Cyclokairos

I find life noisy and the draw of simplicity becomes ever keener. ‘A Simpler Life’ by The School of Life is a recent read. It describes a number of ways in which simplicity can be achieved, and not just the obvious – less stuff, fewer commitments – but also documents those that may not be: friendships limited to three (actually, that sounds a lot). Not all suggestions appeal – no more that six books, albeit read to the point of verbatim recitation. My book habit is the rival of my bike habit. The Purple Bike (That Is Also White) is another one of mine that may rubbish notions of simplicity in terms of the number of bikes I own but it does measure up in its build.

It has many features I favour – mudguards with flaps, a decent sized bag, a bell, rim brakes, friction shifting (via bar-end shifters). Plus the bars are probably my favourite of all the ones I use: Nitto Albatross.

There’s shellacked cotton bar tape finished off with twine (this is how to do the twine).

There’s no hydraulics, no electronics, but rather mechanical parts that are simple in the sense I know how they work (tension or slacken a cable to change gear or slow the bike) and I can service them (replacing those cables, replacing the ball bearings in the the cup and cone hubs is straightforward). Another appeal is sustainability – plastic is kept to a minimum and metal favoured. Little destined for landfill, with recycling the option come the end. But with quality metal parts, they will no doubt out live me.

I’m partial to a patch too.

New mechanical bikes and parts are becoming evermore niche. That online auction site and bike jumbles offers the vintage stuff, but thankfully small businesses beyond the behemoths are still going (and I hope will go on for some time to come) for new mechanical bikes and parts. Path Less Pedalled have interviewed Jim Porter about Merry Sales’ efforts to preserve the mechanical bike. There are others too ploughing this furrow – Grant Petersen is always worth a read on this front. My bikes are predominantly mechanical, it’s what I like to build, ride, and look at. If you’re looking for a seller of such bits and pieces, in the UK at least, Freshtripe is a personal favourite.