Adventure by Viewpoint

We know that people do great things with the custom bicycles we build for them, and that many of you use your Bilenky for trans-continental adventures and general two-wheel globe-trotting...

And every so often we receive an email or even a photograph in an envelope, showing a Bilenky propped against a wall or in front of a mountain in some far-off land, or of someone's favourite bike that we modified with S&S couplers to make it all ready for long-distance travel.

Photo by Royce Christensen of his S&S modified 1984 Stumpjumper.

So it was great to hear from Dave and Loren, who are about to embark on Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier Route on the Bilenky Viewpoint semi-recumbent travel tandem that we built for them, similar to this one. With S&S couplers the frame separates for packing into airline-size cases.

They've set up a blog at which you can follow their journey:
crosscountryviewpoint.blogspot.com

We wish them all the best and look forward to more updates as they start the ride...

And do you have a great photo of your Bilenky out in the world? Send it to us and we'll put together a gallery of riders' pictures.

- BCW

Field Testing: Sinewave Cycles' "Revolution" USB charger

The "Revolution" made by Sinewave Cycles is a neat bit of kit that we recently got the chance to test out, both here in the shop and on a Bilenky expedition touring bike that went on a trip to South America.

Sinewave Cycles (formerly BikeBright) is based in Cambridge, MA, and their products are made in the USA too. Here's why we like them so much.

The Revolution is simple and effective: plug it in to your front-wheel dynamo - in this case a Shimano DH-3D72; but it worked just fine with a Supernova Infinity too - and then use the USB outlet to charge up your iPhone, iPod, digital camera, or pretty much anything else with a USB port. (We even managed to charge an iPad with it, though we're not sure whether that's officially recommended!)

Although touring cyclists are not usually so concerned with the weight of their rig, for us one of the great advantages of the Revolution are it's size and weight. It really is about the same as a box of matches. It's sturdy and compact, easily tucked into a framebag. It's even water-proof (though thankfully we didn't have the need to test this claim)!

So we highly recommend the Revolution for touring. It doesn't have a battery for storage, but we simply unplugged the lights during the day and used it to charge electronics. It worked flawlessly. And there are other options too that you check out on the Sinewave website for charging or running multiple items.

The set-up was very simple. A Topeak RideCase iPhone holder mounts easily onto the stem without taking up handlebar space. Then just add your iPhone and the useful Gaia GPS app (maps can be downloaded) and hey - you're all set to explore...

- BCW

The Balvenie & American Craftsmanship

BCW was honored to take place in the recent celebration of American Craftsmanship supported by those fine makers of single malt Scotch whisky, The Balvenie.

Full information is available here. See if you can spot Stephen in the picture...

We were amongst five unique businesses who are masters of their craft selected to participate in this award. We would like to thank The Balvenie and the American Craft Council for giving us the opportunity to feature our work alongside so many other talented and skilled people. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate just how good 'Made in America' can be - and to show the time, effort and cost that go into to crafting something of the very highest quality.

And we'd like to take this opportunity to salute the four other participants in this event and refer you to their remarkable products...

Douglas Brooks
Boat-builder, Vermont - Winner of the 2014 Rare Craft Fellowship Award

Scott Baxendale
Luthier (Guitar builder), Athens GA

Ubaldo Vitali
Silversmith, Newark NJ

Ina Grau
Shoemakers, Minneapolis MN

- BCW

Maryland Swapmeet 2014

The winter storms keep rolling through but a good number of sellers, buyers and general enthusiasts still came out for the annual Stop Swap & Save in Westminster, Maryland – a big agricultural barn full of bikes and bike parts and bike people.

 

This swap-meet is now well established as one of the largest on the East Coast and business was good for many stall-holders.

Rummaging through tables of old and new bike gear is a relaxing way to spend a Sunday morning.

Who knows what treasure might be lurking in the $5 box? Deals and bargains are the nature of the day.

On the Bilenky Cycle Works stand, we weren’t selling any custom frames, but instead took the chance to clear out a selection of nice used, new and nearly-new parts. We also shifted a lot of old tires with plenty of mileage left.

Bicycle swapmeets are like a meeting of the community – some people come to buy or sell, others just to catch up on news and friendships. Everyone is an enthusiast. The exhanges of information and knowledge is one of the best parts of the day.

 

It was good to see the many old friends that stopped by to say hello. We hope you had a good swap and found plenty of bargains... See you again next year!

-BCW

Ti Touring Tandem

Another unique bike that we built to commission - to be fast, light... and a tandem.

This bike is for a team where the captain is 6'7" and the stoker 5'2". They already owned some very fine bikes - a Calfee Design Di2 tandem and a Rodriguez Cycles steel tourer - and we were happy to add a BCW special to their stable.

The ti tandem we created for them has full touring capacity, with S&S couplers, lightweight high-end components, and a rigid construction through oversize tubing that makes it stiff and responsive.

Frame construction

• open/no-lateral construction frame design - the lateral was omitted for simplicity and for weight saving (for both speed and as it's a travel bike)
• oversize tubing to compensate and provide strength: down-tube 2", bottom tube 2", topt-tube 1 3/4", seat-tube 1 1/2"
• oversize head-tube to accommodate an 1 1/4" Reynolds Carbon Tandem Fork

 

• We used Paragon Machine Works low-mount expedition disc dropouts, which allow for a chainstay mounted disc brake and mountings for fenders and a rack. We recommend Paragon components for most of our ti frames.

Frame detailing

• the stoker stem is not mounted on seatpost but is an integral part of the toptube - pierced through and welded in
• this allows more choice of stems and retains a space between bars and captain's seatpost (so you can use a handlebar bag when touring)

Components - all selected for quality and weight

• Spinergy Tandem wheels
• White Industries titanium bottom bracket
• DaVinci tandem cranks
• DuraAce shifters
• modified DaVinci wide-range rear derailleur to run a wide range 9spd DuraAce cassette
• oversize 203mm disc rotors
• Paul Racer Rear Brake to act as a 3rd brake/drag brake operated by stoker

• Chris King headset
• Carbon dropbars
• Thomson Masterpiece seatposts
• Avid SL disc brakes

Finish and lightness

• tig-welded construction
• glassbead blasted for stress relief
• we even drilled oversize holes in the S&S couplers to remove excess weight ('S&S drillium'?)

If you see this tandem out and about, it probably means it just went past you. This thing is seriously fast and we wish it's new owners many hours of happy riding. And two final statistics to conclude:

Total Weight: 25lb
Top Speed: Unknown

- BCW