Wishful Shopping - Wakouwa Deck Shoes

Wakouwas in the window at Anatomica (Paris)

I'm heading to London in a week for London Edinburgh London, a 1400k randonnee.  I've just assembled all my bike gear (which includes many non archival, ziploc packed servings of powdered nutrition).  Sadly, I'm going to have very little space in my luggage for non cycling garb. At the moment I'm boiling my travel garb down into a single outfit I can wear on the plane and than for five days in London. What I'm missing is the perfect pair of comfortable canvas sneakers. Many of my pals prefer Superga, Tretorn or Chuck Taylors.  What I want is a pair of  made in Japan, Wakouwa deck shoes. I've been wishfully shopping for Wakouwas since I spotted them in the window at Anatomica in Paris.  You can buy them through a few US stockists but alas, most don't sell them in smaller sizes for women.  At Mohawk General Store, you can even buy them in Yves Klein blue.  If you have a secret Wakouwa source, or could suggest a stylistic alternative, let me know.
 

Archival Permanent - PDX

In Randonneuring, a perm is a permanent route you can schedule to ride at any time. On Saturday, I rode Michal Young's scenic Alsea 200k loop with several friends from the Oregon Randonneurs. On Sunday, I dragged my friend Bruce up to Portland for what I would consider my favorite Archival shopping perm.  The loop starts somewhere around Eye Styles, migrates over to Little Tee for lunch followed by gabbing and gawking at Blake, coffee at Barista, more aspirational shopping at Lizard Lounge and than a post meal retreat to Cinema 21. Though I rarely make purchases on my perm, I  consistently catch and release the same evidential photos: Japanese eyewear, FWK Engineered Garments, heritage footwear,  denim and print ephemera from the movies.  Contact me if you wish to recreate my route.  I will provide you with a start time, a list of controls and a few informational questions to confirm that you followed the correct route.   Here is some evidence of participation from my weekend:

 

Theo taking a white line nap next to his lovely MAP custom 

Vanilla and Map randos outside John Boy's Alsea Mercantile (via Theo Elliot)

  

Our rando mob (photo by Asta C.)

 

Bruce modeling Barton Perreira...

  ...matching suede green Quoddy mocs

  

Croque Madame at Little Tee

  

Sport footwear check: Oak Street and Arche

  

  

 

Aspirational FWK at Blake

  

  A rare patch from the Jantzen swimwear company

 

Sam's Yuketen boots 

Spot watch check: a Filson rep's Marathon chronograph

Neil sampling frites and cidre at Irving Kitchen

Mildred Pierce at Cinema 21

Shopping from Japan - Cyclo Tourist Bags

 

Thanks to Bill Lane at Wall Bike for reprinting this pictographic feature on front handlebar bags from the Japanese magazine Cyclo Tourist.  Apart from Guu-Watanabe, Ostrich and Berthoud, many of the brands are new to me.

 

For reference, here is my post from 2008 showing the of the range of French, US and Japanese made handlebar bags in use by my randonneuring friends.  

Wishful Shopping - Rene Herse Randonneuse

While I don't need another bicycle I've been air shopping for Alex Singers and Rene Herse randonnee frames via ebay. Here's a beautiful 1975 randonneuring bike from the Rene Herse workshop.  If you're a pure road cyclist and you've never seen a Rene Herse, check out all the bike's unique, rando specific features: custom front rack, integrated lighting system, polished mafac racer brakes, full metal fenders, maxicar hubs, etc.  In the event of a zombie apocalypse, a Rene Herse randonnee would make the perfect getaway rig. 

 

  

If you're interested in reading a history of the Rene Herse workshop, check out this handsome new tome by Compass Press.