Pride

Photographs from the vault.  Long long ago I used to spend my time with a camera in my hands.  I am stubborn as hell but I may have to put my wrenches away and pick my camera back up.  Oh... How I love the bicycle, but I am tired of dirty hands and wrenching and going no where but backwards.  Though I will be prototyping  for manufacturing in the upcoming months.  I have a vision in my head of hand crafted leather saddles made with pride in Chicago.  I also have a vision of brazed chomoly bicycle frames made from american drawn tubes, striped down to the basics...  With modern light wheels and few, if any gears, light steel fenders, coaster brakes, a return of the three speed hub, or possibly a single cassette on the rear with five speeds.  A commuter's bicycle with mounts for hauling and the hardware to match.  "This city is flat anyways.  you gotta cross a highway or a body of water to find a hill."  With leather or tarred or waxed canvas crafted tool pouches, and simple utilitarian cycling bags reminiscent of the golden age of bicycling.  Oh I see it in my head.  We can engineer the bikes & bags.  Not alone, of course with the help of the die hard Chicago cyclists and pillars of the Chicago bicycling community.  Pillars like The Chicago Cruisers, West Town,  Working Bikes,  Blackstone, and a few other I will leave out to save me from getting too wordy.  But there is room for some young blood; Wiggs is kicking ass, my man Paul will be blighting at your heels if we can find him a sewing instructor.  Blue City makes some fine bikes from what I have seen.  I will be floored if I am gonna watch Chrome walk in and corner the market while we are fiddle flipping around with no budget and hand me downs. All the while the Strat Up Engine "1871" is getting all the state and federal money set aside for this city and shipping it out of town if they do anything with it at all except buy fancier electronics and sit and stare at there oversized computer screens (read their homepage).  It's like Lauganetas plopping down a gastro pub and start brewing Chicago beer.  I know you over hopped under developed beer is from California.  And right after Goose Island sold out.  

I never really like their beer (either of them, I would rather have a Bells two hearted. Not from Chicago but at least Larry Bell has balls) but that is besides the point.  Also, why we are not producing fleets of commercial bicycles for fellow Chicago commercial bicyclists, as well as the rest of the planet, I will never know?  But I do know that the world wants to buy American made products.  And I know that we are the center of the country and there is plenty of iron ore in Wisconsin and those legendary stockyards that have gotten us so much positive attention in the past should leave us with a little leather to work with.  It's about time we kick a little ass.  Right?  With an ounce of the pride and community support shown by The Chicago Cruisers this city could be producing Olympian cyclists just in time to dominate the next summer Olympics.