By the way, if you're wondering how things are going with the Tresca, the next phase of testing will involve riding it in a sanctioned bicycle race, which I plan to do this weekend.
Secondly, I was also on the radio waves again yesterday, and you can listen to that show here:
A number of people have asked me if the show is available as a podcast, and the short answer is "no." As for why it's not available that way, you'll have to ask the radio station, because I have nothing to do with that stuff. I just show up, sit in front of a microphone, and set my brain to "bloviate."
And finally, while I've been riding my Midlife Crisis Fixie to the studio on Mondays, yesterday I rode the Jones SWB instead so I could drop it off with the winner of the essay contest!
Please note this is not how the bike looked yesterday; rather, it is a photo of the last time I washed it, which was quite awhile ago. Rest assured the winner received a fairly dirty bicycle. I did, however, add sealant to the tires and replace the chain before riding it down to Brooklyn and turning it over.
Since doing a back-to-back comparison between the SWB and the LWB I've been on the latter pretty much exclusively, so when I hopped on the SWB to head down to Brooklyn I was immediately stricken by how much smaller and more playful the SWB feels--as I'm sure I've mentioned, it has a sprightliness that belies its considerable heft. That certainly doesn't make one bike better than the other, and indeed I'm committing to the LWB over the SWB because I value its overall composure. (I like the longer wheelbase on the road, and I like the additional pedal clearance on the trail.) But certainly in an ideal world where space weren't an issue I'd happily go back and forth between both bike--and in a really ideal world I'd have an LWB in titanium with really light wheels and parts, because a bike like that would be truly amazing.
Hey, maybe we'll all get lucky, I'll get that titanium Jones, and I'll have an LWB to give away.
33 comments:
Podio! A Ti Jones LWB is simply his Space Frame, no? Maybe if you don't spend the high entrance fee for one you could wait another dozen years and score one not unlike yr Litespeed.
Surly is the mall punk of the cycling world. Invent subculture?!?! Re appropriate and market, you mean?
In this article "how to buy a weird ass bike, that totally expresses your individuality, just like everybody else"
I was all set to disagree with you, then I saw the disclaimer excluding department store bikes. I agree its pretty much impossible to walk into a bike shop and walk out with a crappy bike. Technology and manufacturing have progressed to a point where the bike goodness per dollar ratio is amazing compared to 30 years ago. You can even get a reasonable bike from a department store if you are looking for some utilitarian transportation and know what to look for (this is along the same lines as when you are in a diner, get the eggs or the club sandwich). Most people in department stores see two bicycle-shaped objects, and this one has knobby tires and is 80 bucks cheaper, which is where the trouble starts.
Also "it has a sprightliness that belies its considerable heft" sounds like you could characterize the SWB as "axially light, but vertically massive".
...Can't wait for the next competition. But I'm going to hold out for that ti-Jones!
Anonymous 12:06pm,
I'd give them a little more credit than that.
--Tan Tenovo
Surly = hot topic of cycling world. change my mind. They haven't invented shit. Biggest bicycle industry distributor in the USA, knocking off others' ideas and making them readily available is core AF
Surly can take yer haters. They do their own thing quite well. Fat bikes are a niche they helped make and make big, then they basically created 29+ on their own and that fed the bikepacking trend. The bikes are fairly indestructible and pretty affordable. Seems pretty DIY punk compared to most other midsize bike companies. Go argue against someone else’s street cred, like Santa Cruz.
"While I do believe that they are a good thing, they are, in the context of a bike this discussion, bad."
Um...can I get an edit please? "Did you mean "context of this discussion" or "context of a bike discussion."
Anonymous 2:04pm,
Why would I bother trying to change your mind? It's fun to revel in Integrity Police posturing, by all means enjoy yourself!
--Tan Tenovo
I've been listening to your show the last few weeks, and honestly I don't know how you do it. From the moment you're first caller started talking I was like, oh my god this is so exhausting. Good on you though, I hope it's making a difference.
@Anonymous 12:06pm What does Surly have to do with anything that was stated in today's piece? BTW, Surly makes great 4130 steel durable kick ass no nonsense bikes that if nothing else are simply fun.
if you’re a cyclist you’re always shopping for your next bike
So true. I have no idea what my next bike will be, but I'm already looking for it. I've always wanted a old De Rosa.
I went to my local bike store and they were super-helpful but I couldn't bond with the new aesthetics (straight fork, short stem, disk brakes.) I bought an A. Homer Hilsen from Rivendell. I told Will I wanted a bike that would climb hills, ride on asphalt roads, dirt roads and gravel roads (sometimes they're all part of the same road around here). I couldn't be happier, it's a beautiful bike and fits me perfectly.
"Pist Off said...
Surly can take yer haters. They do their own thing quite well. Fat bikes are a niche they helped make and make big, then they basically created 29+ on their own... more..."
Carl “Snarl” Schlemowitz, of Vicious Cycles in New Paltz, NY deserves a mention as well. I don't know if he was making 29ers back in 1994 when he started Vicious, but I remember him having 29ers well before any of the larger companies.
http://viciouscycles.com/index.php3
I've had 2 Surly's Cross Check & I Still have an Ogre' I can't say as I can really find much fault with either, just fun bikes that do seem to come with automatic street cred (even when the decals flake off). If I had any beef with Surly it's their dog gone multi-versatility. I dig that my Ogre' is multi-dimensional, but a plain ole' vertical drop out would make wheel changes & Flat fixing a bit more straight forward. They still sell single speed frames, so why have Multi speed frames that can be Single speeded??? It's just a bother. Didn't realize how much I liked Surly until the only shop around here that carried them closed. :-(
Tan, I know I am splitting hairs, but maybe All City was worth a mention?
-masmojo
Thanks for the column, Tan. While reading it, it occurred to me to wonder why box stores sell cheap mtb. when most people want them for basic transportation, and cheap hybrids would be more practical. Are those idiotic suspension systems really less expensive than a straight-up diamond frame? Am I wrong? Most of the BSO's I see are carrying poor people to their jobs, but that may just be my area.
Anyway, thanks for the food for thought.
Korina
i like my old bianchis, my old raleigh team pro, and my old independent and fat chance
regarding BSO wallyworld bikes,
two saying come to mind:
The customer is always right.
&
Do you know how dumb the average american is? Half of them are even dumber than that!
Walmart sells $129 full suspension bikes, because they sell.
Are you shamelessly trolling for another Jones? Good for you.
1904 Cadardi, By all means, find a DeRosa and buy it. I did so several years ago, a late '80s model with the first Chorus group. It's a totally sweet ride that brings smiles for me and whoever I'm with. A few were owners, but everyone wanted one, back in the day. The ride of a bike never changes.
Unkown @ 6:17 could have been me, but for the Independent. I have a friend who has one and it's his own forever bike.
@NYCHighWheeler, 29ers have many many pioneers and Surly wasn’t but an early 29” adopter. Bruce Gordon (RIP), Ritchey and Brandt (RIP), Wes Willits, Mark Slate at WTB, and the original DiamondBack Overdrive all had a part in the 29er story. I meant that Surly created 29+ or 29 plus, which is a bit of a niche. Surly made the Knard tire and a rim to fit 29x3 tires and the Krampus frame to fit em, all at once. That was the mainstream origin of 29+, but I guess because Surly is successful and some guy ran a Kris Holm unicycle rim as 29+ once that isn’t “punk” to some. Like anything has been “punk” since 1988 (it hasn’t.) Maybe even 1978. God, I hate underground purity arguments.
To All RE: Surly,
In addition to bikes like the Pugsley, etc don't forget they started out with the 1x1 and the Steamroller. Surly certainly didn't invent the idea of fixed-gear street bikes or single-speed mountain bikes, but they were among the first to meet the growing demands for inexpensive ready-to-build frames you could get from your LBS, hence my "given birth to entire subcultures" comment in the column. (I guess I could have said *helped* give birth, but whatever.) They've also stayed pretty true to the "compatible with absolutely everything" ethos. (Though as one commenter noted it does go a bit far, and sometimes I think of their frames more like giant adapters.) Even the Cross Check deserves a lot of credit for being among the first cheap and accessible CX bikes in the US.
Anyway, I'm sure Integrity Police was at the first SSWC and first CMWC and all the rest of it, and the idea of *gasp* paying for a ready-made frame or bike is hopelessly "Hot Topic" for him , but QBC is hardly Amazon. And the Pugsley was certainly the first fat bike I'd ever seen...
--Tan Tenovo
Bikesnob, you are hella easy to troll
You should go back to what you do best, making fun of goofy looking bikes...
https://theradavist.com/2019/09/evils-new-gravel-bike-embodies-the-brands-rowdy-dna/
Bicycle pubes has stolen your thunder.
Anonymous 1:30am,
Un, no, I'm XX years old for chrissakes. "Bicycle Pubes" is more than welcome to it.
--Tan Tenovo
Bought a Crosscheck frame and fork fifteen Earth years ago. I've built it up about every way you could imagine. It's never disappointed me and it's always been fun.
As to "street cred", out here we're just simple, hardworking Lob-fearing folks. "Live and let live" sort of folks.
And I'll grant, maybe in some peoples' eyes Surly "hasn't invented shit", but I don't see that as a negative. Like the man said-"Don't re-invent the wheel; just ROLL the motherfletcher."
Seems like going down a wormhole, all this trying to quantify the ineffable. Doesn't stop folks from trying to eff it just the same.
Rod shifters are cool!
Did you hear about the Florida man cutting break cables on rental electric scooters: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49909732
Why is it always Florida?
Only XX years old? I woulda thought at least XLVI
I agree with the article mostly that bikes are overall pretty good but have to add that in North America most of the lights are bad. A few import places carry some good lights from Germany but that involves knowing about them. You go into any store and the bike lights are just some batteries and super bright LEDs. Nothing else. They don't have good reflectors that point down only or a horizon cut off. The rear lights are point source LEDs which makes it hard for others to judge your distance.
Spot on. Today’s uninitiated noob can ride out of a bike shop with an “entry level” machine that is about a bajillion times better than what his nut-hugger wearing daddy would have bought in 1985. A basic “hybrid” with a rigid fork, trigger shifters, vee-brakes, and quality alu wheels is a super-duper fun riding machine when it is assembled by someone who is not a graceless, sub-moronic twit. I’ve directed countless acquaintances wishing to dabble in “recreational cycling” toward such bikes and all of them say pretty much report back some version of this here: “The bikes I had when I was a kid sucked! This new one is great!” I kinda hate all of the market segmenting and pseudo-specialization that has gone on (e.g, a disc brake gravel bike that you only ride on rainy Tuesdays in November) but if that is the price to pay for trickle-down goodness then so be it.
It's almost impossible to buy a bad bike *if you're an average sized man*. If you're an average sized 5'3.5" woman you've got loads of crappy-handling, stretched out generic options, if you're even slightly shorter than that better save up for that 26" custom (or find a 20 year old bike from when a couple companies gave a slight shit) because your off the shelf options are really trash
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