How we look to others and post season crossing

So I just saw this article thanks to Barry Childress of Baltimore Spokes it is an article by the managing editor of BikePortland.org Elly Blue about Baltimore's progress toward being a bicycle friendly city. It is an interesting perspective from someone who is from what many think of as the urban cycling nirvana: Portland (cue angelic chorus).

I also wanted to make sure to shout out Jim who lives here in Baltimore, but works for Proteus Bicycles down in College Park. He is organizing a cyclocross race down in College Park, MD at another bike shop that will go unnamed (alright, it's proteus) and it looks to be a real nice event. So for all of you who just haven't gotten all the suffering out of your system this cross season, this race is the equivilant of that one last hit of cocaine/heroin/marijuana/caffine/jenkem or whathave you before shipping off to the Amy Winehouse Memorial treatment center.

I am not going to be able to go, I am going to be sitting here working. But I wish the organizers and participants well and that the event goes off well.

Alright you cats, get out there and ride in this awful slosh.

Commuting to work today

I saw this video this morning on the Drunk Cyclist blog, and I think it is how most people feel if they commuted to work down the hill today.




Mud Wrestling Downhill Mountain Bike Racers- What A MESS!!! (and - video powered by Metacafe


I didn't actually take a spill this morning, but I was riding so slow that I was going backwards for a minute there. It was weird, I think that the earth's rotation was messing me up.

Makes a guy want to invest in Nokian Tires.

Another Used Bike

This is a recent used bike added to our line up.  We've had a few go out the door since the last post, but we've kept up to date on saying what has sold.  Check out the other used bikes HERE...

Bianchi Pista Fixed Gear - 55cm

Bianchi Pista fixed gear in a 55cm frame size.   Color is Bianchi gang green.  Bike has a brand new, never ridden wheelset with a fix/free flip flop rear hub.  Comes with bull horn bars and equipped with a front brake and bar end lever.  White Turbo saddle.  MKS pedals and toe clips with brand new leather straps.  Gatorskin tires with plenty of life left in them.  Bike is in fantastic shape and is in 100% working order.  Come on by and check it out in person.

$400.

New New Bikes in stock

We are thrilled to announce that we have just received a mess of bikes from our newest brand : Jamis Bikes.

We have mountain, hybrid, road, touring, cyclocross, commuting, and kids bikes in stock.

We will put up pictures and more thoughts soon.

Everything old is new again

Did you know there was an American Bicycle industry?

And that it featured unionized workers?


from:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q8EUAAAAYAAJ&dq=machinists%20bicycle%20union&lr=&pg=PA308&ci=49,795,938,661&source=bookclip

strikebreakers union

As you may or may not know, we here at Baltimore Bicycle Works are fans of organized labor.

The weekend, 40 hour weeks, an end to child labor. All good stuff in my book.

I just saw this on the internet. I believe it comes from one of Micheal Moore's TV shows. Either way, it is pretty funny.




Update: On the subject of collective bargaining and worker's organization, I just saw this piece on someone else's blog. It is about the US Air Hudson River landing and rescue. It raises an point that all of the 24 hour media that has been covering this story from every angle failed to bring up. All of the heroes of this story are union members.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/01/16/this-miracle-brought-to-you-by-americas-unions/

Alex got us fresh T's and other shop news

Attention Baltimore cyclists and T-shirt wearers.

We have gotten our T's back into stock. They also come in white. At only $10, you can't afford not to buy one. Come in and pick one up, and rep us hard ... most likely under 8-10 other layers of clothing. It's cold out.



So cold, you might want to pick up a Swobo wool beanie. It had ear flaps to protect those little hearing units.




In other exciting BBW news, we have upgraded our chess set in the shop. So if you have a free hour (we don't play with a clock ... yet) come by and beat me in chess. Then buy a tube so I don't feel too bad.




That is me blogging it up in the background. And in the foreground it is our freewheel tool rook ... we lost a piece in transit. Too bad we didn't loose a king because crank pullers are very regal.

When I see all of you commuting hard women and men still churning those pedals past our storefront when the mercury dips below sensible, It warms my heart. Which is nice because the shop is expensive to heat. It also makes me think that what a great bike the SWOBO Dixon could be for you all. Understated style, huge tires clearance, disc brakes, and the SRAM internal geared 9sp hub. This bike is the ultimate all weather commuting machine.

.

Wood Grain Wheels

This is a custom build up we did recently.  Pake track frame in limited edition bass boat green.  Wheel set is Velocity Deep V's painted wood grain.  

Slim thug actually wrote a song about this bike.  

See it here  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZSVqI9V6U

Very small American bicycle manufacturing sector gets smaller

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/2238.html

American Bicycle Group, the makers of Litespeed, Merlin, and Quintana Roo, has laid off 25% of their workers involved in manufacturing in their Tennessee facility, citing the current economic recession.

quoting from the article:
"According to Hurley [the CEO] , ABG will 'continue to develop new products during this downturn with confidence that the future will again be bright for our industry and ABG.'"

Nothing says confidence like laying off 25% of your workforce.

'"We regret the pain and discomfort of those laid off and wish only the very best for their future," Hurley added.'

Nothing says regret like a press release.

And the downward swirling continues ... more layoffs, less economic security for working people, less workers can afford to buy, more layoffs ... and the downward swirling continues

Looking for more information on the companies website I noticed that they may be going back to an older method of procuring workers. This is under "frequently asked questions":

Can I visit the Litespeed factory?
We do indeed allow factory tours, but would really like it if we got a bit of a warning before you come so we can make sure we have a guide available. Call us at 423-238-5530 and schedule a tour and we will show you around. You'll be impressed especially by our amazing staff here.
Remember though, solid shoes and eye protection have to be worn and you have to be at least 14 years old.

Now perhaps I am paranoid, but I wouldn't go down there for fear of being Shanghaied (no offense intended for any of my Chinese readership ... who am I kidding, nobody is reading this)

Oh, and I am pretty sure that in the answer above they are now using staff as the singular not the plural.

BKW interview with BSNYC

... so this is a link to one of the best bicycle bloggers interviewing one of the best bicycle bloggers.

if you don't know Bike Snob NYC ... (in the words of hip-hop mixtape king Clinton Sparks) GET FAMILIAR!

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/02/burden-of-being-bsnyc.html

I think it is starting to show that I don't actually ride bikes anymore ... I just ride the mile to the bike shop, read blogs all day, and ride the mile home. There are definitely worse fates I suppose ... so please don't think less of me.

Planned obsolescence and the swiss army bike

Planned obsolescence (click the link to go to the wikipedia article on the matter) has been part of our capitalist economy for the past eighty years or so. It is the idea that by introducing a new version of a product every year you can make the previous year's product obsolete in some way (either functionally, aesthetically or whatever) and put pressure on consumers to buy the product again.

Critics of this method of increasing production and profit say that it is wasteful and generally harmful to our society in a whole for a variety of sociological, psychological and economy reasons.

Here is an example of planned obsolescence in action:

the Trek 6500 model year 2008

the Trek 6500 model year 2009

... so when the blue bike is introduced in September it makes the silver bike obsolete even if they are essentially identical.

I recently got a chance to replace a spoke on a Swiss Army bike that was made in the 1940's. It is being ridden on the regular by a gentleman, so it has a real life, not just an existence as a wall hanging. This is an impressive machine. Not that I wouldn't prefer to ride the Loch Raven trails on that Trek 6500, but it is an example of a completely different production philosophy. Since these bikes are not produced for the purpose of maximizing profit for the corporation that they were produced by it doesn't make sense to come out with a new model every year. Instead they have only updated this bicycle three times in the over the one hundred years that it has been produced. This means less waste in production, greater ease for the consumer to find replacement parts, and a dearth of real world testing before improvements are planned and implemented.

Check out this funny video showing the swiss military riding on bikes and dodging fake bullets.

Now I don't think that we all need to go out and buy Swiss Army bikes ... they certainly aren't practical for all applications (though it would make the Tour de France's Alp D'Huez stage much more challenging for the riders and fun to watch for spectators ... if fun for spectators is measured in suffering for the competitors). But if we are at a stage of capitalism where our American president is forced to openly advocate for its continuation as our economic system ... then maybe it is worth revisiting if this is the best way to make and sell our products.

And I thought Al Gore had something valuable stolen from him

I saw this story on the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News ....

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/2230.html
“They’ve probably been sold for a $10 rock of crack.” —Peter Wicker, owner of Outback Bikes, a cycle dealer in the Atlanta area, who gave Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, Specialized bikes in November 2007. The Carters bikes were stolen earlier this month from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

When I first started reading the quote I thought that Mr. Wicker was implying that our former President and first lady had developed a habit themselves. Which would be tragic, unless you have seen "Little Miss Sunshine". Because as Grandpa will tell you when you young you are crazy to do herion, but when you are old you are crazy not to.

After I read that the bike had been stolen and that it was this mystery thief with the drug problem the quote made more sense. But there are other reasons apart from a cocaine habit to steal a bike (though, living in Baltimore all evidence seems to be contrary) . My money is that this guy stole it:



So if you live in Atlanta ... be wary of people with Italian accents.

... oh and Bush ... you better keep an eye on all those Madones and Fuels that TREK / Revloution Bike Shop have given you. I have seen Burlesconi eye'n em.

Animal BMX goes to China

Our global economy is a complicated beast.

Like all of our industries here in the United States, the bicycle industry is now dependent upon Chinese factories and workers to an unprecedented level. This is because our economic bosses are trying to take advantage of what they have viewed as a limitless pool of workers willing to rent their minds and bodies for wages less than two percent of the wages of their American counterparts.

The decisions that the "captains of industry" have been making over the last thirty years have devastated our economy here at home. With eyes fixed on raising profits every quarter, the longer term goals of our economy have been nearly totally ignored.

For an example in the bicycle industry, you can look at Huffy Bicycles. In July 1998 the Huffy Corporation closed its Celina, Ohio plant. It laid off 975 workers, many of whom had worked for decades for this corporation. The justification for this decision was that the company had to cut costs. This meant that they would fire unionized American workers (members of United Steelworkers of America) who made $11 dollars per hour (plus an additional $6 per hour worth of benefits), so that they could then hire Chinese workers who would work for 25-41 cents per hour.



The idea of cutting costs by reducing the CEO's pay was not considered as far as I can tell. In fact the CEO's pay was increased in the same year by 11.4 percent, bringing his yearly salary up to a respectable $771,091.00.

These are also decisions that are being made to increase the profit of a company that in that year of 1998 made $97,500,000 in profit out of the $584,000,000 in sales.

This is why real wages have not increased in our country in thirty years ... despite "the fundamentals of our economy being sound".



To quote Warren Buffet "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

• New York Times, November 26, 2006.

With all of this as a backdrop, Animal BMX company has gone to visit the production of their clothing in China. I have to give the folks at Animal props here, not for making their clothes in China ... but for going to the factory, taking pictures, and showing everyone the reality of how things are made on their website. That is something that is pretty unique in the bicycle industry. If you go to everyone elses websites it seems like if they don't make the stuff here it just magically gets made and appears on retailers shelves.

http://animalbikes.com/blog/news/shanghai
http://animalbikes.com/blog/news/shanghai-day-1
http://animalbikes.com/blog/news/shanghai-day-2
http://animalbikes.com/blog/news/shanghai-day-3

There are also some nice pictures of the sponsored riders doing some huge bunny hops and and barspins on the streets of Shanghai.

This isn't the whole story either though. In recent years Chinese workers have been making gains toward improving their working condtions (to the chagrin of the rich class Mr. Buffet spoke of).

I saw this article in the NY times a few months ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/business/worldbusiness/29labor.html?pagewanted=print

It tells the story of workers in China having their wages increase in a dramatic way because that limitless pool of poor migrant Chinese labor is drying up. As their example they use the Dahon folding bicycle factory. I think this is an encouraging sign for both the American and Chinese working class.

Heck ... Chinese workers have even organized a union at Wal-Mart.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/First_WalMart_union_begins_in_China_0803.html

Like I said, our global economy is a complicated beast.

notes:
http://www.responsiblewealth.org/shareholder/2000/huffy.html
http://www.nlcnet.org/reports.php?id=265

Current Used Bikes

These photographs are of our current used bike line up. All bikes are in great working order and have been refurbished and checked over by our mechanics.

Surly 1x1.

Surly 1x1 Frame and Fork in black. Frame size is 16" (Surly small). Horizontal dropouts on the frame. Race Face cranks, stem, and seat post. Avid BB7 disc brakes. Surly hubs laced to WTB rims. FSA sealed 1 1/8" headset. WTB 26x2.5 tires. Shimano SPD clipless pedals included.

$575

Trek 820 mountain bike.

Trek 820 mountain bike with 26" wheels and a 15" steel frame size. Blue and silver in color, this bike has 21 speeds and uses Shimano components. Suspension fork. 26x1.95 tires. In like new condition.

$150

Diamond Back Approach hybrid. - SOLD

Diamond Back Approach hybrid bike. 700C wheel size with 700x41 tires makes this bike great for riding on the road or the trail. 17" steel frame, blue grey in color. 21 speeds.

$135

Giant mountain bike.

Giant mountain bike with 26" wheels. Frame is steel and 13.5". Color is dark purple. 15 speeds. In good shape, price is a great deal!

$75

Schwinn Cruiser - SOLD

Classic Schwinn Cruiser. Single speed with coaster brake, this bike is a great classic. Blue in color with a steel frame and 26" wheels with white wall tires. Bike comes with a rear rack and baskets installed. Bike has rust throughout but is in fine working condition.

$50

These bikes are all currently on our show room floor. Come on by and check them out in person or take one on a test ride. Also, take a look at some of our new bikes as well.

Anachronistic Photo update

So I figured we would do a little photo dump here. Meredith my lovely fellow worker and fiance took all these nice photos before losing her camera - computer cable. They have been in a digital purgatory until now.

This is me in an empty work area ...







































alrighty ... so we jumped ahead in the story and now the shop is all painted and almost ready to open.









and we are in the future again and we are open.








me. sitting around waiting after closing time.



-Josh