.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

Richard Sachs of Massachusetts, considered one of the deans of American framebuilding, showed models for road, track and cyclocross racing, all in his familiar red-and-white paint scheme. The cyclocross bike was particularly appealing, as it had a layer of mud on it, an idea that took it away from an objet d'art in a museum to its direct function. A display case in the museum showed artifacts from the builders, and not only could you see Richard Sachs' own racing license, but also his collection of New Yorker magazine covers featuring bicycles.

Ladies' Randonneur Bike--Photo J. Peter Weigle

Also from New England comes Peter Weigle of Connecticut. He had only two bikes on show, a ladies' randonneur bike and a men's sportif model, both equipped with vintage parts and including Peter's own custom tail light. The men's bike won Best in Show at Cirque du Cyclisme in 2009 I looked closely at Peter's work at Cirque and was impressed not only with the skillful construction but also the seamless appearance of his bikes. Their subtle detailing and beautiful proportions are distinctive. At Cirque, Peter brought an old Raleigh of middling quality that he had turned into a beautiful randonneur bike and it was immediately apparent that there was more Peter Weigle in it than Nottingham at that point. Yet was just another diamond-framed safety bicycle. Peter also provided interesting material for the display case, including a memorabilia from his own racing career.

The exhibition is nicely set out in an uncrowded and attractive environment, enabling the visitor to get a close view of all the pieces. Of course, with the exception of the cyclocross bike, everything is surgically clean so the bicycles are considered as artworks alone, with no distracting environment. As it is a gallery, the property rights of the artists are closely guarded, so photography is not allowed. Well, for some people it is: I am indebted to Peter Weigle for the photos on this blog.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

A rather expensive catalogue (but with admittedly excellent photography and comments about the bicycles and their “artists”) is available from the Museum shop here. Mine had to be sent after my visit as it was prepared too late for the opening of the show.

Take the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition if you can as bicycles are so seldom presented with a focus that takes them from mechanical objects to fine art.

Escape to New York

The First Emperor, by Tan Dun, at the Met
Placido Domingo in the title role
(photo by davajan)

After a lengthy drive, with some slow traffic in Pennsylvania due to I-81 construction, followed by pouring rain and a big back-up at the Lincoln Tunnel, we arrived in New York City just after 5:30 pm on Friday. We found our excellent hotel, the Michelangelo, although I had accidentally written down it was on West 52nd when in fact it was on West 51st, quite easily and the valet parking man took away the car.

Free to wander the Streets of New York at last! Driving in New York is pretty exciting, to say the least, as pedestrians use their force of numbers to cross on red lights but I learned that you just keep driving and beep your horn as you approach the intersection. I guess this adds a frisson of danger to daily life, but I would not own a car in the city if I lived there.

We were in town as I had purchased some tickets to the Metropolitan Opera from a colleague who was unable to attend. The hotel was within walking distance of Lincoln Center, and Times Square. Unfortunately, the rain got worse and it became much colder so the evening was spent relaxing in the hotel, where we had received a gorgeous upgraded one bedroom suite, with no less than three televisions in it.

Early the next morning, after having an excellent cappuccino and some biscotti (after all, the Michelangelo is part of an Italian chain!), I walked over to 50th and 7th Avenue in what was now glorious morning sunshine and took the subway downtown. Public transit in New York is another reason I would not bother with a car and the express train took me down to 14th Street very quickly. I then transferred for a few stops and got out in the up-and-coming Tribeca area. Many of the old buildings are being renovated and they look terrific: Olde New Yorke. Bricks and cobblestones everywhere, and I even saw a building with a sign promoting whalebone on the facade.

My goal was Cadence Cycling & Multisport on Hudson Street, the second location (after Philadelphia) of this upmarket bicycle store. I had been very impressed by the Philadelphia shop, on Main Street in Manayunk, and in New York I wanted to see an exhibition of cycling photos from Rouleur magazine that were only going to be on display until May 18th.

The Cadence store is in a gorgeous light yellow brick building, with lots of windows. From the street you could see several nice bikes on display, including a Colnago CLX in Italian tricolori and a new Cervelo. I went inside and was again impressed with how much effort went into finishing the store, with beautiful hardwood floors and excellent lighting. As you enter, there is a small café to the left, while on the right there are a number of frames–Cervelo, BMC, Wilier and Colnago–on display. Cadence also sells Cyfacs, but I think that they are all custom-built and I only saw some customer bikes.

Walking forward there is a large counter, and a range of small items, such as Clif Bars. There is a nice display of shoes, mainly Northwave and Sidi, and then quite a few items of cycling clothes, including an entire display of gear from Rapha. I even saw the special Andy Hampsten Giro commemorative jersey for sale.

The first floor also has the maintenance area, which is very open and quite spotless, where two mechanics were working. Next to them was a room with a window where a bike fitting was taking place. Beside this was an open door and I walked in to a large, high-ceilinged room to see perhaps 30 bikes set up on wind trainers and two huge screens, one showing a bike race. There were two people working out, including a woman who looked astonishingly fit, with truly terrifying calf muscles. All the bikes were different, so it is clear that people leave their bikes at Cadence and come to train in a group or individually. It appears that the system is the CompuTrainer one and it would have been nice to see how this worked.

Although I did not take the stairs I could see that downstairs there was an endless pool and probably there were showers and a locker room, although I am not sure. Cadence offers an impressive range of services, including VO2 max/LT tests and medical consultations. Of course, none of this–the hardwood floors, the coaching, the Tribeca location, the cafe–comes cheap. The cheapest frame that I saw was a Cervelo P2C, which went US$1850, and even the Clif Bars were US$ 1.75 each.

A few months ago I wrote about cruising bicycles, an attempt by manufacturers to get non-cyclists out for a ride using the kind of equipment that needs only the most minimal of effort of cost. What Cadence is trying to do seems to be the diametric opposite–a club-like location for serious athletes, or wannabes, with plenty of cash to indulge their favourite hobby. This kind of establishment is not for pros but needs a bigger market.

Unlike my experience in Philadelphia, the staff in New York was not very enthusiastic about coming out from behind the counter, although one of them did politely ask me not to take any photographs after I took a picture of the rack of frames. I guess if you look hard you can see some of the photos from Rouleur on the wall (you can see these from the street in any case) but otherwise it all just looks like what you would see on the Colnago or Cervelo website. Although I don’t like to be harassed by salespeople in shops, I was a bit surprised that after I spent nearly forty minutes looking at pretty well absolutely everything in the place and was clearly very interested–enough to take photos-- nobody approached me. Perhaps it was my apparent lack of terrifying calf muscles or the fact that I was not wearing Spandex in the store, as the handful of the other customers were doing, or my general simpleton vibe of Canadian cheapness that held them back rather than some kind of inherent snobbery, the sort of thing that prevents other roadies from waving at you on a ride as they pass you on the opposite side of the road. In any event, I was impressed with what Cadence is trying to do, and I enjoyed looking at the photos from Rouleur as well.

Monument to the Spanish-American War near Columbus Circle

I then took the subway uptown to look at Lincoln Center before returning to the hotel after walking a bit through Central Park and watching the cyclists there for a bit. The afternoon was spent watching an excellent performance of “the First Emperor,” with Placido Domingo in the title role, at the Met, followed by a wonderful dinner at the vegan gourmet restaurant, Candle 79, on the Upper East Side, where I enjoyed: grilled artichokes, with blue-cornmeal crusted onion rings; a wild mushroom salad with cippolini (!) onions; a Moroccan spiced chickpea cake with spring vegetables, red pepper-coconut curry and apricot-date chutney, accompanied by a dry Riesling. Then for dessert I could not resist the strawberry-rhubarb tart with dulce de leche ice cream. I think I will need to try a bit harder once I am back in Ottawa...