Can you spot the Talking-Head bike stand?

Former Talking Heads front-man, bike enthusiast & advocate, David Byrne, takes us on a ride in Brooklyn, to show off-his latest project - designing bike racks.

That’s right, bike racks or bike-stands as we call em’.

Reminds me D.B was in New Zealand a couple of weeks back, doing all the material he did in collaboration with Brian Eno – the pinnacle of his career, if I do say so myself, but I digress, back to things bikes.

The question is - do New Yorkers want to use his works of functional art?

In the second video, a couple of hard-case dudes travel in Byrne’s wake, to see the racks are utilised by the riding public, or simply ignored?



By the way if you haven’t heard of Talking Heads, I’m afraid I’m going to have to shoot you.

PS: F#ck I love You-Tube when you find neat crap like this.

69er Mountain Bikes (yes, really)

Oi, I stumbled upon a bike on the internet called a 69er – and with a moniker like that, it immediately and not unsurprisingly, got my attention.

The 69er is by Trek, and its claim to fame is it sports a 29inch wheel on the front and a 26 on the back.

The 69er comes in all flavours (single-speed, rigid frame, hard-tail, full suspension)

I guess Trek think, this is the way of getting ‘the best of both worlds’ and solving the endless fights as to wheel size efficiencies, besides giving the marketing department a brand-name, that will get most punters attention.

The concept of having a larger wheel at the front and a smaller one at the back is not a modern one, I remember in the mid 80’s Cannondale had a mass-production bikes that boasted a 26” front and a 24” rear.

Google tells me these were the SM500 (1984) and SM600 (1985)

The photo below, is a Cannondale SM600, and both models apparently also came in a conventional 2x 26” versions, as well.

Cannondale, discontinued the big/small wheel concept in 1988, when they stopped producing the SM600.

This photo, shows the SM600 (26 + 24) beside the SM700 (26 + 26)

I’m sure some buff who stumbles upon this site, will correct me if my little history lesson is wrong (which is highly likely in cases like this) Ask for a 69 at your local bike-shop. Dare ya.

Footnote: To those that habitat English speaking nations, both the name and notoriety French singer song writer Serge Gainsbourg's are equally unfamiliar. It was the same for me too, until Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and Bad Seeds, Birthday Party) released two albums in the mid 90’s,that were English language tributes to Gainsbourg’s not inconsiderable work .I was immediately sold at that point – this dude & his erotic pop sound, is so cool. Rarely sober Serge (who died in 1991) was a crusty-old deviate, with a voice that reflected his chain-smoking habit, and the ability to write kitsch lounge music, that has no rival. Go to You Tube type his name in and enjoy – then go out and buy Mick Harvey’s two albums to appreciate the lyrics .