Within the feedback on a latest put up readers leveled accusations that the Faggin, in its present incarnation, is aesthetically displeasing, or what we colloquially name “ugly:”
To this I say, “You’re damned proper it’s ugly!” You may even go as far as to name it a grotesquerie. It’s a sickly, fleshy, cold pink, just like the carcass of a freshly-slaughtered pig. Moreover, the lone Spinergy within the rear resembles a medical equipment, like one thing Eric Von Stroheim might need worn to evoke the sense of some previous trauma:
Ah, however the experience is much from ugly. Certain, it might have peaked aesthetically on this configuration (although that’s debatable):
However on this filthy panorama of salt-strewn streets and sooty brown snow it has the benefit of providing a top-notch experience while having aesthetics that even the worst corrosives couldn’t diminish any additional.
Talking of the poor highway circumstances, I did incur a flat yesterday, and so after deploying my spare tube I finished at a bicycle store to obtain one other. It was about midday on a Sunday, on the primary warm-ish day in fairly a while, and once I stepped into the store all of the lights have been off, it smelled strongly of marijuana, and the particular person behind the counter knowledgeable me that they have been closed. Whereas I’m not implying my inside tube buy would have made a significant distinction on their stability sheet or seen them via the lifeless of winter, in nonetheless struck me as a wierd enterprise mannequin and a peculiar time for a bicycle store to be closed…although maybe he merely denied me service due to the ungodly look of the Faggin, and was frightened I’d try to interact him in some probably time-consuming and non-remunerative job like servicing my historical Spinergy. (I’d must think about an outdated Spinergy is the one sight a bicycle store proprietor dreads much more than a Walmart bike.)
In the meantime, over on Streetsblog, a former Transportation Different Board member is distraught over the state of town’s bike lanes:
Specifically, he cites anecdotal proof that with the proliferation of all the assorted types of motor scooters and e-crap even long-time bicyclists are hanging up their wheels:
Whereas I experience as a lot as ever, I’m far much less desirous to experience within the metropolis than I as soon as was, and the Microbility Shitshow definitely has one thing to do with that. On the identical time, I think this might be the case even if the bike lanes weren’t overrun with idiots on fast-moving contraptions, because the older I get the much less prepared I’m to take care of any type of annoyance, of which there has all the time been loads round right here, even earlier than all of the e-tards (sorry). Certain, I’m much less keen about driving a motorbike within the metropolis, however I’m additionally much less keen about being within the metropolis in any respect, on or off a motorbike. Whereas in my youth I went into town every time I may, now it’s one thing I solely do when I’ve to; it’s turn out to be like going to the dentist or pulling clumps of hair out of the tub drain. In order pernicious as I discover numerous this micromobility stuff, I believe it’s essential to maintain issues in perspective and acknowledge that with age comes a specific amount of sheer orneriness, and a bent to conflate one with the opposite.
As for what to do concerning the scenario, he has some good ideas, reminiscent of limiting the velocity of e-Citi Bikes and that type of factor. Nonetheless, I’m a bit of skeptical about a few of his different concept, specifically “wider bicycle paths:”
I do know from years of studying Streetsblog that widening highways is dangerous due to “induced demand.” See, the thought is that everyone thinks that extra lanes means extra room which implies much less visitors, however apparently what actually occurs is that extra lanes simply means extra vehicles which implies much more visitors and all of the dangerous stuff that comes with it. So if we widen the bike lane wouldn’t the identical factor occur–that’s to say extra dashing e-contraptions all of the concomitant chaos? As it’s there’s fairly actually no escape from this stuff:
Thankfully for me, whereas I turn out to be extra ornery as I grow old, I additionally care much less on the identical time, and at this level I’m content material to let everybody battle over what ought to or shouldn’t be performed within the metropolis whereas I preserve driving my bike away from it.
Additionally, one potential upside of all of that is that it may assist the notion of “conventional” pedal-powered cyclists. For many years and many years, folks have derided us as essentially the most annoying issues on the highway, however as motorized units turn out to be exponentially extra irritating perhaps they’ll begin to discover us quaint compared–although little question it will take awhile, and for now we’re nonetheless the primary scapegoat on the subject of causes for driver exasperation. Think about this Hyundai business I noticed final evening:
In it we see a Pack of Freds:
The run the sunshine, due to course they do:
The drivers change glances:
Worldlessly and wearily conveying the common sentiment to which all drivers can relate–“Silly cyclists:”
Thanks, Hyundai, for saving us from ourselves.
