[TheThinkTank] low end bikes, Invisible riders

Thu May 29 21:02:24 PDT 2008

Indeed, 1-speed bikes are just fine for some folks.  I personally  
think the fixie fad has gotten quite stupid, but once Wallmart starts  
selling them then the Apocalypse will surely have arrived.  ;)

I have a cruiser bike with one gear and back-pedal brake.  I ride it  
for fun, and it goes fast enough on flat terrain.  I ride it when I  
just feel like riding something simple.  No logic to it, just  
emotion.  Would I ride it for long distances?  Sure, if it was flat  
or gently rolling.

But my main bike is a Trek 520 with 21 speeds.  I don't need all  
those gears most of the time (like Chris, I live in Ottawa), but they  
are there.  I have a custom-built chopper with 10 speeds (http:// 
drumbent.com/chopper.html), and it's another goofy ride,  I use it in  
parades and cruising with friends, but it tires me out to go more  
than a few kilometers.  But I do like riding it...

I also have a cargo trike with 21 speeds and electric assist, a  
Raleigh Twenty folding bike with 3 speeds, and a winter bike with a 7- 
speed Nexus hub.  If I had to pare them down I'd keep the Trek, the  
winter bike, and the cargo trike.  But the others still have their  
uses, and if I had to even ride with a single speed I would survive  
(though my knees might not like it).

BTW, pretty well all those old 3-speed bikes are geared way too  
high.  I guess Raleigh et al thought a cadence of around 50 was  
good...  With any 3-speed I've had the first thing I did was swap out  
the stock 18T cog for either a 20 or 22 (Sheldon's site shows how to  
adapt individual cassette cogs for this).  Once the gearing is  
lowered I think 3-speeds make for the perfect urban bike.  Umm, until  
one tries to stop safely with those steel rims in the rain...  :P

Mark Rehder - Director
re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op
http://re-cycles.ca

On 29-May-08, at 2:00 PM, Chris Wells wrote:

> I am always surprised by the number of customers requesting a single
> speed here in Ottawa. We aren't exactly mountainous but it is by no
> means flat and personally I can't even get around on a 3spd. However
> many seem to prefer and be perfectly happy with a 20-50 year old  
> single
> speed. As long as they are happy and riding then who are we to  
> complain
> or criticize?
>
> Chris
>
> PS I imagine most vintage single speeds stick to the downtown core and
> avoid hills while I tend to commute 20+km and often don't have time to
> explore ways around the hills.
>
> --- Michael Wolfe <gzuphoesdown at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> the only "crime" i see here is converting a bike into a single speed.
>>  While
>> such a ridiculous notion might be fine for bike messengers of days
>> past
>> who did see the benefit of it being cheap and stupid such that no one
>> would
>> ever consider stealing one, it's out of place for ordinary civilians.
>>  Isn't
>> the point to get bikes to ordinary people?  Most people, as children
>> learned
>> to ride bikes with gears which begs that even a child can see the
>> benefit.
>> Even as this discussion was going on yesterday a neighbor pulled up
>> to his
>> home with a 30 pack on the top tube of his Magna and then proceeded
>> to
>> shuttle a child off to another destination in the same manner.  The
>> notion
>> of a one gear bike to suffice for his daily activities would seem
>> ludicrous
>> to him for sure.   The bikes they have stay outside all night and
>> never seem
>> to disappear which seems to support the theory suggested yesterday.
>> hmmmf.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/29/08, kyle mckinley <bicirider at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> the biggest problems with the walmart bikes seem to be related to
>> (a)
>>> shifting and (b) weight. both of these are mitigated by turning the
>> bike
>>> into a single speed. The safest way to do this on the cheap is to
>> take apart
>>> the freewheel and only leave one gear (so that it won't shift up
>> and break
>>> the axel) and use just the middle chainring in front.
>>> The shocks on magnas and the like usually don't have much travel,
>> so it
>>> seems to work pretty well to pull it off and replace it with an old
>> rigid
>>> fork from the boneyard (as opposed to "real" modern mountain bikes
>> that
>>> require a problemsolver rigid fork to not result in a dangerously
>> steep
>>> headtube angle).
>>> I agree that it is a good idea to rehad these bikes. The problem
>> for a lot
>>> of orgs is that there isn't the room to store both the walmart
>> bikes and the
>>> older, nicer, communters and mountain bikes. And those old bikes
>> are better
>>> for the rider, and less of a nightmare to fix up.
>>> Moreover, regarding this whole thread; I can appreciate the general
>> sense
>>> that it is important to help everyone feel good about zer
>> bike--even if it
>>> is from walmart--but I would still contend that by purposefully
>>> manufacturing bikes that break immediately, and are super difficult
>> to fix
>>> when they break, these companies are perpetuating a crime against
>> the
>>> bicycle... a crime so vast that the only point of comparison is the
>>> dasterdly deed of "carbon fiber".
>>> Surely there is a way that we can learn to articulate a rejection
>> of the
>>> continued manufacture of these bikes (most of which, despite our
>> best
>>> efforts, head quickly to the landfill) without blaming our patrons
>> for
>>> buying them. How exactly we do that depends on the individual
>>> interaction--and how busted the roadmaster actually is.
>>> thanks-
>>> kyle
>>> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 1:38 PM, james blesdoe
>> <jamesbleds0e at yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> At the Bicycle Kitchen we have started making the Wall Mart bikes
>> work and
>>>> placing them on the street.  We use we  them for training our
>> volunteers
>>>> and even though they are only fact similes of a real  bicycle i
>> use a Murry
>>>> for polo.
>>>>
>>>> One poor fellow, who's bike feel off the bus bike rack and front
>> wheel
>>>> mangled dragged his single speed coaster brake pin striped
>> be-fendered Huffy
>>>> to  our shop.  He said, "i have had (when offered a modern bike)
>> those and
>>>> they get stolen. I ride this everywhere. I have never had problems
>> with it.
>>>> i like it  and just want to keep it."  he lost the front fender
>> and we found
>>>> a new front wheel. cost him twenty bucks and he is back on the
>> road.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Happy rollin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>> *Michael Wolfe <gzuphoesdown at gmail.com>* wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  I like where the discussion is going on Low End Walmart bikes. To
>>>> provide an interesting prospective, check out this article in
>> Bicycling
>>>> Magazine. It highlights a part of the cycling population that we
>> not only
>>>> fail to recognize, but often are oblivious to.  It's kind of long
>> but a
>>>> worthy read.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6610,s1-3-12-13639-1-P,00.html
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>>>
>>> --
>>> If an Easyrider rides easy, then a bicirider rides bicis
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