indefatigablog

I met Bradley Bergey in Seattle where we worked together for two years at the Children’s Institute for Learning Differences on Mercer Island.

Around the same time, we each moved from Seattle to different parts of the world : I moved to Alaska and he moved to Mexico City. Over the next 4-5 years, we visited each other regular and I had the good fortune of watching him evolve from a naturally gifted painter into a focused and even more talented artist.

To boot, he’s an amazing educator, the kind of teacher I’m jealous his students get to have. World-traveled, intuitive, imaginative, playful and wise beyond his years - he’s a bona fide compliment to the practice.

Recently, Bergey was featured in Art and Letter, a monthly webzine focused on Architecture, Art and Design.

You can read the interview in its entirety here, if you likey.

He’s our pal and we’re very proud of him : )

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from wikipedia :

The first patent for a compact epicyclic hub gear was granted in 1895. This was a 2-speed but was not commercially successful. In 1896 William Reilly of Salford, England patented a broadly similar 2-speed hub which went into production in 1898 as ‘The Hub’. It was a great success, remaining in production for a decade. It rapidly established the practicality of compact epicylic hub gears.

By 1902 Reilly had designed a 3-speed hub gear. He parted company with the manufacturer of ‘The Hub’ but had signed away to them the intellectual rights to his future gear designs. To circumvent this problem, the patents for Reilly’s 3-speed were obtained in the name of his colleague, James Archer. Meanwhile, well-known English journalist and inventor Henry Sturmey had also invented a 3-speed hub. In 1903 Frank Bowden, head of the Raleigh Cycle Company, formed The Three-Speed Gear Syndicate, having obtained the rights to both the Reilly/Archer and Sturmey 3-speeds. Reilly’s hub went into production as the first Sturmey Archer 3-speed.[5]

In 1902 Mikael Pedersen (who also produced the Dursley Pedersen bicycle) patented a 3-speed hub gear and this was produced in 1903. This was said to be based on the “counter shaft” principle but was arguably an unusual epicylic gear, in which a second sun was used in place of an annulus.

By 1909 there were 14 different 3-speed hub gears on the British market.

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Like a lot of people around here, my bicycle is my primary mode of transportation to and from work. Presently, I ride a Trek 7000 that’s been modified over the past ten years. All in all it’s an ok bike - obviously, I’ve had it for ten years and for two of them it sat outside, stationary, under the deck of our house in Juneau, AK with the rain falling on it. Thing is, it’s too small for me. I knew this when I bought it. I knew this and I bought it anyway. I bought it when I was living in Seattle for around $400 because I couldn’t afford anything else and it was the biggest bike in the shop I was in. Oh, funny life.

Lately, the size has really been getting to me. I’m even bigger now than I was then, both heavier and taller and since I bought it my feet have grown by almost 3 sizes! It was my first aluminum frame, too, so it’s rather stiff and unforgiving on the rough roads around here.

The other day, my pal Joe and I started talking about what’s next for me. Joe is as seasoned a rider as I’ve ever known and I take his advice seriously. Of all the bike dudes/shops in town, the only one he trusts is Jim from Hiawatha Cyclery. If Joe says Jim’s the man then Jim IS the man.

So, Joe and I [and Meta] went over to meet Jim and spent some time talking to him about what I’m looking for, my budget and what he recommends.

Welp, it’s an exciting time for me because this week Jim begins building my dream commuter, grocery-getting, bar-hopping, Swiss-Army-of-all-bikes [I call it the Geeksicle] on a black, 22″ Surly Karate Monkey frame. This machine will have disc brakes, internal 8-speed hub, front-hub-generator, Ree-Lites in the rear along with panniers, stainless-steel fenders, cork grips, Brooks saddle and a basket on the front for carrying all sorts of urban flotsam and jetsam.

A good thing about the Karate Monkey is the frame is designed for rolling 29″-ers, discs and has excellent clearance, which means it can be set up an infinite number of ways. Plus, Surly is local, a subsidiary of Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) and spending money locally is something I do whenever I can. Surly makes steel frames that are as functional as they are affordable.

The frame will be in mid-week and Jim said he’ll start building the wheels right away. This time next week I may even be able to post some pics.

Stay tuned…

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• Flash
• | QuickTime
• | iPod

Pollee and I recently returned from our old neighborhood in Juneau, Alaska for our pals’ [Jorden and Bret] wedding.

Juneau saw some of its finest weather that week and a pod of humpbacks graced us with their presence all weekend.

This is the best clip of them all - as a few of us stood on the shore at Adlersheim these beauties hung out in the bay at the closest range many of us have ever witnessed - the end of the clip shows Topaz standing within mere feet as they swim by.

Thanks, Ryan, for having your digi with you!

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