There’s nothing more wholesome than seeing someone use a bicycle for absolutely every daily task and errand that life throws at them. From grocery shopping and daily commutes to camping weekenders, pup hauler, and acting as a rolling supply truck, Reese Butler uses his beloved Omnium Mini-Max to its fullest potential around the streets of Paris. And it keeps rolling with an integral repair after getting hit by a car while parked…
A passionate cyclist from his early years, Reese needed a bike to replace the type of vehicle usage he had been familiar with while living in the United States. After seeking advice from local connoisseurs La Chouette, Reese came to realize that the Mini-Max could become a realistic every day bike for pretty much anything and everything.
The versatility of pretty much any Omnium (now becoming very much a la mode in Paris), means that it didn’t take many personal modifications from Reese for it to cater to his needs. The ride feel, and the seemingly unending potential of Omniums, especially for a city the size of Paris, means that it has become a true solution to owning a car.
Reese added a heavy-duty plastic cart ratcheted down on the front rack to make a home-from-home for road dog Penny (with an extra panel removed on the side to allow for unencumbered tail wagging). He also added a wide SimWorks Super Yummy tyre at the back, ideal for some of the single track and gravel terrain he and Penny hash through on longer trips, and riser bars to help give a more upright position, and to allow for easier access for intermittent pats on the head for Penny. A set of wide Burgtec 1604 pedals help add stability and grip, not just for the gravel outings, but also to help sure-up the ride feel with commuting around the city with a heavy load.
One of the constraints of living in a city, especially for a larger sized bike, is storage. Ultimately, there is no place like home, and with Reese being an accomplished bag designer (Dust being the moniker for his line of work), he set about recreating a nineties MTB style shoulder pad to help make lifting the bike up the four floors to his Parisian apartment slightly more comfortable.
However, as many of us in Paris know, the risk to our bikes is rarely kept far at bay. “Bro, a car hit my Omnium while parked. It’s totaled”. A text to send shivers down any cyclist’s spine, but even more so in this case, as it’s not just Reese’s daily life that would become upended by the bike being out of action, but also that of Penny.
See more about Fin and Stolen Garage in our Shop Visit
A lapse in attention from a rogue driver (leaving no trace of accountability either, merci!) left the Mini-max with a hefty blow in the top tube and a badly bent rear triangle after it had been parked during the day in a bike-designated zone. The days of Reese & Penny getting to ride off into the sunset for a weekend camp seem to fade into darkness.
And yet…after a frantic flurry of photos and text messages being sent off to Stolen Garages framebuilding guru, Fin, the faintest signs of hope. “He thinks he can save it,” Reese muttered the reply from Fin, phone in one hand, shaking espresso cup in the other. The grim reality of forking out for another frame started to seem like Plan B; maybe the bike wasn’t quite as dead as it had once seemed.
Queue some welding wizardry from Fin, a replaced top tube, a straightened rear triangle, and against all odds, the bike was rolling, almost as if the whole trauma had never happened in the first place. Reese and, of course, Penny were once more hailing down wide boulevards, now with a very one-off modified Omnium.
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!