Bicycle. . .

[ihcoyc]

I gave up my bicycle back in the late 1970s. Getting a drivers license had a lot to do with it. The fact that my bike — an old orange chopper bike, with monkey bars, a banana seat, a sissy bar, and a small front wheel — was getting quite worn out had something to do with it. I replaced it for a while with a green racing style bike, which I hated to ride. Those were the kinds of bikes that were being sold in the early 1980s.

Bicycles went downhill during those years: they ceased to be conveyances, and turned into sporting goods. There was no place to put a basket on those 1980s bikes. They had complicated and fragile derailer gears. They had anal probes where the seat was supposed to be. Worse, they had straight handlebars, or bars that curved down, forcing the rider to ride in a hunched over position. They were ridden by people wearing lycra and Devo helmets. You couldn't ride one of these things to work.

I got a bicycle at a yard sale: an aluminum Chinese model, with upright handlebars and a wide seat, coaster brakes and no gears. Started riding it again. It amazes me how many places are uphill, and i never noticed. ut this bicycle seems practical enough to actually be useful; the Chinese of all people ought to know how to build a practical bicycle for use as a conveyance rather than as part of some sort of competitive health regimen.

Comments

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

If you haven't been riding since the '80's, you probably don't know about Sheldon Brown, one of the best things to happen to cycling since the safety frame.

I'm pretty much of your opinion about modern cycling - After almost ten years of using bikes to go places the whole spandex junkie thing is not for me. (Wisecrack: referring to that magazine as 'Buy Cycling' is kind of the bike equiv of the ironic use of 'Micro$oft'/'M$').

After a while you'll stop noticing the uphills again. :)

[ihcoyc.livejournal.com]

That's a really nice and informative site. Thanks for pointing me at it.