Typically on a Sunday morning there’s nothing higher than old style street experience…
…on old style street bike:
It’s my present “What, this previous factor?” bike:
As a former semi-professional bike blogger who was related for just a few months within the early aughts, I’ve an nearly grotesque number of bicycles from which to decide on; as such, I hardly ever experience the identical bicycle two days in a row. The truth is, whereas I’d by no means say so publicly, I discover the thought of using the identical bicycle two or extra instances in succession to be fairly déclassé if not downright vulgar, like carrying post-Walton Rapha and using a Canyon with a pie plate:
[I mean I’m sort of kidding, anyway.]
On this explicit weekend nonetheless I rode the Faggin no fewer than thrice in a row–that’s Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (Sure, I contemplate Friday the weekend; engaged on Friday can be déclassé.) I’ve no rationalization for why this was, apart from that generally I benefit from the thrum of a 23mm tire and the texture of a Campagnolo Ergo shifter below my thumb, and on this explicit case it was sufficient to maintain me coming again for extra. And sure, by not licensing “Beneath My Thumb” by The Rolling Stones and interesting Mick Jagger as a spokesman, Campagnolo missed out on what may have been an outstanding advertising coup for its thumb-centric Ergo shifters:
Certain, it will have price them like a gazillion {dollars}, however maybe in the event that they’d dug deep they’d be nonetheless be the preeminent drivetrain producer as an alternative of only a legacy model. Maybe SRAM would have countered by leveraging the “I contact you as soon as, I contact you twice…” line from Orchestral Manoeuvres within the Darkish’s 1986 hit “If You Go away” to be able to promote their DoubleTap® know-how, however it will by no means have had the identical influence:
But right here we’re in 2025 and SRAM (to say nothing of Shimano) is consuming Campagnolo’s pranzo:
Look, generally you gotta spend cash to earn money is all I’m saying.
Anyway, talking of street rides, this previous Friday I discussed a brand new bicycle and pedestrian bridge, and yesterday I rode my very own bicycle over that bridge for the primary time:
It was fantastic:
Sure, it lets you keep away from the doorway ramp to the New York State Thruway, nevertheless it’s quick, and in the event you’re touring north as I used to be you must get throughout the roadway to entry it. Right here’s the Thruway, by the way in which, and you may see the Tappan Zee Mario Cuomo Bridge within the distance:
As I gazed at it my ideas turned to the tip of summer time, for it’s this very route we are going to take after we head off on our annual end-of-summer trip. This after all raises the profound and vexing “Which bike do I take with me?” query, and it’s maybe the one time in the middle of the 12 months once I have interaction in something resembling soul-searching or introspection. And naturally since I used to be on a three-day Faggin jag I discovered myself questioning if I ought to simply deliver ol’ Pinky this time:
The thin tires and racy gearing would take sure routes off the desk, however hey, you by no means know.
Talking of introspection, have you ever ever yearned to see the inside workings of an e-Citi Bike? Effectively, because of the stolen Citi Bike graveyard that’s Yonkers, now you may!
Fascinating.
