I love bikes. I almost love how a beautiful bicycle looks more than riding one, but not quite. In San Francisco we have a pretty solid bike culture so you get to see some nice ones around the city now and then. But of course it’s nothing compared to Amsterdam where bikes run the city and they know how to build them right. Sure, there are a ton of junkers but the overall style and pragmatic design of most is something I really appreciate. Every time I go there I resolve to find a nice bike in the Dutch style when I get home but I can never seem to find anything.
That’s why I got really excited when I first saw Vanilla Bicycle’s site. These handcrafted bikes from Portland, OR (of course) are beautiful examples of classic design and everything I’d want out of a bike. Vanilla’s attention to detail and reverence for classic styling is breathtaking. So yeah, I’m really excited at this point.
Then I checked out the ordering page. THE WAIT FOR ONE IS FIVE YEARS. 5. Of course. And of course, any time you have to wait that long for something you can go ahead and multiply the number of years times 2000 and you’ll probably get close to the price (but actually, probably nowhere near it). Also, if they don’t list the price on the site, you can’t afford it. So that’s settled, I’ll never own, see, or be within a mile of a Vanilla Bicycle, but fortunately they’ve provided us with some beautiful photos of the bikes shot with a Canon 5D so we can dream a little. If they sold posters of these I’d buy all of them. The site is a bit confusing but just click around and you’ll start finding some galleries of various custom jobs they’ve done: Vanilla Bicycles Site
There’s also a short documentary on them here.
P.S. Is anyone else getting all nostalgic lately for the original 5D? It might be the first classic DSLR. I need to get one. In 25 years indie kids will probably be hanging out backstage at shows talking about their Canon 5D MK1 and how it “just has that feel that you can’t get with holographic, man…” Then you can start picking up Hasselblads cheap on eBay and the cycle begins anew.
nice!!!!! :O
I want that bike seat three pictures down hanging on my wall.
Someday, I will put my 30D in a glass box on a rotating crystal plate.
5 years are to much!
Diamant Bike made really nice classical Bikes series check them out:
http://www.diamantrad.com/modelle/125-jahre/pacer-retro-125.html
Scott, you live in San Fran. A Dutch bike would kill you. There are lots of options though for putting together something with a similar aesthetic and craftsmanship, but without the weight and stupid gearing.
Plus, you can get into them without spending insane money. For example, I built this for a girl here in town for about $2000 CDN: http://bit.ly/cthstD It’d be even cheaper on your side of the border.
What are your opinion on Electra bikes? I know their cruisers are just about everywhere, and personally I am kind of sick of seeing cruisers everywhere. But Electra’s Amsterdam series are gorgeous. They are still a causal bike designed for leisure, but I still cannot get over their wonderful design, even if it’s pretty artificial.
I broke down and bought an Amsterdam Royal 8i, and I have to say I am very pleased, and after almost a year of riding it, I still feel like a king riding on something so pretty.
http://www.chill-out.org/cruiser/contents/media/192035.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PcxEYt0F6hk/R6ngQqSAsLI/AAAAAAAAAsA/zSA0EFL3xYY/s400/electra%2Bamsterdam.jpg
What are your opinion on Electra bikes? I know their cruisers are just about everywhere, and personally I am kind of sick of seeing cruisers everywhere. But Electra’s Amsterdam series are gorgeous. They are still a causal bike designed for leisure, but I still cannot get over their wonderful design, even if it’s pretty artificial.
I broke down and bought an Amsterdam Royal 8i, and I have to say I am very pleased, and after almost a year of riding it, I still feel like a king riding on something so pretty.
http://www.chill-out.org/cruiser/contents/media/192035.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PcxEYt0F6hk/R6ngQqSAsLI/AAAAAAAAAsA/zSA0EFL3xYY/s400/electra%2Bamsterdam.jpg
hot
They seem to be well built, those Vanilla Bikes. A bit overstated in the design department for my taste, though. And the five years waiting period seems a bit silly.
Also check out Bertelli bicycles. These are among the most beautiful bikes I have seen around. Love the simplicity of fixed gear bikes.
http://www.bertellibici.com/
guess my last comment got caught by the spam filter for too many links… check it out nonetheless.
Here’s the same post without the links
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To get the aesthetic you’re looking for, your best bet is to look to the small, custom and boutique frame builders – there is no shortage of these in the US.
Here are some local to the bay area.
Rivendale in Walnut Creek
Jitensha Studio in Berkeley
Rock Lobster in Santa Cruz
Retrotec in Napa
Newly launched(?) Public Bikes in SF (by founder of DWR – assume bieks are built in Asia):
Holy crap how have i not heard of this bike company before?
I must get me one.
i would KILL for that :0
Nice looking bikes. I like my bikes just like my computer equipment, black. I have a Trek Bontrager that’s all black with some red and white accent lines. Mmmm love riding that thing. Of course it is more for long distance rides (like my regular 50 miles) but still nice none-the-less. The best thing was it didn’t cost me more than $1000. 🙂
Linus bikes…. end of story.
http://www.linusbike.com/
thanks everyone for the ideas, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of a lot of these companies.
brian park-
but I live in the Mission! it’s flat here. But I can’t do a fixed gear anyways, last summer here was waaaaay too much.
brian miller-
I used to have one actually, about 10 years ago in Sacramento. I customized it, it looked amazing. But it got stolen from a parking garage.
MP-
thanks so much for those links, I think I’ll be heading to Walnut Creek very soon.
Gorgeous bikes! So I wonder who is buying them if they take forever and a day and they cost so much. They are lovely to look at though.
Oh SNAP. You just posted one of my other internet loves besides your own blog. I never thought you’d ever post bicycles here.
I want a Vanilla so hard. The way list is so LONG though. I may as well learn how to make bicycles for myself, and apply my own design skills.
Great post.
I have been drooling over Vanilla bikes for a little while now… Sacha does amazing work.
@Scott, I wasn’t suggesting you do fixed gear. I wouldn’t suggest that to anyone who wasn’t riding in a velodrome.
Velo Orange does a really nice, cheap mixte frame that’d build up really nicely for that old world aesthetic, but still be light and geared well. http://bit.ly/be69MB
I ran a shop that brought in Dutch/British/Scandinavian bikes for a few years, and for the most part they just ended up being status symbols for “green” businessmen.
That sucks Scott… I have about as much sympathy for bike thieves as I do child molesters.
-Brian
P.S. I apologize about the god awful english I used previously. It was 3AM after all.
Wow my two favorite things just came crashing together. Amazing post. Bishop bikes are amazing as well
http://www.bishopbikes.com/
Hey Scott,
The Electra you had was pretty cool! The Cannondale also kicked. btw, my wife’s bike was made by Steve Rex – you can check his site out, too.
Please check out VANMOOF. It’s a dutch design bike which will or is also shipped to the USA. The company’s goal is to offer a good looking bike for a very affordable price and above all: to make it solid as a rock, so it needs very little maintenance. From what I remember, the company’s goal was also to promote it in cities like New York, because it’s built for the city: everything is as durable as possible. For instance, it has LED lamps built in, without any buttons: they are activated by a chip in the key chain.
http://www.vanmoof.com/
I’m not an employee of that company; I just read an article about the bike and thought it was awesome. I also saw one in Amsterdam here and it looks brilliant. It costs around 400 euros, which is about 540 dollars.
I mean: a lot bikes get trashed here in the Netherlands – mainly by drunk people.
If those Van MOOF bikes didn’t have coasters, they’d be pretty neat. At least throw a little 3speed in there.
you can see all sorts of bikes at the north american handmade bike show ( http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/ ) in austin next year. vanilla, sachs, desalvo, kirk, zanconato…..
the wait list is long for many builders. in the case of vanilla, it’s just sacha doing the fabrication. can’t rush a good thing.
i’m more than thrilled with my vanilla.
I also meant to add Soulcraft: http://www.soulcraftbikes.com/
Beautiful bike!
Oh, I would love to go riding on my bike here in Guayaquil! But with the extreme heat and the awful traffic, I guess that would be a dream!! Anyway, I would love to have one like this!
Thanks for everyone posting these links. I live with a frame builder here in Mountain View and this now gives me tons of inspiration for him to build my frame.
I am starting to think that Hasselblads will get cheaper sooner than in 25 years. The selection of medium format film (and all film in general) is getting thinner and thinner. Fuji is discontinuing all of their 800 speed color film, the film I’ve used the most frequently for about 10 years. Grrrrr…
i laughed outloud when i read your comment about the original 5D. i own both the mk2 and mk1 and really love the color and richness in the mk1 more than the mk2. i actually know photographers who bought the mk2 but sold it after a while because they love their mk1 better. classic DSLR is a phrase i’d never thought i’d ever really see though. lol
p.s. and those bikes are gorgeous. i own an electra euro townie (would’ve gotten an amsterdam but i’m just too short) and i love it. (i’m from sac originally as well) 🙂
while it maybe a nice disigned bike ,it s still hard and uncomfortable to ride:)
It’s not gonna matter anyway, when Republicants get back in power we’ll be in a war with Iran or Korea and you’ll all get drafted anyway , so none of this matters. Eat it all up while ya can. NO HOPE
“Please check out VANMOOF”.
Oh no, please don’t. The frames are a nice gimmick, but the moving parts suck monkey balls.
@Jeroen: Ah, thanks for the warning. Cause I never tested one. Gues I just idealized the image of the bike in my head.
Those bike seats are great and very cool! It is stylish of its great designs.