...keepin it real Thursdays

Today I found a video of the realness I had discovered and re-posted on Tuesday evening which was quickly removed from YouTube for what I can only imagine are legal reasons.

Well, that's all the realness for today because I actually have (for a change) things to work on for a job interview in Long Island City tomorrow afternoon.


While I desperately need gainful employment, I worry (as one always will) about a number of things in the event that I like the place and they offer me the job.

First, I fear it may be a bike-hating office that will either frown upon my cycling to work, or demand that I lock it up outside in a shady industrial waterfront area, which needless to say, I'd be none too stoked about. Though with a little luck, I may wind up with (gasp!) job satisfaction and a place to park my bike (and shower, but there's a snowball's chance in hell of that being the case). Interestingly, I found out recently that the bicycle accessibility law that was passed (a) doesn't go into enforcement until December, and (b) only applies to New York County, not the outer boroughs.

Also, This may afford me the opportunity to expand my BLRI and LBSR reports since LIC isn't a place I frequently visit; and I'd have two opportunities daily to observe the goings on of hipster culture in all its hues as my commute would necessarily cut straight through the heart of Williamsburg.

I suppose the downside of all this would be that the bloggin' would likely have to be placed on the back burner unless I can find time after work or on lunch breaks to post things.

Anywho, wish me luck; I'll report on it all tomorrow. 'Til then, ride safe and don't forget your fenders this weekend, it looks like it'll be a bit soggy out.

... notariety!

Wow, unlike last week and the week before, these past few days have shaped up to be a bit more interesting than usual. The weather has become cloudy and dour, reminding me of the autumnal Septembers of my youth, back when the planet wasn't in quite as dramatic ecological decline.

Though the cozy colors of fall haven't yet shown themselves, I notice the weather turning cooler and the mornings becoming noticeably chillier... Hopefully we'll have a broader transition between oppressive heat and cutting cold this year than years past, though one can only hope. If we do get a gradient of weather that carries us predictably into winter, I've got at least a few more months that I can ride the Allez to and from work comfortably.

Riding through rain, sleet, or snow for months on end isn't something I'd really want to subject any mechanical device to, so naturally I've been flirting with the idea of buying a beater to get to and from work on and run errands in an effort to protect the road bike from less than ideal weather and temperatures. Since I'm not made of money like many cyclists are, I can't really afford anything that won't annoy the crap out of me without the replacement of a lot of parts, at which point I would honestly be better off just buying a built-up used frame from an LBS like BByB.

Fortunately for these apprehensions, I discovered a promotion by Specialized for their new brand Globe, which is geared (pun very much intended) toward urban commuters.


It seems that in an effort to generate grass-roots publicity, they're [loaning?] bikes to bloggers in exchange for being mentioned in posts a couple times per week. Of course, seeing as I now ride my bike seven days a week, that would be as easy as being a corrupt police official in New York.

You're supposed to post a link to your blog on their facebook page and show an interest in cycling to some degree which struck me as a deviously clever scheme to get "fans" of their company who have yet to actually try their product by cornering the facebooking crowd (thats basically everyone these days right?).

Anyway, seeing an opportunity to break into the time honored blogging tradition of reviewing stuff for companies, I of course became a fan of globe bikes and posted a link to here on their wall along with zillions of other bloggers and bloggers-to-be. Then this morning I logged in to facebook only to find that Globe bikes finds JSYNYC to be a "Cool blog."


They went on to say that they'll be making their decisions soon (if that was obscured by my excitement) and I do hope they let me review one of their new rides. Of course, I wonder which variety of "urban bike" (which for some reason translates into single-speed these days) they'll pair me with should they deem my posts conducive to their pandering.

Anyway, if they read this or not, I'll say right now that the free bike is going to be the default bad weather bike and the Allez will stay high and dry in the apartment. I'm sure they expect the bikes to come back with some amount of wear, because to properly understand the strengths and limitations of any product, one has to use the hell out of it. I think carting me to and from work on salty streets is about as much abuse as any bike could get, especially considering I ride hard enough to wear through a brand new chain in less than a year...

They might front me one of these dapper looking be-racked bikes which comprise the majority of their lineup:



I don't know if I'll be using it as beach furniture or for hauling casement windows, but I do have a very real need for added carrying capacity that will be much needed in coming months. However, I kind of hope to get one of the "Roll" bikes that appear to have a more aggresive frame geometry than the slow pedalers above, even though they're cheesily pre-fab single speeds.


It boasts a flip-flop hub for when you decide you're skilled enough to ride fixed, and white tires for added style. Also, I'm proud to announce that they offer this frame in "kiwi" which looks to be pretty darn close to the BADA55 'colorway' that I use to point things out or grade bike lanes on this blog. While I'm not one to be loud and outgoing about my clothing or accouterments, I think it would be magnificently ironic if I pedaled around on a garishly painted green bike as opposed to my usual black and white bike (oddly, they also offer the Roll in the ghost-bike 'colorway' as well, though that seems a little morbid to me).

Anyway, heres hoping I get a bike worth the trouble of twice a week saying "...so I rode the Globe in today..." And if you post semi-regularly, I encourage you to benefit from the marketing ploys of bike companies as well; one can never own too many bikes.

...YES!

I just had to re-post this late-breaking video of street justice in action.Judging by the surroundings, it looks like it went down somewhere in LES, a known stomping ground of messengers and the fixed scene in general... not people you really want to fuck with, to say the least.

Bike Thief vs Street Justis from triple on Vimeo.

Video via Prolly... thanks Prolly

While i generally deplore outright violence and vigilantism, I have to applaud these guys for standing up to a bike thief and teaching him a lesson. The NYPD pretty much doesn't give a damn about cyclist's rights, and as I've noted before, filing a 'police report' does more for insurance and proving your tardiness to your boss than it does justice.... At least not as effectively as a fist to the kisser and a stern warning, "DON'T STEAL BIKES!"

...SHIMANO!

Amid all the loud, annoying nonsense this weekend past, I staved off extreme boredom by buying more new shit!

I had noticed that my chain was wearing down after the daily abuse I put it through, so on Sunday I went and got a Shimano Hyperglide chain as a replacement for my previous stock one.


Again, after consulting the late Sheldon Brown, I came away with a deep understanding of the finer points of drive train maintenance and theory. One of the most profound statements I've ever heard regarding shift quality is that your derailleurs don't do the shifting, the chain does. At first this seems a little odd, because surely the sole function of a derailleur is to shift gears right?

If you think it through, what the derailleur does is move the chain so that it can shift gears by hopping up or down the cassette to an adjacent sprocket. Thusly, the chain is where all of the actual shifting of gears takes place, and verily, it is frequently the culprit of many of the discomforts of a well-used bicycle.

Taking this advice to heart, I bought and installed the highest-end chain available; which at a measly $45 is one of the best places to spend the extra buck on your bike. I immediately noticed a profound improvement in my shifting thanks to Shimano's latest technological advances.

Their brilliant engineers have developed a kind of chain that can shift very quietly and smoothly under full power, as opposed to having to let up a little on the pedals as in older drive train setups. In order to further facilitate smooth shifting, they also developed Hyperglide cassettes with oddly shaped sprockets that appear to be broken or missing teeth, though are carefully engineered to quietly accept the chain as it moves from sprocket to sprocket.

This is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of bicycles since chains are usually grease-covered pant-leg enemies, though many similarly discreet advancements have been made by Shimano and have since become standard fare in bike componentry.

Having read up on the curmudgeonly Campagnolo and their famed snootiness, I have developed quite a bit of respect for Shimano as a multi-national corporation. Most innovations in any technical field are introduced in the "top-down" manner, where the latest improvements are available only on the most ridiculously expensive components until they gain notoriety. These improvements then eventually trickle down to the lower end components that regular people like me can afford until they are proclaimed "industry standards".

Shimano worked in the opposite way for many many years, where they focused on using heavier and cheaper materials to focus on improving the basic functions of drivetrains. If the innovations caught on (and they did) they would bring it to their more finely crafted and expensive products to cater toward those concerned with outright performance.

Using this marketing strategy they've introduced and continue to manufacture the very best in modern cycling equipment such as Shimano Total Integration (STI) brake/shift levers, Shimano Pedaling Dynamics (SPD) clipless pedals, Shimano Linear Response (SLR) brakes, Freehubs, etc...

Basically everything that you take for granted while riding is thanks to Shimano and their egalitarian business practices.

Then again, some people like to paint themselves as 'purists', rejecting anything that dares challenge the good name of Campagnolo. Personally, however, I am a staunch Shimano customer and Campy parts are as welcome on my bike as Obama is in middle-American classrooms.


(Oh yeah, I just discovered that true-to-form, Campy is copying Shimano's new electronic shifting with their own version... way to innovate, huh?)