"The Big East Coast Blizzard" Is Here! Don't Tell Anyone That Bike Is Mine!

By now, you've heard about the Big East Coast Blizzard.  Some of you in Montana and Alberta are laughing at us for making such a "big deal" about it.  You have the right to.  For us, though, the storm really is a "big deal", with the most snow and strongest winds we've had in a long time.  When it's all over, we might have two and a half feet (72 cm) of snow.

The city is indeed shutting down: The post offices (and most stores and offices) are closed,  the buses were halted at noon, and the above-ground trains are going to stop at four pm.  People will, no doubt, be stranded.

Yes, that is my blue LeTour.  Don't tell anyone! ;-)

What If The Bike Thieves Are Bullies?

If you've read any of my posts about bikes I used to own and ride, you know that I've had a few stolen. 

If you've had a bike stolen, you know that few things can make you feel worse.  Actually, at the moment you realize your bike is gone, it seems that nothing can make you feel worse--even if you've experienced the three D's--deaths, divorce and depression. As Tom Cuthbertson wrote in Anybody's Bike Book:  "Stealing a bike from someone who loves and depends on it is one of the lowest things one human being can do to another.  For God's sake, if you have to steal, steal something else."

Recalling that passage, for me, begs the question of how to treat a kid who steals another kid's bike.  Should the kid who stole the bike be punished?  If so, how?  And, if that kid beat up the kid whose bike he/she (Let's not be sexist here!) took, does that change your mind about whether or how to punish?


According to police in Hallandale, Florida, on 4 January two second-grade boys punched another boy and tried to get away on his bike.  Shortly after, police arrested the two boys.  Prosecutors then decided the boys are too young to be charged.  Instead, they will attend a mandatory after-school counseling program.

The comments on the article I linked showed no sympathy for the boys.  Whether they are counseled, punished or dealt with in some other way, the goals should be to show them that there are consequences to their actions and help them to change their behavior--not for adults to exact revenge or express anger or frustration. 

I've never been a parent, so make what you will of what I recommend.  On the other hand, I am an educator, so I think I know a thing or two about what helps kids grow up.  Then again, I remember how pissed off I was when my bikes were stolen...

A Wrap From The Past

It came in a rainbow of colors and was, by far, the lightest product in its category.  It was easy to apply and use, and even easier to replace.  As delicate as it seemed, it actually fared as well--or, at least no worse--than any other item in its category.

Even at 25 cents, nobody wanted it.  So, in the first bike shop in which I worked, we threw it out..

Fast-forward a few years:  I'm working in another bike shop.  Everyone, it seemed, wanted the stuff we tossed out of the previous shop.  Some even grew irate when we didn't have the color(s) they wanted.

What happened?  Well, the '70's became the '80's.  Neon colors became all the rage in everything from ski wear to cycle gear.  ( I rode several winters in a hot pink-and-black Italian cycling jacket.)  Some riders wanted multiple colors to create all sorts of patterns and special effects.

What am I describing?  




It's something you may well have used if you're about my age.  Maybe you're still using it.  If you weren't born the first time it  was en vogue, you may have discovered it recently and think it's the coolest stuff you've ever seen.

I'm talking about a thin cellophane handlebar tape from Benotto. Almost no bar wrap was ever slicker or shinier.  I, like many other riders, wondered how that stuff could ever provide any kind of grip.



Truth was, it didn't.  And that was part of its appeal, especially if you were a time trialist or some other kind of super-fast rider. You see, its surface made it easier to change hand positions on long rides.  On the other hand (pun intended), the only thing resembling grip the tape provided came from the overlaps. 

I'll admit, I used a couple of sets myself.  On my black Cannondale road bike, I wrapped my bars with red Benotto tape; on my Trek 510, I used a rather nice set in a kind of shimmery café crème hue.



 The tape could be had in almost any shade imaginable, as well as in certain patterns, including the flags of Italy, France, Germany and other countries.




By the time customers were demanding it, the price had gone up to around a dollar. At that price, you didn't worry about tearing it in a fall or some other mishap!  And it took practically no time to rewrap a bar with new Benotto tape.

I don't know how long it stayed on the market.  From what I could tell, production seemed to have stopped some time around 1990.  These days, new-old-stock Benotto tape goes for as much as $25 (yes, for a two-roll set) on eBay.  And some company is making reproductions of the thin cellophane tape. 

Imagine that:  A "retro" product made of cellophane.