Cutting It Close – Bike Snob NYC
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Until recently, I was the owner of a budget singlespeed 29er:
Oh, wait, that was the expensive custom singlespeed 29er. This is the budget 29er:
It’s hard to keep them straight. Or at least it was. Now, after The Great Bicycle Purge Of 2024, I no longer own either of them.
Did you know everything on this blog is potentially for sale? It’s true. That doesn’t mean I’ll actually part with it, but you’re welcome to make an offer on anything you see here–and that includes the cat:
You never know, you might get lucky.
All of this is to say that back when I was assessing my holdings a reader reached out to me. Sadly, negotiations over the cat fell through:
But as it turned out he was also quite taken with the budget singlespeed of all things. I was a little surprised by this, and asked if we was sure he wouldn’t prefer to work out a deal for its fancier counterpart, but the heart wants what it wants, and now I’m pleased to report the bike and its new owner are living happily together in northern California:
[Nic from Nor-Cal]
As he has informed me, the bike’s playful nature has transported him back to his BMX days:
[Pic by Nic]
And I find the whole thing incredibly moving, because not only has Nic attained the generic singlespeed mountain bike of his dreams, but this humble bike conceived by me years ago in deepest Brooklyn is now enjoying a second life and will now live out the remainder of its days roaming the vast terrain of the opposite coast:
[Another Nic pic]
And now that I think about it, this bike is in fact more exotic than it seems, for Nic is rolling on the world’s only remaining pair of Tan Tenovo handbuilt wheels still in existence, which makes this bike truly one of a kind. In fact, having a pair of Tan Tenovo handbuilt wheels is like having one of actor Pierce Brosnan’s paintings:
In both cases it’s not what we’re known for, yet we’re also not quite as bad at it as you’d think we’d be, even if the end result is a little wonky and not really up to professional standards.*
By the way, I should note that this bike is fully disc-ready, and in this case I think Nic should consider making the conversion, since that way the rims won’t wear out and he can preserve these rare round-ish treasures exactly as I built them forever.
*[I’m being self-deprecating, unlike Brosnan’s painting those wheels turned out fucking great.]
Moving on, Bicycling reports that Paris is a “cyclists’ paradise:”
In part because they’ve got over 100 streets closed to motor vehicle traffic:
Though if that’s the case and there’s all this room for bikes then why do the cyclists of Paris still need to cut their bars down so much?
[Spotted by a reader in Paris]
You’ve really got to appreciate how they also cut down the brake levers:
You don’t often see that sense of proportionality and attention to detail outside of a Pierce Brosnan painting.
[Caption this.]
Finally, further to yesterday’s post about rime breaks, a commenter pointed out that Ritchey is still selling a bike with rim-squeezers:
Which I mention because the bickering about downtube shifters in the comments on that BikeRadar is classic bike wankery:
As for why Ritchey didn’t include downtube shifter bosses, I’m guessing it’s probably for the same reason they gave it an integrated headset:
To save 80 grams:
In addition, Ritchey’s proprietary forged and machined straight 1-1/8in head tube is 80g lighter than a standard head tube, according to the brand.
Also I’m pretty sure there’s an actual law against putting downtube shifters on a bike with an integrated headset.
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