I normally prefer cushy rubber bar grips over wraps, but this cool rear-view mirror precludes that. So I fashioned these wraps from discarded leather woman’s handbag straps. The right side bar plug is a wine cork.

I un-stitched the straps from the purse and wrapped them tightly around the bar, ending with cellophane tape and some shoestring whipping for decorative cover.

The purse also provided a cover for my folding Dahon bike’s worn seat, shown soon here.

I left a shoestring ‘tail’ underneath the bar to tie it off to and tightly wrapped over and over it. I finished with a simple reef or square knot (or else a ‘Granny’ knot).

The mirror really works if I can keep from bumping it when humping the bike up stairs.

The seat is a Bontrager woman’s gel seat. Made for a woman, yes, but I like it too.

The U-lock is an urban necessity. Get a long one.

Nice Fuji 4-bolt chain-ring and crank-set I found somewhere bolted to Shimano 68mm sealed bottom bracket I screwed in to the bare frame. Elecktra Bike flat rubber pad pedals I love so bad.

Takara was a short-lived, Asian sourced US bike importer during the 70s and 80s ‘bike boom’ in the USA. This one was made in the early 1980s, alongside Schwinn bikes, in the Giant factory in Taiwan.

This bike is by far the best and best fitting of bikes I’ve built for myself. Light at 30 lbs (13.5kg), nimble, low maintenance and geared about right for me, it’s a joy to ride and a great workout.

You don’t see Takara bikes every day-or ever. But they deserved a better fate, doomed when the ‘bike boom’ died at about the time video games came along.

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