Bike lanes.
Bike lanes are the inexperienced display upon which we venture our values and our identities; our hopes and our desires. For some folks, bike lanes imply we’re leaving automotive dependence again within the twentieth century the place it belongs, and returning our automobile-ravaged cities to the folks. For others, bike lanes characterize an encroaching military of entitled suburb-reared younger professionals who wish to “return” to an idyllic city life-style that most likely by no means existed within the first place. Then there are the Bike Lane Freds who know all town planning jargon and critique and debate the nuances of each new bike lane: “Paint is just not safety and with a view to effectuate an enduring modal shift we want fewer mixing zones and a contra-flow bidirectional configuration with bollards and medians and a totally new intersection therapy yada-yada-yada ZZZzzz….”
Then there’s the Bronx the place the DOT places in a brand new bike lane and folks simply do regardless of the fuck they need with it–and infrequently does it have something to do with with bikes. Most of them are taken over by what the New York Occasions in its inimitable patronizing-people-in-order-to-elevate-them method calls “guerilla automotive washers:”
Although typically they’re simply used for good old style parking:
I hadn’t come this manner in awhile, so I used to be shocked to see a brand new protected bike lane and devoted bus lane, however I used to be fully unsurprised to seek out it filled with automobiles from finish to finish:
To be truthful, I don’t know precisely when this bike lane went in, and there may be normally a minimum of every week or two earlier than folks cease parking in them, so possibly I simply acquired there early. Nonetheless, it’s just a little over seven miles from the Willis Avenue Bridge within the South Bronx to the place I reside, and over the previous 10 years this route has gone from having completely no bike lanes to having fairly just a few miles of motorbike lanes–and I’d say nearly each bit of motorbike lane is unusable as a result of some type of repurposing, whether or not it’s automotive washing or truck loading or automotive restore or good old style parking as seen above. The entire state of affairs is an actual polygon helios, which is a logical conundrum not dissimilar to a catch-22:.
Simply kidding!
No, a Polygon Helios is a form of bike:
Have you ever ever checked out all these new street bikes and puzzled, “Is that actually aero, or do they only need it to look aero?” Effectively, it seems {that a} lof of the time it’s most likely the second factor:
Not that that is new, thoughts you; Campagnolo C-Report was additionally purported to look all smooth and aero, however I’m betting for those who put a Delta brake in a wind tunnel the entire system would again up and explode like a stopped-up bathroom:
I did discover the above evaluation compelling although as a result of as an outdated retired sub-mediocre Cat 3 I used to be curious to see what’s thought-about a “whole lot” for a street bike nowadays, and at a worth of 4 Thousand American Enjoyable Tickets the Polygon Helios is seemingly a “discount.” The widespread conception is that street bike costs are going loopy, however for those who crunch the numbers (and ignore the actually costly bikes no one buys anyway) the reality is you possibly can arguably do as properly or higher now than you possibly can “then” (each time “then” was). Nonetheless, on a visceral stage $4,000 doesn’t really feel “discount,” and 25 years in the past a 105-equipped bike with (then) cutting-edge supplies went for one thing like $1,600, which is like $3,000 right now:
“Ah, nevertheless it’s not aero!,” you could be tempted to level out.
Effectively, imagine it or not, these rims truly had been thought-about aero again then:
It reduce by means of the air like a woden dowel by means of a hunk of frozen cheddar cheese.
Although it’s value noting the street bike was at one thing of a nadir 25 years in the past, which can have artificially lowered the costs. By 1998 firms like Cannondale listed the mountain bikes earlier than the street bikes of their catalogs, since People had been nonetheless wild for mountain bikes–I imply they by no means truly rode them, however they positive cherished to purchase them and go away them of their garages. After all that every one modified fairly dramatically a 12 months later:
However 1998 was a way more harmless time when everybody was doped to the gills however no one cared as a result of they had been all European.
The opposite noteworthy distinction between that outdated Cannondale and the brand new hunk of plastic is that the Cannondale was cheaper regardless of being made domestically and by an organization that spent a lot of cash sponsoring excessive profile professional racers, whereas the Polygon is made abroad and offered direct to the buyer by an organization that’s (I’m assuming) going about sponsorship in a way more conservative vogue. Select an organization right now that sponsors an enormous staff and also you’ll spend much more–and the identical goes if it’s an organization began by former execs:
Not solely are you paying a premium for the affiliation, however you’re additionally paying for all of the wind tunnel testing…or a minimum of a photograph shoot that means they’re doing wind tunnel testing:
What occurred in the course of the wind tunnel testing? Had been the outcomes good? Had been they dangerous? The web site doesn’t say. However they did blow some vapor over a man, and that’s gotta be value one thing, proper?
Contador and Basso additionally most likely paid some huge cash to advertising and marketing consultants who knowledgeable them that they need to leverage the enduring recognition of Pinarello’s Dogma by calling their very own top-of-the-line bike the Magma:
Therefore a frameset that prices the identical as that whole Polygon.
By the way in which, none of that is to say the bikes are dangerous or aren’t definitely worth the cash; it’s simply saying that if you’d like a narrative round your bike you’re going to pay for it. Hey, invariably if I point out Rivendell somebody complains that their bikes are costly, however they’re greater than only a bike firm, and for those who prefer to examine bikes too their web site has extra and higher stuff to learn than most biking web sites, this one included. Equally, Aurum’s web site additionally affords a lot of content material, resembling this reply to the age-old query, “Can I trip a street bike on gravel?”
By no means, ever, ever trip a non-gravel bike on gravel. EVER.
And while you do get a gravel bike, make certain it’s carbon…and a Specialised?
By the way in which, Aurum means “gold:”
Which instantly made me consider one of the vital fabulous bicycles ever made:
Sure, the Aurumania Gold Bike Crystal Version value 80,000 Euro-{Dollars} and featured the corporate’s emblem in Swarovski crystals and in Braille:
Additionally, the corporate’s mannequin might or might not have been Ivan Basso:
Nonetheless, it’s a tricky time to start out a motorcycle firm as a former professional. As soon as upon a time for those who attained a sure stage of success you possibly can just about rely on folks wanting your title on a motorcycle: Merckx, Coppi, even LeMond… However right now when all of the bikes are plastic and folks simply need the very best deal attainable does the title actually imply something in any respect, not to mention command a premium? I’m all the time shocked once I see somebody driving a Cipollini–even when they do supply a customized program:
I couldn’t assist myself, and naturally I selected “gold” for each possibility:
Alas, I used to be too afraid to ask for a quote, lest I wind up on some form of registry.
