Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Hey, Wood You Look At That!

Every so often, if you're lucky, you experience a moment in your life where you step outside of yourself, take a look, and think, "Wow, you really made it!"

I'm luckier than most, and my career as a semi-professional bike blogger has been replete with such moments.  Publishing my first book, accidentally fooling the literary world into thinking George Plimpton rode a Trek Y-Foil, and, uh, other stuff too.  But perhaps my greatest accomplishment is having one of my former bicycles on display in an actual museum.

Yes, that's right, you can now see this artifact with your own eyes at the Classic Cycles bicycle museum on Bainbridge Island, WA:


Classic Cycles is just a ferry ride away from Seattle, and I highly recommend visiting if you haven't already.  Also, I will neither confirm or deny that laying hands upon the Renovo will heal your saddle sores, choppy pedal strroke, or other cycling-related maladies, though the curators will gladly let you touch it for $20, which they and I will then split 50/50.

Speaking of curating, note how they've classed up the bike by changing components to complement the woody goodness.  Because here's how it looked under my tenure:


In case you're wondering, the saddle bag contained a bottle of wood glue.

Anyway, go visit Classic Cycles, and tell them I sent you.  Then duck, because they might chuck a water bottle at you if you mention me.
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23 comments:

  1. Seattle lone wolfMay 28, 2019 at 8:42 AM

    Bike throw!

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  2. BillinrockhillMay 28, 2019 at 8:54 AM

    Podium? And I just noticed you had the valve caps on in your photo of the tubeless stems you installed one post back. Are we supposed to be riding with valve caps?

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  3. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 9:03 AM

    Winner winner chicken dinner

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  4. wishiwasmerckxMay 28, 2019 at 9:18 AM

    Podium?

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  5. FergieMay 28, 2019 at 9:43 AM

    They left the electronic shifting? I thought they would have used some of the Brio/Suntour colabo components for an authentic wooden gruppo.

    The Annual Fat Tire Fest is coming up June 9th at Blue Montain Reservation in Peekskill. Good times to be had by all!
    http://wmba.org/?p=1340

    Also, it's official, WMBA is now an IMBA chapter. Look forward to new stuff coming from the organization this summer and beyond...

    NYCHighwheeler

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  6. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 10:10 AM

    first

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  7. JuanOffhueMay 28, 2019 at 10:15 AM

    If I recall correctly, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has one on display as well.

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  8. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 10:39 AM

    Classic Cycle is definitely worth a visit, combination quality bike shop and museum, and the ferry ride is a cheap way to get a great view of the Seattle sky line.

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  9. Edwin HeadwindMay 28, 2019 at 11:12 AM

    Wow -- the museum called you a "cycling luminary" in the Renovo write-up. You have indeed arrived.

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  10. BamaPhredMay 28, 2019 at 11:13 AM

    Podiodio

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  11. Serial RetrogrouchMay 28, 2019 at 11:19 AM

    ...That's fantastic. They'll have to put it in a sealed, environmentally controlled chamber to keep the Seattle moisture from it.

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  12. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 11:39 AM

    Sniff. Sniff. Good glue.

    podium.

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  13. thegockMay 28, 2019 at 12:15 PM

    SNOB RULZ

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  14. HarrumphMay 28, 2019 at 12:41 PM

    Harrumph

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  15. HarrumphMay 28, 2019 at 12:41 PM

    Harrumph.

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  16. ChazuMay 28, 2019 at 1:46 PM

    I washed my road bike yesterday using one of the three (3) hoses I currently own. Two of the hoses are 'lead free', because apparently, the hose industry (aka "Big Hose") adds lead to make them more pliable.

    One lead-free hose is dedicated to the small vegetable garden, the other is dedicated to kids and the sprinkler they like to run through on hot days.

    The leaded hose is for full suspension mountain bikes. I don't own such a bike, so that hose is in a state of disuse.

    That Moots full-suspension MTB on Bainbridge Island looks silly.

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  17. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 2:17 PM

    I can confirm that the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a Renovo on display in their bicycle exhibit. They also have a wooden safety bicycle from 1910 or so - complete with wooden rims.

    So I guess you could say that wooden bicycles have ... come full circle?

    (Because the wheels are circles? Get it?)

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  18. BikeSnobNYCMay 28, 2019 at 2:52 PM

    Billinrockhill,

    I kind of figured it made more sense to leave the valve on since they're tubeless but now that I think about it that doesn't really make much sense. Also my other tubeless bike has no valve caps. But since you have to use the little thread-on nuts with tubeless valves you might as well let them wear their little valve hats too. I don't know...

    --Tan Tenovo

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  19. JLRBMay 28, 2019 at 4:04 PM

    1. You don't like helments
    2. You don't like valve stem covers
    3. Coincidence you have 17-ish human-childs?

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  20. AnonymousMay 28, 2019 at 5:42 PM

    Hey Tenovo, in all the time of your Renovo custodianship, never once did you present us with a photograph of the bike that showed some of its interesting details or just how beautiful and luscious the finish is.

    In just a few photos, the Classic Cycles museum site coveys more about that bike than all your bellowings about it managed. Semi-professional or not, do you think you could put in just a little extra effort into the photography for us please? Not of that depraved Litespeed though, the less seen of that thing, the better.

    PS: so good is the CC photography, I could tell they have mismatched tubes on the Renovo! And no caps on the valves. Was that a condition of the donation?

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  21. BikeSnobNYCMay 28, 2019 at 6:12 PM

    Anonymous 5:42pm,

    Absolutely not.

    Do you see "Bike Museum" or "photography" anywhere in the description of this site?

    --Tan Tenovo

    PS: The Renovo rode beautifuly, but the Litespeed is a *much* better bike.

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  22. UnknownMay 30, 2019 at 11:54 AM

    I too believed that I knew what the wooden bike looked like until I saw the photographs from the bike museum. I am starting to wonder if the trails behind the mall might in fact be some sylvan idyll or the author himself a hirsute adonis. What other truths have been hidden from us by the sub standard photography on this blog?

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  23. AnonymousMay 30, 2019 at 10:09 PM

    Good on ya for donating it. NTM you don't have to worry about that noisy bastid any longer.

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