Posts Tagged ‘Rants’

I may be jaded.  I live Memphis which has more road cacti than a mountain track in the Mohave dessert.  I patch flats and replace tubes all of the time.  When I was riding my road bike, I was fixing flats 1-3 times per week on my 16 mile round-trip commute.  I have since gone to my mountain bike mostly because the route I now take but also very much because I have fewer flats.  I tried slicks when I first switched to the mountain bike but was having the same number of flats as I had with the road bike.  Now, I ride street nobbies and only suffer a flat about once a month.

The neighborhood kids recently started coming around as my family and I are outside our home every chance we get.  Both of my young children have bikes they ride around the driveway and this attracts the other kids.  The neighborhood kids have bikes and probably not a whole lot else.  The bikes are village bikes, meaning everyone rides them, so they are, of course, not well maintained.  I regularly pump up flats and tighten axles.  I recently purchased some replacement tubes as one of the kids, who goes by Snuggles, couldn’t ride his bike anymore because of a flat.  I told him I would sell a tube to him for $2, but his mom wouldn’t give him the money.  Undoubtedly, she found it weird that I was trying to sell him a tube.  With all of the maintenance I do for the neighborhood kids, let alone what I have to do to upkeep my own rides, no wonder bikes don’t work for the general public.

Bike maintenance is a pain in the ass.   Most bike parts are finicky, poorly designed or require a lot of maintenance.  I liked bike maintenance when I was younger but now with a wife and two kids, it’s just time consuming.  It’s also expensive but I’ll go into that in my next blog.  Bike maintenance is also not easy.  Bike maintenance requires numerous different specialized bike tools, none of which come with the bike, and substantial know-how.  Bike shops are typically not that helpful.  They’re usually not that close, won’t work with you to fix your bike and likely don’t have the parts you need in stock.  But back to the flats.  Fixing flats or even just pumping up tires is beyond the domain of most laypeople.   It’s hard to find people that will put a donut on their undesirable vehicle to get it to the station.  They just call in roadside assistance.   Given the finicky nature of bike tires – they lose pressure easily and flats are fairly common – bikes don’t work for the general public.  I haven’t held a poll but I’m pretty sure that most people that have a bike have no idea what to do to fix a flat let alone have the equipment to do it.  I’m willing to bet that a single flat has ended the life of many a bike for that owner.  They get a flat, throw the bike in the garage and it collects dust for the next ten years until they sell it at a garage sale for $20.

While the bike industry is continually trying to make more bicycles (like coasting and cruisers) to attract more of the general public to bicycling, I think they’re missing the point.  It’s my contention that until you make bikes with tires that travel ~5000 miles without out a flat or need for repressurization, bikes won’t work for the general public.

It’s lame. If you are so worried about style, as I know you are because you ride a fixy, why don’t you like a microbrew that is available nationally? Or, how about fine homebrews? Don’t get me wrong, I like PBR too. It was the first beer I ever tasted. But really, it has little style.

I enjoy smoking. I find a good cigar at the end of the day relaxing and pleasurable. I don’t smoke all of the time, maybe a cigar a day. Not likely enough to substantially cut my life short. Besides, if I want to cut my life short, that’s my decision.

Our governments don’t think so. Every day a new restaurant or bar goes non-smoking, mostly due to ordinances by local city governments. More micro-governing. I can go into any bar during business hours and legally drink myself into oblivion but I can’t smoke. Oh right, since I’m not smoking I’m not affecting others around me. So when I get in my car to drive home after drinking myself into oblivion I’m not affecting the health and safety of others around me. Right.

I completely agree. Smoking is harmful to your health. If you smoke to much you will probably get lung cancer or heart failure or high blood pressure. You’re subject to those risks if you eat too much too. Or sit around too much. Or if you live for too much time. Smoking is like anything; in moderation it will have few long term effects. In excess, like many things, it will lead to premature death. The leading cause of death, I would argue, is excess life. I also believe that if regulation focused on eliminating the harmful and addictive chemicals added to most forms of tobacco rather than banning it, tobacco would be less harmful and less addictive; therefore, there would be less smoking. I smoke only natural tobacco. No additives.

Driving undesirable vehicles (gas-powered vehicles) also releases harmful chemicals in the air and subjects me (riding my bike) to its harmful effects. These vehicles are also incredibly loud and stink. They also contribute heavily to our current obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease epidemic. I contend that my cigar smoking releases far fewer chemicals, makes less noise and smells much better. But, since you’re banning smoking I have a suggestion. If I can’t smoke in close proximity to you, don’t drive undesirable vehicles in close proximity to me. It’s simple; it’s fair. Ban driving too.