Budget Bikes: What's Your View?

As more beginner cyclists are in the market for new bicycles, I receive more and more questions from readers asking what I think about various makes and models listed on the Budget Options page. People want nice bikes, but, understandably, they also want to save money - and myvintage bicycle recommendationis not for everyone. What about a simple, basic new bike that is classic and comfortable, at a reasonable price? After all, it seems that more and more manufacturers are starting to offer exactly that.



[screen capture of video via tankww2]

The latest that has been brought to my attentionin that regard, is this promotional video from Bikes Direct - an online seller of extremely inexpensive mass-produced bicycles. The video shows cyclists riding colourful mixtes along a path lined with palm trees. The caption reads:"single and 3speed Windsor retro city bikes, style which was popular in the 50s, 60s and early 70s". These are not on the Bikes Direct website yet, but I imagine they soon will be - most likely priced in the $300s. What do you think - Do they look good to you and would you consider ordering?

I am always torn when asked for my own opinion: While I want to be objective, I simply don't like most of the lower-priced bikes that are out there at the moment.I have tried 80% or so of the bicycles on myBudget Optionslist, and so far very few of themhave made me feel that they are worth the price. It's one thing to spend a couple hundred dollars on a bike and not care, but a price tag in the range of $500-600 is a lot of money to me -too much money to spend on something that I believe is shoddily made, will likely require upgrades, will not feel entirely comfortable even with those upgrades, and may fall apart on me within a year. In the long run, I believe that such a bicycle may costmorethan an "expensive" bike. And I am especially surprised to hear of people choosing the lower-end bikes, and then buying Brooks saddles, leather grips, fancy lighting and expensive pannier systems to go with them. By the time they are done upgrading, the cost of the bike can reach a price point at which they could have gotten a higher-end bicycle - with many of those upgrades already included, not to mention with a better frame and higher quality components.

Beyond that, I am not really sure what to say when asked for suggestions. I believe that a well-made, comfortable bicycle can be mass-produced at a reasonable price in the Far East. But I don't think it's happening yet.What has your experience been and what are your views on "budget bikes"?

A review of the movie, "The Pinnacle"

"In one legendary week on Ben Nevis in 1960 Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith climbed six first winter ascents on consecutive days, including the mini Alpine-route, Orion Face Direct. They also made the first one-day winter ascent of Point Five Gully, went for a long walk and got arrested over an incident with some dominoes! Exactly 50 years later Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner pay tribute to Smith and Marshall by setting out to repeat all the routes that were climbed in that famous week. This film tells the story of the original events and follows MacLeod and Turner as they discover exactly what an achievement it was."



I have mentioned this film several times on the blog. Last year I really wanted to be in Scotland for the Premier. Formost of us Yanks that was a pipe dream even without a volcano in Iceland.



My copy showed up on Christmas Eve! I was stoked!! In the lastweek I have had a chance to view "Pinnacle" and all the extra footage on the DVD twice.



It should beobvious thatI am a student ofour sport'shistory. That interestis one of the reasons I started the blog. Waterfall climbing started in the late 60s and early 70s in my part of NA and Canada. I was lucky enough to latchon to the last bit of it and even luckier to see the sport transformed in the years that came after. The grand scale of it, now 40 years later, for me is some what akin to having done the West Buttress on Denali in a 3 week slog and then go back years later to do it again in a day.



Your perspective is forever changed by the events you witness.



I have no history of ice climbing in the 60s. But I knew "my sport" was born there and we all learned how to walk from that beginning. Sure there were great things done in the Alps the previous 40 years to 1960 but none fired the imagination that Scotland did if for no other reason we were made more aware of it by the British climbing publications, both magazines and books.



I grew up with the stories of Point Five Gully and the Orion Face as much as I did with Annapurna, the Eiger and Everest.



The film maker, Paul Diffley has taken a truly amazing story of one week's climbing in 1960 and one of the originalclimbers involved and woven a intricate, humorous and touching adventure story from the facts of 50 years ago.



The extras on the interview and other bits of climbing footage just enrich the experience. This is a film that had me smiling, laughing, enthralled and at one point brought a tear to my eye. It is a film I will ponder and reflect on for a long time to come. And one I will pull off the shelf on occasion and sit with a glass of Scotch and watch again, when I need to remember it all myself.



Likely part of that reverence I attach to this film is the fact that I saw much of the climbing pass in front of me over the last 40 years. And I know that I won't always be pulling down on cold hard ice myself. But for the moment I am. And I can still respect the climbersthat came before me. It is obvious they earned it.



Diffley's editing is nothing short of superb. The camera footage is some of the best winter climbingI have seen on film . And it is not hard to image Smith and Marshal being just as comfortable and complimentary as MacLeod and Turner are in their partnership. Both were easy to relate to and enjoyable to watch on film. Not always easily donefor climbers.



Marshal and Smith is the true stars of the movie. And Smith never utters a word in the entire program.



I suspect if you are on this blog for any of its content,you'll want to see this DVD......more than once and on the biggest screen you can find.



You can order it here:



http://www.hotaches.com/films.htm#Pinnacle







5 Star Review - Climb Magazine -

"A beautifully crafted film"







"The Nevis scenery and the climbs are completely exquisite; rarely has the Ben looked so ethereally beautiful or sugar icingly-enticing."

- Colin Wells - Climb Magazine



"The film is a rare jewel of climbing history and a visual treat for the guilty armchair mountaineer! ... it leaves me with a feeling of profound longing for those special mountaineering moments that become ever more rare and inaccessible."

- Stone Country



•People's Choice Award:

Kendal Mountain Film Festival



•People's Choice Award:

Dundee Mountain Film Festival



•People's Choice Award:

Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival



And a review much better than mine I just had a chance to read plus two links on Robbin Smith:



http://tohatchacrow.blogspot.com//11/iron-in-soulthe-pinnacle-review.html





Most of the trailers and much of the modern climbing is linked here on the blog as well. Easy enough to find by checking the "climber, video" in the labels at the bottom right hand corner of each post.

Iconic British Telephone Booth

OMG, I got paparazzi'd yesterday in Sheffield while inside the iconic British telephone booth! LOL

Memorial Weather

Both high camps have been receiving lots of new snow over the past couple of days. Memorial Day itself put drifts up to 50 cm deep around camp. High winds (40-50 mph) pasted the wet snow to most surfaces. The general forecast, at least initially, looks better for early-June. Hopefully we'll avoid the all too common "Junuary" weather pattern.






Climbers have been unsuccessful in reaching the summit for almost a week due to weather and avalanche concerns - although challenging conditions have been welcome training conditions for climbers with their sights set on even loftier peaks.




Stop by the Climbing Information Center in Paradise for the most current information on the mountain. We're open everyday at 06:00 - come on up and talk to us early, the Paradise Inn is open again for the season and they do serve espresso!




See you on The Mountain.

The Grand Canyon :: Navajo Point and Desert View

Navajo Point is the last viewpoint before arriving at Desert View. Quite Spectacular. Indeed.





And a closer view of The River.



And this is how it looks from Desert View. The exterior of the Watch Tower was being renovated the last time I was here and this area was not accessible. I think the little blue wheelbarrow adds something to the picture, I'm just not sure what!





A slightly closer shot of the same view as above.



Each one of the stones used in construction of the Watch Tower was reportedly selected by the architect Mary Jane Colter. She also determined where each stone was to be placed.





I did go inside and was going to go up but after the first few steps, my legs cried out “no way” so I turned around. I was completely enthralled by the interior and took plenty of photos the last time, which you can see here.





The view to the east, looking out over the desert. The Little Colorado Gorge lies a few miles away and the terrain is still quite rugged.



And so, as the road to Desert View comes to an end, so too does this Journey of mine... I've made it safely back to Indiana. I'm Home Again. Thank you to everyone who has followed along, I'm so glad you could join me for the ride...



For those of you who are feeling the need for a bit of adventure, my cousins Sue & Fred will be hiking into the Grand Canyon in a few weeks. Then they will be traveling in the West and in May will follow the coast north and “driving” to Alaska via the Marine Highway. They will be spending the Summer Up North! I wish them well in their journey and will be following along virtually, as many of you have been following me...

French Inspirations II: J'Adore René Herse

As far as vintage roadbikes go, none have gotten to me quite like the impeccably elegant René Herse. For your viewing pleasure, I present some glorious René Herse mixtes throughout the years. Though Herse mixtes are legendary, photos of them are nearly impossible to find online, and I thank the collectors at reneherse.com for their permission to use these images. (For Part I of French Inspirations, see here.)

An early René Herse mixte with twin lateral stays, (c) 1947. To me, it brings to mind a woman in a shimmering evening gown with perfect posture, holding a glass of champagne in a slender hand as she looks out into the sea. Am I anthropomorphising? Well, maybe just a little.

Beautiful lugs and fork crown.

Lugged connection points where the lateral stays meet the seatpost. (This is so much nicer than the welded plate behind the seatpost on my Motobecane mixte.)

How amazing to see a 1940s derailleur. Notice the unusual derailleur hanger design off of the chainstay.

Original Lefol Le Paeon fenders. Velo Orange now sells a beautiful Honjo remake of these.

I am curious about the handlebars. They seem to be Northroads, but weren't these bicycles fitted with the Champs-Élysées bars that these are based on? I would love to see the original Champs-Élysées bars on an early Herse mixte like this one. More photos of this bicycle in higher resolution available here.

Here is a later model of a René Herse mixte - a touring bike (c) 1964. It is incredibly well preserved and part of a gorgeous touring pair. I know that some people do not like mixtes with drop bars, but I am not one of them. The beauty of the mixte is that it is versatile, and I think that the drop bars on the above photo look as natural and elegant as porteur bars. The frame design now features a single top tube branching off into twin stays at the seatpost. Personally I prefer the earlier design, with continuous lateral stays, but still this bicycle is gorgeous.

A close-up of the stays attachment point. I am not certain when the switchover from the continuous twin lateral stays design took place, but possibly in the late 1950s - early 1960s.

And this is one of the later original René Herse mixte designs, again with single top tube branching off into twin stays at the seatpost, (c)1972s.

Stay attachment looks a bit different from the '60s model, in that the stays lie close to the main tube. Because Herse made bespoke bicycles, I am not certain whether this reflects a change in design, or a customer's request.

These wrap-around seat tube lugs are not typical for a mixte. See here for more photos of this bicycle from different angles and in high resolution.

It is interesting that these Herse mixtes all have the characteristic "seafoam" colour scheme that I have also noted in these other early French lady's bicycles. More interesting still that it happens to be my favourite colour. It is a delicate, gray-blue-green, not as harsh as the aquamarine of my Motobecane. I can stare at it all day and I hope you enjoy these images as well. A big thank you again to reneherse.com for their terrific website.

The need for more speed!

For those anxious readers interested in yet another story of a climber who has set yet another new 'unofficial' round trip summit speed record, please read on. For the rest of you who are tired of hearing of such drivel, we suggest you continue reading anyway and perhaps you still may find the story interesting. Besides, how can you ignore such an amazing feat? A person climbs to the summit of Mount Rainier in under 3 1/2 hours, and then descends to Paradise in just over an hour, resetting the speed record to 4 hours, 40 minutes and 59 seconds.

For comparison, it takes most folks 5 hours just to make it UP to Camp Muir, never mind to the summit and back to Paradise again in less time! Can you imagine the feeling of being lapped on a day hike by someone who has summitted? Then again, the person running past you on the Muir Snowfield is Guillermo (Willie) Benegas, an international guide, sponsored member of the North Face team, and highly accredited guide with the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). Benegas' climbing portfolio is impressive. Among other credentials, he has been a guide with Mountain Madness for 10 years and is the previous speed record holder on Aconcagua... Oh yeah, he's climbed Everest seven times and leads expeditions up numerous peaks over 26,000 ft.

For more information and an account of the ascent by Benegas, check out his interview in The News Tribune.