WILL'S RAMBLER
Thomas Callahan
I have known Will for 17 years. He is a legend. He is an enormous human and has an enormous heart. He is the real deal. So when he asked me to build him a bike for a European adventure I was stoked to say the least.
I met Will when we were both living in Brooklyn. We were both the same age and making things with our hands, riding bikes and soaking up life, so our paths were bound to cross at sometime.
Will is a talented Leather smith and makes fine leather goods, tool bags, belts, etc. Sold through him at ETWASBAGS.COM and for the past 12 years had made the leather sheaths for all my CAMP KNIVES i've made here in the shop. They were beautiful veggie tanned, hand stitch leather. What i would call "generational" quality meaning, well. they would last generations. They complimented the knives perfectly. Ultimately Will still does fine leather work but the sheaths didn't fall into his scope of work any longer and we moved on but we remained friends.
Will now lives in Vermont, on a beautiful piece of land in a farmhouse amongst some sleepy hills.
in addition to the leather work he is an accomplished timber framer. With his wealth of knowledge of rigging and framing Will came down and helped me raise my shop structure back in 2019 when i built the new shop here in the catskills
We both built parallel lives and Will helped me along my path.
Since then we have visited each other many times, it's a pleasure to know him and such a person that makes objects, tools and structures with such quality, precision and knowledge.
Also VT is a stellar place to visit.
And Grateful he asked me to build him a bike to help him on his journey.
The perfect bike for his ride was a custom RAMBLER. tapered head tube, White industries headset and seatpost collar, bb and crank. Crust towel rack bars and a sweet steel Crust stem. We added mechanical disc brakes and a bar end shifter for the win. Front rack by Pass and Stow, rubber by Rene Herse Fleccer ridge (29”x55mm) and a comfy Brooks c17 carved for those long days in the saddle. linked up with Sign Wave Beacon front Dynamo light and DT Dyno hub was the last piece to this european bound Rambler.
Will was traveling to Romania to attend a Historic timber framing conference. After which he would travel, by bike, to Copenhagen. As of now, texting with him he is on the border of Slovenia and Austria. These photos were sent to me a few days ago from his days on the bike. Up over mountain passes, long days at elevation. Yesterday Will was at 5595ft. in Kleiner Mittagskogel where he spent the past days getting over a mountain pass to Austria closed to most because of a large avalanche and washout. hike a biking kilometers with a loaded touring bike up and over rubble to access rideable terrain ahead.
Will communicated all this to me just as he finished this section coming back to a small mountain town, Villach Austria, where he got back into cell reception. He said he had been solo for days, not seeing a soul for over three. The water eating candy, nuts, dried fruit and ramen, wishing he had more time on the ride to take it even slower, give each view the time it deserved to fully saturate the sole. But that is often the dilemma with time. Stay, or ride on to get to your destination within the allotted time you have.
"Finding the lost mountain road was the most epic day for sure, that was super magical, nice grade for riding all the way, insane views, super clean water everywhere."
God speed friend, and here is to many more...