While we wait for our Platypus Bikes...

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Here is a thread that will veer just a bit from the normal subject matter. But it has been 112 degrees today, and we have to do something while we wait for our Platypus bikes. Going for a walk down memory lane is what we’re doing.

I recently found this treasure. Pictured is me, at 5 years old with my very first bike. My parents purchased it at a garage sale from a family in town. It was a Huffy Desert Rose (long, dramatic, wistful sigh here).The story was that the bike had been backed over but -yay!- the man of the house had welded the bike back into working order. I was THRILLED. I never had training wheels - I learned by taking off and crashing all over the neighborhood. I didn’t care if I was missing a lot of hide; I had wheels and I was going places in my tiny North Dakota town.

I would like to take this time to point out several things...

1. I really think they nailed the saddle height on the first try.

2. My bike had fenders! And they were clearly for decoration only.

3. What shoes was I wearing? I don’t know, but what I can tell you I didn’t trouble myself with socks. 

4. My celebrity lookalike was Mowgli from the Jungle Book. 

6. Banana seats > Brooks saddles.

7. No need for racks/baskets. I put a friend or a little sister on the banana seat and SHE carried the goods.

8. Kids were tougher in the 80s. That bike was huge for 5-year-old me, but I rode it. Pedaling that bike felt like being stuck in the hardest gear going uphill always (the welder dad overestimated his abilities), but I rode the wheels off of it..most likely with flat tires.

In closing, I might also point out that I was into Rivendell before Rivendell was into Rivendell. Compare the Huffy with my Clementine - I was an early adopter.

This was the day the love affair began, friends. I am so happy to have a photo of it. Who else has a story about their first bike? Bonus points if you can also provide photos.

Leah

[kim young]

Whoa ! 

I finally get to use the mind blown 🤯 emoji. 

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[Carl]

January '74. My birthday present was a C. Itoh, guaranteed world's finest bicycle precision mechanism.

[Matthew Williams]

On a sunny Christmas morning in 1975, I got a fire-engine red Schwinn Sting-Ray.

My brother, our friends, and I would ride our bikes every day after school and all during the summer. Our parents had no idea where we were or what we were doing--their only rule was, "Be home at six for dinner." They probably thought we couldn't go far, but we rode through every alley and backstreet of our town, and the neighboring town, and the town beyond that.

We'd ride down to the beach or along the cliffs above it, or into the nearby state park where we'd look for bats in the caves, tease rattlesnakes, explore the flood-control dams, and one summer we discovered a swing someone had made from a stolen fire hose. I was seven years old, I had a bike, we had total freedom, and the world was ours to explore.

[brendonoid]

Landing a sick jump feet free on my 3rd birthday in 1986. Step through steel frame with fat tyres, fenders and an albatross bar on quill stem as high as it would go. My Riv future was assured...

[Leah Peterson]

Matthew! You responded exactly in kind! Your story is fantastic, riveting - truly. And, fine, I admit it, your Schwinn Stingray was cooler than the Huffy Desert Rose.

I would also like to point out that we had the same haircut. 🤣🤣🤣

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 18, 2020, at 8:47 PM, Matthew Williams <matthewwil...@gmail.com> wrote:



On a sunny Christmas morning in 1975, I got a fire-engine red Schwinn Sting-Ray.

My brother, our friends, and I would ride our bikes every day after school and all during the summer. Our parents had no idea where we were or what we were doing--their only rule was, "Be home at six for dinner." They probably thought we couldn't go far, but we rode through every alley and backstreet of our town, and the neighboring town, and the town beyond that.

We'd ride down to the beach or along the cliffs above it, or into the nearby state park where we'd look for bats in the caves, tease rattlesnakes, explore the flood-control dams, and one summer we discovered a swing someone had made from a stolen fire hose. I was seven years old, I had a bike, we had total freedom, and the world was ours to explore.

<1975_Schwinn_StingRay_1.jpg>

<1975_Schwinn_StingRay_2.jpg>

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[Leah Peterson]

Brendanoid: I’d have never believed it but you have the photo. Age 3, landing jumps with no feet? Also, do I see a rear rack on that bike? YOU were more Riv than Riv. We should get patches made.

Matthew: You gave the cutoff for “our” haircut at 1980. My photo was taken in 1986. North Dakota was always behind the trends! 

I love the quote.

Leah

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On Aug 18, 2020, at 8:50 PM, brendonoid <bre...@areyoualert.com> wrote:

Landing a sick jump feet free on my 3rd birthday in 1986. Step through steel frame with fat tyres, fenders and an albatross bar on quill stem as high as it would go. My Riv future was assured...

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[Jason Fuller]

Excellent storytelling Leah, et al.  I am not waiting on Platypus, but I *am* waiting on the Charlie H Gallop and I feel like we're in some kind of race (although the CHG is likely behind, since less details have been officially provided). I hope we get a colour as cool as the green. I haven't heard a peep about what colours are being planned for production on the CHG. 

My first bike is not too different looking; banana seat, fork that is certainly bent and unsafe. I was actually pretty timid as a kid and it took me a long time to take the plunge on training wheel-free riding. I was six when I figured it out. As you'll see in the second image, riding bikes became the one thing I was not timid about. I was no good at sports, but I had bike skills: throughout my childhood and teenage years I rode mountain bikes, and I became pretty skilled at trials riding (hopping around on one wheel, etc) in my late teens and into my twenties. I then discovered fixie bikes, which I was into for the 2000's, and by 2010 or so I shifted my interest to touring bikes, where Rivendell became something I was more acutely aware of. 

So despite my first bike being quite Riv-friendly, I then went in very un-Grant-like directions for about two decades before returning. 

[Mark Roland]

I was wondering when we would hear the bringgg bringgg of Bicyclebelldingding, it's been a bit stuffy around here.

My first bike memory is of an old white girls bike that my grandfather and I rescued from the local dump. He fixed it up and that's how I learned to ride. I think.

There is a  polariod somewhere of me in my pajamas on Christmas morning, kneeling next to a sea-foam green Rollfast with a white banana seat, chopper bars, and a big red bow. My first new bike. Eerily similar to Carl's photo.

Like Matthew, I also had a C.Itoh in a beautiful pale yellow, my first ten-speed. Which, it should be noted here, was made by the Bridgestone company. Although I now understand the paint job was the best thing about the bike, I wanted to make it sparkle green like Janice M.'s Schwinn Continental down the block. I took it apart, then used toxic stripper and razor blades to take it down to bare metal. This was probably 1972, I was 11 or 12. My workshop was the basement floor in front of the boiler. I think I may not have used primer, and it may not have ridden quite the same, but it was a fairly decent green, and there were only a few leftover parts.

The Platypus will be awesome, as will the Charlie Gallop. If they ever do make a dedicated kids bike, it will need to be called a Puggle. I am currently waiting on my large Susie. And building up an HHH tandem. And tootling around town on my 52 *El Clem*, which is completely complete except for mud flaps and likely a basket for the front rack, though that will create parking issues in my living room closet.

[Ray]

I wonder if Riv would consider a 3-wheeler for the aging boomer market. Here I am cruising one-handed on my first fixie in about 1953, trying to keep my shoes clean in rough garden terrain down by the tracks in northern Ontario. Leah, there is room on the back for you to stand on those axle platforms if you want me to stop by your place in Dakota.

[Leah Peterson]

Ah, Jason, you’re from an even more northern town than I! The pic is too blurry to see, but I’m wondering if we also had the same haircut. 🤣 

I do feel like we’re fighting over who gets their production model first - will it be the horse or the platypus -  no one can say. I’ve been waiting for this new mixte since the rumored Anniversary Mixte, so I feel like Riv should put the Platypus first in the queue. 😉 Also, selling the Clem? How could you? Just kidding...sort of.

Mark - impressive that you could take apart and repaint your bike at 11 or 12! And put it back together with parts leftover - that’s efficient! Congrats on the new bikes; you went from no Rivs to LOTS of Rivs in 2020. Good for you!

Ray - I’ll stand on your axles with pleasure - if we leave now I can escape this inferno that is Vegas and we can meet up north in God’s Country. Start pedaling. 😜

You guys are all adorable little kids. Even with your 70s and 80s haircuts.

Leah

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On Aug 19, 2020, at 5:07 PM, Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

Excellent storytelling Leah, et al.  I am not waiting on Platypus, but I *am* waiting on the Charlie H Gallop and I feel like we're in some kind of race (although the CHG is likely behind, since less details have been officially provided). I hope we get a colour as cool as the green. I haven't heard a peep about what colours are being planned for production on the CHG. 

My first bike is not too different looking; banana seat, fork that is certainly bent and unsafe. I was actually pretty timid as a kid and it took me a long time to take the plunge on training wheel-free riding. I was six when I figured it out. As you'll see in the second image, riding bikes became the one thing I was not timid about. I was no good at sports, but I had bike skills: throughout my childhood and teenage years I rode mountain bikes, and I became pretty skilled at trials riding (hopping around on one wheel, etc) in my late teens and into my twenties. I then discovered fixie bikes, which I was into for the 2000's, and by 2010 or so I shifted my interest to touring bikes, where Rivendell became something I was more acutely aware of. 

So despite my first bike being quite Riv-friendly, I then went in very un-Grant-like directions for about two decades before returning. 

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<IMG_20200819_161925.jpg>

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[Julian Westerhout]

Leah, 

Here I am (on the far left) with three of my siblings and two kids from the neighborhood on a fine fall day in Maryland circa 1971. 

Note my Wald basket (descendants of which are on my Clem and our HHH), wide tires, fenders, and upright bars. My Clem would feel right at home in this photo. 

The majorly cool kids in that group were the kid with the Sting Ray with Ape Hanger handlebars and "realistic stick shifter" and my older brother on the 10-speed -- he could ride up hills that we had to hop off and push.     :) 

Bikes meant freedom to me then -- we could ride to scout meetings, to sports, to friends' houses -- all on our own, and could explore the wood paths on our bikes -- the feelings of empowerment and independence were awesome. 

Today, nothing too much has changed, other than I no longer have hair and am a lot taller...      ;) 

Julian Westerhout

Bloomington, IL 

[Jason Fuller]

Leah, yeah that's a tough wait - but after staring at the Platypus a bunch lately, I now prefer its aesthetics over the Cheviot quite a bit, and I hope you do too! The Gallop is a little behind the Platypus in revealed detail from Riv directly, so I would be surprised if it didn't come first - but maybe they'll be on the same shipment, since both appear to be greenlighted from the prototypes now!

[Michael Williams]

I am loving all these old photos of folks on their childhood bikes.  The stories of where people were riding and the freedom the bikes brought them is awesome.  And the throwback styles are just so cool!

Sent from my iPhone

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[Leah Peterson]

Julian, your childhood looks to be the stuff of dreams. What a cool and eclectic group of kids - I think it’s rare that the older kids will let much younger kids join their group. Yes, your Clem would feel right at home - maybe this is why we like our Clems? They are a visit to our childhood eras. Great photo!

If anyone else’s appetite has been whet for a great story in the vein of this thread, check out this podcast episode about a group of kids in the 70s and a 240 miles bike trip that they took...alone. No parents. 2 states. Zero supervision. 100% true.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavyweight/id1150800298?i=1000451295628

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On Aug 21, 2020, at 9:58 AM, Julian Westerhout <weste...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Leah Peterson]

Carl - my apologies! I missed your post until now! Great photo, and what a gorgeous bike. Where is it now? Did you save it? “World’s finest bicycle precision mechanism” definitely surpasses Welded Huffy Desert Rose Garage Sale Special! Who loved bikes so much that they gifted you this treasure?

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On Aug 18, 2020, at 7:42 PM, Carl <carlsi...@gmail.com> wrote:



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<C Itoh sm.jpg>

[Patrick Moore]

Speaking of fixies for toddlers, I recall learning to ride 2 wheels circa age 4, which would have been 1959, on a tiny red bicycle with solid, black rubber tires and a fixed wheel; I have no recollection where it came from, because it certainly wasn't mine. Funny how strong such early memories are. Doubtless it was this early experience that soured me on freewheels later in life.

The older blonde girls from next door -- I think they may have been 8 or 9 -- made me their afternoon project, and they set me on the saddle and pushed me down the slope of our short driveway (right into the street). But I survived and learned.

Speaking of the old-fashioned children's tricycles: those were horribly unstable. I recall how 5 years later, my brother, then age 4, would tear down the concrete driveway on his, with 16" wheel trike, rather tall for a tricycle and, attempting to do a time trial turn at the end, would inevitably fall over at speed and hit his head on the concrete; he was tall, skinny, with a very big head, and I recall thinking, even at age 9, that his large head was a liability here, and that "this can't be healthy." Though, a couple of year later at another house with a driveway that dove steeply down to a basement-level garage, I'd coax him into the driver's seat and stand on the back and accelerate us rapidly down the very steep slope, pedals whirling, his legs in the air, our aim being to safely make the 90* right hand turn into a small corridor between back wall of house and back wall of property; since I grasped the bar in the center, it was his left hand that always got scraped.

Two photos I wish I still had -- my mother kept them for decades as we travelled between continents: A bw photo of me, age 7 or 8, with my new 24"-wheel JC Higgins, and best friend Ricky Heinbuck, a year younger but an inch taller, with an ancient, 28"- wheel woman's bike that his father had resurrected from some dump or another. Another bw of me, sophomore yearbook, age 15 or just turned 16, early 1971, with my first self-build: Indian roadster frame, 700C flip flop rear wheel, 24" front wheel, drop bar, rat trap pedals with no cages or straps, and no brakes because (to my surprise) nothing would fit. 50 t cottered crank, 15 t fw, IIRC, 90" gear. I rode it on murderous narrow, hilly, winding roads with no shoulders, with the faster cars getting up to 80 (rode in one) and "country" buses racing side by side around blind corners, and in downtown traffic, with no brake. 

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Carl]

Hi Leah, I still have that C Itoh. It’s gone a ways since ‘74, mostly in its first 20 years. I’ll post a current photo of it tomorrow. It was my Dad’s, but I nagged him until he gave it to me and got himself a new Bridgestone Super Speed, which I also still have. 

[Joe Bernard]

I'm not a big podcast listener but I highly recommend the one Leah mentioned. It's amazing, and parents in the '70s were nuts! 

[Dorothy C]

I don’t have a picture of me with the bike, but when I was starting high school in the UK in 1971 my parents bought me a dark blue made in England Raleigh 3 speed, similar to the one on the right of this picture. Before that I think I only had a kiddie trike and push scooter when I was little. It was remembering my Raleigh that led to my finding the Lovely Bicycle blog and from there, hearing about Rivendell. 

[David Sprunger]

I am enjoying this thread. It's fun to see Rivendell sensibilities latent even in childhood.

Here's a picture of me, circa 1967 in North Newton, Kansas, on my Schwinn Bantam. You'll have to take my word that it was bright red. Note that generous basket. This bike featured a removable top tube. My dad took it off for my sister and put it back on when it was my brother's turn to start riding. The Bantam was eventually given to a neighbor with young children, but it was in rough shape by then. The basket, top tube, and fenders were long gone, no doubt due to our mechanical exploration.

We were each promoted to a Schwinn Typhoon or Hollywood once we outgrew the Bantam, but I have not been able to find any pictures of me with my copper Typhoon.

David Sprunger

Fargo, ND

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[masmojo]

Not sure who has all the pictures of me as a child (mom or one of my sisters) or if any of them featured me and my bike!?

But, this thread has me thinking and I guess I'll put effort into finding them!

[Matthew Williams]

I thought you might like this collection of Schwinn catalogs:

https://bikehistory.org/

[Ryan M.]

This isn't my picture as I just found it on google, but this is the first bike model I remember riding. On the saddle it says "Good Buddy" so I always called it my good buddy. I rode that thing so much the frame eventually broke...well, we were riding in a field and I rode it down a steep hill I had no business riding down and the ensuing crash led to a broken bike. It's the first bike I got good at skidding with, also it did passably well when we built ramps to jump off of.  

[Patrick Moore]

When did the prototypical child's bike change from a balloon-tire cruiser to a chopper-type bike? It must have been while we were outside the US, because all the kids' bikes I recall from elementary school were cruiser types; I recall one little girl with a "Dale Evans" version in palomino colors with cowgirl fringes and rhinestones, while other luckier boys had the full-faux-gas-tank-and-horn models. My JC Higgins was a base model, but lasted for years -- I remember thrashing it age 15 or 16.

On Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 6:29 AM Ryan M. <ryan.merri...@gmail.com> wrote:

This isn't my picture as I just found it on google, but this is the first bike model I remember riding. On the saddle it says "Good Buddy" so I always called it my good buddy. I rode that thing so much the frame eventually broke...well, we were riding in a field and I rode it down a steep hill I had no business riding down and the ensuing crash led to a broken bike. It's the first bike I got good at skidding with, also it did passably well when we built ramps to jump off of.  

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[Matthew Williams]

> When did the prototypical child's bike change from a balloon-tire cruiser to a chopper-type bike?

Midway through 1964. In the heady days of customizing cars and motorcycles, a Schwinn executive saw kids in California customizing their balloon-tire bikes to make them look and ride like motorcycles, so he designed a new bike called the "Sting-Ray." The Sting-Ray was a huge hit, and a subsequent version called the "Scrambler" with knobby tires, no front fender, and a reinforced frame was specifically designed as a "dirt bike" for kids who were riding and racing their bikes off-road in the early days of bicycle motocross, better known as "BMX." 

See also: Klunking.

====

“I’ll tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammeled womanhood.”

--Susan B. Anthony

[True Golden]

I'm not sure if I'm waiting on a Platypus as I just bought a very lightly used, almost pristine Sam Hillbourne this past Tuesday. 

At any rate I will share my early riding memories as I recall them.

It's funny how some memories really stand out but others I just draw a blank on the specifics.

Although I do not remember the specific bike or rather bikes we had when we began riding as kids in a small Texas town we loved the freedom they gave us to get around quickly.

I say we because there are 5 of us siblings but only the 3 older rode bikes in the beginning of my cycling days. The younger two were too small at the time.

I do have a memory of my Grandad running down the sidewalk with his hand on the bike seat holding me up and then letting go and me having my first unsupported bike ride.

Gosh, I loved that man. He was my first hero. He taught me so much.

I think we 3 older boys shared two bikes in the beginning and my older brother by about two years was our mechanic.

I do remember they were not pretty or fancy bikes but whatever brand, clunkers mostly,  they got us riding.

I do recall one early incident b4 getting better with braking where I stopped by running into the garage wall.

My older brother was ticked because it messed up the fork.

Either he or my Grandad got it going again and I began using brakes rather than walls to stop.

There was a kindly older gentleman that ran a small neighborhood service station that would repair our flats for a few cents.

The big bike event in my pre-teen years was a new bike shared by we 3 older boys.

We drooled over a beautiful cruiser bike of some sort with fenders, the fuel tank looking add ons and a  horn, maybe even a headlight that was at our local Western Auto store.

I think it was similar to Western Flyers from the 60's I have seen.

I wish my memories were clearer on the exact model.

At any rate there was no way we had the money to buy that beauty but the owner let us put it in layaway.

I don't recall the exact time it took us to pay it off but it was most of a summer in which the 3 of us busted our buns raising every spare nickel we could to get it out of layaway.

We collected pop bottles,  knocked mortar off used bricks , mowed lawns and did whatever chores we could that would earn us money. 

We were motivated big time!

It was the most beautiful bike we had every seen.

I don't recall the day we rode it out of there or rather the oldest brother did.

Basically he rode it whenever he wanted and we two next in line bro's shared it when he wasn't.

Once older bro became a teen his enthusiasm for cycling diminished and allowed more time on the fancy bike for we two younger brothers. 

We did have other well used bikes by the time the fancy bike was paid off and we 3 rode all over that town.

Best I recall it was similar in appearance to this fancy thing.

I do recall it was mostly black.

I'm not sure we ever took a picture of it.

Paul in Dallas 

Pic from online.

[ascpgh]

Picture says a thousand words!

I spent the night in North Newton on my way across the country on my orange Rambouillet in 2002.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Patrick Moore]

Aha, Sting Ray, now I remember. Google and Wiki provide the text below. My only contact with the fad was a top-tube-mounted 3-speed shifter that I found in the 1968 Sears Christmas Catalogue and added to to my Christmas list and, indulgent parents thank you!, actually got via slow boat in time for Christmas; big black knob on stout pressed metal lever over plastic-box-enclosed, simple, ratchet shifting system, and installed on my metallic-gold-flake with white accents Raleigh Sports to complement the retrofitted steel drop bar and rat trap pedals sans retention mechs. Nowadays I'd prefer the original -- and IMO brilliant -- bar-mount trigger shifter, which I've gone thru contortions to source in these our latter days. 

The Sting-Ray: In 1962, Schwinn's designer Al Fritz heard about a new youth trend centered in California for retrofitting bicycles with the accoutrements of motorcycles customized in the "bobber" or "chopper" style, including high-rise, "ape-hanger" handlebars and low-rider "banana seats".[23] Inspired, he designed a mass-production bike for the youth market known as Project J-38. The result, a wheelie bike, was introduced to the public as the Schwinn Sting-Ray in June 1963.[23][24][25][26] It had ape-hanger handlebars, Persons's Solo Polo Seat banana seat and 20-inch tires. Sales were initially slow, as many parents desiring a bicycle for their children did not find the Sting-Ray appealing in the least. However, after a few appeared on America's streets and neighborhoods, many young riders would accept nothing else, and sales took off. In the December 1963 Schwinn Reporter Schwinn announced the arrival of the Deluxe Sting-Ray. This model included Fenders, white-wall tires, and a padded Solo polo seat. Next, in July 1964 Schwinn announced the arrival of the Super Deluxe Sting-Ray. This model included a front spring-fork, and a new sleeker Sting-Ray banana seat, and a Person's Hi-loop Sissy bar. Also, the Super Deluxe gave the rider a choice of White wall tires or the new Yellow oval rear Slik tire paired with a front black wall Westwind tire. By 1965, a host of American and foreign manufacturers were offering their own version of the Sting-Ray.

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[Patrick Moore]

On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 9:20 PM Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! <jonasa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My celebrity lookalike was Mowgli from the Jungle Book.

As long as we are indulging in great gushing gouts of childhood nostalgia, I'll add my $0.02 on Mowgli and whatever extrapolations I feel like extrapolating.

Your childhood hairstyle matched the Disney Mowgli, but the real Mowgli was longer haired and far more brutally realistic than the movie theatre version; after all, he organized the wolf tribe into sending the village's cattle down a narrow ravine to trample the glutted Shere Khan to death. I've not watched the Disney Jungle Book, but I would be willing to bet a few $$$ that this scene was not included in exquisite detail.

Rudyard Kipling held all sorts of weird, stupid, brutal views, but he did know 19th-century Raj India had a sympathy for both races, and very captured very well the bewilderment and occasional humanity of brutal conquerors and the resistance, resentment, and not infrequent acquiescence of the conquered; he had a "feel" for both. The Brits came into India at a period when the Mughal empire was in decay, and -- interesting fact -- were far less racist and far more inclined to mimic rather than denounce the local customs before the mid-19th century advent of racialist-superiority ideologies falsely extrapolated from Darwin's naive biological hypothesis. Kipling shares both these Brit-versus-India tendencies.

Kipling was a racialist and imperialist, but as others have pointed out, he was the sole regardable literary talent to come out of the Raj. I think his magnum opus is the secretly autobiographical Kim about a bi-racial -- "Anglo-Indian;" this term includes both Brit/Indian and Portuguese(Goa)/Indian mixes, "anglo" being a technical and not a strictly ethnic term -- orphan street boy who lives in between the 2 cultures and races and gets the best of both; the story is precisely a glorification of his mixed-caste background and the adventures offered him in late 19th century India beyond those offered to the pure of either race. The book falls apart about 2/3 of the way through (like Huckleberry Finn), but the first part is wonderful.

Rikki Tikki Tavi is another wonderful children's story, told from the point of view of a very Indian mongoose in the Anglo garden of the small son of a Raj administrator. Then of course there are his poems about British Indian army other ranks (Gunga Din, Danny Deever, and the one I quoted to no avail (are miltary people simply unimaginative?) to a US Army ex-Afghanistan resume client, Arithmetic on the Frontier:

A scrimmage in a Border Station —
A canter down some dark defile —
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail —
The Crammer’s boast, the Squadron’s pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

Finally, the wonderfully done 1970s (well, Connery and Caine?) The Man Who Would Be King.

Hoary joke:
First Stock Idiot: "Do you like Kipling?"
Second Stock Idiot: "I don't know, I've never Kippled."
Dimwit audience: "Laugh track."

Early Mowgli illustration:

 

Bike Content: None whatsoever.

[masmojo]

The Man who would be King is indeed a wonderful film; One of those that if I stumble on it while flipping channels; I'll continue watching it even though I've seen it a half dozen times! It has one of the original "twist" endings. Predictable for the viewer maybe, but you can certainly sympathize with the narrator of the story.  Of course maybe I am predisposed to it, because I am fascinated by the culture of that region.  It gives a fairly accurate depiction of how Polo was invented as well.

[Pancake]

Just some material for those still waiting for a Platypus: https://i.redd.it/0a07ng567bj51.png

[Olivier Chételat]

...and some additional material for those still waiting for a Platypus by way of sample badge. 

Save a few refinements, you are looking at the 99.83% final version.

Have a wonderful day,

Olivier in SF

[kim young]

Olivier - you’ve outdone yourself !!

What a masterpiece. 

I love the artwork so much.

💓

from kim

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[Mark Roland]

I second that--fantastic job.

On Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 1:21:14 PM UTC-4, Flowerfang wrote:

Olivier - you’ve outdone yourself !!

What a masterpiece. 

I love the artwork so much.

💓

from kim

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 10:11 AM Olivier Chételat <oli...@gmail.com> wrote:

...and some additional material for those still waiting for a Platypus by way of sample badge. 

Save a few refinements, you are looking at the 99.83% final version.

Have a wonderful day,

Olivier in SF

On Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 9:56:15 AM UTC-7 Pancake wrote:

Just some material for those still waiting for a Platypus: https://i.redd.it/0a07ng567bj51.png

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[Leah Peterson]

Well, you just knocked it right out of the park, Olivier! It is wonderful! So much color and detail and depth. Love, love, love.

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 26, 2020, at 10:11 AM, Olivier Chételat <oli...@gmail.com> wrote:



...and some additional material for those still waiting for a Platypus by way of sample badge. 

Save a few refinements, you are looking at the 99.83% final version.

Have a wonderful day,

Olivier in SF

<IMG_0378.jpeg>

On Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 9:56:15 AM UTC-7 Pancake wrote:

Just some material for those still waiting for a Platypus: https://i.redd.it/0a07ng567bj51.png

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<IMG_0378.jpeg>

[Hetchins52]

Magnificent! A highly mobile art piece!

I must buy one of these bikes just to prominently display the head badge. 

And, for my own viewing pleasure.

Thank you Olivier!

David Lipsky

Berkeley, CA

[Sam Perez]

what does the platypus look like ? i dont see it on the website

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[kim young]

I think joe posted the initial preview of it.  Search the list under new Cheviot, or maybe fancy cheviot (?) , something like that. (It is the platypus, but that comes after.) 

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[John A. Bennett]

Here's a photo on our Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CECGYWwnzqg/

[Olivier Chételat]

Thank you for the kind words, Kim, Mark, Leah and David. It means a whole lot. The pressure was on to not mess this one up and I'm very very glad of the positive feedback so far; so is Grant. YaY!

Sam, without knowing geometry details, the Platypus looks like a Cheviot with curved seat stays (mucho elegant) and break posts to allow V-breaks. I believe it also has a bit more clearance for wider tires. In short: awesome!

[Roberta]

It's a nice looking head badge.  I'm going to get a bike, just to have that head badge  :) .

[Jan O.]

Beautiful badge Olivier. Bravo!

Jan

San Francisco, CA