Edison may not be as impressive as modern day bicycle tricksters like Danny MacAskill but he’s way ahead of his time! Not to mention, Edison certainly has some impressive video editing skills.
The spirit of tweed is spreading! The fine dapper folks of The Chainlink in the Windy City are hosting their own Winston’s Tweed Ride Saturday May 2nd at 1pm!
The 2nd of May 2009 marks the 80th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s invention of his exquisitely dry martini: copious amounts of gin poured over crushed ice while he observed the vermouth from across the room. The route, designed by the Right Honorable Lee Diamond, is 10 civilized miles meandering past (and into) some of The Windy City’s most infamous (and still open) speakeasies.
The Winston Tweed Ride will leave from Jake’s Pub, 2932 N. Clark, Chicago, at 1pm on Saturday, May 2nd.
Like our first SF Tweed Ride, the Chicago Winston’s Tweed Ride will host contests for: Most Dapper Chap, Most Snappy Lass, Most Stylish Noble Steed, Most Inspired Interpretation of Tweediness, and Best Mustache (open to both lads and inventive lasses).
The garment is the result of a year’s work with Savile Row tailor Timothy Everest, and is designed to be at home “on the bike and in the boardroom”.
Bike-friendly features include the front flaps of the jacket, which turn back and button under the pocket so they don’t flap when riding and, along with the underside of the collar and sleeves, are pink for visibility.
For additional reach on the bike the jacket has a stretchy ‘action back’ and the cuffs turn down, making the sleeves longer.
Of course, as we all know, you don’t have to be rich to dress in style. One can cut quite a stunning tweed look without hemorrhaging your wallet.
If you are in the market for tweed I recommend venturing into the Mission — specifically Community Thrift, Thrift Town, and Mission Thrift. If you don’t find exactly what you need there then head up the wiggle into the Haight: Held Over should have exactly what you need as they have an entire rack of fine Harris Tweed! There are of course other fine vintage shops on the Haight including Decades of Fashion and La Rosa.
For those of the DIY persuasion there is tons of potential in reconstructing your own tweed cycling fashion! Please let us know about your ventures into DIY tweed fashion as we’d love to showcase our dashing tweed brothers and sisters on SF Tweed!
Get ready to toss your tweed caps in the air because SF Tweed Rides again!
April 30th Thursday Tweed Ride II
6:30pm — Gather at Union Square 7:00pm — Join with East Bay Tweed at Powell St. Station* Ending — The Majestic Tosca Cafe!
Once again, we fine bastions of tweed bicivility will gather to show the city how to really ride in style! Fortunately, Spring is upon us, and the night has begun to be pushed back by the day. As such, the sun shall still grace our ride, giving all passersby a chance to bask in our grand tweediness!
Our last ride was a joyful time with games, contests, and of course the sharpest dressed company a cyclist could ask for. What does this ride have in store your ask:
Will there be more jolly games? …But of course!
Will there be wonderful contests? …I’m glad you asked — contest details will be announced later. Stay tuned through our fair web site’s RSS feed, our Jaunty Mailer, or our twitter @sftweed
Will there be dapper chaps and smashing ladies? …You have to ask? Just look photos of all the dashing cyclists from the last tweed ride.
UPDATES!
Corpus Callosum, post-industrial-folk-noir
The route has been settled! We will be enjoying a fine ride around the city following the Embarcadero towards the Fisherman’s Wharf and then winding back to the majestic Tosca Cafe, with a secret location halftime performance by the fabulous musical stylings of Corpus Callosum!
Contests
Once again we will have contests! Along with the two old favorites Most Dapper Chap and Most Snappy Lass we have two fresh new categories:
Most Dashing Neckwear — open to both men and women of course; not open to winners of either of the above contests
Most Stylish Pairing of Habiliment & Steed — to properly win this contest you and your two wheels must work together to create a more fashionable (or strange) whole.
We also have a lovely new SF Tweed Ride flyer which I will be passing out at Critical Mass this evening. If any people would care to help pass out flyers please let me know. It’s fun and a great way to meet people!
SF Tweed Ride, April 30th
Sign Up For The New Jaunty Mailer!
Be sure to sign up for the Jaunty Mailer to stay abreast of future Tweed Rides and all things Tweedy!
* The earliest BART that allows bicycles from southern East Bay arrives at Powell St. Station at 6:39pm and the earliest train from northern East Bay arrives at Powell at 6:57pm. Also note that BART has an unfortunate bias against Penny Farthings.
Since the last SF Tweed Ride was such a smashing success, we have decided to not only plan another ride but start one of these new fangled… I think they call them Tube-Logs? Anyway, SF Tweed’s main goal will be to help spread all that is Tweed!
The SF Tweed Tube-Log will also promote Tweed Cycling events around the world and will also promote more pedestrian Tweedy events right here in the San Francisco Bay Area — such as the fabulous Prim Queer Tea. We have a number of guest writers lined up to share their expertise on:
Vintage cycloculture
Tips on proper tweed habiliments for both lads and lasses
Reviews on various tea and biscuit combinations
Showcasing of innovative tweedy bicycle contraptions (Any inventors out there with a design for a bicycle tea cup holder?)
Exposé on the ne’er-do-well tweedpunk movement
And so much more!
And of course, we be announcing the next eagerly anticipated SF Tweed Ride on this very site!
More information on the next SF Tweed Ride will be forthcoming within the next few days so follow SF Tweed via your RSS feed reader or follow us on twitter @sftweed!
