And polished it with some Bona:
Okay, fine, that's a lie. I didn't polish it with the Bona, I merely took a photo of the bottle of Bona at target the other day because it sounds like "boner" and I'm about as mature as a kid who's preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. At the time I figured I'd use the photo to make some jokes about putting my Bona on my bike, but after few days passed I thought better of it and decided not to. However, by telling you all of this I've effectively made the joke anyway, but by framing it as a confession I don't have to deal with the responsibility, so ultimately I've managed to polish two bikes with one Bona.
Well done me.
Anyway, on Saturday while anybody sane was still asleep I partook in a bicycle cycling race in Prospect Park, and incredibly I managed to finish on the same lap as the winner and slightly ahead of the last-placed rider:
Then on Sunday the whole family headed out to the Orchard Beach Crit, and while I spared them all the embarrassment of racing myself I did have two horses in the kids' races, and here's one of them:
As you can see, when it comes to on-the-bike fashion his sartorial inspiration is Grant Petersen with a dash of Marvel. As for the race, he got off to a blistering start, but somewhere around the halfway point he forgot he was racing and began straying off course, at which point his priorities shifted from winning to pointing and laughing at some seagull poop. So in other words he's a chip off the old wooden bike.
Speaking of horses, the Times did a little write-up on New York City builder Horse Cycles, and it probably would have been pretty good if the writer actually liked bikes:
However, judging from the opening, he really doesn't:
Twenty years ago, riding a bike through New York City was seen as crazy — a radical act reserved for bike messengers, die-hard commuters and former Talking Heads frontmen.
Today, the city is covered in green lanes filled with tourists on Citi Bikes, lawless delivery men on electric bikes and hipsters coasting on Dutch utility bikes or brakeless fixies. But one type of bicycle that is rarely seen is a mountain bike — its knobby tires too cumbersome in Midtown traffic, its handlebars too wide to squeeze between taxi cabs.
Wow, talk about pissing all over New York City cycling. At the very least you should spend years as a failed bike racer and start a bike blog before you do that. Also, in what alternate reality is a mountain bike "rarely seen" in New York City? The goddamn things are everywhere, and even in the age of the ebike they're still extremely popular among food delivery riders:
Oh, wait, sorry, that's Ol' Piney. (Don't worry, it's reverted back to normal.) Here's a typical New York City food delivery bike:
As for the bars being too wide to cut through traffic, apparently he hasn't noticed that the fixie set are all using super wide bars now, even in New York:
(Pic from here.)
Yes, they can still ignore brakes but they can't ignore the principles of leverage. Plus, chopping your bars is so 2009:
Anyway, none of this is to disparage Horse Cycles, about whom I know little, but who seem to be making a pretty cool bike:
Mr. Callahan, 38, is a lifelong bike fanatic and the owner of Horse Cycles, a custom bicycle company based in Williamsburg that he founded in 2007. Known mainly for gorgeous steel-framed urban bikes, Mr. Callahan recently turned his attention to building what he described as “the ultimate East Coast trail bike.”
“The trails around here are really technical, so you don’t get many smooth, easy climbs,” Mr. Callahan said. “I want to make something that gives me more stability and strength when climbing, but also will allow me to start riding more challenging, bigger, steeper terrain.”
It's just that after reading a bunch of stuff like this I still don't know anything about it:
Instead of trying to compete with top-of-the-line, full suspension bikes from big brands like Cannondale and Trek — these have a giant, shock-absorbing spring or piston built into the frame — the Hell Cat is a throwback to the first generation of mountain bikes. It is what’s known as a hardtail — a rigid, high-grade steel frame, with only a front suspension fork.
I mean, I realize this article isn't written for experts, but it could at least mention what size wheels the thing uses.
Also, this bothered me:
Mountain biking is not a cheap sport — a top-of-the-line Cannondale can cost more than $7,000 — and for those hoping to get a Hell Cat of their own, it will take some money as well as patience. The Hell Cat frame alone costs $2,200, and a fully customized bike, tailored to a rider’s geometry and with a personalized paint job, takes about eight weeks, start to finish.
Sorry, but mountain biking is an extremely cheap sport. Just throw on some jorts, hop on a Surly, and go nuts. Honestly the most expensive thing about it is probably the weed. I mean sure, you can spend more than $7,000 on a Cannondale, but it should be said that anyone actually does spend $7,000 on a Cannondale is kind of an idiot. (Unless of course $7,000 simply isn't a lot of money to you, in which case mountain biking still isn't an expensive sport.) You know what's an expensive sport? Yachting:
Aluminum hull?!? Wow, over 66 million Euros and you don't even get crabon....
from Bike Snob NYC https://ift.tt/2wnxJgi
No comments:
Post a Comment