Bicycle time in a vintage way. Classic hints and tips to ride it right!

Well the rains have stopped for the most part which means us fair weather cyclists are dragging our bikes out of the garage, airing up the tires and starting our riding season again. 

I have been riding a bicycle since I was 5 as have most of us, give or take a few years, but aside from the basic safety tips taught to us by the parent or elder who gave us our riding lessons, most people (leaving out the serious cyclist) have no idea there is a proper way to ride a bike..... besides not falling off or running into a parked car.

Campagnolo Vintage Coventry Eagle 10 Speed Bicycle 60s Brooks saddle

.... you can find this at funkomavintage....we love vintage bicycles. 

There are a few easy techniques and adjustments that will make cycling less of a chore and they have the added benefit of making you look like a pro while riding.

Vintage Motobecane 10 Speed Bicycle Mixte 70s Ideale saddle Mens Womens blue bike

A mixte has the center bar placed low and is perfect for men or women, and is quite popular in Europe. Find this Motobecane at funkomavintage. 

A very vintage Edwardian bicycle seat.... ;-)

Rule #1.......The bike must fit you and be properly adjusted for your height. 

First ---Adjusting the seat height correctly will gain you more distance for your energy output plus you won't look silly with your knees splaying out at a funny angle if the seat is too low.  If you do this ...or  you see someone's ones leg see-sawing back and forth, swaying their "behind",  if it's too high. 

Proper seat adjustment is 1.09 % of your inseam measured from the top of the seat to the spindle of your pedal at the bottom of the stroke of the crank with the crank arms lined up with the seat tube.

Measure your inseam of a pair of pants that you wear with flat shoes, and multiply by 1.09 and you will get the correct height. If you need some help take your inseam measurement and your bike to your local shop the they will be happy set things right. 

Did you know you pedal and how much you pedal are very significant factors in how far you can travel before you wear yourself out?

The proper way to pedal is to use the ball of your foot and never the arch. If you are clipped in with toe clips on your pedals, you have no choice! This technique is called ankling.

At the top of the stroke, point your foot slightly up as you continue on the down stroke point your toe down. 

With your seat adjusted correctly this will feel quite natural.

Vintage Schwinn Varsity 10 Speed Bicycle 60s Purple Pink bike

Everybody loves a Vintage Schwinn. The classic American bike made in Chicago for years and years. 

How much you pedal is referred to as "cadence". The trick of covering long distances easily is by having steady cadence.
The gears on your bike are there to help you achieve this. If you think this way about the gears rather than using higher gears to go faster like you would in a car, you will find cycling to be much easier.

Keep to nice easy pedalling that feels comfortable, and you will save your energy, and go the distance!

Drop bars also allow you to use more muscles when pedaling than flat bars, that's why you see the racers using them.
They come in a varity of styles so you should be able to find a pair that's comfortable.

I should add that keeping your tires inflated to the maximum pressure will reduce roll resistance and make pedaling easier.

Keeping the bike lubricated and tuned is a big help too.

This pre-war bike needs a lot of work to pedal smoothly...but it does have a basket!

Just remember, on a bike you are the engine and the less resistance against the engine, then the easier life is for that engine! So get out there and enjoy that summer!

Some Blue

is always a good choice. cool, serious, dreamy, serene, nostalgic, universal, steadfast........

 my old blue bike, tends to stay in the garden bed mostly.....

Sky...

Blue.


blue sky, blue saltwater, white clouds.....

vintage blue bug........

mostly blue stripe tshirts.....

What's Blue in the shop for summer? 
all the shades of blue...

Lovely blue cotton floral dress...cute style with pink cosmos and a full skirt...... 

 

blue floral caftan, a 60s mod print....

perky blue calico sundress.....criss-cross straps and a stretchy bodice!

tailored and perky, 60s navy knit dress with white topstitching.

bright turquoise with Hawaiian pidgin english...pretty silly......

Gorgeous bright blue, turquoise, acid green and royal blue in a stunning Hawaiian print in a watteau pleat dress.....

the blue sky, the blue sea, the islands of Hawaii...

Turquoise blue waters of the tropics in this vintage Lanz sundress.....

fun cotton Navy blue Mexican halter dress...hanky hem!

Pop flowers on a purple and blue mini romper! cute 60s vintage fun....

if the front of this 50s dress isn't cute enough....take a peek at the big blue bow thing on the back!

To Remember Soldiers, is to Respect Them and Question the Necessity of War

Newly added to my very casual vintage women's military collection,  I was thrilled to acquire this from an WAC officer who joined up in 1950s. She was sent to train at the Women's Army Corps, Ft. McClellan, Alabama.



here 





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She  held on to this sweet little cotton sweater, and now it is mine!
It's a simple cotton sweater, not part of a uniform as far as I can tell.....a memento.

PALLAS ATHENS, insignia of the Women's Army Corps.

here

Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was selected as the site of the first WAAC   (Womens Army Auxiliary Corps) training center in 1941.

  The Women's Army Corps School was founded at Fort McClellan on September 25, 1952.   In 1954, it became the first permanent home of the U.S. Women's Army Corps Center. Fort McClellan remained its home until the Corps was disestablished and its flag retired in 1977. 

In May 1955 at Fort McClellan, Alabama the Women's Army Corps (WAC) Museum opened and remains today. It showcases the history of women in the Army in modern times as active soldiers. 



 
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"At the WAC museum at Ft. McClellan....
Margaret Corbin, from the American Revolution, Dr. Mary Walker from The Civil War and Cathay Williams, Buffalo Soldier, depict the rich history and contributions of women in service to their country."




"Over 150,000 American women served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to serve within the ranks of the United States Army. Both the Army and the American public initially had difficulty accepting the concept of women in uniform.


However, political and military leaders, faced with fighting a two-front war and supplying men and materiel for that war while continuing to send lend-lease material to the Allies, realized that women could supply the additional resources so desperately needed in the military and industrial sectors. Given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national war effort, women seized it. By the end of the war their contributions would be widely heralded."





1968 recruitment poster

here  

According to the Government Publication Office this book "Chronicles thirty-three years of WAC history from V-J Day 1945 to 1978, when the Women's Army Corps was abolished by Public Law 95-584 and discontinued by Department of the Army General Order 20, with the WAC officers assimilated into the other branches of the Army (except the combat arms). "

Goodbye Model T May 26 1927

My favorite car of all time....is the Ford Model T. fact. It is the fun car of the oh so romantic 20s.....the time of the last American/Paris wild abandon.....of art....literature....when America reveled in all it could be. Away with bonehead jocks. Away with stupid people. Yes to the ascendency of the intelligent.......the romantic.......the talented.......the lovely........the working class......and fuck the Corporation......
ah yes. the Jazz Age...the Roaring Twenties....Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Picasso....   Prohibition.....Women's sufferage.....Harlem....worker strikes!

As Willa Cather said...'The world broke in half in 1922"....because more Americans moved to live in cities and left the farms. We shifted from being an agrarian country to a more urban one. And, significantly, at least until the Wall Street Crash, on paper, during the 20s the nation’s total wealth more than doubled.



here

oh wait. Henry Ford. The creator of the asembly line. The "great" innovation that fucked the worker of all  intelligent love of work. While the assembly line did make products affordable to the average worker......and we do need to pat the old Nazi sympathizer on the back. He did say he had to pay his workers enough money to actually buy the cars they made.
How's that for a worker revolution??
Today of course, corporations have no intention of actually paying their workers a living wage so they can buy quality goods they produce.

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Model T production began in 1908, though Ford had been producing cars since 1903.  Because of traditions of work and making products that had been the way of the world for centuries, early cars were handbuilt one at a time by a team working on one car. Breaking work tasks into tiny parts was the beginning of faster production, worker disenfranchisement, and ultimate control of production of goods from the top down.

No longer would a worker have a say in how something was made, what process he/she found best and so workers lost whatever control they had about their work conditions.
Ultimate corporate control of the work day in every form gave rise to bloody, violent, reasoned, erudite, principled workers rights and demands.


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 here

The 20s was the time of the full press of capitalism in America. And workers had to fight back for their souls.
At the very least, since a worker was now a "tool" and not much of a human to the corporation, labor unions fought management for good wages, vacations, day work length and all the 'perk' workers today might take for granted, were bought with the blood of early workers in America once the assembly line became the most popular way for corporations to control workers and make the most possible profits.
Apple iPhone anyone?

****Anyway, the last day of production of the Model T (for Tressie!!) was in 1927.****


If you are interested in a charming movie that shows the fight of the worker in the early years of the 20th century...I suggest Reds with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton and so many other folks.....this is another blog post.

"Everyone from carpenters and street car conductors to waitresses and newsboys belonged to a union. In 1919, when Seattle unions gained worldwide headlines by declaring a general strike that shut down the city for five days, some 60,000 workers belonged to 110 unions affiliated with the Seattle Central Labor Council and the Washington State Federation of Labor."







here



here


So so long the 20s...so long Model T.... so long worker dignity..............Unless you fight for it.
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance"


and of course, Emily Lloyd in A River Runs Through It...drives a Model T (at 5:16) on the Montana railroad tracks.....which is a fine movie with Brad Pitt, and Robert Redford directed it...so that.

The Recycled Life

Continuing on reusing and reclaiming, we bought this old tent last summer and since it came with no poles, we saw.....Tote Bags and Aprons!


Last summer was long and warm and dry....just how I like 'em.

Found the tent....and laid it out to cut it to usable strips and shapes.....

The product testing phase.....how will waxed cotton wash? It washed the color and most of the wax away!

A few choice stenciled pieces will find their way to tote bags, market bags, and a few aprons too.

Here's the old nail bag.....

and.....the finished bag....perfect for toting groceries, your CSA share......or a ukelele....

I really like how the old nail bag makes the perfect place to stash stuff on the outside.... and other stuff inside, secured with an unused old stock 40s military metal zipper.

that sucker is sturdy!

the tent had yellow twill ties to fasten the tent to the poles....so I reused them for the zipper pull, and to tie the nail bag closed and on the back, I made a loop to hold the nail bag ties....just for fun!

Here's where the cutting and planning and sewing happens....inside.

working on smaller ones too.....recycled leather, and vintage redline selvedge denim....