I can rely of 1 hand the variety of issues I’ve gotten proper on this lifetime, and one among them is that this bike:
Astonishingly, I see there are nonetheless Roadinis obtainable over at Previous Man Petersen’s Home of Ferrous Velocipedes and Canvas Curios, which suggests to me that individuals have warped priorities as a result of in a sane world they’d have bought out faster than…properly, than I did when my first guide got here out:
Certain, this weblog has been shedding air ever since, and actually you could possibly make a reasonably robust argument that it’s been rolling on a naked rim for years. Nevertheless it was all price it. I imply good grief I used to be driving a Scattante in these days for chrissakes!
That was after all the Scattante Empire State Courier. See, again within the early twenty first century, everyone was attempting to money in on the city biking craze. Specialised had its metropolis version Langsters:
Felt had…this factor, full with high tube pad and a handy seat tube-mounted 15mm wrench so thieves may extra simply steal your wheels:
And Efficiency had its personal line of themed singlespeeds, together with the Empire State Courier, full with copy that referenced my then-popular weblog:
I suppose it might have been good in the event that they’d requested me first, however they did ship me a motorcycle, which in a approach was much more insulting, like somebody punching you within the nostril after which tossing you a Kleenex. Nonetheless, I did find yourself making good use of the bike, utilizing it for cultural analysis functions:
And to check then-popular gadgets similar to Knog lights (a.ok.a. “Hipster Cysts”):
And the then-new Maintain Quick straps, which have been mainly Energy Grips however made out of Velcro:
And ultimately it simply grew to become the bike I rode in every single place, till I needed to clear out my Brooklyn storage unit and donated what was left of it to Recycle-A-Bicycle.
Anyway, whereas I’ll not have a soul or a preferred weblog any longer, I do have a lot nicer bicycles now. However why do I really want each a Roadini and a Homer?
BECAUSE I PAID MY DUES, DAMN IT! As a result of I used to be driving a goddamn Scattante round New York again when Rapha was nonetheless refined, brakes have been for “woosies,” and gravel was simply one thing that received caught in your shoe! To wit:
I’ve had these sneakers since early 2024, and should you’re on the lookout for a walkable recessed-cleat shoe they might be one of the best deal on the face of the Earth:
In fact for the final word in versatility and walkability nothing beats a sneaker, however typically I simply wanna clip in.
Some folks say you solely want one bike, others say you want not less than three, whereas nonetheless others push that complete “n+1” factor. No matter. So far as I’m involved, you must have precisely as many bikes as you’ve pairs of sneakers.
