| I like secondhand bikes because I like stories.
I like the idea of an object living alongside or entwined with a life.
I like things to be passed along and cherished.
And I like battlescars, chips and dents (within reason), because they can help illustrate the things I can only otherwise imagine.
I like to know something was used, and presumably loved.
I don’t mind seeing that.
I still obsess with the maintenance of said bikes. Take time and spend huge sums of money to rebuild and ride them.
And I like the idea that my riding of them is only one part of their overall journey. I’m a custodian, and as such I want to treat them with the respect and love I think they deserve as objects of design and also as tools.
Not giving a shit about the condition of the paintwork, or caring if I accidentally add another small ding to the top tube, is not the same as not caring about the bike at all. I actively worship these things, both in use and aesthetically as I encounter them. I don’t know a way to show them any more respect than that. I just quite like scuffed-up bikes and bike parts, as long as they’re still structurally sound and mechanically well-maintained.
My general preference is to leave paint as I’ve found it.
Although a bike Steve Potts recently just modified for me is getting a full fancy repaint at D&D.
So I guess you just go where the bike dictates.
On Jun 3, 2024, at 1:56 PM, John Rinker <jwrin...@gmail.com> wrote:
Excellent article Erl; thanks for sharing! Leave it to the Japanese to elevate imperfection and entropy to an art form.
And Bill's characterization of beausage is spot on but, not for everyone.
Cheers, John
On Monday, June 3, 2024 at 12:14:11 PM UTC-7 WETH wrote:
This discussion reminded me of an article on the Japanese concept of "wabi sabi": "But the quintessential artistic application of wabi sabi is kintsugi, a Japanese craft for repairing broken pottery. Rather than trying to hide the fractures and make the pottery look as good as new, kintsugi artisans use a tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum to accentuate the cracks and repairs. (Kintsugi literally translates to “golden joinery.”) Sometimes they even will take pieces from other broken ceramics and combine them to form a new aesthetic. By making these imperfections conspicuous, kintsugi celebrates the history of the piece while creating something wholly individual. The damage is not only heightened to artistic beauty, but it can never be replicated as no ceramic will break in the same manner as another. This makes it more valuable in the eyes of the owner." https://awaken.com/2022/09/escape-the-perfectionist-trap-with-the-japanese-philosophy-of-wabi-sabi/ Erl Houston
Kensington, MD
On Monday, June 3, 2024 at 2:45:17 PM UTC-4 Johnny Alien wrote:
I agree with Bill. There is a large difference between beausage and abuse.
On Monday, June 3, 2024 at 1:48:14 PM UTC-4 Bill Lindsay wrote:
The last several Rivendell Bicycle Works Owners Bunch posters have agreed with one another that beausage means lazy and neglectful usage of one's bicycle.
That's a terrible misrepresentation of the meaning of beausage, in my humble opinion. Useful objects are USELESS if they don't get used. The USE is what makes them worth their own existence. Beausage is the combination of two words: BEAUTY and USAGE. Beausage means that the object looks like it has been used. That's all. The idea is that a useful object that looks like it has been used is more beautiful than a similar useful object that looks like it hasn't been used. Lazily neglecting ones bicycle is not beausage. "Rat bike aesthetic" is not beausage. Parking a bike outdoors for months, not riding and letting it rust is not beausage.
If you've got the time and energy to disguise your used bike as an unused bike, and think that's beautiful, that's cool. You do you. Those of us who keep our bikes mechanically and functionally perfecto, and don't mind that they look like they are actually ridden; we are not bike abusers. There's room for both approaches in this little niche of the cycling world. Some of us capture both approaches in a single stable. (This guy). Both are valid.
Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA
On Monday, June 3, 2024 at 10:15:47 AM UTC-7 george schick wrote:
Yes, indeed! Sometime last year on a blog about polishing Paul brake parts Laing posted this comment: "...To me, patina is just another word for lazy and not maintained. Beausage is another word for abused. Rusted is not "original"..." I couldn't agree more.
On Monday, June 3, 2024 at 11:48:29 AM UTC-5 John Dewey wrote:
Exactly 👍 Yeah this has always been a weird bit of cognitive dissonance for me when it comes to Riv — on the one hand, extolling the virtues of Joe Bell paint jobs, fancy lugs, and other details. On the other, the whole “beausage” schtick, and an almost cavalier attitude about touch-up paint, dings, etc. I think the rat bike aesthetic works for a brand like Surly, which has always leaned into a punk/street attitude, but with Riv it just seems a bit off. My sense is that as a designer GP is kind of restless, always looking ahead to new concepts and projects, and isn’t really interested in dwelling on legacy products. Admirable in its way, but you’re on your own when it comes to color matching. Even the naming is cryptic — good luck sourcing Sergio Green or Ana Purple. Doesn’t seem like a big ask to also supply the paint code.
Jay Lonner Bellingham, WA
Sent from my Atari 400 Interesting, this interaction between Riv and Testors. I'm sure a color match could have been prepared especially for every Riv bike ever made...except ...that first batch of orange metal flake Rams. Since it was a two pass base coat/clear coat (which is the way ever automobile is painted nowadays), it would take two bottles of touch up paint to repair scratches. And it would be very difficult to apply them in such a way that they pretty much blend with the rest of the bike's paint. At least one poster on this blog some time ago had one of these Ram's that needed a repair of some sort. He took it to a shop where they repaired the frame damage then stripped down all the paint and repainted it in the original base/clear coat colors that Jim references from House of Kolor. But that must have cost a fortune. A single can of those paints, which only come in sizable containers - quarts, at least - which must be mixed with a reducer and then sprayed. Most painters would be reluctant to do this because they'd have to pay a lot just to get the paints and then they'd be stuck with a lot of leftovers.
On Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 9:38:15 PM UTC-5 John Dewey wrote:
Over the years, Rivendell paint schemes come and go (came and went) seemingly 'who-knows-whoever-whenever' saw fit. Metallics, metal flakes, basic solid 'enamels' (for want of a better word). Ever changing. I can't imagine anyone in Walnut Creek grabbing a small bottle of carefully inventoried touch-up off the shelf, packing it and shipping to you. Way too many colors have come and gone. And the work required to inventory, preserve, keep track of it all. Yikes.
Turning the clock back, I picked up a call from GP (late 90s...early 2000s) while working in my office at Testors, the hobby paint company. We had long conversations, lots of emails passed between Testors and Riv with the intent of formulating touch-up paint for RBW (our) bikes. We could have, after all, matched any color anyone could possibly have wished for / conceived of. We were the best. Had plenty of beautiful little glass bottles, caps that insured paint good for decades when properly sealed up, and a willingness to get it done. As I recall now, years later, I sent way too many samples to count.
It could have worked and in my position as the 'Testors guy'—and someone who still drinks the Rivendell 'Kool-Aid'—the program could have been successful.
Alas, it didn't happen—and I never found out why.
Never fear...you can, of course, wander into any hobby shop (assuming you still have one nearby—good luck with that) and apply your own paint-matching skills to get pretty damn close to any color. It's actually an interesting exercise...fully satisfying when you're successful.
That is, for the couple dozen of us who really care that much.
So, good luck y'all 🙃🚴
Bill
Would the Rambouillets being built in Japan have anything to do with the shade of orange??? The Waterford colors seem to be the colors they used for the Rivendell models they made.
John Hawrylak Woodstown NJ
On Friday, May 31, 2024 at 4:54:44 PM UTC-4 Bill Lindsay wrote:
Orange Sam Hillbornes and Orange Rambouillets are both "sparkly metallic Orange" in color FAMILY. They are not identical. The multi-coated treatment of the Orange Rambouillets have been described as a "thousand dollar paint job". Whether a scratch on an Orange Rambouillet could be made slightly less ugly with the $50 Hilborne Orange touchup from Waterford, that's up to the beholder.
Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA
On Friday, May 31, 2024 at 1:35:04 PM UTC-7 maxcr wrote:
Does anyone know if the Sam Hilborne Orange is the same as Rambouillet orange?Max
On Friday, May 10, 2024 at 10:21:02 PM UTC-4 Roy Summer wrote:
Sometimes you can find nail polish that will match or come very close. Clear polish will help prevent rust if you can’t find a color match.
I need Pea Sage Green. Got a "beusage" spot on my Romulus.
FWIW, I was checking the Gunnar/Waterford site to see if they had my paint color (I ordered a bottle when I first heard they were shutting down, but it broke during a move) and noticed they added some Riv colors:
Rivendell Head Tube Ivory Rivendell Homer Hilsen Blue Rivendell Pearly Arctic Blue Rivendell Sam Hilborne Orange
I think the touch-up paint is now shipped in plastic bottles instead of glass like I received.
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