In biking and in life, one should try for steadiness. To that finish, some days I trip into the town, and different days I trip away from it:
Within the metropolis you’re prone to encounter a Onewheeler within the bike path, whereas outdoors of it you’re prone to encounter the dreaded Cervidae Nonplussus, or “nonplussed deer:”
This kind of habits is what comes of getting no pure predators, and it additionally explains the habits of their city counterpart, the “entitled gentrifier.”
I additionally preserve a way of steadiness in terms of my wardrobe. Within the metropolis I put on designer biking denims and seasonal pastel hues:
Whereas outdoors of it I put on MUSA shorts and a classic Nashbar shirt:
As for my bikes, within the metropolis I trip this:
Whereas that is its rural–or no less than suburban–counterpart:
Someplace within the feedback final week-and I’m means too lazy to determine the place–somebody took situation with the design of the Homer’s seat lug, which frankly I discover stunning:
I imply I’d by no means attempt to persuade somebody to love one thing they don’t like, and clearly my very own tastes are extremely suspect (I put on a Nashbar shirt for chrissakes), however my first thought after I noticed this was, “Wow, that’s wonderful–this bike’s lugs have lugs!” Even the cutout is painted! I imply I suppose the entire keep state of affairs is chunkier than the one on the Platypus:
And it’s not chromed and pantographed within the excessive Italianate type:
(Is that even thought of a pantograph? I’m speaking in regards to the seatstay, not the sticker.)
However foolish me I assumed it was stylish, and positively wherever your eye wanders on this factor there are curlicues for it to observe:
Too dangerous the cutouts within the backside bracket shell aren’t additionally painted, as a result of it RUINS THE WHOLE BIKE!!!
Truly, for all I do know portray these is a large aesthetic no-no. (“Thou shalt not embellish with paint any lug under the axle line!”) At any fee, THANK FUCKING GOD there’s some paint detailing on the dropouts!
Talking of the dropouts (Or is it a fork finish? Oh, who provides a shit?), you’ll discover there’s a pair of eyelets. There are additionally some in the course of the fork blades:
In the meantime, on the rear of the bike, there are attachment factors on the higher seat keep:
In addition to mid-seatstay:
Plus one other pair of eyelets on the rear dropout:
I’m not presently utilizing any of them, as I discover the saddlebag enough for my sandaled meanderings:
The explanation I point out all of that is that each time I trip this bike I marvel at how good it feels after which I feel, “I ought to simply commute on this too.” I even assume it whereas I’m driving the Eye of the Tiger bike, which additionally feels actually good, however shouldn’t be as comfy and refined. This makes it unhappy, which is why it likes to sulk at the hours of darkness in entrance of gothic buildings:
From a purely sensible standpoint, the Homer would make an ideal commuter exactly due to all these eyelets and braze-ons; on the Eye of the Tiger bike there are solely single eyelets entrance and rear, which implies I’ve acquired to double up on the rack and the fender stays–which is ok, although I do discover I’ve acquired to comfortable up the pannier-side bolt ever so typically and it will in all probability be safer in the event that they every had their very own eyelets. (Little question a budget rack can be an element.) It’s even acquired a correct headlight for these late-night return journeys on the Hudson River Greenway, and is only a rack and a pair of fenders away from being a dream commuter:
From a extra emotional standpoint, as a semi-professional bike blogger of a sure age, I more and more discover myself pondering, “Why not commute on a actually good bike?” I’m a broadcast writer, father of seventeen (17) kids, and trip round on a fucking Softride half the time simply so that you don’t should. Don’t I deserve a metropolis bike so decadent and luxurious that even its lugs have lugs? Additionally, I really like driving it, so why not trip it much more? Furthermore, I’m not frightened about it getting scratched, or dented, and even stolen–I imply sure, I’d be extraordinarily irritated if it acquired stolen, nevertheless it appears a disgrace to make use of one thing you’re keen on simply since you’re afraid one thing would possibly occur to it. Previous Man Petersen himself additionally wrote about just about this identical factor lately, and the way we’re typically disinclined to make use of one thing as a result of it’s too “good.” I do assume this is usually a disgrace–particularly should you’re somebody like me who has like 9 million bikes anyway. It’s not like after I was a messenger and my one and solely bike acquired stolen, and I used to be pressured to trip round on my cousin’s crappy previous Mongoose till I got here to my senses, acquired an workplace job once more, and instantly went into much more debt to switch it.
Finally although, what retains me from giving it the total commuter therapy (no less than for now) is that I prefer it kinda “stripped down” (to the extent a Rivendell will be stripped down), and I don’t need to should hold placing stuff on it and taking stuff off of it. Plus, whereas I don’t care about dust, scratches, and even dents, I do like all the things to be operating quietly and easily after I head out for a purely leisure trip, and when you might have numerous bikes you might have the luxurious of “compartmentalizing” them mentally, which implies after I head out on this one (or take it with me on trip, it’s been my Devoted Summer season Trip Bike for the previous two years) I’m not irritated that one thing’s noisy or not working nicely, and I don’t affiliate it with dodging bros on Onewheels:
Simply the native potholes:
Sure, we’ve acquired gravel (or no less than poorly maintained roads), and we’ve acquired dust:
And the Homer is at dwelling on all of them:
It’s the nation model of my metropolis bike, and the loosey-goosey model of my clipped-in street race-type bikes. It might in all probability substitute any of these…however why?
You may by no means have too many bikes, simply so long as they’re all correctly balanced.
