Posted By Colin on July 28, 2009

I have a confession to make… I have worn very little tweed the past couple months. I have instead been wearing that oh so gauche item of clothing called the t-shirt for it’s been an atypically sunny and warm summer in San Francisco—that is until this past week. The fog we know so well has returned with a gusto and the sun is once again something we remember from photographs.

The grey skies overhead have once again brought on my need for tweed! It’s been a long time coming but we know you want to ride again! The date has yet to be set but be certain that the plans have begun. More information will be forthcoming this week.

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Posted By Rubin on June 6, 2009

A pursuit across the city in 6 parts on the night of Saturday, June 20th 7PM.

Wear comfortable shoes, bring water.

The city spreads out before you. Rushing from point to point, lit by the slow strobe of fluorescent buses and dark streets. Stumbling into situations for a stranger's signature. Fleeing unknown pursuers, breathing hard, admiring the landscape and the multitude of worlds hidden in it. For one night, drop your relations, your work and leisure activities, and all your usual motives for movement and action, and let yourself be drawn by the attractions of the chase and the encounters you find there.

Journey to the End of the Night is a free street game of epic proportion, presented across the city of Oakland. Players will try to make it through a series of checkpoints, while avoiding being caught by chasers, many of whom will be pursuing on bicycles. Those who fall will become chasers themselves, rising to pursue their former friends and allies.

If a nice ride in the park isn't your cup of tea, you may want to take interest in this street game. Nothing beats the rush of being corned in an ally way with 3 cyclist ready to take your beloved flag.

More information at totheendofthenight.com.

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Posted By Colin on June 5, 2009

Not to be outdone by the Sydney counterparts, the fine folks in Canberra, Australia are having their very own Tweed Ride on June 6th.

Canberra Tweed Ride

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Canberra Tweed Ride is a short bicycle cruise of about 15km through the Civic and Inner North areas, with stops at numerous cafes and pubs along the way. Expect a leisurely pace.

Tweed Ride has no agenda except the rejection of modern cycling “style”, to wit: carbon fibre, lycra, goretex and the like. Cyclists are encouraged to dress in their finest vintage garb, if only to prevent the onset of chill from inclement weather. Prizes will be awarded for best outfit, bike and facial hair.

The tour meets at the Gorman House Markets near the coffee van at 11.30am for departure at 12 noon. A map of the route is available on Bikely.

Cheerio!

…Hello dapper folks of Melbourne we’re waiting on you! Oh and of course I’m sure there are folks in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Darwin, and all parts of Australia that look dashing on two wheels.

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Posted By Colin on May 22, 2009

photo by puck.ananta

Nothing tickles me more than a man or woman with a flair for Do-It-Yourself ingenuity! Especially when this cleverness pertains to transforming the everyday bicycle into something extraordinary! This could be some as simple and practical as an umbrella attachment or more inventive…

Crafty Tweed Cyclery

On our last SF Tweed Ride, the dashing and talented Lanky Joe transformed his two wheeled steed into the epitome of Tweed Cycling by elegantly wrapping his bars and seat in tweed fabric. The tweed was crafted from an actual tweed jacket and in a jolt of creative genius he used the jacket pockets as miniature panniers. Then with the remaining he crafted matching fingerless gloves.

Obviously with this much fine workmanship Lanky Joe won hands down the contest for Most Stylish Pairing of Habiliment & Steed!

Amazing DIY Bicycle Accessorizing

Bicycle Garden Box, crafted by FriendOfHumanity

One of the most genius bicycle adaptions I have have laid my eyes on in ages is the Bicycle Window Box. What could be more refreshing then pedaling along with your very own green garden on your handlebars. Grow strawberries for a refreshing treat or grow fresh herbs to make every ride minty fresh. And it really is perfect for hosting your own a mobile garden party!

You can build your very own mobile garden by following the Bicycle Window Box guide on the Instructables site.

There are more numerous amazing guides to ingenious bicycle adaptions on the Bikes section of Instructables. From a turn signal cycling jacket to how to build a bamboo bicycle to building your own fancy flower pattern twisted spoke wheels.

The SF Tweed Bicycle Ingenuity Contest

In celebration of the upcoming Maker Faire, we are pleased to announce the first SF Tweed online contest. For this contest we implore all you clever tweed cyclists to create a either a crafty bicycle adornment or amazing bicycle accessory akin to the examples shown above.

The Rules:

• Your creation must be specifically bicycle related
• Your creation must be appropriately tweedy/vintage/dapper (for ideas see below)
• Your creation must have been made by you
• Your creation can be something made specifically for this contest or can be something made recently (however it must have been built no earlier than April of this year)
• Contestant must submit photos of themselves with their Creation to dapper (at) sftweed (dot) com
• Contestant must also create a How To Build guide. This How To can either appear on Instructables.com or as a video on Vimeo/YouTube/etc.
• Contest is open to anyone in the world (however, international winners must pay for shipping & handling for any prizes won)
• Entrees must be submitted no later than Thursday June 25th 11:59pm
• Entrees will be judged on ingenuity, craftmanship, and the presentation of the how to guide.

Examples of Tweedy Ingenuity

Feel free to use any of the following ideas or run with your own bit of cleverness

• Tweed Wheel Covers
• Bicycle Bag made from a Tweed Jacket
• Tea Cup & Saucer Bicycle Holder (and teapot holder?)
• Portable Fancy Wooden Mini Bar (cabinets and fold out bar top?)
• Traveling Seamstress Stand (for making knickers on the fly)
• Side By Side Tandem Bike (way more proper then staring at your tandem partner’s behind)

The Grand Prize!

Minnehaha Canvas Shoulder Bag

A fabulous Canvas Shoulder Bag donated graciously by the Minnehaha Bag Co..

A simple canvas shoulder bag for commuting, running errands or as a basic briefcase. Cotton fabric is breathable for better comfort than synthetic messenger bags. The bag holds 15 liters worth of belongings with two small hanging inner pockets and key clip. It is built sturdy with leather reinforcements, a buckle system, and a lightly padded back and bottom to give some support and comfort while keeping a soft overall structure that conforms to the body.

There will also be runners up prizes to be announced at a later date.

International winners must pay for shipping & handling.

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Tags: bicycle, craft, DIY, garden, instructables, maker, maker faire, tweed

Posted By Colin on May 19, 2009

Royal Heraldry of Canada

Our fine Canadian neighbors to the north are breaking out their dapper duds for their very own Edmonton Tweed Ride!

This is admittedly not the first Canadian Tweed Ride — that honor goes to the  First Daffodil Tweed Ride and Picnic in Vancouver, British Columbia; however, it is the first in Alberta. I can only hope this means the Tweed movement is spreading eastward and we shall soon see Tweed appearing in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Labrador and Newfoundland! Then if the dapper is strong we can hope to see Tweed migrate north to the lovely expanses of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut!

Edmonton Tweed Ride

May 24th

Start 6:30pm at the University of Alberta in the “quad“

This will be a social ride with a bit of style. The proper attire for this ride will of course be expected. We will be taking a leisurely ride through the city and will be stopping for mid-ride fortitude and cheer.

There will be Contests for:

• Most dapper chap
• Most dashing dame
• Award for most civilized behavior on the day

For more info visit A Lost Home’s Blog

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Posted By Colin on May 14, 2009

To all the fine people pedaling to work today, I salute you! And to any who missed out on this fine day for lack of a two wheeled steed, it’s not too late for every day is a fine day to ride a bike!

If you need any more convincing to buy a bike I suggest you watch the following charming animation…

Why only 4 shillings a week! I’m nearly tempted to buy a second bicycle for myself!

Hope to see some of you at the SFBC’s Bike to Work Day After Party and Fashion Show
6-10pm, Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell st (at Franklin).
Celebrate the day at SFBC’s Bike Away From Work Party and Fashion Show at Rickshaw stop and party down with fellow cyclists. Plus the parking’s a breeze!

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Posted By Colin on May 12, 2009

We are pleased to announce the first East Bay Tweed Ride — or eastTweed as the snappy eastTweeds are calling it! Our previous Tweed Rides had quite the showing of charming lads and lasses from the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, and we sincerely hope to meet more dapper eastTweeds!

East Bay Tweed Ride, June 4th (photo by Bryan Kiechle)

East Bay Tweed Ride, June 4th

6:30 pm – Sally Forth from Mosswood Park in Oakland

7:00 pm – Meetup with SF Tweed at MacArthur BART

End Point – Trappist, Belgian & Specialty Beer Bar

It of course goes without saying that there will be the most dashing of cyclists. As in past rides, we have more fun and games up our sleeves which shall be announced as we get closer to the date. I am certain that it will be a grand old time!

Whether you live here or there, I sincerely hope you do join us as we explore the wonders of the East Bay — in Tweed!

* During the Greeting and Salutation contests two people will step forward and greet each other like they both now each other but haven’t seen one another for a while. For an example of this I recommend watching this Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sketch from Beyond the Fridge. Both the Greeting and Salutation contests are elimination challenges which means the lesser greeter gets kicked off and a new challenger steps forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The East Bay Tweed Ride is being organized by the lovely and talented eastTweeds: Morley Roarly, Josie Pokiedot, and Nan Eastep, of B.Spoke Tailer. We at SF Tweed are ever grateful that these fine lasses have stepped forward to help make the first East Bay Tweed Ride an adventure to remember!

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Posted By Colin on May 8, 2009

While I do disapprove of the rather uncouth pith helmet, I have to say this Elemental chap can lay down quite a corpulent song. I mean how could one pass up a song about tea?

Cup of Brown Joy

If this music suits your fancy, you should take a spin on over to check out their album Rebel WIthout Applause.

Much thanks to Laughing Squid for bringing this Tea-based music to my attention.

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Posted By Colin on May 8, 2009

Winston's DMZV Tweed Ride, Sept 12th

Due to the overwhelming success of the last Winston’s Tweed Ride, it seems our Windy City brethren are planning another outing! So if you find yourself in Chicago I highly encourage you to jacket up and ride along with this fine wheel-men and wheel-ladies.

Winston’s DMZV Tweed Ride

Chicago, IL. September 12th 2009

Leaving from Bialystok Pub @1pm, we’ll make our way at a genteel, civilizing pace to the 89th Annual German-American Festival in Lincoln Square. And of course we’ll be stopping in some damn fine bars representing British allies during that unpleasantness in the 30s & 40s!

More info on Bicycle Diaries

As this Tweed Ride coincides with the German-American Festival I assume there will be plenty of fine beer and food. Also it goes without saying as proper gentlemen and ladies all should abide by DMZV — Don’t Mention Zee Var!!!

Winston's Tweed Ride, photo by Da' Square Wheelman

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Posted By Colin on May 8, 2009

Those snazzy cycling fashionistas at Vélo Vogue have announced a Bike to Work Photo contest! While we at SF Tweed have a certain bias towards a particular fashion style, Vélo Vogue is more open: they have no shame in casting an eye — or two — on any stylish cyclist.

We at Vélo Vogue are very curious to see what our readers are wearing as they get on their bikes and head to the office, school, wherever you’re going. Each week, we’ll post our favorites. At the end of the month, we’ll ask our readers to take a poll to vote for their favorite cycle fashionista (American Idol style). Our winner will be treated to a défilé down Valencia to a taqueria of his/her choice, where s/he will treated to burrito and beer. Because cycling en vogue is global, this challenge is no way limited to San Franciscans! It simply means that if you’re our winner, you’ll have to travel for that burrito. ;-)

Sound enticing? Then don’t hesitate! Get dressed, hop on your bike and send us your pics at velovogue[at]gmail[dot]com or post them to our Vélo Vogue flickr group!

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