From my friend E, it's a lilac seller in Toulouse who was transporting the flowers with a lilac-colored bike. How perfect is that?
I love the white fenders-grips-saddle with the lilac.
Not-so-perfect is that skirt guard, though it does inspire me to consider making one of my own, particularly now that I'm wearing more skirts.
14 comments:
Beautiful! I can't wait till the lilacs come out in Boston.
Ive never cycled in a skirt because I'm always afraid my skirt would fly up. I would love to though. What do you do to prevent that?
blueskies2day - Do you want the common answer or the truth?
The truth is that I hope for the best and wear cute underwear. So far nothing embarrassing has happened. I ride a boy's frame bike (not step-through) so there's a bit of excitement getting on and off the bike, but again nobody's ever gotten a peep show.
The common answer is either to wear a pair of bike shorts underneath, or an old-fashioned garter to which you can pin your skirt. Both these options seem too complicated for me.
Gorgeous! Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers. Oh, and I don't worry much about the skirt thing, either. :)
Funny- those skirt guards look JUST like the ones I got rid of on my bike- they said "Holland" on them too- I replaced them with very thick stiff leather, which basically works, but I'm still figuring out the details of a seamless attachment.
For the skirt issue, In the winter I wear a lot of opaque tights. In the summer, especially with fuller shorter skirts, wind can be a problem, especially downtown and near the water.
After giving a bit of a show to all the guys hanging out at the homeless veterans' center, I bought
a couple of pairs of "workout shorts" which are like cotton blend, unpadded bike shorts, just so I don't have to worry about it.
I was just looking at leather today at lunch, and determined it would be too thin. (although, come to think of it, this skirtguard was very thin leather)
Carice, you're right about the skirts - a mental tally and I have to say, I don't own short full skirts. Perhaps that's why I haven't had an issue.
I did wear "boy short" underwear (a bit like you describe) underneath this skirt.
Charlotte,
For the leather skirt guard, I bought a "bend" which is the extremely stiff leather that they use to make shoe soles- it's about 1/8" thick.
http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/sides.htm
They were really nice people to deal with, and had a lot of fun stuff for little DIY projects.
Because my bike was designed for skirtguards, there's actually a braze on sort of tab to screw them to on the seatstay. Thick stiff leather might not work for a complete retrofit though..
As for the thickness of skirt guards (or coat guards, since I'm a bloke), most of them that I've seen are rather thin. As long as they keep your coat/skirt out of the spokes and prevent road debris from soiling your clothes, thickness shouldn't be an issue. Any waterproof fabric should work.
Cheers,
Pat
P.S. Off-topic, but I have a question for you, Charlotte. Were you at Boston Ballet's performance of 'Jewels' on February 28th? I've only seen a few pictures of you on your blog, but there was a woman there that looked remarkably like you.
Pat,
Yes I was at Jewels that evening - how wild that you spotted me!!!
Weird. I generally have a good memory for faces, but I honestly thought it was just someone who looked like you.
I found one of your pics when my wife and I got home that night and said, 'Was that her?' She didn't think so, but said I should ask. I only remembered that today.
P-
Swoon. I love lilacs. that pic is great. the skirt guard made me laugh though as I was like - wait are there two wheels, what's going on?
Count me in the wears a skirt and flashes everyone crowd. I did have a guy on a motorcycle going the opposite way give a loud WOOT last late summer that made this haggard mom of two feel um, young and viable again. So hey- I say wear cute underwear and show off your legs. :-)
Looks like it just needs a bit of adjustment... I have a couple of bikes from somewhere overseas (Germany?) that have the holes in the fender for the lacing style of skirt guard. Haven't needed them on any of my bikes and my wife's skirts seem to mind their manners and stay out of the wheel. ;-)
Aaron
Oops forgot...our lilacs have been in full bloom for a couple of weeks in not nearly a month. Advantage of living in the Deep South!
Aaron
:-)
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