Wool scarf? Check. Ray-Bans? Check. Mustache? Check. Alrighty then, it sounds like we're all suited up for a ride on the Linus Gaston 5.
Outside the bespoke specimens on display at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, this five-speed city bike is the most stately, respectable steed I've seen in this year's crop of urban-minded velocipedes.
Linus has assembled a catalog of beautiful, retro-flavored bicycles since getting into the business in 2007 in Venice, California. The brand's styling sits somewhere between mid-century British "sports" models, a beachy SoCal vibe and the French New Wave.
The Gaston 5 follows suit – it's one damn handsome machine, especially when lined up alongside the clunky comfort bikes and carbon-fiber show ponies in the bike rack.
The 4130 chromoly frame is slightly relaxed and has all the appropriate eyelets for fenders and racks, should you want to add them (Linus offers matching fenders and racks as an upgrade). The saddle and the handlebar tape are brown leather, the 700c wheels are slung with creamy white 35mm Kendas, and (as on all other Linus bikes) a brass bell is standard.
The Gaston is gassed up with a Sturmey Archer 5-speed internally geared hub. This is an update for 2011, as the Gaston was previously only available as a single speed, which remains an option. This isn't one of Sturmey Archer's drum brake models, it's a 22-tooth high-flange freewheel, so you get Tektro handbrakes and calipers.
The handlebars are regular low-rise swept bars, but they're flipped upside-down. This pushes your riding position forward and down, giving the bike a more aggressive "cafe racer" feel when you're cruising.
Another oddity: Unlike most other internally geared bikes in production these days, the Linus Gaston 5 doesn't have a twist shifter or a thumb shifter. Instead, the shift lever is on the down tube. This choice makes for aesthetically clean lines, and it complements the bike's retro styling – that's where we put 'em in the '70s and '80s – but it also presents a problem.
