Articles

· Tim's Bikes by Tim Fricker

· Bruce's Bikes by Bruce Wright

· Tire and Rim sizes by Bruce Wright

· John Brunow looks back and forward, respectively, to RAGBRAI and happenings around the store, September 10, 2003

· John Brunow observes a season of change, September 24, 2001

· John Brunow issues a bikes@vienna update, February 5, 2001

· Advice on purchase of recumbent bicycles by Steve Malone, February 5, 2000

· Products and happenings by John Brunow, February 3, 2000

· The basics of bicycle maintenance by Adam Ward, March 11, 1999

Contingencies, commerce, and community

by John Brunow, September 24, 2001

It is a rainy afternoon at bikes@vienna. I have done my orders and I have some time, so I’ll write you a note.

This has been a wonderful summer. The weather has cooperated by providing glorious days to ride. I have enjoyed the company of a nice group of people that help me at the store. The time has passed too quickly.

World and national events rightfully dominate the news, but I am looking forward to the beauty of autumn with the color and coolness of October and early November. Riding a bike on a fall day will reassure me through the change of season that life goes on even after tragedy.

Folding bikes

The woman (my wife, Ces), who has made it possible for me to begin and to enjoy bikes@vienna, works at the American History Museum. She takes the Metro or carpools to work. On September 11, I realized that for all my experience in bike commuting to work in Washington (almost seven years worth) and riding different loops or trails with my Tuesday tandem partner, Bud Keith, that I’d not talked with Ces about meeting her if she had to walk out of Washington. September 11, she was able to take the Metro home, but the next Tuesday I rode a tandem to her office and we rode streets to the Roosevelt Bridge and then a distance on the Custis Trail. Tomorrow we hope to cross at Memorial Bridge and do the south loop on the Mount Vernon Trail to Four Mile Run and then to the W&OD.

What’s this all got to do with my heading of “Folding Bikes”? I’ve ordered Ces a folding bike and bag to store under her desk at work. This will give her more options if Metro isn’t running and the traffic is terrible. With her new knowledge of the bike trails she will be better prepared.

This family effort started me thinking about all of my customers who commute into Washington. A folding bike in the trunk of the car or a folder stored in the corner of the office or better yet a folder used to ride to the Metro and then from the Metro to the office would be alternatives worth considering. I’ve sold a number of folders, but those have been special orders. One thing that our recumbent business has taught me is that one must stock a variety of models for people to test ride and from which to choose. So I’ve ordered folding bikes from Bike Friday, Dahon, and Pashley. There will be models with 16-inch wheels with three speeds; 20-inch wheels with three speeds, seven speeds, and twenty-one speeds; steel frames, aluminum frames; uprights and recumbents ... more options.

Etan is setting up new links on the Web site. If you are interested in learning more about folding bikes then check out these sites. It will be the middle of October before I have a selection of folders for you to test ride. Come try one out.

Excitement

I live vicariously through the people that come in the store. Early in the summer a customer purchased a Tour Easy, had us ship it to San Francisco, and then rode back to Virginia. I enjoyed getting bits and pieces of information about his trip and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the photos. A father and son rode the C&O Canal this summer and sent me information so I could see their photos of the trip out on the Web. Last weekend I was thrilled to see the photos and the bronze medal of an international triathelete event which took place in Italy earlier in September. Our customer had purchased a Ti-Rush Easy Racer last year and used it to train for this event. She couldn’t ride a recumbent in the competition, but the training on the recumbent had allowed her to prepare for success.

Those are three stories, but there are so many more. I do enjoy seeing families out cycling together. Seeing children on trail-a-bikes with huge smiles as they stop by during a ride is one of my favorites. Listening to the banter of three generations out on a bike ride and the negotiations of where they are riding to and where they will stop along the way. Sharing the afterglow from a successful ride by a couple on a tandem makes me smile. These are extra rewards of being involved in people’s cycling experiences.

Bargains and deals

You may know that Schwinn has undergone another transition. On September 10 a bankruptcy court accepted a bid to purchase Schwinn. Schwinn’s difficult situation has caused me to scramble to create a new bicycle-company relationship so I can have quality kids’ bikes for Christmas.

Schwinn supplied bikes@vienna with many of the accessories and parts that I stocked. So I’ve been looking for good opportunities to replace the supply lines for those items.

I have a genetic weakness passed on by my father which dictates that more is better. I can share stories of his purchases. One Christmas everyone received multiple turtlenecks from one of his good deals. I once helped unload a railcar of sand (one shovel load at a time) because it was free. My mother once counted 63 warm-up/sweat suits in a spare closet. I use my father as my excuse for my crazy stock purchases, like the 262 sets of wicker panniers a couple of years ago. There was that February trip to pick up the 93 Marin Bolinas Ridges that I stored in my garage. (Sold them all.)

The bargain this time was Blackburn Expedition racks (silver) and Visita headlights (various colors). List price for the Expedition racks is normally $45 and I’m going to sell them for $20 ($26 installed). This is the rack used for the Rhode Limo and Rhode Taxi children’s seat so if you have one of those seats you might consider purchasing a rack so that the seat can be switched back and forth between adult bikes. The Vista light comes with batteries and we’ve sold them for $15 in the past, but wait... just $8.75 for a limited time. Probably the time won’t be that limited because I ordered 70 racks and 125 lights. How in the world will a small store sell that many items? We’ll see.

Fun things

Vienna’s Halloween Parade will be here quickly. I am inviting all the recumbent riders I can find to participate in the parade. bikes@vienna is competing in the Adult Speciality category and although I can’t hope to edge out the Shriners, I’d like to capture people’s attention. So consider riding in the parade if you own a recumbent and start coming up with a costume for the occasion.

Thanksgiving morning for the past couple of years I’ve had an early bike ride to allow a “guilt-free” meal. If you are in the area for Thanksgiving, you are invited to participate. I’ll start serving hot cider at 8:30 am and the ride will start at 9:00 am. The route is west on the W&OD. You choose how far you want to ride.

I’m encouraging people to bring canned foods to be donated to the Committee Helping Others food pantry.

Happy trails to you until we meet again.