Some of you have seen this bar tape on the Fizik Europe website. Since three of the colors are “black,” “honey,” and “antique brown” we have assumed they were produced with Brooks saddles in mind. (Fizik and Brooks are siblings in the Selle Royal family)

Turns out they are made for Brooks if you are somewhere besides the U.S.  The tape doesn’t meet the California lead standards!

Lead in bar tape? Who knew?

So, I guess if you want the dangerous, but nicely color-coordinated, bar tape you will need to do your shopping on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tags: bartape banned

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Mardi Gras in New Orleans might be ‘hedonism.’ Or maybe ’self indulgence.’ Mardi Gras is, after all, preparation for the season of sacrifice. But we’ve learned there is a bigger purpose to all the hoopla. There’s a reason. We received an e-mail yesterday that put it all in perspective:

Dear Wallbike: I got some Mardi Gras beads last Spring in an order you sent me. I wore them to the bar tonight in support of the Saints. I was taking the family home at halftime and a woman at the table next to me said she loved my beads and would like to buy them. I told her that she could have them but all I asked was that she rooted for the Saints (the rest of her table was rooting Colts). By the time I got back to my house and got the kids in bed, I came down to see Peyton Manning throw the clinching interception touchdown. I cannot help but believe that your beads were directly responsible for the Saints’ win. Thank you for providing me with mojo to help the Saints win. CF

So it’s clear that the beads we caught at a Mardi Gras parade  were directly responsible for the event that unified and lifted an entire city. And that’s why we go to parades. We will continue to collect these tokens of mojo so we can send a few to each of you who place an order through Mardi Gras day (2/16). Thank you all for helping us to make the world a better place.

The TyK Project has produced a calendar to benefit the Chicago Women’s Health Center.

From the TyK website:

“The TyK Project was created to address modern day stereotypes of women. Frustrated with being pegged as either mechanically savvy but asexual, or cute but inept with their bikes, these PinUps showcase the dual nature that women cyclists embody. ..”

Miss March rode with our Crescent City Cyclists club before moving to Chicago. She is, indeed, a regular person embodying that dual nature. She brought her own bike to the photo shoot.

Nice people on a worthy project make for a good calendar that is easy on the eyes.

Quoc Pham, of London, is offering a new traditional cycling shoe.

These shoes are designed with a slim fit, for easy toe-clip entry, and a thin, stiff sole -  fine characteristics for a clip-and-strap shoe. But Quoc Pham is a designer. That means they’re going to look good. These are very nice looking shoes and the price is pretty reasonable.

There are five different colors of leather (patent, anyone?) but most seem to be out of stock right now.

Artifact

Originally uploaded by .Kara.

Kara Ginther is showing some very interesting craft work on her Flickr photostream.

Tags: craft modified butcheredandtied