New Veedub in la Familia

We have welcomed a new member in la Familia, a stratos silver T5!
It was out with the Beemer and in with another VW, so it can keep the old faithful bug some company.

Persol 714

the king of cool wearing his Persol 714

Born in Turin 1917, Giuseppe Ratti, photographer and owner of Berry Opticians, began a journey destined to lead to international success. It was in a small courtyard in Via Caboto that he began to make technically advanced glasses, designed to satisfy the demands of pilots and sports divers who required comfort, protection and optimum vision.

Thus Protector glasses were produced, using round smoked lenses with rubber edges and attached to the head by means of elastic bands. Soon they were adopted by the Armed Forces and by pilots in the Italian Military Aviation.

The innovation and quality made the Protector glasses the choice for several air forces around the world.

In the 1920’s the famous yellow-brown lens that is mounted on all Persol glasses was created using neutral crystal made from the purest silica.

Model 649, built for tram drivers who needed large glasses to protect their eyes became very successful because of its novelty design. The popularity of this frame made it into the film industry. Actor Marcello Mastroianni, in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita, almost permanently wore Persol’s.

1962 was the year when the USA market began to identify Persol. NASA was already wearing protective goggles supplied by Persol.

 

Famous icon Steve McQueen wore Persol 714 is his film The Thomas Crown Affair which gave MacQueen and his sunglasses a legendary status.

Blue Velvet

Two scenes from the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet, also featuring a great completely over the top performance of the song In Dreams (originally sung by Roy Orbison).

Mad negative camber

Beam me up Scotty

Noticed this fleebay auction (link) today for a Spaceliner bicycle, alledgedly signed by Captain Kirk and some other actors from the original Star Trek series, or so the seller says at least.
Accordingly it was made during the filming of the original series, not that it matters anyhow, i thought at least it would have been used in the series, with Spock riding it on some distant planet, now THAT would've been cool!
Now it's just lame sales talk...
I especially laughed about the flashlight mounted on the handlebar, beam me up Scotty! 

Banden vol met wind

This song gets into my head a lot when i ride my bicycle, it's Dutch but sang with such an accent i can't even understand most lyrics, still i like it a lot... and yes it's about cycling like you might have guessed already!

Tires filled with wind

Yeah! Finally spring has really begun here in Holland.
And that means fill up those tires and ride the wind!

These are the bicycles we ride, an original Dutch vintage Gouden Leeuw transporter bike (very old, but i don't know exactly how old) and an all American Sears Spaceliner from 1963.
The transporter bike was originally used to carry 2 iron milk cans of 20 to 40 liters, the imprints still show on the wooden board, must have been heavy riding it when they were filled up with milk!
Without anything on it, the ride is remarkably light though, actually it rides much more supple that most modern bikes.
One very nice feature is the original big milkman bell, that has a great 'ding dong' sound.

The Spaceliner i find so nice looking because of her styling features that are typical for one of the greatest eras in American design, complete with the large tailfin, you would almost think you are riding a 60's Chevy.

Japanese inkworks

Some beautiful traditional Japanese backpieces.