(no subject)

[roadrunnertwice]

Link-wander resulted in rediscovering JWZ's epically bitchy bike advice post from '08, so I'm sharing. Fun game: send it to a friend and try to guess how much of it they'll violently disagree with!

(I actually quite like the post, except for the part about riding on sidewalks. An oft-overlooked virtue of the abrasive geek textual aesthetic is its implicit assertion that the problem at hand is a: knowable and b: not too many levels harder than whatever else you have to deal with on a regular basis. It's reassuring, if that's what you're wired for.)

Comments

[ell]

I violently disagree with most of what he says :-)

Especially all the dissing of road bikes. And the idea that spending 4 to 5 times the money (Assuming you need a new tube) to let a bike shop do what any reasonable person can do themselves in 10 or 15 minutes and not disrupt the ride or their life by dragging the bike to a shop is crazy. Fix 4 flats yourself and then you can walk into the nice bike shop and have gotten a better bike...

Also, what is it with everyone dissing the spandex? These days I am riding 20 to 50 miles a day and really, I don't want my ass chafed to shreds. So I ride with appropriate clothing. Same reason I go to work in khakis and button downs (engineer), run in running shoes, swim in a swimsuit, play kendo in a dogi and armor. I wear the clothing appropriate to the task at hand that maximizes my utility and minimizes discomfort. Why is this concept so difficult for people to grasp when it comes to bikes?

[jld]

Also, what is it with everyone dissing the spandex? These days I am riding 20 to 50 miles a day

That might be why. For people who aren't riding hours at a time, normal pants can work just fine, and utility is maximized by not buying and managing and taking the time to change into and out of special-purpose clothes.

[ell]

I tend to forget that most people on bikes aren't doing what I do. Optimism, I guess. But when I commute the 6 miles to work, especially in the summer, I also tend to wear the spandex as I have to change anyway when I get to work (live in the south) because it's 98 degrees and 98% humidity by 8 am for 3 months out of the year.

[sara]

You can buy a new bike for $20? Because that's what it costs me in shop labor to get four innertubes changed out. For that, no, it doesn't make sense to break my knuckles open doing it on my garage floor, thanks.

[ell]

no, I was not implying that one can buy a new bike for $20. Go back and carefully read the OP and my response. I was implying that saving the $20 per flat that the OP quoted 5 times would net me a gain of $100 which is substantial enough to make a big difference to the type of bike that can be purchased. I was commenting on the irrationality of the OP's frugality in purchasing the actual bicycle versus his careless spending on a simple repair that is easily done.

As for $5 flat repairs, you are a very lucky person. It does cost the rest of us around $20 at the shop.

[sara]

*raises an eyebrow* I don't need reading lessons, thanks. You may need to reconsider the attitude you're bringing to this series of conversations, though.

[pinesandmaples]

You are not the target audience for this article.

[ell]

That is true, but I am the person that the target audience is warned to stay far away from for advice and that is what I fail utterly to understand. Because I do a lot of biking, love bikes, own a few different ones, and wear gear appropriate to my activities, that makes me a poor choice for advice?