Richard Sachs Cycles

[e-RICHIE]

[e-RICHIE]

Some spy shots of Taylor from her second season this season, this one in Belgium. TKW is in Europe for a block of racing that includes two World Cup events. Follow her at https://instagram.com/shrimpmofongojaberdashery

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

There’s this moment I fixate on. The apprentices are scurrying around trying to prove their worth. Showing they’ve paid attention. One of them might be next. One of them will be next. The camera pans back and we see more. The voiceover, courtesy of José Ferrer, continues to speak. The audience gets a wide view.

Someone from among these students will be the next yaro-kabuki. Describing the scene, Ferrer utters the words, “To surpass the master is to repay the debt.” I’m smitten. The film is National Geographic’s Living Treasures of Japan. The airing is 1981. I think. My life changes in a moment. Suddenly, I’m on a new path.

Bicycles mean precious little to me. My industry even less. For as long as I can remember, for longer than I care to remember, it’s a bunch of commodified crap. Every new thing has been distilled down to a SKU. And each comes with a tagline describing how much better your life would be if you just bought it.

I think about where it’s going. I’ve worried about it too. But less as seasons pass. We each get a turn at the plate. How we take the swing is up to us. Since 1981, and certainly since hearing Ferrer’s words while watching that film, I’m less inclined to take a pitch from anyone. I’m not here to hit the ball, but rather the whole game.

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

[e-RICHIE]

[e-RICHIE]

we should each have our own gloss on the incurious,
factory-based, mass-produced methods that replace us.

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

Cycling is a language. It takes practice to be fluent. The ride and the rider speak to each other. But when you don’t use a bicycle, it’s all so easy to forget.

Today I rode for the first time in three months. Three hours. Some of the sounds I heard were familiar. Many of them weren’t. I needed most of it explained.

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

-
Modeling at Soek Seng Art Bike Gallery

Poon Kng Joo 📸

All This By Hand

[rwsaunders]

RS branded bartape, kit, watch, tools, pens, lugs, tubing and cravat and now a branded fire extinguisher…awesome eR!

[Scheisserad61]

Well, after years of resisting getting an apprentice - is THIS is the next generation of RS ?

[e-RICHIE]

Apotheosis. It happens rarely. When it does, I know it. More aptly, I feel it. In all my years standing next to a bench I’ve felt it fewer than ten times. But when a frame goes together superbly well, with all boxes checked (design, construction, craftwork, finish), I know it. And feel it.

This frame is an outlier in the Y2K era. I used pre-OS dimensions for the tubing, no investment cast components, a threaded fork (ack), a 126mm rear O.L.D., and an art file from the middle aughts for the RS graphics. I expect the client will select Campagnolo NR/SR parts.

All This By Hand

[rccardr]

I would so rock that.

boy-showing-perfect-test-results-vector-18501818 by Doc Mertes, on Flickr

[e-RICHIE]

The first timepiece I remember owning was a Hopalong Cassidy watch.
I’m sure it was a gift during my early childhood. I loved it.

Full interview here: Tempus Fugit

[Ras72]

Right on Richie. Fantastic interview.

[rwsaunders]

e-RICHIE and Major Taylor...both gents are the key focus of the latest Outspoken Cyclist podcast.

https://outspokencyclist.com/2022/03...march-12-2022/

[e-RICHIE]

-

I’m riding again. And when I leave the driveway it’s with a plan. This amount of time. That loop. Normally I stick to the plan.

I’m a pedaler. Cadence is everything to me. Almost in an Old School way. Like when we used to spend winters on a fixed gear.

For those keeping score, 90 RPMs is my comfort level. Or more. Never less. Actually, it’s “never fewer” if you’re an English major.

I find myself coasting more. It’s never been my thing. I think coasting becomes part of the human condition, sooner or later.

The freewheeling attitude comes with a price. We’ll each get invoiced at some point. How and when (and if) we pay it is up to us.

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

There is no brand. It’s just me alone making 5-6 bicycles a month, roughly half the numbers
I was doing in my first 20+ years. And of course, the water bottles, the socks, tote bags, and
whatever other cool things I add to the menu.

Full interview: INTERVIEW

[e-RICHIE]

-
I launched this today. 100 minutes on my private circuit in the park that serves as a cemetery while looking mostly like a cemetery unless I’m in the area with no tombstones.

That loop is 80 seconds at most and flat enough that two cog combinations are plenty. There are 24 on this bad boy. The industry lost its way years ago. I roll with it best I can.

I’ll get a longer stem after by June maybe sooner. Right now it matters little that I settled in on the short side. My reality is that inventories are on a shorter side than me.

I spent 13 days in Milano in late 2019, a good deal of it with Pietro and Cristina. But it wasn’t until that fateful day I walked into Dario’s workshop that I committed to an order.

I didn’t need a bicycle. But the energy flow under that roof was so intense that my mind was made up before any of us even said hello. This bad boy arrived last summer.

Dario and I met in the late ‘90s and became fast friends. We shared experiences. We shared a vision. We shared many of the same opinions. But then the angels called.

My relationship to and with the man lives on. Pietro and Cristina, and those in their workshop, are now Dario. But the best part is they’re so much more at the same time.

All This By Hand

[e-RICHIE]

-
In my 70th year I finally get the age thing. I haven’t accepted it yet, but the concept is beginning to make sense. What happened, and where did the time go? Please, don’t answer.

Riding a bicycle and being around them for so long has pushed so many truths into the margins, leaving only one lie; that this wonderful life is eternal. Forever young. Hah.

I don’t cling to much. But I do save memories. Some are like touchstones. Many make me smile. All of them can get in the way if I let them. Lately I’ve let them get in the way.

I’m constantly thinking of baseball. Because we stand in the box and wait. And have an idea how to advance the runners. So we look for that pitch that has our name on it.

If we’re lucky, or smart, we can stop time. Or foolishly think we can. Maybe we take whatever is thrown at us and deal with it. Eventually it’s someone else’s turn at bat.

The passing of time is slow, almost nonexistent, until it isn’t. That’s what I’m realizing these days. All this while simultaneously reminiscing and letting go. Lots to let go of.

All This By Hand

[claritycycler]

-
In my 70th year I finally get the age thing. I haven’t accepted it yet, but the concept is beginning to make sense. What happened, and where did the time go?.... Riding a bicycle and being around them for so long has pushed so many truths into the margins, leaving only one lie; that this wonderful life is eternal. Forever young. Hah.

I don’t cling to much. But I do save memories. Some are like touchstones. Many make me smile. All of them can get in the way if I let them. Lately I’ve let them get in the way.

Very well said Richard, exactly the same for me now in my 75th year, finally making sense indeed.