I just returned from Japan. It was an amazing trip of talking to Compass Bicycles' suppliers and of collecting material for future Bicycle Quarterly stories. Most of all, it was great fun! We got to see old friends and acquaintances, and meet new ones. We rode bikes with some, went...
Last weekend, the Japanese randonneurs organized their Flèche 24-hour ride. We were honored to be part of the banquet at the finish. (The photo shows us with Maya Ide, the organizer.) Originally, we had been scheduled to ride with a team, but I broke my hand three weeks ago....
The Bicycle Quarterly team is in Japan for a few weeks of visiting manufacturers and builders, enjoying the culture, and cycling. Above is the view from our window in Kyoto. Doesn't it look like a dream spot, with temples in the foreground and rugged mountains in the background? Our...
Cycling used to be the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation available, but with recent technological developments, this no longer is the case. Even though the emissions of riding bikes are small, they are not insignificant. As we cyclists convert carbohydrates into energy to power our legs, we emit CO2....
We are donating all proceeds from our calendar sales for the next day to help the Museo del Ghisallo reopen their doors. I was quite shocked when I learned that the Museo had closed its doors this autumn due to lack of funding. Years ago,...
Late last year, Richard Hollinek sent me a calendar about Viennese "mechanics' bikes" – bikes built by small builders in Vienna, Austria. The calendar hangs in our bathroom, and I smile every time I see it. The "mechanics' bikes" are workmanlike in their quality and execution, but not without...
This René Herse Randonneuse is one of the last bikes made by the famous constructeur. It came to Seattle to be photographed for our book René Herse: The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders, and so I had the chance to study its many details. René Herse died in...
April 1, 2013: Recent tests with bicycles have shown that even on a very smooth road surface, lower tire pressures increase comfort with no loss of speed (Bicycle Quarterly Spring 2013). Now even railroads have become persuaded that super-hard tires diminish both comfort and performance. Railroads are investigating how to...
Our new book René Herse • The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders will be available with French text in addition to the English version. Therefore, this update is in French. Notre souscription pour l'édition française du livre René Herse a connu un beau succès puisque nous avons...
The Bicycle Quarterly charity drive was a success. We were able to raise almost $ 1500 for three charities. Checks are going out this morning to Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Thank you to all who contributed!
May the new year bring you wonderful rides and great memories!
I enjoy the annual rhythm of the seasons. It encourages me to change my cycling and exercise, like a farmer rotating crops and leaving some fields fallow for a while. The early months of the year remind me of preparing the soil and sowing that year's crop. This...
A sharp-eyed reader spotted our book The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles in this photo on the BBC Travel web site as part of a feature about art in Paris. It is very nice to see our book featured in the place where these bikes...
Yesterday's mail brought a nice surprise: the May issue of the Japanese magazine Cyclotourist, with an article I wrote about the history of randonneuring and of randonneur bicycles in France. Unfortunately, I don't read Japanese, but from what I can tell, they did a very nice job with the 6-page...
TheBicycle Quarterly yard sale was a success. Not only did it clear out our workshop and storage areas, but it also raised a little over $ 3,500 (which we rounded up to $3,600) for charity, in part thanks to people's generous bid on ebay. We will make donations of $ 1200...
The Bicycle Quarterly charity drive was a success. Together with our readers, we raised almost $2000 for charity. Thank you to all who contributed.
We get many letters and e-mails. We read them all, but we cannot reply to each and every one. We select a few for inclusion to Bicycle Quarterly "Readers' Forum" pages. How do we select these letters? To be published, a letter must add something new to the discussion. We...
For those staying in Paris before PBP, here is a bike route from the Arc de Triomphe to the start in Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines. The route is easy to follow, yet it doesn't see a lot of traffic. There is a nice bike...
When I became interested in the bicycles of the French constructeurs many years ago, the little information that was available came from Japan. I am happy to return the favor: Our book The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles now is available in Japanese. Maybe it will broaden the...
In the previous parts of this series, we have looked at how our preferences in bicycles changed over time. We started out on "state-of-the-art" bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags. How did we come to prefer low-trail 650B bikes with much wider tires and handlebar...
Compass Bicycles is proud to be the sole distributor of SKF bottom brackets world-wide. Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF) has been the leader in bearing technology since 1907. Today, SKF is the largest bearing manufacturer in the world, and their bearings are used in Formula 1 racecars...
In the last installment of this series, we looked at the bikes we rode when Bicycle Quarterly got started almost a decade ago. How did our preferences change from our familiar bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags to low-trail 650B bikes with much wider...
We sometimes hear people criticize our technical analyses: "Bicycle Quarterly's testers simply prefer they bikes that they ride most. You get used to anything, and then you prefer it." Or: "Jan has got his preferences. He started a magazine so he could have a place to talk about them." The reality is a...
From 1938 until today, Cycles Alex Singer has made some of the most wonderful bicycles ever made. (I may be biased, since I ride my 1973 Alex Singer randonneur bike more than any other bike.) Alex Singers have been appreciated especially by Japanese cyclists. This new hardcover book celebrates...
Happy New Year! After my December rest period, it's time to start training for the 2011 cycling season. Whether you race and prepare for a specific event, whether you plan to ride your first double century or brevet series, or whether you want to be in shape for...
May the new year bring you wonderful rides and great memories!
My favorite bookseller called and said: "We just sold the last copy of The Competition Bicycle, and there is a gaping hole next to your other book in our window display." There was only one thing to do: I loaded up the trusty Urban Bike...
Many randonneurs are planning to ride in Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), the famous 765-mile ride in 2011. The next edition of PBP will bring some changes to deal with the large number of participants. PBP is organized by the Audax-Club Parisien (ACP), the influential cycling club founded in 1903. The ACP...
Hand numbness can spoil the most wonderful long distance ride. A cyclist's hands can get numb from vibration and pressure. The first step is to eliminate as much vibration as possible near the source (road surface). Supple, wide tires, run at moderate pressures, are key. Flexible fork blades and suspension...
David Evans spent more than a decade researching the life of Mikael Pedersen, who is best known for his unconventional bicycles. I have been fascinated by these machines since we photographed a rare racing version for our book The Competition Bicycle (see photo below). I have ridden a reproduction...
When I was working with Peter Weigle on an article on fender mounting for the Winter 2010 issue of Bicycle Quarterly (now at the printer), Peter sent me a photo of his latest bike (above). His bikes always have been special, but on this one,...
Recently, I had to return a Bicycle Quarterly test bike to MAP Cycles in Portland. I really don't like boxing up bikes, and very much prefer to ride them. Boxing a bike takes half a day, riding to Portland about a day, so it was an easy choice to...
In this space, I'll blog about what is going on at Bicycle Quarterly: Rides we do, how we keep our bikes on the road, new products, glimpses of topics in upcoming issues of the magazine and more. BQ's contributors will feature occasionally as well. We welcome everybody to join us...
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