New Lauterwasser handle bars

Hi Everyone

Just the other day while considering a new 3 speed project I found a posting by the well known bicycle company " SOMA " from the US from way back on March 30th. It was a posting on their new handle project which is a version of the classic Lauterwasser handle bar. This is good news for people wanting to obtain this older style of bar as it has not been made for well over 40 years or so. The Soma Lauterwasser bar is unfortunately not made of steel like the original bar was and the inner curve is slightly different as well. But Soma said if there is enough interest in the bar they will look at making a steel version in the future. Their alloy version which is pictured above is 47cm wide with a OD of 22.2mm which gives you a lot of choices for flat bar type levers and also there are some nice trad levers available from Dia Compe in Japan that would look fantastic on this bar. About two years ago I received an e mail from the guys at SOMA wanting to know my views on the bar and the different hand positions it offered. As my main touring bike is my 1947 Humber Sports and it's fitted with Lauterwasser bars I gave them as much input as possible as I really wanted to see this bar available for sale again. They are well known for re issuing older patterns of handler bars such as the Major Tayor & Walker racer bar which are both great products. Their blog stated that production of the Lauterwasser would take place around July sometime so it might not be long before we see this bar for sale on their website. Listed below is the link to the Soma blog posting

http://somafab.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-handlebar-projects-part-one.html

Cheers Don
3speedtouringinjapan

Book Review : The Lost Cyclist by David V. Herlihy

Well first I'd like to apologize for my lack of blog posting but as it's still hot and humid I've been riding my 1980 Vespa 50s more than my 3 speed recently and because of the hot summer I thought I'd purchase something interesting to read.

A while back I saw that David V. Herlihy had written a book documenting the cycling adventures of Frank Lenz whose round the world attempt was tragically ended while crossing eastern Turkey in 1894 and the cycling exploits of Sachtleben & Allen who became famous globe girdlers. After the solo cyclist Frank Lenz went missing Sachtleben offered his services to go to Eastern Turkey and search for Lenz and to find out what had really happened to him as the American public were closely following his exploits through the well known American magazine " Outing " who had sponsored Lenz's around the world attempt. David V. Herlihy is a fantastic writer and his previous book titled " Bicycle: The History " was very well received and after reading " The Lost Cyclist " I'm sure that it will become just as popular.

One thing I did find annoying was Sachtleben's comment to a fellow German cyclist named Godrich who they meet whilst in Greece. Godrich was still riding the popular high wheel , ordinary bicycle while Allen & Sachtleben were on more modern safety bicycles which were slowly overtaking the ordinary bicycle in popularity. Godrich was a strong rider & had completed a triple century in a day which was a new world record at the time and was immensely fond of his high wheeler and was proud to be a member of the General Union of Velocipedist's. Sachtleben informed Godrich that he didn't care two cents for any kind of union !. But later on after their widely publicized tour was over they were both treated like royalty back in America and every city of decent size threw a great banquet in their honor celebrating their around the world trip. Also the LAW - League of American Wheelmen which they were no doubt members of at some stage in their cycling career treated them rather well. Previously to their celebrated round the would tour " Thomas Stevens " has circled the globe alone on his ordinary bicycle. So it seems to me rather snobbish that they would so easily put down a fellow cyclist who was a member of a cycle union and by all accounts a far stronger rider than themselves. Apart from that one point the entire book is a fantastic read and if you have already read " Thomas Steven's book then you should read this as a follow up to the fantastic adventures of cyclists in the late 1890s .

Don
3speedtouringinjapan