Chicago Velo

02/18/2025

Chicago post-hardcore trio With Patience debut the video for their new single called "It's Time" off their upcoming album 'Triptych.'

02/20/2023

Today I head to the hospital for my 10th surgery in 3 years. I have a condition known as spinal stenosis, which basically means my bones are calcifying and growing in all directions. This in turn leads to a variety of problems when openings and passages in the bones shrink and pinch and impinge my nerves, tendons, etc.

I recorded a bunch of stuff in April when I became worried that I would never be able to play again, at least as I would like to and had been capable of before this mess. It proved to be a good idea as it is now almost a year later, and no sign of relief or a return to form. I am able to play rock, hardcore and punk music just fine, but fast stuff like death metal, blast beats and fast double bass are out the window still. This video, as well as the Hot Snakes video, one other Dissuader song and a couple I was not able to pull off were the last recordings I did. These songs were all done with a torn rotator cuff (right side, three full tendon tears), busted right big toe, stenosis symptoms in my neck back and right foot and a messed up left hand and wrist. I have since had the shoulder, toe and hand repaired but the spine is going to be an ongoing problem.

Today they are going to do a second attempt at implanting leads to trial a spinal stimulator deivice. The last time they did this a few weeks back, it ended badly with a brand new pain in my left foot instead of relief in the right foot. I am crossing my fingers that this time it goes well and I can find relief and again, blast off.

This is a slower song I released two videos for a couple of weeks ago. I really couldn't manage high tempos but I like the composition of the parts and it was a great chance to play music again with one of my oldest friends and musical partners. Many thanks to Eugene Ryabchenko for his help and teaching and Anderson Rice for the wonderfulopportunityto work with him and Racine Cage on this. This video is the recording of the drum parts and has no vocals and in the comments for the video is a link for the full band video.

I am sharing this again because I aspire to play like I want to play, live life without pain and discomfort, and get back to the me I was.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement. See you all on the other side of this procedure.

Peace - Lee

Stop Gap By DissuaderGuitars – A. RiceBass – Racine CageDrums and Vocals – Lee DiamondThis is the first complete song from an online collaboration between th...

08/24/2019

Hey friends, especially local folks, I am selling all of the rest of the loaner bikes, tools, wheelsets, stands, components, etc and will have a sale from 1 to 3 next Saturday, August 31 at our shop space at the rear of 4750 N Milwaukee Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago. If you are interested in any of the items and you are from out of town, please messenger me and we can work out shipping.

Here is the post with the sale details, a gallery of pictures of most of the sale items and a price list of the majority of the stuff for sale.

Pictures are above in gallery for most items. All items are for sale now and you can secure it by emailing me at [email protected] and paying via Paypal. Otherwise, I will be doing a 2-hour sale at the bike building workshop located in the rear of 4750 N Milwaukee next Saturday, August 31,....

08/13/2019

The loaner bikes we built up for the Bike Tours over the past 11 years are all for sale. There is a new piece up on Chicago Velo, lots of new pages for all the bikes, 9 different eBay sales of the remaining library of bikes and a summary of all of that with links in the link below.

Many thanks to Alex Wilson and West Town Bikes, Joshua Haines Photography and Ben Fietz and Steven Blum at Tailwind Cycles.

A decade ago, I started building up bicycles so people could borrow them to ride on my bike tours  Most people brought their own bikes, but often I would have parties inquire about if I provided bikes, particularly folks from out of town.  I started the tours in 2007 and in 2008 started building u...

08/10/2019

It's been a while since I updated Chicago Velo but here is a new piece detailing the history of the bike library/loaner program with pages built out for many of the bikes we had built up for the rides that are now scattered across the globe, and many are for sale as well.

Details on the sale bikes are at the end and in the Bike Library main page.

http://www.chicagovelo.com/bikes-and-bike-stuff-for-sale/

03/19/2019

My first new post in a long time.

http://www.chicagovelo.com/new-life-for-an-old-pinarello-cross-bike/

Special thanks and highlights to Duane Waller, Michael Abene, Ross Felten, Owen Lloyd, Ben Fietz, Steven Blum, Chester Cycles, Tailwind Cycles and Blue City Cycles.

My old Pinarello Cross frame sits in my office, freshly painted and ready for its rebuild. It has been about a year and a half since I wrote an entry on Chicago Velo. It was even further back that I last held a tour of Chicago’s neighborhoods in the summer of 2017. That summer was…

08/29/2017

It has been a very difficult month since our dad died. I have been out of pocket for most of that time and I have truly appreciated all of the kind messages, posts, emails, calls, letters, texts and the like from everyone that has been checking in. Here is a little update on what has been going on for the past month and where we are now.

Thanks very much to you all. If you are up for it, my band Replica Republic is playing a show this Saturday at Reggie's Music Joint. Details are in the post.

http://www.chicagovelo.com/endings-and-beginnings/ ‎

It has been a little over a month since my sister and I found out our dad died. In that month, we have experienced what feels like a lifetime worth of startling discoveries and what seemed like a continuous barrage of shocks. A lot of what we unraveled is deeply personal and hard to share…

08/11/2017

http://www.chicagovelo.com/tour-hiatus/

07/26/2017

I am sad to say that the Downtown Night Tour is cancelled due to the death of my father. Peace to you dad.

http://www.chicagovelo.com/goodbye-dad/

Last night, my father, Charles Nissan Diamond died unexpectedly at his home. It hit my mom especially hard and I drove out to Cleveland today to begin the process of helping her, making arrangements for his funeral, and meeting the family that is congregating to celebrate his life. It has been a har...

07/21/2017

http://www.chicagovelo.com/downtown-night-tour-cancelled-tonight-postponed-until-friday-july-28/

Hi everyone, It is raining outside my window as I am typing and there is lightning in the sky. There is a flash flood warning in effect and my three open browsers with radar and weather forecasts don't look much brighter for the rest of the evening so I am going to cancel tonight's ride.…

07/17/2017

Friday Night Lights

http://www.chicagovelo.com/at-night-chicago-is-particularly-lovely/

When Chicagoans speak of their downtown area, they most often refer to it as the Loop. The term does indeed represent the central business district of the downtown area and is a designated Chicago Community Area, but Chicago’s Downtown also includes adjacent neighborhoods and communities and many of...