Thursday, May 28, 2009

Recumbency - or - How I ended up with eight bikes

Now that I have relinquished my angst about traffic my commute is a much happier experience. My ride home consists of cruising along in a state of inner peace - ignoring the horn blasts of frustrated motorists, brushing off the sophomoric antics of poorly educated drivers and finding myself in no hurry to make the next light.

It was in this Zen-like state that I pulled up to the light near the Novotel on 312th Rd. Normally I would have been angling to jump the light so I could get a break from the traffic, but I decided I didn’t really care and I would just wait with the rest of traffic (which I find gives you some wasta with the motoring public). The next thing I knew I heard a voice from my left, it was an Emirate in a red BMW SUV. He had rolled down his window and started asking me why I wasn’t jumping the light, since I was on a bike and all. I replied that I just felt like obeying the law that day and was in no rush. Then we proceeded to have a short conversation about me riding to work each day.

The quick street-side conversation highlighted what I really enjoy about cycling. It puts you out there as a person, rather than a motorist stuck in your anonymous bubble. It creates random interactions with people, it basically ‘humanizes’ travelling. I had a similar thought a few weeks back as I was riding in the back of a friend’s convertible. I mused that if everyone drove a convertible, there would be fewer accidents and less road rage because you are faced with a person rather than sheets of glass and steel. If you ever really need to change lanes and no one will let you in, just roll down the window and stick your arm out – it’s like magic.

Now that I no longer have enormous bundles of angst about my commute, it leaves me free to worry about all sorts of other things. With the state of the economy such as it is, many people are rightfully worried about the security of their jobs. The fear of being made redundant is a powerful one, but I feel my job is fairly secure at the moment. I am honestly more afraid of being made recumbent!


This man has been made recumbent


For those of you who aren’t aware, recumbency is a horrible disease. Once one catches it, you become not only a pariah of your community, but also a tireless supporter of an unpopular cause. I am not sure any bike that I must attach a flag to is the bike for me.

Aerodynamic, AND has mag wheels, bitchin'


It’s a genuine fear for me, you see I have so many bikes already I am fast running out of different types to buy. Therefore, I am at a great risk of falling prey to recumbency.

It all started in college with a run of the mill Mongoose mountain bike I bought for commuting around campus. It was the 90’s and mountain bikes which would never see a dirt trail were all the rage, just like SUVs which were never taken off road became the ‘in’ thing in the aughts.

My Mongoose served me well, and of course came along with me to NYC when I moved. I was rather paranoid about it getting stolen (I had 2 bikes stolen 3 times when I was in high school, that isn’t a typo), but the worst that ever happened was someone stole my seat! That was an uncomfortable ride home.

In NY I fell in with an adventure racing crowd and my poor Mongoose quickly became obsolete for the task (having been basically designed to ride around town), so I went out and bought myself a nice new Rocky Mountain hardtail. Ahhh, nice bike. We spent countless days together flying around the country, riding for hours through seemingly endless bike stages.

One of my teammates had been riding for quite some time and had managed to amass an arsenal of bicycles. His first road bike, a Yokota, hadn’t been ridden in years and was in a sorry state hiding in his attic. Since I was road bike-less, he took pity on me and let me have it. After a bit of a tune up and some new tires it was good to go. The derailleur was already pretty shot, but I managed to put several hundred miles on it. This new (old) bike did nothing to assuage my growing thirst for new bicycles. I was like a junky, always looking for and looking forward to my next hit.

My biggest problem at that point was that I didn’t have a bike I felt comfortable leaving outside in NYC. I felt I would be more mobile if I could keep a utility bike on the street and just hop on and go whenever, instead of having to lug one downstairs and locate gear and such. Therefore, I headed out looking for a 3 speed! I found the bike of my dreams at a small shop in E Williamsburg (aka Bushwick) Brooklyn. They scoured the country buying up old schwinns and the like which they then repaired and sold. My dreams of utility cycling died when I laid eyes on a mint condition Schwinn Metrocycle circa 1970. Apparently it had been ridden twice and left in a garage for 30 years. They had put on some new tires and oiled the chain, but everything else was out of the box new! I loved it, but I loved it too much to leave it locked up outside.

Meanwhile, the Yokota had got me all hot and bothered about road cycling, but at the same time frustrated me with its ancient and worn down componantry. I started to lust after a shiny new road bike, but my finances were such that I couldn’t easily drop several thousand dollars on a new ride. I waited and waited and saved, and finally the day came. I walked out of the shop with a brand spanking new Cannondale R1000 with Ksyrium elite wheels and an Ultegra groupset. I know its not uber top of the line, but it rode oh so smooth compared to my Yokota. I could have gone carbon fibre with a cheaper groupo, but I like the Aluminum just fine.




mmmmm, speedy



Once the Cannondale arrived on the scene, my Yokota was of course sidelined. Down, but not out. As this was 2004, the fixed gear revolution was just getting into full swing. My ancient steel frame with it’s horizontal drop outs was just crying out for conversion! And so convert I did, self consciously walking into TrackStar in the E Village and buying some new handbuilt wheels and a fixed cog. The ride home was a comedic experience, as I was sporting some really annoying toe clips which were hard to get into even with a freewheel set up. I am surprised I didn’t end up on the pavement, but somehow I managed to make it home in one piece.

After a bit of practice I really took to the fixed gear, they are incredibly fun to ride and then there is all that jazz about ‘feeling connected’ to the bike and such which I found to be quite true. The best part really is how it forces you to be a bit more aware since stopping can be slightly more time consuming. In the end, I ended up spending much more time with my Yokota than my lovely Cannondale. Part of this can be contributed to the fact that I can’t lock up the Cannondale outside, too risky. But I think I actually like riding the fixie better.

One might think that having four bicycles would be adequate, but that person more than likely doesn’t ride very often. There were all sorts of bikes still on my list, I really wanted to turn my Mongoose into an XtraCycle (still haven’t done that), I figured I could do with a cyclocross bike, and a touring bike, perhaps a tandem...

One day I was reading through the Craigslist ads trying to find a decent 3-speed for a friend and I came across a posting for a vintage Schwinn tandem! I was so psyched, it was only $200, I was totally going to buy this bike! The only problem being I was in London at this point, and the bike was in NY. I quickly phoned a friend to enlist them as my buying agent, but they were headed out of town. However, they suggested another co-worker who was also on the look out for a tandem. I rather wanted full ownership, but decided since I was in London anyway that we go in halvsies for it. It was in the bike room at work the next day. I finally got to ride it when I went home for a break, seat posts are a bit on the short side and there is only one gear, but it is great fun to ride!

I only managed to bring the fixie on my trip to London with me, which it turned out was an ideal bike for the city (unless you were headed up to Hampstead). Unfortunately on a ride to work one morning my frame broke, literally cracked clean through the head tube. As fate (or bike geometry) would have it, the head tube also houses your stem, so I managed to not come crashing to a halt in a heap on the asphalt. The bike was a total write off though.

I searched in vain for a replacement frame (as the components were all fine), but this was the frenzied peak of the fixed gear revolution and old steel frames with horizontal dropouts were hard to come by or incredibly pricy. I finally managed (with some difficulty) to get my hands on an old Peugeot 10 speed. It was the perfect frame, huge head tube, great old yellow finish, only one problem… It was built just before the cycle industry switched over to 700c wheels and thus sported incredibly odd 28 x 1 ¼” wheels. This meant I couldn’t switch my Yokota components over, or even easily find new tires for the bike!

I was at a bit of a crossroads since I had hoped to ride the bike to Burning Man from Reno airport in a manner of weeks. I had already planned on getting a new rear wheel with an 8 speed internal hub that I could switch out with the fixed gear wheel for longer trips (Reno to BM was about 135 miles), so I ended up having two new wheels built to fit the Peugeot – thus leaving my Yokota components in a lurch.

Shortly thereafter it was time to pack up and head out to Dubai. Everything was going by sea, so we decided to take some holiday between London and Dubai so we would arrive at the same time as our worldly possessions. I’d never been professionally moved before, it was rather strange to leave your flat in the morning – with everything where you normally kept it, and then come home to find a completely empty place. Off we headed, spending some time in Australia and HK, everything was going swimmingly until 4 days before we were due to arrive in Dubai when both of our companies decided our visas wouldn’t be ready on time, in fact they would take another 8 weeks!

Dejected, we headed back to London with only our luggage, and into a temporary flat. I was soon chafing at not having a bike. It felt alien to have to take the tube to work every day, I longed for the freedom of two wheels! Noting our small living quarters and my current roster of velocipedes I quickly honed in on a gap in my arsenal – a folding bike!! Within days I was in possession of a shiny new Brompton with 6 speeds, dynamo lights and a brooks saddle. It wasn’t my idea of a sweet ride, but I soon grew to love my Brompton, even if I didn’t often use it as intended (i.e. actually folding it and getting on a train).

Two weeks earlier we were riding around Melbourne (on borrowed bikes), and managed to get a flat. Checking the city’s excellent bike map we found a nearby bike shop and headed over to get a patch kit. I was astounded as I walked in, this was no ordinary bike shop, more of a bike hospital where bikes were being operated on and also being born. I was surrounded by lathes, presses and all manner of metal working machinery, it was bike heaven! My attention quickly shifted from patch kit to bike frames, and before I knew it I was purchasing a vintage steel frame, having the superfluous pieces ground off and the whole thing powder coated. My Yokota would be reborn as a bright orange demon.

So there you go, the story about how I ended up with eight bicycles. When you say you have eight bicycles people look at you a little funny, but I don’t think I have really gone too far overboard yet. Each of my bikes has its place, each different trip has different requirements, I’m just making sure I have all my bases covered. That being said, hopefully I’ll be able to resist being made recumbent!

1 comment:

  1. I have 9 recumbent's and live in NYC.

    Urban Mobility Project Battery Park City

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