XS650 Traveler: January 2011

Monday, January 31

I dreamed of girlfriends from the past and...

Sunday, January 30

Bicycle trials, like flatland BMX, is one of the more enigmatic genres of cycling. Only an insider to the sport will have any grasp of the intricacies of the machinery involved, such as a freewheel located around the bottom bracket and the lack of a seat will plague riders with both smart-arse and innocently directed quips from outsiders. Koxx is a French marque with an established reputation for manufacturing highly regarded frames.

This is the latest addition to the stable of Adam Read, the owner of Tarty Bikes, which is the UK’s leading online trials store. Most of the staff at Tarty Bikes ride Koxx, I’m sure that says something about the construction and engineering of these frames. Adam’s Red Sky frame is designed around a 26” wheel, he’s set it up with Try-All hubs, a Try-All front rim and a V!Z rear. Anyone with the slightest amount of trials knowledge will be aware that brakes are of paramount importance, so Adam has installed Hope Tech Trials. The drive train consists of Echo SL cranks, a titanium ISIS bottom bracket, while the aforementioned freewheel is a Rockman 144.12. Both pedals and rear sprocket are Echo, the forks, stem and grips are Trialtech and they’re holding onto a pair of Try-All carbon bars.

Swiss chalet

Lil' man in the boat

City up in smoke

Neander-thal beauty

This drop-dead gorgeous machine is a 1929 Neander P3 1, which surfaced at a Bonhams sale in the UK a couple of years ago. Ernst Neumann-Neander used a variety of engines for his motorcycles, including Villiers, JAP and Küchen—but this is one of the very rare MAG-powered models. It’s also one of the last machines to roll off the Neander production line. Owned by a Viennese fur trader (not an Austrian lesbian), it was sold to motorcycle collector Professor Fritz Ehn in the mid-60s. Ehn had the Neander restored—using zinc for the frame, rather than now-unavailable cadmium—and Bonhams sold the bike for £31,050, a healthy increase over the guide price. It was the largest ever sale of a single motorcycle collection, with over 300 bikes going under the hammer. Professor Ehn, we’re told, jettisoned his motorcycles to make way for a new passion … vintage tractors.