Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Wednesday: Folding Edition!

Here's your five-hundred-and-umpteenth reminder about my presence at the Bike Expo New York:


Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd I'll be at the Walz booth from 12-2pm.  The first 12 visitors on each day will receive a free limited edition cap.

Also, on Saturday, if you want to join me for a ride down to the Expo let's meet at Indian Road Cafe in Inwood at 10am.  (That's the Inwood in Manhattan, not the other one.)  I'll have some free caps there as well.  You buy your own coffee, cheapskates.

Finally, I also plan to squeeze in an early stretchy-clothes ride on Saturday morning, so if you're up for a couple of hours north of the city just email me at bikesnobnyc [at] yahoo [dot] com with the subject line "I WANT TO GO ON THE SUPER-SECRET EARLY MORNING RIDE!!!" and I'll give you the details.  Of course, bike dorks need a lot of hand-holding, and I realize you need to know everything about a ride, right down to what tire size and pressure is appropriate.  Therefore, this should give you a sense of what I've got in mind:

START TIME: Probably 7:30am, no later than 8:00am;
MEETING PLACE: Uptown.  Way uptown;
DISTANCE: Sub-epic;
DURATION: 2-ish hours;
TERRAIN: Mostly pavement, possibly some dirt, nothing a competent rider can't handle on a road bike but feel free to rush-order that custom gravel bike if you want;
PACE: Middle-aged bike blogger with a new baby at home and probably wearing a backpack with free Walz caps and a change of clothes in it;
ELEVATION: It's possible we may encounter a short climb or two, but you have to promise to wait for me at the top;
ENDING PLACE: Indian Road Cafe, where anyone who wants to can continue on down to the Expo with me, or not, up to you.

I've gotten a small handful of RSVPs so far and would happily welcome more.  Lastly, don't be shy, I have no intention of taking a bunch of pictures on these rides and then making fun of people on the Internet.  Seriously.  In fact, if anything I encourage you to take pictures and mock me on the Internet.

And if we see any goofy-looking strangers we can mock them together.

In other news, recently I found myself perusing New York City's motor vehicle crash statistics.  As far as I can tell, the data contained therein goes back to July of 2012.  Now, over the past three years, can you guess how many motor vehicle collisions were ostensibly caused by defective accelerators?


Well, if you guessed 259 then you're correct!


(You win nothing, get over it.)

Now, is it just me, or is that fucking crazy?  It seems to me either a whole lot of people are lying, or else we should expect some sort of massive recall in the immediate future.  (Hint: it's the first thing, people are full of shit.) In fact, if there are this many defective accelerators in New York City alone then we're well beyond recalls and there should be mandatory accelerator inspection checkpoints every 100 yards everywhere in the United States (a.k.a. Canada's defective accelerator pedal).  

I'm fairly certain though that "Accelerator Defective" is merely NYPD shorthand for when the motorist says, "I mistook the gas for the brake," which is an acceptable excuse for crashing your car in virtually any circumstance--though if you crash your car into another human being you might want to go with "The [pedestrian/cyclist/child/elderly person/Cub Scout troop/parade float/one man band on Rollerblades] came out of nowhere" instead, just to be on the safe side.

Oh, by the way, the number of motor vehicle collisions caused by "Aggressive Driving/Road Rage" during the same period appears to be 1,745.

One thousand seven hundred forty-five!

How the fuck is driving even still legal in New York City?  At the very least in order to hold a drivers license you should be subjected to mandatory psychological counseling every six months.  AAA, the auto industry, and the oil companies can pay for it.

Just kidding, the only reasonable response to motor vehicular violence is to make children wear helments:


("That's right, go to sleep, little girl, go to sleep...")

Then, when they grow up, if they insist on continuing to ride bikes, ticket the fuck outta them.

But let's move on to happier matters--well, happier for me, anyway.  Awhile back I mentioned I met with the good people at Brompton (did you know that to work for Brompton you need to be able to fold yourself into thirds, just like the bikes?), and that they promised me a loaner.  Well, yesterday they made good on that promise, and so I went to Red Beard Bikes in Brooklyn to pick it up:


(Brooklyn: always with the beards.)

Upon my arrival, I gazed upon their formidable Wailing Wall of Bikes:


And found myself inexorably drawn to the Lynskeys, what with their titanium tubes, standard headsets, and threaded bottom bracket shells:


If I hadn't just taken delivery of a new bicycle I might have gotten myself into some trouble.

In addition to a titillating array of go-fast bikes Red Beard also carries wares from Brooks and Brompton, and before long the proprietor, Ilya, emerged with my loaner bike, which he patiently taught me how to furl and unfurl.  

Unlike this person, it didn't take me long at all to get the hang of it:



Indeed the first thing I learned about Bromptons is that if someone shows you how they work they're ingeniously simple and very easy to use, but if someone just handed you one and walked away you'd never figure it out in a million years.  This is because there's some Hogwarts shit going on at the Brompton factory.  How else do you explain why the bike won't fold if you touch the handlebars?

Anyway, I didn't take pictures of any of that because I didn't know how Ilya would feel about my sticking a smartphone in his face while he explained the bike to me, but here it is later that night as I headed home:


Note that Ilya also outfitted me with this smart matching Brompton (by Ortlieb) bag, which snaps right onto a bracket on the headtube, and which I moronically photographed in front of a black background:


However, here's what the bag would look like if I were a good photographer, I'd taken the photo during the day, and the bike were under a fashionably-attired rider instead of leaning against a brick wall under the BQE:


Regardless, I had my bike and my bag and it was time to get home.

Shit was about to get multi-modal.

It seemed to me that the most fitting way to travel home with the Brompton was via Metro North, since folding bikes and commuter trains go together like mountain bikes and Subarus, or like NJS track bikes and the wall because their owners never ride them and they're out of style anyway.  Plus, the ride from Brooklyn to Grand Central would afford me plenty of time to test the bike in city traffic.  So I headed over the Manhattan Bridge, where I refrained from Cat 6 action photography but did take this static photo with the Empire State Building in the background:


This particular bike is equipped with a two-speed shifter, and the gears are basically "bridge incline" and "everything else"--which, as it happens, is ideal New York City gearing.  Indeed, the bike immediately proved itself to be a quick and nimble traffic-dodger, and before I knew it I'd reached Grand Central:


Where I nodded at one of my fellow "clownies:"


And where the lighting allowed me to photograph the bike's finish in more detail.  Here's the Obligatory Bottom Bracket Shot (which also includes most of the rest of the bike because it's tiny):


Here's the headtube where the bag attaches (the bag is independent of the handlebars so it doesn't affect the handling):


And here's the two-speed shifter, which I'm kind of in love with, because changing gears is like throwing a light switch:


Next I headed onto the main concourse, where I encountered your typical suburban commuters:


And then I headed down to the dining concourse for a late supper before my train's departure:


As I ate, the Brompton waited patiently at my side like an obedient terrier*:


*(Just kidding, terriers aren't obedient.)

Having folded the bike a few times by now I'd come to appreciate just how much better the design is than that of the 20-inch folding bike I'd previously been using.  Not only does the Brompton reduce itself to a very manageable size, but once it's folded it's folded, and then you just grab it by the saddle nose and go.  The 20-inch bike on the other hand depended on some rubber strap to stay shut, and if I wasn't careful it would pop open and thwack me in the shins.

Finally, once I'd finished gorging myself on station food I boarded my train where the Brompton rode unobtrusively beside me, which was a good thing because it turns out it was "bobblehead night" at Yankee Stadium and the train got pretty crowded:


Indeed, pedaling home from the station it occurred to me that I too probably looked like a bobblehead on my tiny bicycle, but I was enjoying it way too much to care.

103 comments:

Ted K. said...

3. If the system breaks down the consequences will still be very painful. But the bigger the system grows the more disastrous the results of its breakdown will be, so if it is to break down it had best break down sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said...

Easy now…because…I ride CAMPAGNOLO.

P. Bateman said...

top 3 cracka!

my weiner has the same bend as that bromptom.

P. Bateman said...

i also ride Campagnolo. i just kind of like it. its name is just plain sexier than shimano.

david bowie said...

ch-ch-ch-ch-chitty chitty bang bang

ken e. said...

zzzz mczzzerton!

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

No Comment.

dcee604 said...

Read the post first...

Dave - everywhere said...

Podi-o-do!!!

Spokey said...

top tennis again

w00=h00 now i can go ride

wishiwasmerckx said...

Cluttering up the top ten again.

The Trill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat said...

6th again!!!

dop said...

Maybe someone can put together an epic rap battle video oftullio campagnolo v shozuboro shimano

Vernal Magina said...

The Brompton girl is kinda cute (does she come with the bicycle?)

I'd sure like to see what she's got in her baggage...

82medici said...

Gli amici non permettono agli amici di cavalcare Shimano.

JLRB said...

Know when to hold 'em, etc

samh said...

>...I encourage you to take pictures and mock me on the Internet.

That almost makes me wish I lived in NYC. Well, not really, but the ride sounds fun.

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

"And found myself inexorably drawn to the Lynskeys, what with their titanium tubes, standard headsets, and threaded bottom bracket shells"

Can lead a horse to water but ya can't make 'em drink.

JB said...

Photo heavy. I can't wait...

dnk said...

hey snob and fellow blog-readers,

i would love to join the sub-epic ride.

but i recently broke my fucking arm while biking home from work. 2nd ave bike path: guy stepped off the sidewalk without looking and without warning. i wasn't riding particularly fast, but b/c of the way he hit me, there was nowhere to go but down.

4 Years of Latin 1 said...

"Gli amici non permettono agli amici di cavalcare Shimano."

Hey! Ho letto che correttamente senza Google Translate!

Anonymous said...

Your article dovetails nicely, though not quite as intelligently written (sorry) as Gladwell's (he's Canadian) piece in the New Yorker (The Engineer’s Lament).

Alex

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

I always thought you should have got the Brompton clown bike first. I'm slightly envious. Even though I have absolutely no need for a folding bike I've always wanted one.

Maybe someday in the distant future when commuter rail finally makes it into the back country I'll get me one.

Anonymous said...

The comments are looking a lot better today, good start ladies & gentlemen.

Lately I'm seeing some comments that don't have much substance to them, people just congratulating themselves for commenting or commenting on what they might have saw on a ride that morning. We need hard-edge comments in here that get right to the heart of the matter. No more filler or cheap processed additives, I want purely organic intellectual content that represents the best comment writing on any blog on the internet.

piskian said...

Better get a cover for that Brommie.Some bugger,ll halfinch that in a Shanghai minute.

Greenbelt said...

Just because I feel like sharing, may I present my photograph of a new bike lane in Maryland.

Happy bicycle cycling with the whole family!

Jeff

Anonymous said...

vsk said ...

Hey, just in case you didn't know,... it's nice out!

Olmo to work. Better today than the 2 rear flats i had last night!

vsk

Bryan said...

A few thoughts in no particular order:
1) That bike with the purple stem is right up my alley.
2) Is that a chain ring or a 3rd wheels??
3) A Brooks saddle makes anything look cool
4) Despite the Brooks, the bike still looks a little goofy. I don't know if it is the flat handlebars and the brake/ergo grip angle or what. Someone living in a very densely populated city could be forgiven for the aesthetics, as well as a traveller. I can't say I would ever want something so small (well, I mean anything I already *don't* have outside my pants). As I look forward to getting my grubby hands on a hot green Peugeot ATB tonight to use as my urban commuter (yay for cities that have <150k people lolz), I can't say I envy the dense city crowd.

I do have a question though. I have never ridden something with small wheels since I was a small child (and I ask this out of pure ignorance)...what is it like pedaling something with such small wheels? Is it relatively normal, or do you tend to notice that you have really small wheels?

Bryan said...

@Anon @1308: if you want intelligent discourse you have come to the wrong comment section. We here like to demand boobies

Bryan said...

One last thing....when is the driver recall going to happen?

groanhammer said...

coming for you, snobbie

babble on said...

OMG. Can you say "Wanker," boys and girls? Holy fucking stuffed shirt, Batman. The biggest issue on the internet today is the borderline personality content to criticise others from behind the screen of anonymity.

But Whatever. I am going to climb a mountain, because I missed the first Tuesday Night World Championship criterium last night whilst we ate cake and celebrated the boy's birthday. And as much as I LOVE my Lynskey, today I am going full Fred and riding the crabon beast. Because it has the crabon wheels, crabon crankset and ti-mag pedals, and weights less than the Lynskey does these days. And when it comes to hills, I need all the help I can get.

And the Brompton? Cute! Suits you, Snobbydoobydoo! Way more than that "Came from a Kinder Egg" Strida I've been known to unfold and ride once in a deeply shaded blue moon would do. The Brompton has a certain, bigger- than-the-bike-itself style. How long do you get to test ride that baby, Snobi Wan?

Zodiac said...

I see Unabomber is back

Intellectual commentating? Like where is Pilgrim Shoes Jenny, Uma the Pump Girl, and Julie's Boobies? Not to mention Recumbabe, who doesn't give a shit anyway.

TUBBG is positive and cool, but he just doesn't have the hard edge you need to get world class snark.

Btw, the Brompton looks really hawt, and I have no need for one, and really no where I would ride it, but I want one. But I could go for a Lynskey, and the factory is a comfortable car that I own ride away. A fool and his money....Maybe next year

Grump said...

Snobby, whatever you do, don't ride that folding bike in Baltimore. The cops there might just decide to try the same thing on you.
(or not)

bad boy of the north said...

hey dnk.sorry to hear about your arm.feel better.
snob,are you planning on taking the clown bike on the super secret epic?wish I was going.gotta save myself for the five boro.

P. Bateman said...

that brompton chick is hiding some nice ti-tas under that flowing red cape thing she's wearing.

all this boob talk has made me hungry.

Anonymous said...

vsk said ...

Sorry to hear DNK.

I ride that stupid lane all the time and all the fraternizing that goes on in the lane, 'specially around 8th St / St. Marks is way old.
Had a 2 block long shouting match with an oblivious ped there last week.

The bike lanes should be treated like railroad tracks. Fuck around in them all you want, but when people are coming through, get the fuck out of the way, we get ticketed for not riding in them.

I am so lucky that my commute goes through a lot of (for me anyway) easy territory. The lanes are great but you many times have to assume a wheelchair pace. The Ventura Tire Bell is awesome, so is attaching sharp stuff to the front of the bike. I really want studded gloves at this point.

Get well soon DNK, I feel your pain (well, not really but I share your Road Rage).

vsk

leroy said...

Dear Mr. BSNYC --

My dog advises that one should never negotiate with terriers.

I don't know how I could have missed you on the bridge last evening.

Did you see me? I was the guy on the bike.

(I was whistling the "Blue Danube" waltz. Been stuck in my head. How strange tunes get stuck in so much empty space is a puzzlement.)

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

How was that Chang?

bad boy of the north said...

in the typical suburban commuter photo,which witch was which?

FR8 said...

Snob,

I hope you enjoy the Brompton. I commute on mine (3 speed M handlebars) in NYC. A couple of tips for you:

They're twitchy (low trail/high trail?-ask Jan Heine) so best keep both hands on the bars and give up Cat 6 photo shoots.

The small wheels ride fine (Bryan)but watch out for NYC potholes of a certain size.

I look forward to more insightful reviews of this great machine.

leroy said...

Dear Mr. Anon 1:08 --

Well if it's purely organic intellectual content you want, you can't do better than this explanation of Henry Kissinger's musical predilections.

Dear Mr. dnk --

Sorry to hear about your dnf. I always assume someone is going to do something stupid on that part of my commute. Got smacked in the face with a door near there last year. My dog was impressed. He said I looked like something out of Picasso's Guernica. Get well soon!

Mr. Magoo said...

”…(low trail/high trail?-ask Jan Heine)…”

I tried to ask Jan Heine but ended up asking Jan Terri by mistake

dop said...

I had some purely organic content when I woke up, but as a petulant artist, I flushed it away.

dnk said...

thanks vsk, leroy, et al.

vsk: spot on, it happened at 7th Street and 2nd Ave.

BamaPhred said...

Yeah, all of this. I too want to know confined to what was with the typical suburban commuters. A nice picture, I just cant figure out.

Carrying over from the previous blogulation commentating Spokey, I recall witnessing an accident similar to your brothers'. I was amazed. The geezer walked away from that one, but not the bike.

BamaDumDum said...

Coonfined? where did that come from?
I meant what's up with the typical suburban commuters. Sheesh.

BamaDoubleDumDum said...

Coonfind? damn hunting dogs keep walking on the keyboard

Mr Plow said...

A fail safe system fails by failing to fail safely

Anonymous said...

Had a good yell at the apple salmon on Tantau last night...

2 speeds is perfect for many rides around here, too. Just fix the rear deraileur
and only shift on the front. Really helps when 2 miles upwind is followed by 3 miles downish. Stay away from real hills.

Anonymous said...

Ted K. - you had me at "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race" but now that you used "sooner rather than later" correctly, I'm totally your boyfriend.

Sachs Sturmey-Archer said...

"...2 speeds is perfect for many rides around here, too. Just fix the rear deraileur

Or get one of these or these.

1983 David Byrne said...

Here's your ticket, pack your bags, time for jumpin' overboard. Transportation is here!

grog said...

I suppose that could have been Recumbabe in her "fashionable attire". Really, the 'Babe is our purely organic intellectual content that represents the best comment writing on any blog on the internet.
MORE BABE
BOBL HEAD
HAPY BDAY

JLRB said...

I watched the whole 3 minutes of red jump suit - for some reason I was expecting the conductor to throw her foldie off the train. I was disappointed.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Magoo,
You're a jackass for leading me to that Jan Terri video.
200k views?!

Also,

BOOBS

Blowme said...

Is oral argument about gay marriage legal?

Anonymous said...

A Brompton in the super chic 'raw' finish - dead smart matey !

Does it have the soft or the hard 'suspension' block ? If it's the soft do you find yourself bouncing up and down like a bride's nightie ?

herzogone said...

I prefer "circus bear" to "clownie".

Anonymous said...

Couple of COD contenders at 3:07 and 3:09.

Spokey said...

what a waste

sorry i went out this gorgeous day and missed all the organic intellectual content

best day of the year so far.

Pathetic old Cyclist said...

Yankee bobbleheads...Yesterday Babs thought kids with chicken necks looked like bobblehead when they wear their helments. Mebbe we can make Snobbie - Babble heads. Ask the Walz people on Saturday.

Pathetic Old Cyclist said...

Anon 1:08

How was that for high - falutin' content?

ce said...

"That's right, go to sleep, little girl, go to sleep..."

Dooth said...

The only organic intellectual content I can humbly submit is...SCRANUS.

Derivative said...

The comments about commenting are pretty organic and intelectual

recumbent conspiracy theorist said...

A pile of horse manure as it sits and undergoes organic decomposition can generate enough heat to actually catch fire.

A cry for attention said...

I rode my bike today,
to see if I still feel.
I focus on the pain.
The only thing that's real.

Anonymous said...

A cry for attention -
Steel is real

ce said...

dnk, were you wearing a healmant?

Snobbo, I approve wholeheartedly with your two most recent bikecycular acquisitions. I myself have very little, to no need for a Brompton, but I would still love to get one anyway. It would be like the Leatherman multitool I always wear on my belt. I would take that Brompton with me everywhere in the pretty much nonexistent boot of my tiny Suzuki Jimny - the Brompton of the off road vehicle world. As it is, my standard load out for day to day motor vehicle commuting includes a Stihl 201T chainsaw - the Brompton of the chainsaw world, and an Alpacka pack raft - the Brompton of the paddling world. You just never know when you might feel the urge/find the need to go for a bit of a paddle/rescue the person stuck in the floodwater; cut a couple bits of wood for the campfire/cut your way through the fallen trees to get to the hospital after the storm; or take advantage of a break in the schedule to go for a nice little ride/continue on by bike after the fuel runs out, but the zombies are still coming.

Anonymous said...

Vernal magina 12.56

I think she has a vibrator and a picture of you like most female cyclists. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

P. Bateman 1.27

Ok Nice. Why not show us your tool. Or are you, as i suspect, a massive tool?

Dave said...

Took a little fun ride on a gorgeous spring day last Sunday. Stopped at the turnaround point under the stunningly vast Wilson Bridge just below Alexandria, where there is a very nice park. Kickstood the Barcroft and went into the men's room; emerged a minute later, and my wife said - better check out the bike, a fat lady brushed against it and knocked it over and broke your mirror. We were surrounded by huge, empty, unobstructed space. One might think that fat lady had to work hard to stagger into my bike. But it illustrates certain deep philosophical and quantum-physical speculations: if for example the whole nigh-infinite universe only held two atomic particles, and there were no special reason for them to be drawn in to a collision, how long before one of them clumsily staggered over and knocked over the other one's bike? Answer: about 90 seconds.

That's why I keep a supply of replacement mirrors in a drawer. I can't stand it when some oblivious Higgs Boson is sneaking up on me.

Anonymous said...

Bryan 1.15

Grow bigger penis. Stop. Then just. Stop.

Things I learned on the internet today said...

1. People get mad when you harass, beat and kill them with official look the other way.

2. I do not want to see a picture of Bruce Jenner in a dress.

Anonymous said...

Is that another unpainted bike?

Brompton is just mocking you with the lack of a paint job and the non-cambium saddle. I bet it it isn't even chamfered.

Spokey said...

dave

I hit the porta john in duke's pawk today. but as a seasoned & wary rider, i rigorously scanned my surroundings to ensure no fat ladies were close enough to nock over my biek while i spent that luxurious 30 seconds.

There was a fellow sitting on a nearby bench but he seemed absorbed enough in his cell phony conversation that i was pretty sure he hadn't seen me come up.

dop said...

There is never a need to grow a bigger penis; per the instruction manual, if you rub them, they get bigger. (your experience may vary)

Spokey said...

dop

does that work with boobies too?

why does robot want me to type hipea? is it questioning my response to dave?

dop said...

only the little parts

Seattle_Mike said...

For another rider's perspective Scott's : http://practicalbiking.org/2011/08/why-i-ride-a-brompton-folding-bike.html/

Unknown said...

Are two speeds enough? If you're running late?

Olle Nilsson said...

Ride my Brommie way less than my other bikes, but I'd never get rid of it - and not just because it's way more expensive to buy another one now. Twitchy one-handed, yes, but keep both hands on the bar and it's stable going 68 Kommunist Miles Per Hour downhill.

P. Bateman 12:48 - try relaxing your grip.

Anonymous said...

Snob, any idea who will be coming from the farthest away to enjoy you ride? Or in other word who will have the largest carbon footprint in your peleton.

Dop said...

Break deal
Face wheel

Lord Humungus said...

Attack, my vermin, attack

dnk said...

ce @4:20,

i was wearing a hazmat. you can't be too safe.

and yet.....

Anonymous said...

Epic.

Anonymous said...

So if what Ted says is true it would be better to handle some type of economic breakdown now rather than later? All of a sudden the comments section is getting a shocker nobody ever imagined. Most people just make references to urban riding but Ted is advocating urban breakdown. Is Bike snob just gonna pretend this is not happening? He must be disturbed he has quit responding to comments lately and seems a little more serious. Somebody that's a happy family guy with little kids probably doesn't want to read apocalypse stuff.

Anonymous said...

Wow, the parallels to my own life are remarkable. Just this morning I was multi-modaling it when, riding along Central Ave feeling tired from yesterdays stretchy-pants activities, I glanced at the display in the "bus rapid transit station" and saw the next express to Schenectady was in one minute, shortening my commute from 15 to 6 miles and offering some quality flip-phone Tetris time. Then on Sunday I will be at the Albany Bike Expo, at the Albany Bike Rescue table. No hats, but we will be doing free skewer-tightening demos for Trek owners. If attendance is low I will blame you and your free hats.

babble on said...

Ouch, dnk. That totally sucks. Sorry to hear of your mishap. Thank goodness we humans are all so organic. We grow. We heal. We repair. Mend up soon so you can join us on the mean streets again, mkay?

Anonymous said...

Large flap.

dop said...

Anonymous at 12:16

Last Thursday, BSNYC actually had a thoughtful post that touched on problems with our society & bicycles, to wit, the use of bike regulations to harass African Americans in Tampa. I unintentionally hijacked the discussion with a gruesome picture of my broken rear triangle (I read the column after posting...it was a good one)

Anonymous at 12:56

Sure you're a commuter. Then on weekends you're riding in stretchy pants in Loudenville.

paulb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JLRB said...

cutting edge comment

paulb said...

I finally have a real serious question for WCRM. I know you don't use your Brand X foldcycle for rural road travel (or much else; it seems to have been a disappointment all ways round), but I have something similar to the Brand X, and it's my bike for Amtrak excapes and country road riding. (I don't think it's at all bad for that.) The EZ fold of Bromptons is appealing. I wonder if you can extrapolate how the Brompton would compare for rural riding. I realize yours is a two-gear model. Maybe this is an impossible question. Oh well. If so, never mind.

JLRB said...

DOP's rear triangle became a metaphor for the disconnect between our mental image that race relations are all fixed and tidy to the reality that our society remains quite fucked up.

98 said...

89

Anonymous said...

AGENT 99

JLRB said...

WOO HOO HOO HOO

Knüt Fredriksson said...

I'm going to wait for Brompton to come out with a 20+ wheeled model. The ride will be totally better than regular 20" wheels....

Spokey said...

JLRB

an intellectual and organic congratulations on your century victory.

now please step in to the testing tent.


Just WTF is it with matching these pictures. Snob is a sightist. Discrimination against 1/2 blind commenters. If I want to pick out sushi, i'll head over to shoprite.

bad boy of the north said...

JLRB...nice reasoning.
Was it me or did i see some stupid ass guy on a bike with a face mask involved with the demonstations in baltimore?i was watching one of the newscasts and the last few seconds of the video showed this nut on a bike.notice,i didn't call him a "cyclist".