Little Magpie

chasing shiny objects

By

Bike Love

I am elated to introduce my new/old bike:

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Isn’t she a beauty? I am literally beside myself with excitement.

She came to me by way of my cousin Kimberly, an aspiring writer with an intriguing YA novel in the works. She spends a lot of her spare time at Renew, a consignment store in Springdale run by her church as an outreach program. It’s a thriving shop with a litany of great selections, and it opened during a time that consignment shops were really beginning to thrive in northwest Arkansas. I visited a few times last summer and provided a little bit of marketing support, and that is where I developed a crush on a powder blue bike:

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Here she is, pre-facelift but still lovely!

I left without the bike, but Kimberly shelled out the $26 and delivered her to me a few days later after I expressed my regret. Soon, I pounced on my Dad during a vulnerable moment and begged him to restore the bike for me. During the 40s and 50s, his father had a bike shop in Galveston, Texas and later in Texarkana, where my Dad grew up. His nostalgic stories and the memories from his time in the bike shop are a story for another day. Lucky for me, he retains both enthusiasm and know-how for the intricacies of bikes, plus a little bit of spare time.  Plus, this lovely bike was only slightly rusty and dilapidated, and Dad said at heart it was a pretty nice bike (score!)… it could have been far worse!

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Just needing a little love… at Finders Keepers Fleatique in downtown Rogers

My goal for the bike was a super cute vehicle for riding around downtown Rogers on jaunts to the grocery store or farmers’ market – nothing particularly far afield. I am fortunate to have an incredible mountain bike which has accompanied me twice on our family vacations biking 125 miles of the Katy Trail in Missouri (more on that in the near future, as well: we’re planning to go again soon!) and on my itsy bitsy teensy baby triathlon adventure. However, riding that bike along with its accompanying (rather intense) helmet, bike gloves etc. around town always seems like the equivalent of wearing a parachute to jump over a log, so I was on the lookout for something sassy.  Dad was appalled when I told him my plans to deck her out:

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Accessories from Eleanor’s NYC

However, he clearly threw up his hands and indulged me by adding a few trappings to my newly-restored bike, which he presented to me at Christmas (complete with yellow handlebar tape, an awesome bell and a basket). Dads are awesome.  Best of all, he said that it was just an absolute pleasure to work on it, and that the whole project took him back to when he was twelve years old.  They never sold a new bike from that shop – he and his Dad would disassemble bikes and painstakingly clean, repair and piece them back together.  They would paint the frames by hand, and his Dad would use a special little dart brush to paint on the stripes.

While I’m elated to have my super cute bike, his sheer enjoyment and delight in doing this for me was all that I could have hoped for in my request for his help.

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Stop by Renew or another vintage or consignment shop to see if you can find a new/old treasure of your own… because some of the best things happen on bike rides.

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And if you’d like to join me in unabashedly pursuing bike cuteness and perusing all the charm of reclaimed vintage bikes and velo culture, behold:

Best Sources for Bicycle Cuteness & Inspiration (note faves*):

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Cute bike at the Bentonville Farmers’ Market from a 2012 post on The Food Adventuress

Northwest Arkansas Bicycle Goodness:

Additional resources?  Please add them in the comments, by all means – and bike on!

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P.S. HURRY, spring!  XO, Beth

Comments

    • Beth says

      Thanks, K! I’m always looking for biking buddies – we ought to go together if you’re up for it this year! So excited about the completion of trails for NWA. 🙂

  5. Allyson says

    She’s lovely! Great post, I’m in the market for a new bike, so your links will be very helpful. 🙂 xoxo

  6. Jen Y says

    Have you heard of Dogwood Junction in Siloam Springs? If you haven’t made a trip to Siloam you need to check it out, rent a bike & explore. It’s a fun shop in a really great nortwest Arkansas town. Here is their website. https://dogwoodjunction.biz/

    • Beth says

      Thank you for sharing this! I had not heard of it, and I LOVE Siloam Springs and work there frequently with a client (28 Springs)! I also have a visit to Sassafras out on Highway 412 on my list, so I’ll add Dogwood Junction to my list. Thanks for reading and sharing that tip!

  7. Aunt Gayle says

    Excellent! Also reminds us of your other grand dad who had 10 bikes in his shop for whenever his 10 grand kids happened to come by to visit! Very pretty (and cool) bike!

    • Beth says

      Yes, Aunt G! I thought a lot about that and decided it was fodder for a completely separate post. I loved that shed and all the treasures in it, not least of which was the bikes. Thanks for the comment!