Streetsblog tends to be in a perpetual state of intoxication as a result of the fumes of its personal smugness, however occasionally they sober up do a very good story, and right here’s one in all them:
A number of years in the past, motor scooters (or what Streetsblog and others name “mopeds” although they actually aren’t) rapidly supplanted bicycles because the small-scale supply car of alternative in New York Metropolis. I figured some enterprising individual had seen a chance and found out a method to cheaply import crappy motor scooters to promote to supply staff, however I by no means really appeared into it or something as a result of, you already know, I’m lazy and I’m not a journalist. However happily Streetsblog has performed the legwork and right here’s the story behind Fly E-Bike, that model you usually see on the contraption that almost ran you over:
Whenever you examine stuff like micromobility and app-based supply and avenue design and all the remainder of it, the discourse surrounding it’s usually slightly high-minded and idealistic, however the actuality is far totally different:
[I don’t think that’s how aviation is supposed to work, but the name certainly fits.]
And whereas the smuggies are invoking Jan Gehl and Peter Norton or whoever, this man’s modeling himself on Jordan Belfort:
And it’s fairly spectacular, too, apart from the folks he’s burned–like, actually burned:
Alas, it’s a narrative as previous as the town itself:
It’s nearly as if all of the progressive pantomiming received’t change the truth that New York Metropolis is about one factor and one factor solely, and that’s making a living:
Most significantly, this text an incredible instance of how one of the best (and presumably solely) method to make actual cash from bicycles is by changing these bicycles with one thing else solely.
After all, these of us who don’t rely on making deliveries with a purpose to feed ourselves can afford to make extra rarefied choices in the case of two-wheeled transportation:
The weekend began out heat and moist, and the be-fendered Homer noticed me by way of the sunshine rain and melting snow:
Then on Sunday the temperature plummeted, and so I appeared to the Roadini:
Sorry, I meant Roaduno!
Do I would like a Homer, and a Roaduno, and a Roadini? No. However by that logic I additionally don’t want Beethoven and Brahms after I can simply hearken to Mozart, or Fortunate Charms and Cap’n Crunch after I have already got a field of Froot Loops:
Anyway, everyone wants a devoted three-speed one-speed road-and-frozen-trail bike, clearly:
After all all these bikes are equally snug–not due to the components, or the match, or the geometry, or something like that. No, they’re snug due to the sq. taper cranks. Sure, based on the Desert Hipster web site, “crank flex results in all-day using consolation:”
Now I’ve heard the whole lot.
