bike and coffee shops in new york (part 2)

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phil May 22, 2010

(part 1 of the tour is here)

This is part 2 of my brooklyn bike and coffee tour.

My next stop after Blue Bottle was Oslo coffee (133 Roebling St, Brooklyn).

I took some shots along the way:

I couldn’t handle much more caffeine by the time I got to Oslo, so I skipped another espresso and had a cookie instead.

I told Eddie about the bike and coffee tour idea and he recommended a few places to check out in Manhattan. I was surprised that it was empty there, but I think it was mid-afternoon at this point, which isn’t exactly a prime coffee hour.

I visited NYCbikes (spokes and strings? 140 Havemeyer St. Brooklyn, NY) next.

I continued rolling around Williamsburg to Gimme! Coffee (495 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY)

It was pretty packed in here with quite a few people working on their laptops and it looked like some of the after-work crowd was coming in for a buzz. Friendly baristas.

I didn’t remember to take a picture of the espresso shot until I was almost done:

gimme! coffee: espresso, mostly finished.

affinity cycles (616 Grand Street Brooklyn, NY) was right around the corner.

The guys in the shop were pretty busy with repairs and they were doing some renovations to the interior:

onward. Grand St. was being resurfaced but the fatty cruiser tires didn’t really care.

I rode down to velo brooklyn (bushwick bike shop). (342 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) This shop wasn’t part of my originally-scheduled tour, but I happened to be riding by, so…

super-friendly and laid back people here. One guy recommeded that I check out the biker cafe, boneshakers – but alas, I didn’t have time this trip. maybe next time. I browsed through their cycling cap selection and was surprised to see that they carried hats by local lady alloneword. She had graciously donated caps to my girlfriend and friends who are doing AIDS lifecycle this year.

velo brooklyn (bushwick bike shop): shop talk

velo brooklyn (bushwick bike shop): pretty sweet walls

I headed towards Lit fuse cyclery (409 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) next.

I was taking interior shots at every shop, but I had to get one from this angle because I have a soft spot for kleins. this Klein Rascal had the mission control integrated handlebars. (Side note: I’m happy someone put together www.oldklein.com – the official klein page is just a product registration form. boo trek.)

lit fuse cyclery: interior, alternate view

that’s a lot of photos. next post is the ride back to recycle a bicycle to return the bike.

Tierra Bella century: April 2010

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phil May 21, 2010

another intermission post with photos from the beautiful tierra bella ride last month. ~6400ft of climbing on a gorgeous day in the south bay.

two horses on the climb up gilroy hot springs

from the archives: ritual bike cart

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phil May 20, 2010

a friend sent me this new york times post about kickstand, who have a mobile, bike-transported iced coffee and single-serve drip setup.

I’ve only seen the ritual bike in the bay area:

This guy was selling iced coffee at sunday streets in the mission last july.

ritual coffee bike cart at eat real in oakland

and these two were selling ritual coffee at oakland’s wonderful eat real festival last august.

bike and coffee shops in new york (part 1)

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phil May 19, 2010

I was in New York for work a couple of weeks ago and decided to take some time off to wander in the city. I embarked on a self-guided tour of bike shops and coffee shops in brooklyn and manhattan (with the much-appreciated help of Anita from Brooklyn by Bike who led me to the New York Times Interactive Coffee Map) and took a bunch of pictures. whenever possible, images were shot at ISO 50 and wide open, just because.

I asked about bike rentals and bikesnobnyc was kind enough to suggest that I check out recycle a bicycle. I went to their DUMBO location (Recycle A Bicycle, 35 Pearl St, Brooklyn) They had only two bikes available and this is the one I got:

Chris from the shop hooked me up with the free official NYC cycling map.

I took a few pictures outside:

and along the way. It felt weird trying to balance on this bike – it had a coaster brake and I wasn’t used to the way-upright handlebars. Riding the cruiser kind of made the ride more enjoyable, though, because it allowed me to just kick back at a slower pace and enjoy the ride.

dalai lama stencil - and of course, a BNE sticker

and then pedaled towards Cafe Grumpy in Greenpoint.

kent ave bike lane. I've got to say, I'm really digging the bright green.

the weather was ridiculously beautiful.

the espresso at Cafe Grumpy (193 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) was good and the people very friendly.

cafe grumpy (greenpoint) espresso. I couldn't resist and took a sip before taking the picture.

Cafe Grumpy was larger than I expected. It was relatively crowded with people working on their laptops and they had a beautiful bathroom window:

cafe grumpy bathroom window. it was pretty. I couldn't help it.

I headed towards B’s bike shop (262 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) next in Williamsburg.

took a picture along the way:

B’s Bikes was a crowded little shop that seemed to be getting a lot of business. I told the people inside about my plans for the day and they happily mentioned a few neat bike shops in Manhattan to check out.

I rode the cruiser down to King Kog (455 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) next:

There was definitely a different vibe here with more bike-lifestyle items on the shelves including a hilarious “One Less Messenger” t-shirt.

Next stop: Blue Bottle (160 Berry Street, Brooklyn, NY). I live in Oakland, CA, and wanted to see what Blue Bottle was doing on the East Coast:

I was really impressed by the size of their space. The natural light was great. They roast in the back. I’ve been to their kiosk in Hayes Valley in SF, the Cafe at Mint Plaza, their Ferry Building location, their old roastery in Emeryville and their farmers market in Temescal. This space was absolutely huge in comparison.

There were quite a few people hanging outside too, enjoying the coffee and the weather:

Blue Bottle Coffee: hangin outside on Berry st

Part 2 to come.

bike to work day 2010

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phil May 13, 2010

update (05.17.10)

video added (view in HD if you can)

today was bike to work day. here are some shots from the bike away from work afterparty put on by the east bay bike coalition:

crazy bike from cyclecide. This bike was really hard to ride!

crazy bike #2 - I did not get to try this one but check out the rear wheel - made from an old trampoline

crazy cyclecide rides - pretty sweet cape

this girl is having a BLAST. in comparison, the speed of the swing kind of scared me. I did not ride it.

(visit ridesfo)

ebbc bike-friend business award winners - garlynn woodsong from calthrope associates, sal from actual cafe, and gene from innovative interfaces

(visit actual cafe)

all photos shot with the panasonic gf1 and the 20mm f/1.7 lens

oakland panoramas

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phil May 10, 2010

I used the excellent hugin to stitch together a few panoramas of Oakland, looking east and west. I tried the automate/photomerge option in photoshop CS2 but wasn’t satisfied with the results. photoshop was much faster. hugin can be pretty fast once you get the hang of clicking on the control points.

Oakland, looking west:

Click on the image for a larger version.

Oakland, looking east:

Once again, click on the image for a larger version. I took the photos with the GF1 and the 20mm f/1.7 lens.

brush-clearing goats along tunnel road

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phil April 24, 2010

seeing a hillside crowded with goats was an unexpected part of yesterday’s bike ride. I didn’t realize until it was pointed out to me later that they were being used to remove grass and weeds for fire control purposes.

you can see a clear line between chomped and unchomped areas. wow!

apparently there can be problems with the goats being too effective – they can cause soil erosion and can decimate the population of native plants if the goats are uncontrolled.

Other interesting things I found while searching the interwebs:

these people rent out goats for clearing brush: http://www.goatsrus.com/

the ups and downs of using goats to control fires: http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4663

…

after this, we continued up tunnel road and made a quick descent down claremont ave:

Takumar 35mm f/3.5 on the panasonic GF1

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phil April 21, 2010

A friend of mine recently came across some M42 lenses that were being tossed out. He passed them along to me, thinking they might be of use. (Thanks Jesse!) In the box were a pentax takumar 35mm f/3.5 and a 135mm f/3.5. I’ve spoiled myself with fast primes for my cameras, so this is a bit of a departure from what I’d normally use. It’s a 70mm focal length equivalent with the 2x m4/3 multiplier.

I used my M42/C-mount to micro four-thirds adapter with a 9mm and 16mm extension tube to get the flange back distance to match that of a 35mm lens.

Photos of the takumar 35mm f/3.5 on the GF1:

takumar 35mm f/3.5 on the GF1 three quarters view

takumar 35mm f/3.5 on the GF1 front view

The lens works alright on the camera. It’s not nearly as bulky as the 8mm peleng fisheye. Focusing worked fine and the manual focus magnification helps a lot. With longer lenses (I tried the 135mm f/3.5 for a bit), I’ve noticed that the magnification isn’t very useful because of camera shake.

Photos with the 35mm lens look fine. The effective focal length worked pretty decently. Here are some samples: