Bikes on Film: Father Brown Mysteries

 I've never liked paying for something I always had for free, like television. 

The offerings may have been limited (though we didn't know it at that time) during the kid stage of life, but it was free, and since that time I have never had any desire to pay for cable or satellite. And the offerings are still limited though to a different degree.

These days I can receive multiple PBS stations just over the air waves. That means I can watch the latest iteration of the Father Brown Mysteries and, even though the British series got its start in 2013, the episodes are all new to me. Father Brown, played by Mark Williams (who also played Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter series) gets around by bicycle, the exact type of old, black, upright bicycle with Brooks saddle and big bell on the handlebars, you would expect an English priest to get around on, and he does so pretty much every episode.

Naturally, one thing led to another, and I did a search "what kind of bike does Father Brown ride?" It was only then I bothered to look closely, with discerning eye - yes, those pedals and brake levers (adorning the presumed Pashley frame) are far from period pieces. Apparently neither are the tires (Schwalbe?). The stem and spacers have been questioned as well, but I couldn't tell a '50s quill stem from a '70s quill stem, and the spacers? I have to think they must have had those in the '50s (the period in which the series is set). Anyway, none of that really matters, it is still kind of fun seeing Father Brown ride into and out from a scene (when he does).