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Electra Made Me Blind*
Speaking of bikes (see the last post) check out the cool new Electra Townie. It's an upright (traditional) bike that's supposed to put you in a sort of recumbent position so you can put your feet flat on the ground when you stop, while still maintaining the proper distance from pedal to seat when you're pedaling.
Although it seems many people aren't aware of it, you generally should not be able to touch the ground when sitting on the seat of a traditional bike. If you can touch the ground w/more than a tiptoe while sitting on the seat, your seat is probably too low and you're not getting maximum efficiency out of your pedal stroke. Worse, you could damage your knees riding with the seat too low. Trust me on this. When I started riding 70-120 miles/day, I found out the hard way how much difference proper seat adjustment can make. After the first week, I could barely walk because my knee was so sore, and I couldn't figure out why. But I raised the seat a few centimeters and suddenly, all was well. The knee pain magically disappeared. All was right with the world. So, long story short, if you're riding a traditional bike, stop/go traffic can be kind of a pain because if your seat is at the right height, you have to keep coming off your seat every time you stop.
That's why the Townie makes so much sense -- it's the perfect commuter bike. Not only would it be good for stop/go traffic, but also the upright riding position would give you a great view of the road and traffic. The 8-speed Nexus hub and the fenders on the Townie 8 also help make it the ultimate commuter. Suddenly my Bianchi Milano -- with it's loose bottom bracket and off-true wheels from a hard winter of commuting — appears out-classed and out-cooled. Good thing I can't possibly pay for or store another bike right now, or else I might be in trouble.
Oh, and congrats to SuperD, who just got a neato new bike of her own.
* Kudos to anyone who can name the source of the title to this post, but since that's so random, I'll give you more: It's a song title. Who's it by? Of course you can do a search, but that's cheating.
Random related: The Macintosh was briefly and unofficially codenamed "bicycle,"— it was like a "bicycle for the mind" because it allowed your mind to move faster and more efficiently, just as a bike allows your body to move faster and more efficiently. The name didn't stick, but how cool is that?
Posted April 13, 2004 10:18 AM | life generally
First off - thanks for the plug below. I'll have to weigh in on that MFA/PhD split at some point.
I'm glad you detailed the Townie’s design benefits, which I think are very promising for (sub)urban transportation. I’d love to try one out.
My only reservation is what that configuration might do to the rider’s lower back. I’m guessing (just looking at the picture) that your stroke would have to be kind of “forward” – that it would lift your weight up and off of the saddle. The most obvious counter to that would be pulling on the handle bars with your arms. Hmm. For short trips almost any design works – and this one looks fascinating.
Bicycle culture in the U.S. is strange. I’ll have to write a bit about that as well. I hear enough people talking about wanting to get in shape and bitching about gas prices, but almost none of them would consider taking a bicycle to the library or to the store or to visit a nearby friend.
Posted by: Scoplaw at April 13, 2004 12:36 PM
Everclear, from the album Sparkle & Fade. One of the better modern rock/"alternative" albums of the mid-1990s.
Posted by: Aviva at April 13, 2004 08:40 PM
Ding ding ding! Exactamundo. Sparkle and Fade also featured the classics "Heroin Girl" and "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore." I spent a breakup summer listening to almost nothing but Everclear and Sheryl Crow, strangely enough. Sparkle and Fade is good, but So Much for the Afterglow is possibly one of the best breakup albums ever. Could there be a better breakup song than the little hidden track at the end of "Like A California King"? It's chorus: "I will be hating you for Christmas!" Heh.
Posted by: ambimb at April 13, 2004 08:58 PM
Count me in as one put off by the need for the tiptoe thing--it always makes me feel as if I'm not in control, leading to some kind of graceful movement where I manage to stab my calves with the pedals or stumble into an intersection. (All my evident natural grace aside, if I rode a bike more I'd probably get more used to it.)
E. and I were talking about the Townie last night, actually; thanks to his bike-shop-manager cousin, he's ridden one and liked it quite a bit.
In college I rode the Schwinn ten-speed I'd gotten for my 13th birthday: bright pink with "Caliente" on the frame. (It's hot!) I'd never liked that bike, but by the time I was in college, I figured at least it was so ugly and so heavy that no one would ever want to steal it. :) Anything has to be better than that, but I wish I lived in a more bike-friendly place.
Posted by: raquel at April 14, 2004 09:50 AM
Yeah, I agree with you on So Much For the Afterglow. Sparkle & Fade holds happy memories for me because I listened to it all summer the year that I bought it and it reminds me of sunshine and warm breezes. Cheesy, yes. But it's good. And I think I will be listening to it on my iPod now that I've been reminded. "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore" is good for when I feel like school is beating me down. :)
Posted by: Aviva at April 15, 2004 12:38 AM
