I stopped by my friend and neighbor Chris Wright‘s frame building studio on one of those abnormally warm January days we had here in Philly. Unfortunately he was between builds so mostly what I shot were just some details, I’ll be sure to visit again when he’s working on something good but enjoy these for now.

Lookbook photographs from Rapha’s Spring/Summer 2012 lines (Training & Racing, Women, and Pro Team) shot by Ben Ingham in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Spain. I thought it odd that they didn’t do a lookbook for their city riding line as they had last season. It seems like they keep offering more and more casual pieces for casual riding every season so why not highlight those pieces as well? . See the lookbook in its entirety here.

Photographs taken from the newly opened 189 shop by English owner-operators Mark Robinson and Daniel Benning. If you’re not familiar with The 189 already it’s one of my personal favorite places to see and read; Mark and Daniel have great taste in photography and design so the content is always eye pleasing. So far they’ve got a selection of goods from Tender Co, Heritage Research, and Makr among others with more to come. Good luck with the shop guys, looking forward to seeing it grow.

Just some stuff I’ve been watching on eBay- the fleece, Merckx, and Daniel Rebour book are still up (click through to the auction) but the rest have now passed. I can’t believe I forgot to bid on those Orvis/Gokey moccasins because they got bought up for cheap with only one bidder, oh well.

I stumbled onto the photo blog of MASH SF rider Walton Brush recently- there’s not a ton to elaborate on but if you like what you see you should check out his regularly updated blog here.

Suggested reading: Jordan Clark Haggard

I have quite a few parkas hanging up at home but chose to highlight these two because of the fact that they’re lined, the Holubar with wool and the Penfield with what seems to be cotton. Both are made from a 60/40 cotton-nylon fabric pioneered by Sierra Designs in their parkas- also in my parka stash but I think you’ve probably seen enough pictures of those if you frequent blogs like this one. 

The Sew-It Yourself Kit Holubar came from Countyline General and seemed to have never really been worn when I received it. Funny that someone would go to the trouble of constructing the parka without really wearing the thing since they did a great job sewing it. Since the lining is the nice scratchy kinda wool it is extremely warm and zips up all the way past my nose for really frigid days.. haven’t been a ton of those lately though.

The Penfield was bought new, the cut of it is much more modern than the Holubar of course and a lot easier to wear without looking like I’m going to climb a mountain. I’m a big fan of the oversized lined flap that covers the backside of the zipper when closed all the way to the top- the Holubar lacks such a flap and the one on my old Sierra Designs is so small that it hardly does its job. I thought it odd Penfield chose to line the underside of the pocket flaps and not the slanted handwarming pockets which of course would be a lot warmer if lined- fashion prevails over function here. Additionally, the stitching on the velcro cuffs have already started to come undone after only months of wear which is a bummer. All in all it’s a good jacket but if you’re good at hunting vintage then your money might be better off spent there.

When the lack of winter daylight sets in a set of reliable lights are super important to me- I implore you to not be one of many “bike ninjas” riding city streets without any sort of lighting as it can be dangerous for you and others around you. Dan at Portland Design Works was kind enough to let me try out some of their lights recently which I’ve been using since early December. Up front I have the Cosmic Dreadnought 110 (110 lumens of light output) and in the rear their bolt-on Fenderbot.

I’ll start first with the Fenderbot: I very much like having a bolt-on rear light that can’t be removed by petty bike accessory thieves if I forget to remove it when parked (RIP all the Knog lights I’ve ever owned). The light has two modes: steady and flashing. Below the bright red LED is a reflector for extra visibility which is also useful should you run out of battery power in the middle of a ride. No pictures of the light in use, there’s not honestly much to photograph but if you lack the imagination please refer to this review.

The Dreadnought proved to provide plenty of light and likely more than the average commuter/city cyclist needs but it should be good for riding the unlit packed dirt trails just outside the city that I usually ride on my mountain bike. The headlight has three settings: high, low, and flashing. I generally keep the light on low- high is more than necessary in most scenarios and the flashing mode just gives me a headache. A quick release tab on the mounting backet makes removing the light a breeze- the bracket itself has three sizes of adjustability to fit whatever kind of handlebar you’re running. Mounting to the handlebar puts more light ahead of me which is good for urban visibility but when I’m using my front rack bag much of the light is blocked. Thankfully my Nitto M-12 rack has an eyelet to attach the light to with the help of a Paul Gino style mount that my friend Dan over at Rack n Roll whipped up with some scrap tubing.

In its current position I get a little “splashing” of light on the wheel and tire but not much ahead of me is really lost, certainly not as much light loss from mounting at the handlebar when the bag is mounted. This can/will be avoided by installing an arm that will place the light closer to the front of the bike.

The top image is an example of the light on low and the bottom is on high. The exposures are identical and no editing has been done to either image so that an accurate difference in settings could be seen. Plenty bright. Thanks again to Dan at PDW for providing the lights and keeping my paths bright.

Cabin Time is a four day artist residency and wilderness retreat whose first session took place recently in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.The whole thing was organized by Geoffrey Holstad whose name you might recognize as the man behind So Sweaty and a contributor to Cold Splinters. Photographs by Colin McCarthy, see more here.

These photos were taken one December weekend during two fun races in which I participated as both a rider and spectator, except for the first shot of Chris riding on the Schuylkill trail. The later photos were from Bilenky‘s junkyard cross race which I had been wanting to race in ever since I moved to Philly but have only recently owned a bike suitable for the terrain. Check out In the Crosshair‘s footage below to see how crazy it actually was..

Matt, author of The William Brown Project, made quite a find in New Hampshire with this WWII USN footlocker filled with personal gear. Extra buttons, personal stencils, chewing gum, correspondence, and of course the clothes- caps, shirts, and a thick turtleneck sweater. Matt is currently looking for a buyer; I myself am not a dedicated enough militaria collector and prefer to get lucky here and there. Check out more details of the contents here.

Suggested reading: USAAF Collector

Jordan Clark Haggard is a Los Angeles based cyclist and photographer who keeps a blog/visual cycling journal called The Blue and Red. Sure, there’s a bunch of pictures of kitted-out dudes on road bikes but there’s also a lot of other nice moments that Jordan’s put on film ranging from the greatest scenery to the worst mechanicals imaginable. Check out his other (non-cycling focused) photo blog while you’re at it, too.

Jordan Hufnagel forwarded me these photos of his new porteur that he’s offering as a complete build with plenty of options to make it the ultimate city bike. A couple details really caught my interest that separate it from the pack of porteurs with front racks and 650B tires that other builders are doing. I’m a big fan of “1 by” drivetrains, it’s a big trend in the mountain bike world and serves perfectly for city bikes as well since having more than one chainring isn’t really all that necessary unless you ride really hilly terrain. Jordan’s custom stem mounted shifter and chain keeper make for a clean and simple drivetrain- one ring, one shifter.

Here’s a bonus photo Jordan sent over of him hauling a Poler Rucksack on his porteur with yet another clean custom shifter component- a brake lever with a mount for a shifter so that a gear shift is always within thumb’s reach (closeup). For most, custom components like these are out of reach but there’s always Paul thumbies.