Kryptonite In Another Top 10

Excuse us while we do a little crowing! Just in time for summer travel season (yes, there's still time despite the fact that Back To School ads have already begun to air) the Kryptonite R4 retractable cable lock received a great plug in a New York Times Frugal Traveler blog. Check it out http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/top-10-travel-gadgets-under-50/

Back to the Future, Antique Chainless Bicycle!

This is a very cool bit of news that I just found on Bicycle Newswire and decided there was too much good stuff not to share the whole announcement with you....

A lone surviving copy of a bicycle from another era, a chainless 3-speed relic manufactured in early 1900, has been recovered and is being restored; called "The Hill-Climber," it was the first multi-speed bicycle to be produced in America. A bicycle believed to be the first production model in America to employ multiple-speed gear ratios has been found and is being restored to original condition. When found, only the patented gear-changing mechanism was still attached to the rusty frame. A nationwide search for replacement parts and information about the company that produced it has been undertaken.

Before this discovery, the first-known production multi-speed bicycle was marketed under the Columbia brand in 1903. It featured a two-speed "kickback" hub, and was also a chainless bicycle. The story of "The Hill-Climber" has recently been published in a book titled "Restoration." It is available on the Amazon-affiliate website Createspace at https://www.createspace.com/3382245

The inventor of this 3-speed bicycle, Peter J. Scharbach, called it "The Hill-Climber." It was originally produced by Scharbach/Hoerth and Company in San Francisco in 1902. Research shows that the company also tried to produce an early automobile. It is not known how many of these bicycles were sold during its production years from 1902-1904. Chainless bicycles are manufactured today by a few companies, but the product form is not widely known to bicyclists.

The surviving Hill-Climber, a frame with a shaft-drive (like an automobile) instead of a chain, has three bevel gears at the rear wheel, and shift linkage to change speed ratios. It was stored in the basement of a retired dairy farmer outside of Pe Ell, WA, after spending most of its life on his farm junk pile. His father, John K. Muller, and many residents of the area invested in a manufacturing company formed with the inventor in late 1903. Assembly operations were moved from San Francisco to Chicago in early 1904. Mysteriously, all their investment was gone by the end of the year, and the company folded.

A descendant of the inventor was found living in Arizona. His great-grandfather was a blacksmith, inventor and entrepreneur whose patent for the chainless bicycle is still being referenced today. Remnants of the bicycle business are a few surviving photographs taken at a product roll-out event in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, c.1902. An advertising flyer, and other surviving documentation, was found in the possession of relatives of John K. Muller.

The bicycle is scheduled to be on display at the 32nd Annual LeMay Auto Collection show August 29, 2009, near Tacoma, WA. For details go to http://www.lemaymuseum.org

More information about the bicycle, its restoration, and its place in history can be found at http://www.fusionstudios.com/hill-climber.

You Say Commuter, I Say Urbanista

Well, this weekend, hubby and I got in a bit of riding and it was absolutely great! He's a happy camper riding his new bike, sporting a Kryptonite lock, bien sur...a beautiful Opus urbanista. If you're not familiar with it, check it out...www.opusbike.com. Sorry, can't find 'em too easily in the States yet, but hopefully our neighbor to the north will decide to change that in the near future because they are lovely bikes to ride!

Warm sun on our faces and a nice breeze at our backs (most of the time!). Of course, today there are a few sore muscles in places that I'd forgotten and a longing for some new cycling gear that I hadn't thought much about in the depths of the soggy month of June. But, I wouldn't trade those things for the world. Happy Days!

Freight Trains of the Atlantic

by Roby Holland (aka the Old Man in the Sea)

For those of you who don't know I have an obsession for fishing. In the last couple of years I have honed my skills targeting Stripers and Bluefish in and around Duxbury MA. This year a friend and I decided to make a go at some Bluefin Tuna on Stellwagon Bank which is about 17 nm from Duxbury Bay.

We headed out at 5:30am towards the grounds with some iffy weather. The total trip took us 35 mins and the seas were between 2 to 3 ft. Once at the location we hooked up the bait and let them swim. It was only about 5 minutes till the first fish took the bait. It was a very large and strong Bluefish, that once brought boat side, broke thru the 80lbs floro leader and took off. Next two fish were Stripers and were both between 25 and 30lbs respectively. We hung around for a while longer with some hits but not the type of hits we were looking for, so we moved into deeper water.

Once we made it to deeper water our luck changed. The bird activity picked up to a frantic pace and the water began to come alive. Baits in the water, it was time to wait for a hook up and we did not have to wait long. My friend's bait disappeared in a wash of white foam and his line began to peel off his reel faster than anything I had ever witnessed before. We had hooked a Tuna!!! I put the boat in gear and began to chase down the fish, with my buddy reeling as fast as he could, but it wasn't long before we realized that this was a large Tuna. Once we were on the Tuna my friend began to try to muscle it in with no luck. The fish pinned him to the rail of the boat and only let him stand up to get some line when it wanted him to. After about 20 minutes of fighting, the rod was passed over to me. It wasn't until I had full control or thought I had full control of the rod that I realized how powerful these fish are. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape and this fish would not let me gain any ground on him at the beginning of the battle. I would try to stand and lean into the rod to get some line only to be pulled back down to the rail with authority. It was thrilling to say the least, until our luck began to change. I noticed that the reel began to move to the side of the rod as I reeled and I tried to tighten up the seat with no luck. The fish had started to break the rod and so the fight became more difficult. We began to gain some ground on the fish and knew we were getting close to getting this fish boat side, or so we thought. The fish began to give me a tour of my boat (literally) pinned to the rail he it went starboard aft, I went starboard aft and then back up to the bow of the boat. It made a quick dart around the bow as I lifted the rod, the line caught on the bow eye and SNAPPED!!!!! That's it….. as fast as it started it was gone. The ride back was a nasty painful hour and half ride into 4ft+ swells. It gave us plenty of time to understand what had just happen. We had hooked on to the freight train of the Atlantic.

Here are three pic from my adventure. First one is where I think I have the upper hand, second is where I know I don't and third is where I'm wondering if it was a wise choice to go after a fish that potentially weighs 1/3 of my boats capacity! Good times had by all…even the tuna.

P.S. Bluefin are a highly fished species. Please do your part to only harvest fish you need and return the rest for another day.
Cheers Roby