***It’s the week between Christmas and New Yr’s Day. I’m not formally running a blog and this isn’t a publish. That is simply us hanging round and speaking.***
Additional to yesterday’s non-post, if these are the bikes I might by no means do away with, then it follows that I might conceivably do away with the remaining.
However might I?
It’s simple to select the bikes you’d by no means do away with, nevertheless it’s a lot more durable to stare into the unhappy pet eyes of the remaining and inform them that you’d. Listed here are these puppies:
Litespeed
Navin Johnson at all times needed a bath formed like a clam:
Equally, on the flip of the final century, I at all times needed a snazzy titanium street bike. Effectively, 20 years later I lastly obtained one, and it was all the things I hoped it will be.
So how might I probably say I’d think about eliminating it?
Effectively, it’s probably the best street bike I’ve ever owned, and it’s definitely an ideal distillation of the twenty first century street bike ethos. On the similar time, the Milwaukee can do all the things the Litespeed can do, however the Litespeed can’t clear broad tires or settle for fenders, so if I needed to ship one among them packing it must be the Litespeed. Not that I need to. However I might.
Soma
I’ve at all times loved fixed-gear bikes, regardless of the various years I spent ridiculing them. In reality, my enjoyment of fixed-gear bikes is exactly why I ridiculed them. It was powerful seeing one thing I loved became this:
Really, that was two issues I loved, because the GT Performer on which the above bike was based mostly was the recent bike once I was a younger BMXer.
Anyway, after not having a fixed-gear for awhile I handled myself to the Soma above, which now that I consider it appears kinda like that Performer homage in the event you squint. Nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy earlier than my elder son grew into it, and since he was concerned in Star Observe I principally turned it over to him. Now that he’s set that apart it’s reverted to me, and I nonetheless take pleasure in it ever time I trip it, however I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I trip it lots. I like having a hard and fast gear, and I’m particularly grateful for it when the climate’s foul, I need to trip, however I don’t need to topic a dainty derailleur drivetrain to all that grime. However I don’t trip it practically as typically as my different bikes, and the very fact is that if I must trip a fixed-gear the State I utilized in that “ lock up a bicycle in New York Metropolis” video would in all probability just do as effectively…although if I have been to do away with a fixed-gear it ought to in all probability be the State and never the flowery Soma:
Possibly I ought to seek the advice of the SomaDex.
The Normcore Bike
Ah, the Normcore Bike: the one bicycle I’ve owned twice. (It’s not the precise bodily similar bike because the one I had a few years in the past, nevertheless it’s the identical bike. You understand what I imply.)
Might I dwell with out it? Certain. Is the world’s provide of Nineteen Eighties bonded aluminum Treks in any hazard of being depleted inside our lifetimes? Completely not–they’re arguably the cockroach of street bikes. Am I asking too many rhetorical questions? Effectively, I put it to you: is there actually such a factor as too many rhetorical questions? Do you see what I did there? (Don’t reply, it’s a rhetorical query.)
The purpose is I might definitely divest myself of this bike nevertheless it’s at the moment my elder son’s college commuter now so it’s not going wherever. In reality I can’t shake the eerie feeling that by some means I’ll nonetheless have this bike even when all of the others are gone.
The Faggin
I first acquired the Faggin as a body in 2007 and constructed it right into a singlespeed for my spouse. Then we moved to the New York Metropolis hill nation so I stripped it down and caught it deep within the closet (see what I did there?) figuring at some point I’d construct it up into an Eroica bike or one thing like that. As a substitute I not too long ago created the town runabout you see above, and it’s pleasant in that regard: spritely and modish with out being valuable.
However do I want a sprightly and modish city runabout? Not essentially; the Homer can deal with all my city biking wants and might carry panniers besides. Nonetheless, like leaving a deer hoof within the grill of your automotive, I’m fairly positive it’s a sin to do away with a basic Italian body:
Additionally, sooner or later it deserves to be reconstructed into an precise street bike once more, at the least for awhile.
However I don’t want it.
The Engin
It’s a completely customized bike, it’s improbable, and I congratulate myself for it each time I trip it. Nevertheless it’s additionally a singlespeed, so I don’t trip it as a lot as my different bikes. In my peak singlespeeding years we’d pile right into a automotive and go zipping round some mountain bike spot; now I trip to the paths, and doing so on a singlespeed requires a further time funding–a commodity in brief provide for a middle-aged guardian. And on prime of that, the Engin additionally has a stunt double…
The Low cost Singlespeed
Actually, the jones has me absolutely lined for mountain bike-type using, and I don’t want even one singlespeed mountain bike, not to mention two. On the similar time I very a lot take pleasure in singlespeed mountain bikes, and a sane particular person would solely have one–you realize, the customized one which’s principally excellent. However right here we’re.
The RockCombo
I like this bike. There’s a universe during which this might change the Homer, the Platypus, and the Jones. However I don’t dwell in that universe. The Rivendells are extra snug and higher at carrying stuff, and the Jones is extra off-roadable. Nonetheless, the RockCombo manages to do all that stuff whereas by some means nonetheless feeling quick like a street bike, even with heavy treaded tires and fenders and all the remainder of it. It’s additionally a kind of bikes I’ve form of ridden into perfection with even handed elements adjustments.
Nevertheless it’s uncommon, which makes it engaging to sure individuals, and between you and me I’m at the moment “in talks” with a potential purchaser. Although we’ll see. I wouldn’t sometimes write about that form of factor in a weblog publish, however this isn’t an actual weblog publish.
And since it’s not an actual weblog publish, it doesn’t want an actual ending.
And so that you don’t get one.
…
