After I posted South End Simplicity, a reader submitted a beautiful bike that is clearly a friend to that one, also with cloth-taped handlebars, but this one features a brake lever (and brake!):

I love the cloth tape on my handlebars. The natural feel in my hand is particularly nice for a city commuter on which I do not generally wear gloves (weather permitting). With my inverse levers I never had to wrap around a brake lever, however this bike looks great! I particularly like how the curve of the cable housing is integrated with that of the handlebar. It all looks so graceful.

The final classy touch is, of course, the wooden end caps. They make me think of a wine bottle stopper, or a child’s toy, both much nicer than the plastic-y things that come in the box with handlebar tape. C – did you make these? Is there any place a person can buy a set?

A beautiful, simple, bike.

After I posted South End Simplicity, a reader submitted a beautiful bike that is clearly a friend to that one, also with cloth-taped handlebars, but this one features a brake lever (and brake!):

I love the cloth tape on my handlebars. The natural feel in my hand is particularly nice for a city commuter on which I do not generally wear gloves (weather permitting). With my inverse levers I never had to wrap around a brake lever, however this bike looks great! I particularly like how the curve of the cable housing is integrated with that of the handlebar. It all looks so graceful.

The final classy touch is, of course, the wooden end caps. They make me think of a wine bottle stopper, or a child’s toy, both much nicer than the plastic-y things that come in the box with handlebar tape. C – did you make these? Is there any place a person can buy a set?

A beautiful, simple, bike.

This lady looks beautiful on her old three speed, but I just love the unexpected shoes!

The owner of the Singlespeed Basket Bike contacted me to share this photo of his other bike – an Al Vitus frame with some mixed 9 speed components, put it together for a summer commuter.

As if summertime wasn’t already sweet enough! Beautiful.

This lovely lady is enjoying a self-guided tour of Boston courtesy of the loaner bikes for guests of the Liberty Hotel. I followed her as she lingered outside the Gucci window, and mused that these free bicycle loans give new meaning to the hotel’s name.

A happy surprise was parked on Newbury Street. I’ve never before seen such a friendly fender, this bike is clearly the kind of bike all the other bikes want to be friends with, just a based on its reflective stickers.

Hello!

My friend J and I biked the marathon route this morning. From Boston to Hopkinton was nice enough, but the trip back was everything I had hoped it would be. The roads were closed, the excitement was building, we even had people cheering for us, and inexplicably the weather was cool but bright and lovely. There were hundreds of other cyclists out. The police were cheerful and smiling and there were lots of wonderful volunteers setting everything up. We were back in Boston safely before the first racers and all in all it could not have been a better ride.

I’m happy to rave that my friend J rode her brand new road bike for her first ever long bike trip today and she did a great job the whole morning. Seeing how happy she was really made the ride for me.

There was one surprise – we stopped for a snack and when she saw my snack the wonderful possibilities of long distance cycling somewhat crystallized for her.

Yes, it’s true, it’s a RULE – if you’re riding more than 50 miles you are allowed to have chocolate chip cookies before lunch if you want to. Even your mother will agree. So tell all your friends – ride a bike = eat chocolate chip cookies. It’s pretty great!

This is perhaps the most elegant stripped-down beautiful basic bike I’ve seen. While I personally like my bikes with brakes, this isn’t my bike, and the aesthetic is just wonderful from the cream tires to the black frame to the custom leather accents.

This custom leather-accented U-lock is perfectly matched to the saddle.

My husband thinks the saddle came this way, I think that the owner carved off the skirt his/herself. The hammered rivets look lovely on this bike.

The inherent classiness of this bike is eye-catching from behind…

… and from the front.

Bravo to the person who put this bike together, it’s beautiful!

Oh my goodness, thanks to Urbanista I have discovered My Old Bicycle. What a treat! So many beautiful bicycles so beautifully photographed… words can’t do it justice, you just have to settle in and peruse yourself, the details are just too incredible. I’ll add some morsels here:

Just look at these handlebars!

Handpainted pinstriping on these cranks (matches pinstriping on the lugs and fenders)

How about this horsehair fender flap?

Those are just a few of my favorite details, check it out and be inspired.

Spotted in Cambridge, this bike was notable for having what appear to be Pier 1 Imports-style baskets front and rear, but perfectly sized to fit correctly on those respective racks. It makes for an elegant and proportional look.

The headlight is mounted to the rack under the front basket.

The rear basket is larger and the rear wheel accented with an array of spoke cards. I’m not sure I’ve seen quite this much spoke accessorizing in general, I find it fun on this bike.

I like it!