Ride It or Die: Univega Mixte Townies, or Why I Love Cork Grips

Welcome, jerks.

Yeah, I got the fever. Three or four years ago, a rabid, red-eyed zombie sank its rotten teeth into my arm and thus I was infected with a peculiar strain of irrational obsession. Since then I have breathed, eaten, and slept bikes and almost nothing else. Maybe a vaccine will be invented, or maybe it'll simply pass, but until then I'm a slave to my compulsion to buy, transport, take apart, degrease, scour, lube, polish, assemble, tune, tighten, align, wax, buff, and yes, ride, ride, ride these magical two-wheeled machines.

So, the idea is, on this page I'm going to post pictures and perhaps stories of bikes that I've refurbished and ridden or ones that are in the process or recently completed. Maybe it'll expand from there. We'll see, I guess.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Univega Mixte Townies, or Why I Love Cork Grips

I've tried all sorts of grips and grip tape but for my money nothing beats the look and feel of cork grips. Sure, they're a little on the fragile side and tend to crack if you abuse them but they're cheap enough they can be replaced for the cost of a six-pack. They're sort of semi-disposable like that. (Plus you get to coat the new ones with shellac and, personally, I love the smell of shellac.) And holding them just sort of makes your hands feel fuzzy and warm. Tellin' you, can't beat 'em with a stick. (Seriously, you can't. That would be tree-on-tree crime, which is generally frowned upon.)

The first Uni shows what they look like with amber shellac, the second with clear shellac.