Je te presente Leuze

I didn't think it was going to happen-

I'd been to every bike shop in town that sells used bikes (les velos d'occasion), and it was coming down to a choice between one overpriced bike that I didn't like very much and another overpriced bike I didn't like very much. There were some encounters with a few remarkably unsympathetic mechanics and shop clerks along the way. My stock in the French was dropping rapidly.

Then by chance I returned to Bic'loun, the shop I'd first dropped into and test road the dreamy and affordably priced road bike that, unfortunately wasn't really what I was looking for. If I lived in paris this would be the shop I hit up most frequently - their prices are fair, the staff is nice, and they have a simply amazing collection of vintage and rare bikes hanging about the shop (pictures to come if I go back with my camera). The basement is packed with sexy vintage road bikes that are priced from 100-400 Euros; it amazes me that so many people ride junkers around town when a place like this exists.

I'd gone back to tell them not to hold the road bike for me, and to see if- somehow- some new stuff had turned up in the basement. It hadn't, but as I was talking to the clerk it got suddenly busy and another mechanic came out to help. Turned out he was the owner. I asked him if he knew anywhere in town I could buy JUST a used frame (everyone seems to sell complete bikes only). 'We've got them' he tells me. 'Ah, oui, j'en ai vu, mais je cherche quelque chose en particulaire - un cadre de randonner' (a touring frame). 'What size of wheels?' He asks, 'what frame size?' 700C and 54 cm I explain. 'Hold on, I might have something downstairs.'

He returns in a few minutes with Leuze, a dreamy metalic blue offered at the equally dreamy price of 100 euros (compared to the 300 being asked for the only other true tourer I've yet seen, or the 450 a new frame would have cost me.



She's got beautiful lug details, is light steel, and is of an unknown make (potentially hand crafted? My French is serving me quite well but fell down when he was explaining this).

She's named after a little town in belgium that is unremarkable save for the fact that it has a pretty name and that I had a hard time finding somewhere to sleep near.

I start building her tomorrow, and plan to put some time in helping Mike's friend Murat (one of the bike squat kids) work on his tall-tandem (yes, you read that right, a tall tandem bike).

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support, I should have my wheels back any day.

In the mean time Ive been ripping around town on a rickety but quite striking borrowed green Motoconfort road bike, and its given me back my mobility. I truly felt chopped at the legs without something to ride - it was a strange experience. The upside was that I got to experience french trains and the Paris Metro, neither of which I would have probably tried if Rex had been in order. The metro really is pretty cool, and the entrances look like they were designed by Geiger or Gaudi (or their bastard lovechild). I mentioned that trafic here is crazy, but the longer I ride in it the more I begin to see it as an ordered chaos. While The air pollution is pretty bad, there seems to be little road rage, or even use of the horn - I've yet to see an accident. In my search for Leuze I've pedalled to pretty much every corner of the city (guess what, it's REALLY BIG) and have come to feel the streets quite well; Vancouver will never really seem the same I don't think. You really have to get your 'dont fuck with me' body language, road positioning, and game face on at times, and its a rush to work your way into a massive roundabout with 6 exiting streets and 200 cars. I think I might just miss it.


(PS, my apologies to Leanne - you were absolutely right!)
(PPS, I've uploaded some new photos and added a link to my flickr site on the right underneath the little map)