The Walker Hour Bike
I won’t hold liking cats against you, but if you don’t like dogs, you’re dead to me. Some things aren’t left to opinions, like whether Star Wars is good or not. You’re free to be an outlier – and I loves me some outliers and I loves me a rebel – but in some cases, being an outlier doesn’t make you clever. It just makes you wrong. Also, the Laws of Physics show that the more lightsabers you have in a movie, the better the movie. Except for Episode I and The Matrix, two anomalies which balance each other out.
Similarly, loving carbon bikes is no crime. They are light, they are stiff, and many (most) are beautiful. My stable is filled with them. But a bike handbuilt by an artisan in a small workshop is something different altogether, and each one’s singular beauty is not a matter of opinion, unless you’re comfortable being wrong. I only have one so far, and it’s the custom steel I had made by NAHBS founder, Don Walker for my failed Hour ride last summer. (I’m planning a rematch with Weather this coming June.)
At this point every bike I own is custom, if only the paintwork. But even then, having a hand in how the bike is finished bonds you to the machine in a way that off-the-peg bikes simply can’t. And my Walker, even though I don’t ride it as much as a practical bike (you know, one with gears and brakes) every time I climb on it, I can feel its magic. There is something about custom in general and steel in particular that feels uniquely magnificent.
We’re in a crisis, my fellow Velominati. The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is only a few weeks away and I just heard from Don that many of the builders who have been stalwarts of the event are struggling to the point that they can’t afford to attend, much less keep a booth there. People aren’t buying bikes as much as they were, apparently, and the bikes that are being bought aren’t custom, handmade ones. We’re buying kittens, not dogs. Cyclists are watching Star Trek, not Star Wars. It’s a fucking disaster.
This isn’t a call to go buy a custom frame, we aren’t made of money. But it is a reminder that there are giant corporations behind some bikes, and there are individuals behind others. And if you’re in the market for a bike, I’m asking you to remember that. And if you aren’t in the market for a bike but love looking at them, I’ll be at NAHBS this year (in godforsaken Salt Lake fucking City no less) and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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I hope you're comfortable being wrong. Cats are clearly superior to dogs, due to their inherent inability to look anything but fabulous. Dogs on the other hand, drooling on everything that doesn't move quickly enough and sometimes even things that do, couldn't possibly match this. They are the mountain bikers of the pet world, cats are the roadies. As for Star Trek and Star Wars, well ... one is actual science fiction that .Ore often than not engaged the brain, the other a low brow space opera spectacle that doesn't engage anything but the cringe muscle.
@userfriendly
A-Merckx fronk.
I may have been a bit scarce around here lately but I cannot let this article pass without an endorsement. I have long maintained that every Velominatus who is so inclined should experience commissioning a custom bicycle from a master. It is an unparalleled experience.
@frank, I suppose you haven't made an appointment at Hampsten Towers yet?
It is your destiny.
@userfriendly
Love at first read. Absolutely, fronkatively, correct. May the cat be always on your lap, and your ales appropriately chilled for the style.
I've always looked down on people who don't have a custom frame that was built for them dating back to the early to mid 1990's. So many newbies out on the road nowadays.
Also, rats make great pets --- AKA low maintenance dogs.
"Also, the Laws of Physics show that the more lightsabers you have in a movie, the better the movie. Except for Episode I and The Matrix, two anomalies which balance each other out."
Right!
But Rogue One only had a bit of lightsaber and really kicked some ass.
And do not forget Ti frames when you are thinking of steel! Esp if you have Eriksen weld it together for you with Hampsten pulling the strings!
My Eriksen/Hampsten TI frame arrived two weeks ago and it is mind-blowing fuckingly awesome!!! Picking up my new wheelset next month and then "Ronde" is done and ready to destroy the pave' and bergs in Belgium this Spring!
Already set up my RVV trip with the Pave Classic Boys!!! The only thing that would make it better is more V members there!!!
@Nate
Fucking-Amen! Do you have a Hamsten as well???
Fucking dreamingly amazing!
So, I've been to see Rogue One and am in the process of getting a rescue Vizsla (Hamish) - all good.
Wait. What's this? I also got an entry to this year's Transcontinental Race in July?
Why, that means I'll need a new bike (and to cease being a fat bastard).
I'll just kick this off by saying I'm considering a Trek. What do you all think I should get?
Absolutely bang on. My #1 - Shand Skinnymalinky, custom steel, Built by Hand in Scotland, 90 mins from my house. It's not flash, it's not carbon, its not off the shelf, as custom as my mutt Mavic, a smooth coated Wire Haired Vizsla. I like cats but they are just not dogs.
@userfriendly 'cats are the roadies'? Aye, the roadies that barrel by and never acknowledge another cyclist, up their own arse unless they need fed.
@Buck Rogers - sadly not this year, too many other demands on my time and cash.
@the Engine
Bloody hell, you just had to ask that!
Welcome to the Vizsla owners club. Never a quiet moment.