When I saw this blue fintail/flossen Mercedes go down the street past me, it was too late to shoot it. But then it did a U turn and parked in front of the Center For Appropriate Transport (“CAT”), behind another veteran. How appropriate, for CC lovers. But just what is CAT, actually? Did you have to ask? This is Eugene, after all.
It has to do with what this guy is getting out of the trunk of his old Benz: a bicycle. CAT is also know as the Eugene Bicycle Works and Human Powered Machines. It’s the place you go to when you need a part for that vintage frame. Or need to rent work space in a well-stocked bike repair facility. Or need to have any type of human-powered vehicle designed and/or built. Or become a bicycle mechanic by taking their apprentice program. Or anything else to do with human powered ground transportation.
When I had kids at home and rode my bike a lot more (before the dog showed up), CAT was a not-infrequent destination. My older son had a proclivity for leaving his bike at high school at night, which guaranteed that it would be gone in the morning. Find another vintage 10 speed in the classified ads (those days are long gone, on both accounts), and fix it up with parts from my own cache and from CAT. I can feel my hands rummaging though their bins of free-wheel clusters, brake levers, derailleurs; you name it, they had it. For cheap, back then. Not so much so, now.
But it’s still the place to go, if just to look at their collection of bikes and soak up the atmosphere. Talking about it is making me miss it. And more bicycle seat time. Our tandem hasn’t been used in a couple of years, and my vintage Japanese former 10-speed-now-18-speed is used for quick trip downtown and the occasional workout, but we’ve become walkers, along with the dog.
But there’s compensations to walking: I get to see scenes like this all the time and I don’t have to hop off my bike to shoot them.
And I just remembered that last night I stumbled into this neat old documentary of the history of the bicycle made in 1915! They probably had no trouble finding all of these vintage machines, including the oldest one.
The CAT serves the same purpose as the Fort Collins Bike Co-op – a place I’ve shopped at many times over the years.
My interest is Schwinn “lightweights” and the mission is usually to find cables, shifters and indicator chains for Sturmey-Archer three speeds. Also I’ve picked up saddles, saddle bags, pedal cages and Pletscher racks.
The beer bottle opener I use is a length of a Schwinn frame right chain stay and dropout, expertly cut by FCBC to provide good leverage and ease of use for the intended purpose.
As this picture drives home, “appropriate transport” is all about who gets to define “appropriate”. A Chevy pickup, an old Benz and a bike can all be appropriate under the right circumstances or preferences. I say more power to each of those modes of transport and to those who use them.
And wow, how long since I have seen an early version of that generation of Chevy pickup that is so very clean and rust-free.
Yes, rust was a horrible problem on these Chevrolet pickups for a long time. It’s so bad somebody in Minnesota is combining the best of both worlds with this wrap.
This is hilarious – I have not seen one like this around here. It is funny the tricks this picture plays on the brains of those of us above a certain age.
We have a similar setup here at the Jersey shore. Second Life Bikes in Asbury Park has the same vibe. I was able to use their facilities to true the front rim on my 1953 Firestone Pilot and find some missing parts on the cheap. All they ask is that you give a little time to help someone else and place a few bucks in the register.
In our town, we have the “Bike Church”. It shares property with the anarchist coffee collective.
Japanese 10-speed eh? What sort?
The bike I was hit on was a 1982-vintage “sport touring” Maruishi that started life as a 12-speed. It was a great bike, actually-heavy, but the “sport touring” geometry was basically that of a modern cyclocross bike, and the Suntour bits were incredibly durable. It took a Buick Rainier running a red light at 40 miles per hour to destroy that thing (and very nearly me). I put thousands of kilometers on that bike, and I still miss it sometimes even though the bike I built to replace it is fantastic and simply better in every way.
I can imagine the crew that would congregate at CAT, and it would probably be kinda fun.
I don’t know the actual maker, because I got it at REI (back in about 1981) and it’s labeled as their house brand, Novarra. But it’s a very tall frame which suits me.
The original 10 speed gearing made no sense, as the two forward chain wheels were very close in ratios. That was designed for splitting gears, but that’s something for racers, not recreational use. After I moved to Eugene, I discovered CAT and found some appropriate chain wheels, including a granny super low one for a third range, since then I often had a kid on board or in a trailer bike. And I put on a six-speed cassette on the back, and a newer derailleur. Much better.
But now I am thinking of putting a modern corncob on the back, and just having a single chainwheel in front. I rode a friend’s bike set up like that, and I really liked it. I still don’t have indexed shifting!
This is fanning the flames of my latest desire upon the return of warm weather – getting out my old bike and start riding it to work. There is a bike / walking trail from quite near my house to the back door of where I work. About three miles and a 30′ change in elevation.
As I need to replace the old tires on my bike, this is helping prod me along to actually doing this.
Of the transport, that old Chevrolet pickup speaks to me louder than does the Mercedes, but it isn’t being very quiet. A nice combination of vehicles, likely able to cover any need one can encounter.
Sounds like a cool place! Recycled Cycles in Seattle has a similar vibe. A fun place to feed my addiction to old 10-speeds and cruiser bikes. That old Benz looks like the perfect biker’s car: room in the trunk for your bike (no trunk rack required) and room inside for all of your friends who don’t own cars.
Burlington, VT’s version is called the Old Spokes Home. And most of our squarebody GM trucks rusted out ages ago, including my dad’s ’79 that had its’ second repaint and major rust-repair session just before it was sold in 1986. Those trucks could rust like it was an Olympic sport.
I think the one in the pic is a 1980 from what I can make out of the grille, which makes it a fine specimen of the era of a la carte options with its’ high-spec side moldings (but not two-tone paint, although maybe once..) and tailgate applique with low-series grille surround rather than the one-year-only square headlights.
Bike Co-Ops and recycling stores are essential to cheap riding. The Community Cycling Center, City Bikes and the Washington County BTC store were staples when I lived in the Portland OR suburbs. My son also makes good use of the Co-Op in Corvallis as well as the OSU bike shop. Our stuff isn’t as old but the Gear Fix in Bend has been a useful source of cheap parts for projects and repairs.
Right now I need to find a mislaid box in the garage so I can get the tandem going again.