[Bruno Moore]

@Arlingtonrider 99747 wrote:

I also heard a rumor that new DC bike maps may be coming out within the next few months.

You heard correctly. I think someone finally got tired of waiting for the mayoral election to find out whose picture was going to go on the back and just printed the blesséd things already, mayorfacefree.

I did like the suggestion of penciling in new infrastructure and CaBi stations on the old map just to get a picture of how much things have changed, though.

[Bruno Moore]

The “one side at a time” trick is the one I use. One thing I’ve found when checking fixie chain tension is that listening to the chain can be more helpful than looking at it—there’s a certain sound that overtightened chains make that’s pretty easy to hear, but hard to see while it’s moving. Maybe it’s just me, but visual cues always seem debatable and never quite clear, while getting the bike to “sound right” is much less ambiguous.

[Bruno Moore]

@DismalScientist 98120 wrote:

As to the Catholic/Protestant comment: The Catholic view is that Protestant bishops don’t have the proper apostolic succession to give communion to Catholics. I was just wondering whether the same goes for blessings. My bike is Japanese, and likely Shinto, so it is of no concern to it.:rolleyes:

*Trying to stay away…years at CUA not letting me…*

It’s complicated, and depends on the type of blessing, but even laypeople can validly use and pronounce certain types of blessings (like grace at meals). Long story short, it depends on whether the agent is pronouncing a blessing or their blessing.

Marianne Bianchi, despite her Italian and likely Catholic heritage, is herself rather ecumenically minded and tends to laugh at me and my pedantry.

[Bruno Moore]

Thank goodness the recording has already been reposted. Listening now—with the drinks kept very, very far away.

[Bruno Moore]

Not visiting a coffee shop every weekend day this month…now that’s the real challenge for me! Did Big Chair after the WABA unbuilt trails ride, Compass Coffee for the Proteus Sunday coffee ride before Hyattsville CX and work, and already plotting a possible Arboretum “coffeeshop without walls” expedition for when the leaves change a bit more.

I know that Proteus does a weekly Sunday coffee ride into DC every week, and Bikenetic does something similar more irregularly; anyone else know of other regular weekend coffee rides that might work for coffeeneuring credit?

[Bruno Moore]

Cons: aggressive bikes—or aggressive purpose bikes—are often/usually sized on the smaller end of things for shorter chainstays, twitchier/whippier handling, and a more aggressive/aero riding position. If I knew for a fact that I could get this bike in a size smaller, with all else being equal—and the assumption of aggressive use—I would.

Pros: As Greenbelt, bikenurse, and Dirt can tell you, my go-to commuter bike (Valentine the Inschwinnerator) is about an inch and a half too big for me—as in, I only have an inch of seatpost, and I’ve learned from experience to ALWAYS lean the bike over a bit before getting off over the top tube. ALWAYS. And yet, it works. Bikelust knows opportunities taken, regret opportunities missed (or something like that).

If need be, I’ll even supply you with a nebulously founded and entirely personal opinion that Italian bikes are generally oversized a bit so you can tell yourself the truth: this bike is perfect for you, and you should get it.

[Bruno Moore]

Given that the frame is essentially the same as the standard Volpe, I’m going to guess that tire clearance issues are going to be about the same—minimal. A quick look around at what other people have done (coupled with my own memory, for whatever it’s worth) seems to indicate that 35’s will work just fine with fenders, though things might get a little tight depending on your tread/manufacturer standards/day of the week. Taking the Volpe frame, switching out fork ends, braze ons, and components, and cooking up a whole new bike has a grand tradition at Bianchi—especially back in the days when Sky Yaeger was working for them in San Jose.

As far as component upgrades go, I’m not aware of any limitations inherent to the bike, but more of what’s being manufactured in the way of road disc brake compatible componentry, especially shifters. What’s available is going to expand in coming years, of course, and the ergonomics of disc brake levers is probably going to continue to improve (I know some people have issues), but it’s still an emerging area.

[Bruno Moore]

@CaseyKane50 94181 wrote:

You might want to also look at the Arkel line of panniers

A late second to this—I have a pair of Arkels that are my go-to commuter/grocery/growlerhauling/C&O panniers. If it weren’t for the dirt and “how is this still here?” oatmeal in the bottom (grocery bag explosion), they’d pass for put-’em-back-on-the-shelf new. The rack I put on at the same time looks like it’s seen more action than those panniers. I met a guy on the Canal towpath last year who was using his dad’s 20+ year old Arkels.

You can’t destroy them—well, I guess you could with a flamethrower or something, but that’d be cheating.

[Bruno Moore]

There were about fifteen things I thought about naming the ride on Strava (a Lars Boom reference very narrowly lost out), given all the memorable moments on the long, strange trip it was. Between ride marshaling and being the Tube Fairy, hearing “Here Comes the Sun” in the worst part of the deluge from a bottlecage speaker, seeing half of #bikeDC at the Eastern Market pit stop, having the Women & Bicycles sticker Nelle gave me at the Anacostia pit stop survive the ride on my bike (yes, there is only one sticker I’d ever put on Marianne the Very Pretty Bianchi), running into the New Mexican Zia Jersey Collective, having two “I totally meant to do that” fishtail/recovery moments, having WABA equated with the Devil himself after a few of the more enjoyable hills, and getting to introduce the DC folks who have only ever seen me on the trailer-towing Schwinn to the Prettybike, there were lots of Good Moments.

Okay, I think I finally have all the Boom-esque grime cleaned off M. Time to go pick up some replacement tubes.

[Bruno Moore]

@dplasters 94456 wrote:

Say what? I mean, on semantics I’d agree. People don’t buy cars anymore, they lease them. Cause they are weird. But I don’t think that was your point.

What. And what. Also, what.

[Bruno Moore]

From talking to people who are also in the biz, it seems that the bike makers are pushing/making bikes for certain market segments—mainly hyperfit young racers and geezers trying to recapture their hyperfit young racer days—who either a) don’t exist; b) got hammered in the recession and no longer have $8,000 to drop on a new crabon toy because someone found a way to split hairs and create a new category of road bike; or c) are hyperfit because biking’s our primary mode of getting around and enjoying ourselves—since we can’t afford to drive anywhere or pay for tickets/drinks/dinner/etc.

I am quite aware that bikemakers think of me as the archetype of a cyclist. I’m a single white overeducated male, should have tons of disposable cash from that high-paying job I scored after grad school (HA!), and races occasionally…like when there’s Nutella afterwards. By their calculations, I’m probably in the market for a fancy new carbon race bike.

Problem is, folks my age have more loan debt than money. A $2,000 road bike is a HUGE investment from our point of view—but, the problem is, that’s barely even what Bicycling considers a “value bike.” Even real racers and neopros can’t pay the kind of money the bikemakers seem to think they can; I remember Phil Gaiman writing in his Velo column to someone wondering how to get something like the pro experience on “just” $10k that they should spend $3k of that on a bike, the rest on a used Toyota…but make sure the interior was okay, because they’d be spending a lot of time sleeping in it.

And yet, the industry keeps trying to think of new ways to split hairs and create new categories of expensive and flashy bikes.

It’s the same panic automakers are facing—folks under 30 aren’t buying cars, don’t want to buy cars, don’t see why they should want to buy cars. There’s no new market coming into its own economically to replace the old one that’s no longer buying the product.

Meanwhile, a lot of people lost their disposable income in the recession and aren’t exactly seeing it come back. Sure, a few people have (re)gained enormous amounts of wealth in the past six years, but that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, rather than enough to sustain a thriving retail sector that depends on disposable income. People who make insane amounts of money aren’t going to buy insane numbers of bikes (well, unless they themselves are insanely obsessed, but…); they’re going to buy as many as the enthusiast who makes just enough to justify purchasing that exact same bike: one.

And the market is aging (people who bought touring bikes in the ’70s bought road bikes in the ’80s bought mountain bikes in the ’90s bought carbon endurance bikes in the Lance-fueled ’00s are now buying…what, exactly?). And the scandals of pro men’s World Tour road cycling (notice how specific that was? Notice how it wasn’t just “racing?”) stained the sport side of things. And the perceived snobbishness of roadies kept people away from riding. And the normativaty of the Fit, Skinny White Male in Spandex kept anyone who wasn’t all the above away. And so on.

And yet, so many people keep trying to cater to the same enthusiasts in the same way. Not to commuters, who view “bike expenses” as “non-discresionary transit expenses.” Not to historically marginalized genders, ethnic groups, fitness levels, or socioeconomic classes, who have gotten the message that cycling is not “for them.” Not to actual young people who need cheap and reliable transit that’s also cheap and reliable fun. Not to people who ride their bikes for sport, but in a “less prestigious” discipline like cyclocross. Not, in other words, to the people who are increasingly buying and loving their bicycles and will be the future of cycling.

There are a few impassioned rants I could go on right about now (no, really, I’m just getting started, run away while you still can), but every LBS that goes under, or is struggling, or is having trouble is where somebody learned to love cycling. My own home shop in Oklahoma—where the belief is that transit cycling “just can’t be done”—is still sticking around because of a loyal customer base built up after 40 years of great service, but I’d rather hear that it’s doing better than ever. I imagine the situation is much the same or worse at the eight or so other shops within the same three-mile circle: only so many people who want to or can buy recumbants, tri bikes, and carbon.

There is a future for the LBS—a bright one, even!—but it won’t be selling the same things in the same way to the same people. Between demographic and economic changes, the LBS and the bike industry will also have to change—and, given that this change will probably include making cycling more inclusive, So Be It.

Finally, to jrenaut, who suggested that Proteus charge for coffee: that would mean I would have to start paying. The current scheme is I get it for free because I make it, while everyone else “pays” for it by doing a public service: keeping me from drinking the whole pot myself. There are still stories told about the time I summarized a whole Tour de France stage—in detail, with spoilers included for people who really didn’t want to hear them—in about four seconds after polishing off a liter of French press.

[Bruno Moore]

It always rains on 50 States day. Always.

They still need ride marshals—even though I could have ridden for free, even though I already paid, everyone I know is either sitting out or helping out. No more guilting needed—I’m putting on the vest and marshaling this one.

[Bruno Moore]

…I may have been the guy who sold your Pista out from under you. Sorry about that…

At any rate, the thing to understand about the Pista is that, despite the brakes on the bars, it is very much a dedicated track bike. The brakes are the only concession Bianchi makes to being sane when riding on the street; otherwise, it’s track bars, 48/16 gear ratio, obscenely fast handling (like you’d need when passing someone at a half inch distance at 40 MPH), and nowhere to attach a bottle cage—after all, water bottles aren’t allowed in velodromes. Even the brakes are a recent thing; used Piste will sometimes have a “No Brakes!” sticker on the top tube. When Sky Yaeger designed the bike, it was with a single purpose in mind.

The practical upshot of all this is that most other single speed/fixed gear bikes, like the Wabi Special and its ilk, aren’t going to feel exactly the same. That really “live” feeling I get when riding a Pista I don’t find with converted Schwinns and “street” fixies; there’s just something about a dedicated track bike with its nervy agility and quick response that feels like nothing else.

…of course, part of that “feels like nothing else” can be “makes you feel the road like nothing else.” Especially, from what I can tell, the Pista Sei Giorni and Super Pista frameset; since you never encounter bumps, cracks, or potholes on a velodrome, there’s not much incentive to focus on compliance over stiffness. Then again, you might hate your bones or enjoy the bike enough not to notice it.

[Bruno Moore]

@cyclingfool 91445 wrote:

I dunno, but it looks Welsh to me.

Come to think of it, since “w” can be a vowel in Welsh…”Kuhapasoo?”

[Bruno Moore]

Looks like the absolute worst should be out of here in 30 minutes or so—and our convoy out of College Park leaves in 35. Given the flooding—USGS is reporting a gauge height of 3 feet and rising rapidly—I’m guessing the Trolly Trail would be the best bet.

[Author]

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