The first time I saw Matt Pendergast in 2016, he was wheeling a handsome cream-colored French bicycle through the crowd at Eroica California in Paso Robles. Tall and mustachioed, Matt makes…
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In 1978, I got my first job as a paper carrier for the Arizona Republic. I was a skinny twelve-year-old. My first morning, a Sunday, I struggled with the heavily loaded…
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The Catch In summer of 2020, with pandemic fatigue already setting in, a dark inky-blue-fillet-brazed road frame came my way from Portland, Oregon. I purchased the frameset from my fellow bicycle…
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Beautiful Bicycles My Bikes
2014 MAP S & P Randonneur Project: Kinda Fancy, Pretty Fast, Super Comfy
With its Land Rover green color, honey leather saddle and matching amber shallaced bars, it is a bike that looks borderline matchy-matchy. I’m guilty of fetishizing the build a little, although…
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Note: The information in this essay was gathered in part with my intermediate and somewhat dubious Spanish language skills. I’ve been unable to reach Rodrigo Otero for clarifications and corrections, but…
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For a number of years, I’ve been obsessed with a very specific kind of French bicycle: the randonneur or, more correctly the randonneuse. In American usage, this is most often reduced…
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I suppose you could call me an Eroica California veteran, and maybe even an unofficial ambassador (although not in the social media sense of that word). In the four years of…
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As cycling sub-genres go, randonneuring is an obscure and geeky one, probably less familiar to Americans than BMX riding and unicycling. Typical randonneuring rides, (they are not races but there are…
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In a color combination that recalls pumpkins, charred wood, and Eddy Merckx, Motobecane’s top mid-70s model in orange and black livery is a lusted after machine. To see one is to…
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This video says a lot about why I love vintage bicycles and the stories they tell: they don’t come much better than John’s. I’ve been lucky enough to ride a bit…