Right here’s my newest Outdoors column, which is about why biking ought to by no means have surrendered utterly to Huge Dick Disc:
And earlier than you get all indignant, I’m not saying there shouldn’t be any disc brakes. I’m simply saying it’s foolish that almost all bicycles now have them. Pulling a quantity out of my ass, I’d say it is smart for like 25% of bicycles to have discs; the remaining ought to have rim brakes. (Or some mixture of coaster and drum brakes if it’s a metropolis bike that lives outdoors. And I’m not factoring e-bikes into this calculation, since for the sake of this brake-related dialogue I desire to fake that they don’t exist.) However Huge Dick Disc is aware of that as quickly as one rider will get a giant dick disc then each different rider feels both insufficient or like they’re lacking out and desires a giant dick disc too. So now it’s nice large dicks discs in your face all over the place you look.
Talking of rim brakes, I freely admit I’m below the affect of Huge Lug, and Rivendell in fact is the BlackRock of the Rim Brake Industrial Complicated. Imagine it or not, they by no means ask me to say stuff like this, however I occurred to note that now you can pre-order a Platypus full:
[Photo: Rivendell, probably with one of those old-timey cameras where you hide under a curtain and the flash is a giant explosion]
I like my very own Platypus dearly:
And I can completely relate to this sentiment:
I imply if I had to decide on at gunpoint it might positively be the Platypus. Or perhaps the Jones. Or perhaps I’d simply go together with a street bike and determine I’ll take the subway the remainder of the time. Or perhaps…you already know what? Fuck it, simply shoot me.
Nonetheless, the whole model looks as if an effective way to get your self a Platypus if you happen to’re not sitting on sufficient components (figuratively talking, by no means sit on bike components, particularly cassettes and seatposts with out saddles on them) to make increase a body a cheap proposition. My spouse’s Clem Smith was additionally an entire from abroad and by way of the components and the meeting we couldn’t be extra happy with it.
In the meantime, “progress” marches on, and New York Metropolis is lifting its cap on for-hire vehicles (that’s Ubers and Lyfts)…simply so long as they’re electrical:
As I’ve talked about earlier than, these automobiles have come to account for a lot of the visitors within the metropolis, so at this level it appears delusional to consider that congestion pricing in New York Metropolis will really cut back congestion. However it’ll be electrical congestion, so not less than you gained’t hear the automotive earlier than it runs you over.
In the meantime, the legislative motion in New York Metropolis to require e-bike registration continues to draw supporters:
To be completely clear, I don’t in any manner assist this. Why? As a result of it’s silly. If license plates stopped individuals from operating individuals over or crashing into one another we wouldn’t see 40,000 motorized vehicle deaths a 12 months on this nation. Additionally, as I do know from private expertise, driving a car that requires licensing or registration under no circumstances prevents the NYPD from issuing me a summons if I select to interrupt visitors legislation. It additionally doesn’t stop them from charging a bicyclist who kills somebody with a critical crime, even when they select not to take action.
On the similar time, the scenario with e-bikes (and motor scooters, at this level in New York Metropolis you actually can’t separate the 2) is extraordinarily irritating. The had been imagined to get individuals out of vehicles or one thing, however all they’ve actually performed is intensify present anti-bike sentiment, whereas fucking up the bicycle community in addition. Simply as I believe e-bike licensing is silly I’d additionally by no means name for them to be banned, however I additionally assume it’s time to maneuver on from all of the idealism round e-bikes and acknowledge the brand new points they trigger:
Who cares in the event that they get gas-powered motor scooters, register them with the DOT, and experience them within the streets the place they belong? That’s higher than what’s presently occurring within the bike lanes. I believe the “safety-in-numbers” impact for normal bicyclists stops working as soon as a major variety of bikes within the community are throttle-powered.
Like bicycle brakes, bicycle advocacy was easy: bikes are nice, we should always make it safer for individuals to experience them. Now bikes are electrical and social media is pervasive so it’s turn into an ideological battle that always feels designed to alienate individuals:
Fuck it, I’m leasing an electrical Hyundai.
