The Story of a Fixed Gear Bicycle

Five weeks ago I went to the Chesapeake Bay for the 4th of July and I saw an old road bike, a Fuji del Rey, in the garage. “Wtf?” I said. “From where did this bike come?” (That’s right, I don’t even dangle my prepositions on vacation). My step-dad had stolen it bought it for $40 at a church’s silent auction, but it ended up being not for what he was looking. I looked up the serial number stamped under the bottom bracket and it turned out to be from 1984. Of course I couldn’t just let it sit there, all unloved and vintage. “Up with this I will not put,” I thought (what did I tell you?). I liberated the bike of superfluous parts like brakes, dreailleurs, and a ridiculous seat, and shipped it to Phat Tire in Bentonville, AR. They “hooked it up,” as it were, with a wheelset with fixed rear hub and a spiffy new saddle, and I picked it up last weekend. (click for larger images)

Former 12-speed. The boys at Phat Tire took care of that:

Parts list, for those who are into that kind of thing:

• 1984 Fuji del Rey frame & fork (Original)
• Sugino crankset, 42-tooth cog, 170mm arms (Original)
• Nitto bars & stem (Original)
• Goofy cruiser grips (Original, will be removing shortly)
• Alex rims laced to unknown hubs (New)
• Surly 15-tooth track cog (New)
• Selle San Marco Regal saddle (New)
• Time ATAC Alium pedals (New)

Loving this bike. Simple to maintain and a blast to ride. If you ever get a chance to ride a fixed gear bike, try it, it’s very different and very fun. For more information on the what & why of fixed gear, visit the all-knowing Sheldon Brown.

Isaiah Zagar

If you have ever been to Philadelphia, you have seen Isaiah Zagar’s work. He has covered tens of thousands of square feet of downtown buildings with colorful, vibrant mosaics using found materials. His most well-known piece is his own home on South Street and the adjacent lot fondly known as the “Magic Garden.”

A couple summers ago I had the pleasure of meeting Isaiah and his family, and was given a tour of the Garden and his workspace. He is quite an eccentric man—he walked around in a green speedo while I was there, running through sprinklers—but he and his family couldn’t have been more kind (his youngest daughter even brought me a Pepsi because it was so hot). He showed me some of his works-in-progress, and told me how when he started doing mosaics, he used the remnants of an abandoned glass factory.

The new film In a Dream, made by his son Jeremiah, is a dramatic cronicle of his life and art, and has already won numerous national awards.

In a Dream is playing in Memphis at the Brooks Museum of Art on August 6th.

And Now for Something...

…only a little different.

I’ve been waiting for something to post for a while because I felt it redundant and unnecessary to write even a word about the Palm Pre or iPhone 3G S, since the blogs are ablaze with pics & specs, rants & raves of these two devices. That being said, if you want to know about these phones and haven’t heard about them yet, I’m happy you’ve come out of your coma.

I kept a close watch on Apple’s keynote at WWDC on Monday, and was pleased to see the 13” MacBook get bumped to the “Pro” status. It hasn’t been since the 12” PowerBook G4 that the Pro line has dropped below 15”. I am a fan of small and powerful, and hope the 13” MBP will be as wildly successful and loved as the 12” PBG4.

So what happened to the regular ol’ Macbook? You know, that white one? It’s still alive and kicking at $999, and was just (quietly) handed a spec bump a couple weeks before WWDC. But why is Apple removing products from the MacBook line and not replacing them? Matt Buchanan over at Gizmodo pointed out today that this could mean a complete overhaul of what we currently know as the MacBook.

My take: Apple has never had a notebook as cheap as the current white MacBook. The 13” MacBook Pro now starts at $1199, reasonable for an Apple laptop (hush, you PC fanboys, I said for an Apple laptop). This means that whatever Apple does release, it’s going to have to start under that price point, because they won’t have a “Pro” model be the cheapest thing on the block. I can see one of two things happening. Number 1: A small external redesign of the white MacBook, and an introduction of something like this, priced somewhere in the MacBook Pro line (as much as everyone wants a Mac tablet, you know it won’t be cheap). Number 2 (dreaming a little here): A wipeout of the MacBook line as we know it, replaced with a cheap (sub-$1000) tablet-like device (MacBook Touch?).

Let’s get real: no one really knows what the boys in Cupertino have up their sleeves, but if they are going to release something major, it will be done right before the school year, or right before the holidays, so keep your ears peeled, or whatever.