Comments on: Henry’s Yankee Transportfiets

By: Eurico

Eurico — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:44:11 +0000

Henry,
have a great time in Japan. In the meantime I look forward to see the test results.
Best.

By: henry

henry — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:05:53 +0000

Hi Eurico,
Yes, I’ve been talking to Tabor and we have a number of their seats to test. They get fitted to various bikes for my employees and others to try out. The quality is very nice though the designs are quite unusual. I’ll have some feedback in a month or so after I return from my travels in Japan.

By: Eurico

Eurico — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:19:15 +0000

wow!
Greeting from the warm weather of Portugal. Henry, I can see that you set of bikes has considerably increased since last August. Have you now received the Portuguese seats?

By: henry

henry — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:04:54 +0000

Hoi David,
Cool. Thanks for the promotion!

By: David

David — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:51:58 +0000

Hi Henry,

Just noted your hoodie is featured on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIiVfHj2pmk

Cheers,
David

By: henry

henry — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:39:56 +0000

Frits, Thanks for the added info. Even if both Dedemsvaart and Nieuwleusen are within 20km of Hoogeveen I was under the impression that Union was actually from Hoogeveen. Unfortunately it is past history; for those not familiar with these things Union (which was a fine make but never really one of the best) was taken over by DBG, a large producer of really cheap bikes for mass-merchants such as Halfords. The Union brand is now used on rather nasty, department store quality bikes.

By: Frits

Frits — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:31:31 +0000

Just a bit of nitpicking: Union was in Dedemsvaart, later Nieuwleusen, on the old road from Zwolle to Emmen. A white building on the North side of the road. Past history.
The site http://www.oudefiets.nl has a story about the brand Yankee Style, not connected to Yankee at all but made in Den Bosch. Not in English regrettably as it is one of those memorable histories.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:00:28 +0000

I don’t know, I sometimes get to feel like, in America, disposability is looked on as a value – not that I think it is – but I feel like some look at disposable items thrown away and re-purchased as a great solution (this probably comes from companies making such products for their own sales quotas and then running campaigns to convince people it’s a great idea). Essentially, people think something like “isn’t it great that I can buy a bike at Walmart for $100!”

It’s also accurate to say that the values of durability and timelessness have diminished, but I feel like, at least in some cases, disposability is also held up as a good thing.

By: henry

henry — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:21:49 +0000

Dave, It’d be more accurate to say that the values of durability and timelessness are diminishing in importance since disposability isn’t much of a value in itself.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:18:35 +0000

It’s truly a shame that disposability has become such a value here… it seems to me there’s something both of the feeling of accomplishment and of tradition and history in using something that has been around for generations, has had minor alterations to keep it going, and is now yours. That’s why I was so excited to get the 1952 Raleigh (I just had the BB spindle break on me, the left crank just fell off), and why I’ll be happy to find a new spindle and keep riding it. Not to mention then we’re not just tossing crap in the landfill at 3/4 the rate we’re mass-producing it.

I’m about 90% sure I found a spindle that will work (it’s on its way here from England), but thought I’d ask you about it just in case