16 July 2011

Where All Of The Pie Plates In Brooklyn Went

Believe it or not, someone has actually come up with a use for those "pie plate" "spoke protectors" that were found on so many Bike Boom-era ten-speed bikes.


I saw this display at Brooklyn Bikes and Boards, which is located a couple of blocks in back of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.


It's located in the same storefront as a shop I used to frequent:  Bicycle Station, which was owned by Michael Rodriguez.  Before he owned that shop, he owned Open Road, just around the corner from the Bergen Street apartment where I lived.  A former lover was convinced that I moved there for that reason.  I deny it.


Mike was one of the better mechanics I knew.  And, as it happened, his build and his riding style were much like mine, at least in those days. So his recommendations usually worked well for me.  As you might expect, I bought a couple of bikes and a bunch of parts and accessories from him. And, we did more than a few training rides together.


Brooklyn Bikes and Boards is, like many other shops in this town, cluttered.  And they seem as if they know what they're doing:  They seem to be catering to a clintele that's younger and more self-consciously, or at least more aspirationally, hip than I am.  


Anyway, the owner--whose name I didn't get--was happy to let me take the photo.  And, I have to give "props" to someone who can do anything at all with those "pie plates." In one of the shops in which I worked, we used them as Frisbees.  But I think that BBb display is a better--and safer--use for them!

3 comments:

  1. Re-purposing is good, as long as the purpose itself is good, I suppose!

    Peace :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know, it is illegal to sell a new derailleur bike without a pie plate in the US. Cannondale actually had to recall bikes it sold without them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chandra: I agree.

    Steve: I didn't know that. Now that I think of it, the new bikes I see in shops always have those protectors. I guess I just hadn't thought of it, as it's been a long time since I bought a new complete bike.

    ReplyDelete