Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Testing, Testing

Sorry, you won't find too much here from me I'm afraid, I've been off testing dockless bike share in the Bronx:


You can read all about it on the Bike Forecast tomorry.

Oh, remember how my son and I did the cyclocrossing this past weekend?  Well unfortunately for me there's photographic evidence:


(From here.)

I'm looking forward to the cease-and-desist from Jeff Jones ordering me to never allow myself to be photographed on one of his bikes agaain.

Finally--and this is how out of it I am--I didn't realize Rapha had changed their image:



This is a few months old now, but apparently they've abandoned the whole "glory through suffering" schtick and are now doing the whole "bros-n-sisses having good times together" thing that's so hot with the millennials nowadays.

Can't say I blame them, mind you, because suffering on the bike does not age well:


You might sell some life insurance with that image but that's about it.

40 comments:

Jake said...

Glory through suffering? Thought you'd cornered the market on that.

Matt said...

Yeah...I'd say "Glory thru suffering" has lived it's day...along with "chicks dig scars". I'd personally give up all my future scars to not live thru the healing, chicks or no chicks (note: my wife definitely does NOT dig scars...the look on her face when I come home and show her my latest injury proves that one is adamantly FALSE!) Where are the Mythbusters when you need them?

janinedm said...

That zoom in on your face killed me. I've saved it for future use as a reaction meme. Sorry.

Serial Retrogrouch said...

...a beard the size of Jone's would go a long way in hiding the suffering on your face... would go nice with the fat tires to boot.

Anonymous said...

Nice Foam Hat! - Masmojo

HDEB said...

Looks like a fairly difficult climb that BSNYC is navigating better than the two people behind him.

Anonymous said...

good stuff. Is rapha coming out with denim cycling jacket? for the low low price of $299.

Chazu said...

Bring back the BSNYC kit. Perhaps a TT* update is in order.

*Tan Tenovo and/or Time Trial

Grump said...

"Glory through suffering"????….I achieved much suffering over the years, but little glory......Speaking of "bike share"., there is a nice 9 mile loop in a county forest preserve, a block away from my house, that I use as a way to ride to hit country roads. A month or so ago, I noticed that a total 8 bikes were parked at two different locations on the paved trail. They were dockless bike share bikes for anyone to use. Doing some research, I found out that the Cook County Forest Preserve people were setting up 500 bikes like the ones I saw in all of their preserves.....I wonder how they keep them from being stolen?

pbateman actually rides 38's and is not very smart at all said...

you actually don't look to bad. nice of you to NOT wear the jorts for that race. that helped a lot.

i've been doing all manner of futzing around with my various bikes. i have gone from one truly ready to ride bike, and 3.5 project bikes in various states of not-ready-to-ride, to now having 2 (two) rideable and another yellow one that is getting oh soooo close to being rideable.

also, turns out a Dawes Atlantis will hold my 650bx38's (here i thought i had 32's for like..ever, but they are 38. i'm not very smart). and i dont know if its just being on something new, or the geometry, or the sweet 531 steel, but lord that bike rides like a sweet sweet mofo. and its handsome as hell. i feel bad for letting it sit neglected for so long.

anyone else have bikes just like..sitting there and you dont do anything with them but one day you do and you say "wow, you are not very smart. this is a nice bike. what was i thinking?"

anyone else do that?

Don't rush your work said...

"agaain" with the typos.

I thought you appreciated the details.
It's like the rust on your Ritte.
Maybe that's the effect you are going for?

dop said...

I thought you couldn't use an MTB in cyclocross. Is the Jones a fat-tired CX bike? Or is this one of the exquisite perquisites of bike blogging?

the commentariat said...

Nope, PBateman, just you...

SoonerNate said...

I remember Chrissie Wellington racing with a smile on her face. Suffering or not, a sanguine look on her face made me think “that looks fun!”

Thanks for setting me back, Eben.

Some guy from upstate said...


I dunno, from Pawling's Facebook page it looks like everyone else is either pushing, carrying, or desperately grinding their way up the that hill, meanwhile the guy on the Jones is happily pedaling away with his butt squarely in the saddle. OK, maybe not happily, but in a better state than in any picture of me in a race, ever.

And, I may need to get a hockey jersey now. I think you got something there.

BikeSnobNYC said...

dop,

No flat bars and max tire width of 33mm I believe in UCI events; otherwise you can ride whatever unless the organizers say otherwise.

--Tan Tenovo

Olle Nilsson said...

Hmm, might be good reading - sounds like a neighbourhood near me is getting Jump bikes. Yep, progressive city to the left, progressive city to the right and I choose to live in this cycling wasteland. Good times.

P!N20 said...

Unfortunately Rapha had to make all their Freds redundant:

https://road.cc/content/news/248095-rapha-announces-redundancies-bid-cut-costs

Millennials are heaps cheaper, just feed them gluten free vegan burritos.

Bromptonaut said...

See Rapha video @ 0:47. Will you be training young snob to mount/dismount his cyclecross bike by throwing his leg over the handlebars if that's what the cool bros do these days? Looks to have great potential for suffering without any glory whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

Bike Snob- Glad to see your son's enjoying the Islabike. Our daughters are 9 and 11 y.o. and we got them the Luath 24 and Luath 26 in June, then went cycle touring along the Danube River and the Romantic Road in Germany/Austria for 8 weeks this summer. They had the mudguards, racks, Schwalbe Marathon tires, and small Ortlieb bags- they performed well despite being designed as XC bikes. Now they are doing XC in Fairfield County (if you & your progeny are free on Tuesdays, check out https://www.bikereg.com/40011) and are enjoying the same bikes in a very different environment.
One issue we had is that our 9 year old had a tough time shifting to a smaller cog (swinging both STI levers) from the hoods. She can do it from the drops, but it is awkward- I wondered if you had a similar experience.

bad boy of the south said...

The one time i don't wanna say "go with flo".
Be safe everyone,in flo's wake.
Staying put and ridin'out the storm in NC.

George Krpan said...

The last scene in the Rapha vid was in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.

Stump said...

your shorts say YOGA!

Anonymous said...

Hey the kid who won the kid's race has a Yeti kit on, it was an outdoor shop in the province of Quebec, the one in Montreal was great! (it's now called La Cordée)

So are the results of the race invalid as the winner is possibly Canadian???

Just asking...

Olle Nilsson said...

Just read the TA post. Hope you still have that Brompton. Never getting rid of mine. Ultimate dockless no-share. Mind you, if it's just the last mile, those escooters are probably more compact and lighter.

BikeSnobNYC said...

Stump,

No, they say Toga, it is the name of a bike shop.

--Tan Tenovo

Anonymous said...

Why does RAPHA need all the people anyway? Other companies actually make the products they sell, everyone else must be a marketing-maven of some sort and the Sprawl-Mart owners don't want to be paying high priced help in London for that, do they? Blowing out tons of merchandise at 60% discount makes one wonder how long before the stuff's on the racks at Sprawl-Mart stores next to the crappy bicycles?

Anonymous said...

Glory through suffering is how I feel after breaking in a Brooks saddle.

pbateman thinks blue is either handsome or a bit much said...

Tan Toga Tanova (3T should send you some stuff for free to review)

Made the mistake of reading the TransAlt post ...actually, that wasn't the mistake. The mistake was reading that twee from Wai Young (which is how i like my girlfriends..ba da dum)

holy goodness that makes me want to do some bike advocacy and show up in meetings and sign petitions and also maybe throw poop on that ladies doorstep.

i'm gonna not that that anger me and remind myself how pleased i am that i realized the Kashimax lettering on the back of their saddles is the precise same yellow as my frame.

real question: anyone seen a royal blue brooks in the wild? cant decide if that is just a bit too much, and even if its just the right amount of too much...what bar tape? not going blue/blue. was thinking maybe blue/cork.

Anonymous said...

Tan Tenovo Time Trial Skinsuit, please.

It should be flesh-toned in a 'tan' shade of the Caucasian color-way, and it should feature a subtle wood grain pattern.

Schisthead said...

I'd be a dedicated customer of Torgo's bike shop.

I hear it's actually not his shop, he's just watching it while the master is away.

Pist Off said...

Pbateman of the long names, the bright color Brooks all seem too much to me. But it’s your bike, and we need to see a pic soon. I think there’s a navy blue Brooks that might look right to me. You must have unconsidered the Turbo-type seatway?

Anonymous said...

I like how the Rapha crew gets to the top and you can't see SHIT because of the... well is it smog? Or smoke from forest fires? The skyline below doesn't look like LA. Actually for some reason all the tall buildings are exactly the same size & shape.

Anonymous said...

You look like Gregg LeMond's little brother, in a good way.

Bunzinskibubenheimer said...

Tan is the new green.

THE Ohio State University said...

PBateman, if you put a blue saddle on a yellow bike, we will consider it a Michigan tribute bike and kill it with fire.

JLRB said...

PBateman @ 7:25 - Yes, I am in that camp. In part forced into it due to mechanical failures, time constraints/lack of priorities/laziness. My two preferred fancy bikes are on the injured reserve list due to: (1) an easily fixable wheel issue; and (2) a busted derailleur cable. I am stuck on a less fancy but utliliarian bike that is about to be on the DL due to a lack of padding left on its annoying little disc brake pads.

If only I trusted bike shops.

Fred McFredly said...

The last photo looks very Kevin Spacey-ey.

Anonymous said...

Grump, Bike share bikes use proprietary hardware, parts, etc. so there's no point in stealing them...except that I see "can rustlers" riding dockless bikes all the time. Speculation is they just break off the wifi-enabled lock and abscond.

babble on said...

Er, Mr Tenovo@ 9:38?
Don't forget cleats. UCI races require that your feet are attached to the pedals via clips.