Stick Around Long Enough And The Trends Will Come Back Around And Thwack You In The Back Of The Head

In my most recent Outside column I pointed out that you can make your road bike safer by raising your bars and reducing your reach, and in response a commenter had this to say:

Anonymous said...

"You don’t have to drop the drops, but you should bring them higher up and farther back. Not only will this improve your stability, but it will also keep you from pulling a Superman should you manage to go down anyway."
WTF? What bike expert other than you and "self-proclaimed guru" Grant Petersen would make this claim? I hate to break this to you O'Mighty Snob, but putting more of the rider's weight on the rear wheel by moving the handlebars higher up and farther back simply does NOT improve stability.

January 10, 2019 at 10:38 AM

Really?

Get on your road bike, head to the nearest section of rough road (cobblestones if you have them), and tell me where you put your hands and how shift your body weight.

Yeah, I thought so.

By the way (and I shouldn't have to point this out) I'm not saying everyone should ride a Petersen-esque road bike, I'm just saying that there are plenty of people who might be better off on one and don't realize it and/or are in denial.

In other news, you are probably familiar with Speedvagen, but in case you're not here you go:

Look closely: every curve and line of the Speedvagen frame is designed to look and work perfectly together. The headtube, for example, is shaped perfectly to pair with the lines of the Enve Composites fork, smoothly transitioning from frame to headset to fork crown. The tubing of the frame is robust at the front of the frame and is smaller toward the seatmast, to smooth out any roughness from the road that's transmitted up to the saddle and the rider. The seat stays hug the wheel tapering flat and wide for a smooth ride and creating a beautiful silhouette from behind. Frame-to-component interfaces are mated with stainless reinforcement in high-wear areas—their curvatures smoothly blending between the tubes they attach.

If you're the type to wear Rapha you just soiled yours after reading that.

Anyway, when it comes to the zeitgeist, Speedvagen are very much in touch with it.  For example, they've been selling designer pit boots since at least 2010, and look at cyclocross now:

So basically, if Speedvagen gets involved, you know it's going to be a "thing."

Given this, it's pretty safe to say that at this point skating is going to be the new gravel, because now there's a Speedvagen skateboard deck:

Surprise! For some reason there’s a natural progression from skateboarding into bikes. Our shop is no exception to that, with a few of us spending a majority of formative years skating. While most of us now use bikes to chase those moments of feeling truly free, we figured it would be fun to honor that past life and get out there a little bit more on these. 

It's called the "Surprise Me" deck, and I was indeed surprised since it's only $50.  After all, this is the same company that sells a $3,500 coaster brake bike:

So, having recently sprained my foot while playing on a board with wheels, it's simultaneously embarrassing and comforting to know that I'm following the middle-aged bike dork script to the letter.  It's also safe to say you can expect the masters fields in 2019 to be quite thin since everyone's going to be sidelined with skateboarding injuries.

Actually, maybe that's Speedvagen's plan.  And if tricking cyclists into hurting themselves is what they're trying to do then I take full credit for giving them the idea.

Finally, speaking of doing tricks on stuff with wheels, I found myself wondering if fixed-gear freestyling is still a thing and apparently it is:


As far as I can tell the only new trick they've added in the past 10 years is bunnyhopping the homeless:

Otherwise it's still mostly just spinning around on your back wheel:

You're now completely caught up.

And now if you'll excuse me I'm going to convert my skateboard into a fixie by putting some Krazy Glue in the bearings.