The plan for Saturday: after breakfast (probably organic granola), hop on Slow and get to the nearest VTA station. Take the train to downtown SJ and drool, drool, drool over shiny handmade beatiful custom bicycles for a few hours. Machines that bridge the utilitarian and the profound, vehicles that will translate every single muscle twitch into forward motion, lines of strength and grace. Once satiated, take transit and Slow to get back home, as visions of bicycles dance in my head. It's all about being environmentally friendly and supporting small and local business and being willing to pay a premium for top quality.The plan for Sunday: sometime, most likely hop in a car to go to the not-so-local bike shop tohave them order me a Bianchi San Jose. It's mass-produced in Taiwan and fitted out with an almost random set of often non-branded parts (unless you consider Bianchi a component manufacturer). Also, it's the cheapest way to get a single-speed cross bike under my feet. Burn some gas, fork some cash over to a multinational bicycle behemoth, and keep it as cheap as possible, please.
Cognitive dissonance?
So why not go to Rock Lobster or Hunter Cycles and lay down the cash for custom? Facts are: I haven't had a single speed since the one with a banana seat. I already have four bikes that aren't being ridden enough. I may not take to the single speed trend, in which case I'd be eating a lot of money to own another underused bike. So I'm hedging. In a couple years, we'll see if I've beaten the poor Bianchi into a heap of slag, in which case the wallet will come out.OK, now after bad-mouthing the Bianchi for rhetorical effect, on the bright side: a) it is an easy way to get on a single speed, b) it has pretty much the same shape as my current 'cross bike, which I'm pretty happy with, and c) it looks good in blue, dammit. Just gotta do something about the leopard-print seat, the waffly tires, and the super-relaxo stem.
Lauren is rambling on her single speed. Hernando is getting hankerings for new 'cross machinery. Forsoothly I will soon join the inmates with bike number five.
3 comments:
yay single speed!
i thought about racing cross on a single speed. but i'm pretty wimpy.
i think you're being smart about buying a cheap one first.
you have one more bike than me if you count 2 halves of tandems as 1 for me
I've a Bianchi SanHoe and every time I get on it I ask myself why I don't ride it more often.
Yes, it's cheap and mass produced, but it's a "just add water" single speed 'cross/bike polo/fast townie/back up race bike.
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