Complete outfits

[Short Knife Johnson]

Greeting all.

Been tinkering with the idea of having a different slant on the usual type of attire I've been seeing at the few shoots I've made thus far.  Would anyone know where to purchase a complete "Eastern dandy" outfit.  Everyone, including me have dressed up as the rough-and-tumble type.  I lean towards being a mule skinner.  I was thinking to shake things up and have something a banker or dude from New York (or Quebec here in the Dominion of Canada) would have dolled himself up in.  I already have a few small nickel plated pocket pistols that could serve as costume guns anyway.  Get a glue on moustache, cane, and the "refined" attitude to make everyone laugh. 

I found some outfits that make 19th Century bicycles.  I'm also an avid moutain biker, but that's a lot of cash to dole out for a nasty to ride high wheeler.
http://www.hiwheel.com/   http://www.tallbike.com/tall/index.html   

So might anybody know where or who would have such items.  The usual places like River Junction and Wild West Mercantile don't seem to show what I need, or maybe I don't know what to look for.  Any suggestions what items of clothing to look for?  Thanks.

[River City John]

Gentlemen's Emporium or James Country Mercantile both custom make three-piece suits, in some of their louder-patterned fabrics, along with River Junction.

RCJ

Why torture yourself with a High Wheel? Take a look at their 1891 New Mail, or the Old English Roadster antique bicycles on www.hiwheel.com.
And heres a ca. 1890 picture of the look you're going after.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

As one of the few men on this forum who has ever ridden a pennyfarthing for any distance (my friend and I shared my normal 10 speed and a modern-made pennyfarthing for a century), I feel as if I could make some comments ...

First, a 'dandy' may have ridden one about town ... but if any distance was involved, the cyclist would have been wearing, at best, what the Brits used to call 'Plus Fours' (don't ask me why ... its a Brit thing) ... but would have been matching or complementary knickers, knee socks and either a turtleneck sweater or a celluloid collard shirt and tie, covered with a sports jacket ... the kind with the built in belt ...

If you want to look at some historic drawings and photos, look to the League of American Wheelmen ... although active today as LAW, the League dates back to the 1880s ... approximately.

http://www.bikeleague.org/about/history.php

[WaddWatsonEllis]

And if you are going to be riding any distance, I would wear a modern pair of cycling short under the knickers ... otherwise, you may be sore in areas that we won't discuss here...

And Bag Balm is the cyclist's friend ..... *S*

[Curley Cole]

Kidd showed up at the Silver queen yesterday dressed in a brown pinstripe suit and a derby. Easy to put together a rig. Some outfits take time and planning. My Scout rig took me over a year to assemble, and I am still adding. (anybody got some calvary (sp) pants in about a 33 or so they want to get rid of...

we want pictures of what you come up with..
good shootin
curley

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I have been thinking of your outfit ... if you are going for an Easterner, a good pair of knickers, banded shirt and suspenders, and something like a plaid Kangol hat would be right in line with an athletic person, be it a cyclist, a dandy hunting bird, or a well haberdashed fella out for a good walk in the woods.

As far as a good pair of knickers, I would look in a climbing store ... I used to have a pair of Royal Robbins wide wale corduroy knickers that would have been the 'bees knees'.....

[Daniel Nighteyes]

And Bag Balm is the cyclist's friend ..... *S*

And a hearty +1 to that!!!  Bag Balm, or Chamois Butter, or similar.







<---------- Rides 40 to 60 miles per week on a 21-speed mountain bike

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Daniel,

My bum knee is slowing me down alot; used to do alot of centuries ... now 30-40 miles on a road bike is a really productive day ... but I still ride about 4 Miles each way over to volunteer at a soup kitchen .... I have an old Canondale F400 that I converted from a mtb to an urban commuter .... the only problem is that it is a small frame and it will not fit my legs even with an extended seat post  ( I buit it for an ex-wife; she rode it once ...).

So now I am looking for a large Cannondale F400 with the Pepperoni front fork  (pre front shock) ... then I will have four bikes ... a Cannondale Tandem, and old 63 cm Windsor professional that I have been riding for 30 years, my old Ex's small frame F400 and the new large frame F400.....

If I get another bike, though, I will have to get a bigger house to fit all the bikes in .... *L*

[Dr. Bob]

I have gotten several nice "city" outfits from James Country and highly recommend them.

The jacket with the belted back is called a Norfolk Jacket.  The newsboy or 8 Quarter cap is PC to the 1860's.  The bowler and homburg are PC for the 70"s on.  Knickers were sports attire, which included hunting, golf tennis, croquette &c.!  [&c. is the 18th/19th Century abbreviation for et cetera]

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Dr Bob,

Too true ... and if one looks closely, even in the first picture that River City Johnson showed (of the cyclist) he is wearing a pair of knickers and over the calf socks (probably with garters to hold them up ....

[Dr. Bob]

The knickers have buckles and might hold the socks up.  For cycling, garters might be needed, since the socks didn't have any elastic to help hold them up!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I believe that cyclists wore a garter similar to what Scottish guys still wear with kilts ...

The sock is put on, pulled up and the garter would go around the sock just below the knee ... then the sock would be folded over it so that only a tassel or some such would show ....

[Major 2]

"....For cycling, garters gators might be needed"  

[River City John]

Dr Bob,

Too true ... and if one looks closely, even in the first picture that River City Johnson showed (of the cyclist) he is wearing a pair of knickers and over the calf socks (probably with garters to hold them up ....

Oh ya doesn't have ta call me Johnson . . . !

[Daniel Nighteyes]

... I have an old Canondale F400 that I converted from a mtb to an urban commuter ....

Mine is a Raleigh M60 that I have also pretty well converted for urban use.  I started with the mtb because of my rather, ah, ample size.  I have combination tires (center of tread for road use, side treads for increased traction on softer surfaces), lights, rear-view mirror, rear rack with nylon bag and fold-up side baskets, etc.  Its amazing how much those side-baskets will hold, as long as I sorta keep the weight distributed.  There are four supermarkets within a 4-mile radius, as well as Target, Kohls, the Post Office, our bank, two hardware stores, three drug stores, and others.

The limiting factors on my ride distance are terrain, traffic and time.  I can get about 25 miles by weaving through the local neighborhoods.  To get more I could go around again, but that becomes mentally tedious.  Otherwise I have to climb some long and steep grades, contend with fairly heavy high-speed traffic, or both.  For example, there's a stretch of the 118 freeway that has bike lanes, because the only other way for bicyclists to get through that area involves a narrow, steep and very winding road.  Quite a few bicyclists were injured during various close encounters with motorized vehicles on that road.  So, eventually Cal-Trans decided that the freeway bike lanes were the lesser of two evils.  As for time, about the most I can commit to a ride is two-and-a-half to three hours.  At my average speed of 10 mph...

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Danny;  Good on Ya!  My bike sits in the shed.  I usually walk as there are two malls and a half dozen grocery stores within a 1/2 hour walk.  If I don't walk I can add a kilo a week!  it is now critical as Christmas goodies ever tempt one.

BTW;  How is the job hunt? 

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Daniel,

Living in Sacramento, I am blessed about cycling. When they built the dikes and the flood/riparian areas for the American River, they put a six foot wide two lane bike trail from Folsom to Old Sacramento ... the plan is eventually to extend the trail to Lake Tahoe and around it ...

But I live in East Sac about two miles from the trail. Since the town grew around the river, I can get about anywhere I want to go on the trail ... and at every exit from the trail, there are little Bistros that have grown up ... I can make a restaurant and a hot bowl of soup with soudough my 'carrot' to get me out and about .... they even have a separate bike trail attached to the causeway so that I can ride into Davis for my Oddfellow Brunch meetings (and I feel alot less guilty about that third pancake and fifth sausage link if I rode to eat it *S*)

Here is a PDF map of the American River Bike Trail ...

http://www.sacregion511.org/bicycling/maps/AR_Biketrail.pdf

[Daniel Nighteyes]

If I don't walk I can add a kilo a week!  it is now critical as Christmas goodies ever tempt one.

That's me as well.  I'm the cook at Casa Nighteyes, so you can imagine what's been happening to my waistline since just before Thanksgiving.  There's been turkey, dressing, ham, all kinds of great vegetables, buttermilk cornbread, my famous Holiday Gumbo, some jambalaya, a little chicken & sausage etouffe, sweet potato pies, etc. As I'm sure you know, cooking Louisiana food requires the cook to consume beer as a means of timing.  

SWMBO makes a killer southern pecan pie, so she'll be in the kitchen tonight whipping up three or four as gifts.

BTW;  How is the job hunt?

Given the previous paragraphs, I'm thinking about giving the Michelin Tire Man a run for his money.

Seriously though, I've quit looking until January, because almost no one hires folks like me from Thanksgiving until after New Year's Day.  That's one of two major slow periods in my line of work.  The other is from early August through Labor Day.

[Daniel Nighteyes]

Living in Sacramento, I am blessed about cycling. When they built the dikes and the flood/riparian areas for the American River, they put a six foot wide two lane bike trail from Folsom to Old Sacramento ...

There are about two miles of gravel maintenance roads on both sides of the arroyo that runs through town, because its a major channel for rainwater runoff.  In the spring and summer, when the plant life in the arroyo is thick and green, I absolutely love riding along them looking for and observing the birds it attracts. I even carry a compact pair of 8x42 binoculars with me.

Most of the birds are the sort you'd kind of expect to see, but every now and then I get a delightful surprise.  Imagine a Great Blue Heron with a wingspan of at least 6 feet, an extremely secretive Least Bittern, an only slightly less secretive Green Heron, a solitary Bufflehead Duck (usually found in large flocks in salt water), and more.  I even spotted a female Swainson's Hawk under one of the road bridges.  Once she realized I'd spotted her, she took wing and left.  Gorgeous!

[GunClick Rick]

VAAAAROOOOM,beeep beep beep!!!!!!!!!
aghhhhhhhhh!!!

What's wrong honey?

I almost ran over an indian on a bicycle!!

I need a drink!