Dogma

Many of the images on this site were shot with a 1960’s Pentax lens.  I don’t own a camera made between 1990-2015, because they’ve all broken, and I had to throw them out. Most of us dispose of phones yearly, but until I recently lost my landline, I answered the phone on a rotary phone that was 60 years old. It was made well. It felt good in the hand. It was fun to dial. You could club an intruder with it.  

Analog : Arthur Alexander :: Di2 : Katy Perry

A short sit on the shop thinkin’ stump

 

It’s easy to come across as a luddite when you say things like: cheap hand saws used to be works of art, and now they are garbage. But it’s often true, and there’s no denying it. The problem is, if you admit to that as truth then you also admit to how ugly and disposable most things we interact with are.

There is no reason, except profits, why handsaws today have plastic handles rather than ones made of scrolled wood. And there is no reason to make bikes out of plastic, or make components that have a short shelf life and are non-repairable. No reason, except of course, money.

 

Because, as it turns out, you can make light steel bikes. You can manufacture strong, light and serviceable parts. But it makes more sense, from a money makin’ perspective, to sell and produce stuff that wears out fast or is technologically incompatible with parts made just a year prior, and to sell this as progress. Here’s something to chew on.

The average $3500 dollar road bike today, with no pedals, bottle cages, racks, but with high (hard) gearing, skinny tires, etc, weights about 19 lbs. In the 1950’s, French builders built complete touring bikes, with wide tires, fenders, generator lighting, leather saddles, strong brakes and wide gearing. How much did they weigh? A hair over 19lbs for the best ones. Normal ones were about 25lbs. If you put generator lighting, useful tires, fenders, racks, and a leather saddle on a contemporary $3500 race bike, it would weigh more than 25 lbs. So the question is: what has 70 years of ‘technological advances’ gotten us? Better shifting, better braking, nicer tires. But somewhere along the line we replaced good craftsmanship and solid engineering with marketing, buzz words and short product lifespans.

Analog builds bikes in the old way. We strive to get around the industries’ money makin’ schemes, and replace buzz words with real solutions to real problems. Retro grouches we are not. We like disc brakes, heat hardened steels, tubeless tires. We are not, however, interested in technology that does not benefit the rider.

Bikes should be tools that help you experience the beauty of the world. They should be about connecting with the environment. Analog Cycles eschews suspension, computers, hydraulics, and frivolous electronics for this reason. Filters and screens and batteries are things that we want to leave behind when we get on a bike. There are enough of them in cars, houses and the workplace.

The best tools out there are beautiful, highly functional, durable and serviceable. Enlightened bikes are efficient, beautiful, comfortable and fun to work on. A bicycle brings you closer to experiences, they enrich a locality, they are spiritual partners on your journey through life. Analog Cycles builds enlightened bikes for life’s peregrinations.