The theme for 2015 will be tweed and bicycles.

First up is the result of a long time of designing, thinking and putting together a sort of retro/vintage/classic-looking bicycle. It is made of different part from different brands. But the main part is the frame and that ids made by Pelago in Helsinki, so I guess that makes it an Pelago racer. It turned out really nice, the black paint, chrome parts and gold details. I have mentioned it earlier in many different posts. But now it is finished and been out for a test run. The fist impressions are that is is a quick and light weight bicycle. There are some small issues that needs to be adjusted, bolts to be tightened, adjusting the chain and raising saddle and handlebars.

But first, tweed! Later this summer there is a visit to Edinburgh planned for me and a friend. While we are there we will eat haggis, drink beer (perhaps a small whiskey to) and see the town. But more interesting and tweed related, we will take a train ride up to the highlands to look for Harris Tweed cloths. Perhaps I will buy a suit or at least a pair of trousers and a waistcoat that matches the jacket I already got. Then a lunch at the local pub. It will be an interesting journey, I guess there will be a post about the travel to be found later on here on Schneebremse blogg. Complete with images and describing photos of the scenery.

Why this obsession with Harris Tweed? Well that is a difficult question. But the short and simple answer might be that tweed is a classic, durable, great looking cloth. Also the brown Harris Tweed in herringbone pattern coat I got from my father when I was a teenager. He bought the coat at Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm in the mid -60’s. He used it back then, but later on it ended up in an closet. When I got it in my teens, the fashion was a bit different. Everyone was using leg warmers and pink slacks or leather jackets with studs. But I used to walk around dressed in suit trousers, white shirt, dark tie and a tweed coat. Of course I had a black umbrella with a bamboo handle when it was raining.  Mind you, this was in the mid -80’s. I guess I was rather along looking odd, dressed like that (sadly no photos exists from that era). But I liked it. It was long before it became “hip” or “cool” to dress like that. After all, one of my biggest heroes at the time was Harry Palmer.
By unfortunate events I lost the coat but before that I got different tweed jacket from different brand. It was in a dogtooth pattern, almost in a black and white “op” pattern style with a lovely ox blood red lining. I used the jacket so much that it literally was falling to pieces many years later. By then I bought a three piece suite in a red-brown herringbone pattern, yellow lined, Donegal Tweed from Ireland. I used it a few times, but never got around to really enjoy it since it was slightly to small.
After that I went back to the Harris Tweed brand by buying a “stock” pre-made jacket in grey herringbone pattern. Now I had found my way back, it feels just right. Perfect fit and the nice contact with the retailer made the jacket a really good purchase.
It all starts and ends with Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

So travelling with train to the Scottish highlands in tweed, buying more tweed is either pure madness, or it can turn out to be a great event and a lovely experience.

Back to the bicycle for a moment. The idea was to replicate an 1930’s path racer bicycle. The style of the turned down handlebars, clean design and “less is more” attitude. I think I got it right, it do not look like any other bicycle on the market today. Not like this. I think I got it right.

Let us go straight to the facts about the new bicycle. Here is an approximately price what I paid for all parts. There might be errors all over, so see it as a rough guide and not as an exact list. I was not aiming for the cheep parts, I just bought the ones that I wanted and had the best design in my opinion. The parts was bought over a long period of time. In the end the total price is about 670 Euro, but I like to adjust it up to 700 just to be safe. It feels more accurate that way.

After it being completed, the weight are 14.3 kilos.

Bike in Tweed 2015, here we go